Feed for night crawlers

[Johnny]

What can a guy feed night crawlers to keep them over a extended time, instead of pay'n $3 a dozen I'm gonna catch me enuff to last a while but dont know what to put in for them to feed on, I've heard old coffee grounds will work.

 

What say you ?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I was just reading about this. Worms eat composted organic matter. They dont eat stuff and make it rotten - they eat the already rotted matter.

SO it isnt the coffe grounds they relish as much as the layer of coffee gronds that bacteria has already broken down.

I suggest you pile all your non-meat kitchen and yard waste and make a compost heap. Once it has worked down, lay that in with the worms.

[Johnny]

Sounds like its time to learn about compost'n, thought about it anyway to try some garden'n work.

 

Worm bedding huh...who'da thunk it, never seen any, wher can it be bought ? & you mentioned feed'n your worms, what do you feed yours if I mite ask?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I was wondering the same thing. Somewhere around here I have a report on how to make a worm bed. And there is always Google...

[Gary Gaw]

I bought a couple of styrofoam boxes, 20 x 14 x 8 ...........fits in a standard refridgerator..............the surface area is much more important than depth...........I wet newspapers w/ lake water or rain (no tap water) , wrinkle them up loosely, then add the crawlers. It won't take long and they will have the paper broken down, just don't make it soaking wet...........

 

I feed them once/twice a week, watch that the paper doesn't get too contaminated with the "castings" ( waste) ...........replace it every 3/5 months as necessary.

 

Each box will hold 250/300 crawlers for an extended period of time with the correct temperature.

 

I have smaller styro boxes (8x8x8) that I take fishing, also filled with wet newspaper, and I put these in a larger soft side cooler with an ice pack. Try and take only as many crawlers fishing as you'll use in a couple of trips..............I fish 3 days a week, so I try and use up what I take out every other day.

 

Keeping crawlers cool is most important.

 

Hope this helps.

[Gary Gaw]

Corn meal, coffee grounds, wet newspaper, all work good. I keep 300-500 crawlers in a couple of styrofoam coolers in a refridgerator set at 55.............I use wet newspapers for bedding, they'll keep for quite a few months.

Feed sparingly.

[Johnny]

I was debate'n on do'n a google search to see what came up, it cant be rocket surgery but I figured ya'll would definately have some hands on info to share.

 

  next tiem I see a big chunk of foam float'n around the lake its come'n home with me, dont se why it cant be cut up into pieces for a worm bed or a "to go box" for bait at the least, news paper aint hard to find & corn meal is cheap.

 

  thanx for the info guys, maybe we should have a worm bed build'n contest just for kicks.

[Gerald Coates]

I have two daughters that work in hospitals and they bring me small to mid size styroform boxes that medicines are shipped in when I ask.   They work excellent for worm boxes or minnow boxes.

[Billy Fason]

Cornmeal works great and coffee grounds.  I sprinkle cornmeal on piles of leaves and have all the nightcrawlers I can use