Separating Worms with the Light Method

[@cassstahl8869]

About 28 years ago we did 2 worm bins for an ongoing science project for homeschooling. We loved it. Monday I ordered 2,000 red wigglers and 100 European night crawlers from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. They arrived Wednesday and I could not find my Worms Eat My Garbage book so I turned to KZbin. So awesome that I could not find my book and learned about Captain Matt and the Worm People. I have watched several videos. Thank you Captain Matt! I am in the process of setting up breeding bins with what I have- one gallon buckets. Any compost worms will go in 4.5 gallon square buckets until I decide on my worm bin options. I am thinking bus tubs. I will decide after watching more of your videos. I love your passion and your enthusiasm. I had a friend for lunch yesterday and I was excitedly telling her about my worms and what I was going to do. LOL, she did not get it, but I do hope to get her grandson interested in worms.

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

So great to meet you, Cass and thanks for sharing your story. I love that book and wish I could have met Mary in person. There's also a bunch of friendly Worm People over in the forum at discuss.wormpeople.com/ who have great discussions and help each other solve problems. It would be great to see you over there!

[@DogsDirtandDandelions]

Go go go Captain!!! Love it! 2 , 6 ftfreezers that have been modified, they are so happy with their heating mats. My populations have exploded over winter with their cozy conditions. We have had mid teens early 20’s temps. Homemade worm how,sprouted red wheat,and aged horse manure with oak leaves and shredded cardboard . They are fat and sassy. Can’t wait to harvest about April . Zone 8a Southern cascades of Oregon . Keep rockin Captain!

[@jerrycallison6125]

well done! I love your system, but don't have the room to do the same, so most of my breeder bins are processed by going through the trays and removing the worms. I think your system is probably quicker, but we do what we can with what we have. 🙂 I love your enthusiasm, and I also love the way you don't get all dressed up to make a video, but show it in "real time", as it were, dressed in what you are wearing AS you do the work. I've said for a long time that there are two varieties of worm videos: videos by youtubers who have worms, and worm farmers who also do videos. You, sir, are one of the latter, and that makes all the difference. Thank you.

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Hey Jerry! Right on - each of our systems should fit our unique situations. I'm happy to be first a worm farmer and I think your assessment is very observant.

[@tlnelson7598]

I love your enthusiasm.

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Thanks TL!

[@victorybase5847]

“I’m baiting you & I’m using worms for my bait!” -Capt Matt Spoken like a true worm person! 🪱 I can’t wait for the course!

[@coolcatwildworld5351]

Yum?

[@wormsforlife7352]

I like the artwork on the supersacks.

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Hey Worms for life! The art brightened up the worm barn so much... not sure where the grandkids got the artist gene - wasn't from me!

[@aylawickham330]

Hey captain matt! I've trying to worm farm for 2 years.... I got very disheartened when a centipede got in and devoured all 3 of my large bins! Watching your videos and your enthusiasm has given me hope and a revived determination! Thank you for that! Also love the wheat grass idea from your other video. I'm buying some grain tomorrow and gonna use it to feed my worms and my chickens 😅

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Great to hear you’re giving it another go. Be sure to stop over to discuss.wormpeople.com/ for support to ensure success

[@wormsforlife7352]

Real behind the scenes work, well not anymore, I love it. For me it is the nursery bins, when they come out after 10 weeks, every week without skipping a beat. Have a wonderful Day!

[@rajendralamichhane4064]

Thank you so much Captain Matt for yet another informative video. Use of a brush is a nice idea. Just a curiosity why exactly 21 days to separate cocoons? Thank you so much.

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

I like to separate before the chance of hatching... Hard to separate babies from adults.

[@terrieholloway9066]

Fantastic and exciting things in the works! Thanks Captain Matt!!

[@roncote1147]

Hi captain Matt, love the content of this video.What I do to separate my breeders from the bedding is to use a ¼" hand screen to gently remove them for the next cycle. It's very quick and doesn't stress them too much.. I hope this hint can help speed things up a little more for your process. "LOVE YOUR DRIVE and PASSION" for your business, IT'S CONTAGIOUS

[@maliameyer9231]

Awesome content as always, Captain Matt!

[@billhurt2947]

Thank you for the wheatgrass idea. They really love it!

[@michaelbessette8685]

Looking forward to the coarse, great video!

[@sharonwebster2283]

Looking forward to seeing yours new course on worming!

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Hey Sharon... the course is now available at learn.wormpeople.com/course/learn-to-worm

[@earlr9381]

Hey Captain Matt as a beginner I may be speaking rubbish. But my suggestion is that you could force the worms to migrate away from the bedding and cocoons by placing a dark plastic light separator in the middle of the bin (so one end is Dark and the other side has the bright light). This means that instead of the worms clumping deep to escape the light they migrate to the dark side via holes under the soil.

[@cuznclive2236]

Hook, line, and sinker! Not to derail, but my wife and I did a full kitchen cabinet cleaning this past weekend, and we found three expired corn meal tins! The wife placed it to the bokashi pile of our sorting process, but I moved it to the worm bin pile of usable feed. I hope to enjoy seeing our wormies (granddaughter's words) feasting on it. Do you have any precautions about feeding expired corn meal, considering I will continue to manage their environment with carbon. Thanks, as always!

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Hey Cuznclive... Just use in moderation so the bin does not heat up.

[@cuznclive2236]

@@CaptainMattsWorms My thoughts as well. Thank you!

[@funnysods]

Another great video Cap'n, thank you. I love the small soft brush to aid separation, I'll definitely be doing that. I just started yesterday trying to harvest my first castings from the bottom of my CFT. It's only 3 or 4 months old so I wasn't expecting much, but what surprised me was the number of adult, and juvenile, worms at the bottom of the 21" high bin. I only feed from the top and didn't expect that many lower down. I did start the bin off with leaf mould, manure and plenty of compost so there's still food down there. Have you any suggestions?

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Hey William… that first harvest is a thrill. I’m so happy for you. I would just put the worms back in top - with red wigglers I’ve not had too many at bottom - but lots of variables.

[@LittleCountryCabin]

Amazing video!! Thank you for sharing your wisdom😊

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Glad it was helpful!

[@GarySevior]

hi Captain Matt, you should where disposable gloves when you removing the castings. with the oil from our skin can affect the eggs / cocoons. I love your you tubs mate

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Thanks Gary… good tip - changing an old man’s habits is another thing ☺️

[@AJsGreenTopics]

The light is a great method. Take care. 😎

[@ScotWalt858]

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!!

[@WallySparks-b6l]

I took the bait. Thank you for sharing.

[@fullcircle4723]

Another great video Matt.

[@coolcatwildworld5351]

You get a cocoon, you get a cocoon. Everybody gets a cocoon!

[@jakemoitoso8834]

Hey Matt what if you put some soil under the soil with the cocoons and the worm will dive deep enough where you can just scoop off all of the topsoil that has the cocoons? Does that make it quicker?

[@lisad4054]

Thank you so much.

[@denkenoverpaarden1888]

I have a bit of an other system. I have bins with a mash bottom which I cover with a plastic sheet. Never count the breeding worms anymore. After 3 weeks I fill up a new bin very full with compost and a bit of food on top. When everything looks healthy, I put the breederbin on top of the other, pull the sheet away and let the worms migrate to the lower bin. After a while I remove the breeder bin that is now filled with only coccoons and put it all in a new bin wit again a sheet on the bottom to hatch.

[@stephentackitt8683]

Did you make your worm bins? I really love your videos Thanks

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Thanks, Stephen - yes I did… some of my early videos go through it kzbin.info/aero/PLKzFtsW8wBf96ggjG4BkWiSqBnNYhX3C9&si=30VJvuQg6XBHbA1R we’ve leaned a lot about camera work since then 🙃

[@lelaqualls8041]

what do you for bedding

[@CJDWoodworking22]

Looking good there! It looks like the adults you were pulling out to separate the cocoons are all castings. Or was that just really wet bedding?

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Good eye. Mostly castings at that point... Though breeding was the goal. Bedding was finely sifted also.

[@TheTrueabundance]

Matt’s maternity ward!

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Ha! My six boys are getting jealous!

[@A-V]

@02:23 Very good worm sound impression Captain Matt - haha! It's always so cool to see how many cocoons you get in your breeder systems. With a 90% moisture content, it does appear that the approach you took was the easiest way to get the task at hand completed. Very fun video - thanks!

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

Glad you liked the impression… it took me hours of listening to perfect 😝

[@A-V]

:)

[@TheWormLady2]

Great job🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@janiemoore1512]

What kind of wood chips do you use .

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

We get our wood from a local tree trimmer and compost it for a year… but you should be able to use any type of wood for your compost.

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Your reproduction is amazing Captain Matt. 🪱💩🪱 I can't wait to hear more about your new teaching program 🪱💩🪱

[@annelm369]

I'm not sure what you're using as bedding in your breeder bins, but in mine I'm using peat moss, coir and composted cow manure in equal parts... After 21 days, I don't consider this to be castings, but rather the start of enhanced potting medium, just add perlite and vermiculite... I can't see the quality from this short cycle being as nutrient rich as the castings produced in the composting worm bins that run 3-4 months, even with all the amendments I add to the chow to process through the worms

[@CaptainMattsWorms]

I finely presift my bedding inputs of composted leaves and wood chips - so it becomes almost pure castings rather quickly.

[@cherylhowker1792]

And what for people who have no money to pay for course??? Please let me know

[@waterloobear]

🙏🔥🐻

[@jackweatherhead8171]

Here's a coccoon