Some of my secret ingredients for worm chow, and worm health

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

youtube.com/@thecompostingwormlady9982 youtube.com/@TheKnittingGiftCo etsy.me/3vg1MSU etsy.me/3D2FUyj TheGardenAndWormLady.com

[@jenniferfisher1743]

The link for the Etsy account is for a sour dough starter. I didn’t see worm chow listed, the bread sure does look delicious. People chow

[@odoggcosby5172]

I have utmost respect for your dad for enduring his incarceration and continuing to have a good spirit. You are blessed to have him and Joe there for you.

[@sardar5150]

Oh thank goodness. I never have excess liquid out of the spigot in my stackable bin, thought I was doing something wrong. They're still alive after 7 yrs! I just have red wigglers. This bin is smaller,I like it better than mine!! My current bin is in my office.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Sounds like you’re doing everything perfect😂 Great job 👏🏾

[@sardar5150]

@@TheGardenAndWormLady thank you! I'm enjoying your channel.

[@AJsGreenTopics]

I'm glad that you are feeling better. 🙂

[@cynthiadalessandro4509]

I Enjoyed the Video ! You keep it Real, upbeat and are Honest. Thank-you

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Thank you 😊

[@cynthiadalessandro4509]

Love that New CUTE Tower ! Perfect for a starter ! I may get one for my Son one day.

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Good morning, Vee, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b USA 🇺🇸 🪱🇺🇸 You certainly have lived an interesting life. God Bless you and Joe. I love your positive attitude and your Dad gave you the best gift he ever could ❤️ I hope your business is really successful this year, My Dear Friend ❤️

[@ontherocksinthesoilmichael6739]

I have one of my mixed species in my 360. I have for 2 years put wood shavings in sump tray. If there is too much moisture it sucks it up if there is an over abundance it will flow freely and worms won't drown. Just a tip.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

That is a great tip. Thank you so much. I’ve never thought to do that. Can you believe it?🤣

[@terrafarmer48]

I do this too. Dried leaves, wood chips, cardboard.. it's like a worm party down there in the bottom!

[@gabrielgreen9883]

Badass tips again and again. It can only help propagate a good thing. Down to earth and accessible. Thx

[@mikewalters4994]

Good Video, I'm so glad your feeling better. I had the Covid too, before they came out with the vaccine. It was bad, I was really sick, I gave it to my dog. He and I both spent 5 days in the bed with high fever. But, we both got over it. So, I know what you went through. I love you videos. Keep up the good work. I gonna give you recipe a try. I started raising EURO'S for fishing. I'm gonna give that Molasses a try, that should sweeten up my EURO'S. Sweet worms, the fish should really go after Them. Thanks for your Secret recipe. I will not tell anybody!!.. LOL 😆

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

😂👍🏾

[@michaelmorris5525]

Thanks for sharing! Love the Tower.

[@-ChrisD]

I'm happy to hear of your recovery and thanks for the interesting/informational video. Take good care of yourself!

[@hwhernandez]

I think you should do red wrigglers. Since for the consumer that is beginning in the worm journey, usually starts with the RW.

[@jimmywilson1388]

Good grief, no wonder my worms are dying… You put way more water in less bedding…😄 Ok time to add more water… Luckily I have a gutter that leaks a little bit so I’ve got a 5 gallon bucket of rainwater…😉 You do have a very nice personality. I love your positive outlook on life!

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Aw!! Thank you so much. I appreciate that.☺️

[@gabrielgreen9883]

Wigglers do well even at 15 celsius. Mine are submitted to that temp because of location(Ontario, Canada). Absolute pigs haha

[@ontherocksinthesoilmichael6739]

I use moisture control (ie keep the sides and top dry) with blue worms and ANC AND I have no problem. Frankly I have more issues with ANC. I have never had a mass exodus event. What I have had is the occasional adventurer get stuck on top of bubble wrap cover.

[@troydunn6228]

Ms. Vee i add dry molasses also. If you have an ant problem you can use the dry molasses sprinkled over the bin and it will run them out. Also if you don't want Black Soldier Flies you can add Neem cake sprinkled in the bed. Neem is also good for the worms. Not the oil but the dry cake or pelets. I have the Neem pellets so I like to grind them up and sprinkle them in. Also have made a tea with them too. May God bless!

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Very great advice. Thank you! Black soldier flies only appear in my Worm bin when I have them in the garage and they grossed me out.🤣 I have a neem pellets I wasn’t sure what to use them on. I’m glad you told me that.

[@texaspatty4697]

They gross me out, too!

[@melodylamour6123]

I'm a new worm mom. I'm freaking out over all that water going into those tiny bins even knowing you so know what you are doing. I am not able yet to feel properly with gloves on to check the moisture level. I'm sure by next year I won't be so nervous.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

I’m sure you’re doing fine don’t worry

[@jenniferfisher1743]

Where can I buy your worm chow and worms? When I click on your store it’s just merchandise. Am I just missing the link? Also, can I add azomite at every feeding like when I sprinkle ground up egg shells for grit? I have the Vermihut 12x12 tray. How much per tray?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

The link to my website is in the pinned comments. I wish KZbin would let me add my own website to the Merch store but they won’t. I add about a 1/2 teaspoon to my entire bin with the bedding, I mix it in. TheGardenAndWormLady.com

[@yes350yes]

One thing that I have taken from your experience is the moisture issue and how important it is. I will be conscious of that going forward. As for the chow, my feeds for the past month or so have been similar to yours, before that it was mainly saved kitchen scraps which will now go into my garden areas.

[@JennStowe]

I have the exact same little tower system and I use it for all my cocoons and tiny babies (red Wigglers) I found it was too small for my Euros. Edited to add- I use all 3 trays at a time and it works fabulous for all my cocoons.

[@cherylhowker1792]

Just seen this and that was my thinking, it would be great for bringing them up to breeding age

[@ClickinChicken]

Pay as you go. I thought about feeding only mostly worm chow. Thanks for giving us your ancient Chinese secret of worm chow! 😁

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

I feed chow but they also get some food scraps😊

[@EricsWormPlayground]

The new small tower is cute! I would like to see you do the Africans in there if you think it would work. One thing missing seems to be a thing in the bottom to help worms go back up that fell down into the leachate.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Honestly, they really don’t need that thing at the bottom. 😄

[@mikewalters4994]

Good Video!!.. I have read somewhere that beet roots make EURO'S turn a real read color. I''very not tried it, because all the beet roots I could find are Super Beets and that is expensive. Where did you find your beet roots? Did you notice your EURO'S turning a darker red when you started feeding them beet roots?? Thanks

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

I was hoping that would happen, but honestly I didn’t see a difference. I found beet root powder on Amazon.

[@yes350yes]

When Im prepping a new worm tray I will also add a good bit of the chow mixed thruout the bedding not just on top. Im pretty much floored at the rate the worms are now going thru my dry worm chow.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

They absolutely love it. Worms to me are the most incredible creatures.

[@wormsforlife7352]

For me if I was using the "tiny Tim worm farm" I would use red wigglers. Why? because the little tower type worm farm is created/manufactured for reducing household waste (wastepaper & food scraps) using worms. It is my opinion, which comes from experience that RWs are the best for doing just that. Yes, on the dry molasses. There is so much good about it. It is great for chow and tea, and as a bedding spray. Even as a bedding inoculant when preparing bedding ahead of time. The molasses also promotes rapid biological microbe fertility in the worm bin. It is interesting on how the worms will mouth the paper until it is moist enough for them to tear off a piece and do one of two things with it, 1) is to swallow it, 2) is to pull it down into the bedding. That can be a valuable lesson to learn, because once it is learned that worms will eat anything that fits in their mouth it can be used to a great advantage when growing worms. Enjoy worms and have a great Day!

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Awesome comments! There you are I’ve been missing you for a few videos😂

[@wormsforlife7352]

@@TheGardenAndWormLady Yeah, I have been working a lot of overtime the last three weeks and have two more to go until I am caught up. Then I get 3 weeks to relax a bit, then it's time to put the pedal to the floor. I've got to come up with 3 tons of castings for the second week of May. That is 6,600 lbs. at 22% to 28% moisture content, as the guy does not want water weight. At least when the pedal hits the floor it gets a lot easier, even thou it is a lot more work. It sure is a good thing I have 2 yards of worm peat outside and after tomorrow I will be down to three 55 gal. barrels left inside, actually tomorrow I'll probably be into the third. If not tomorrow next Saturday. Might as well mention the 5 barrels that are full of castings and have to be hauled upstairs from the basement and dumped into super sacks. It is almost time to start growing the ANCs large again. You know I should be excited, but I am sort of dreading it. It is a lot of work to do 55- 75 gal. of castings a week, but so worth it to see and handle those big and beautiful grayish purple worms. I have 3 bins where I keep them bed-run some are large, and one I do have them very large. It becomes a different world to have several buckets of them all sized the same and very large. One year I decided to keep a batch/bucket of worms the second week of April and by the third week of August they were 17" long and the anterior was as thick as a man's pinky finger. I hope my rambling on isn't too long or bothersome. Thanks for the awesome content you continually upload to KZbin.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

@@wormsforlife7352 it’s my pleasure I love uploading. I do have a few worm bins that have your name on them that everyone is watching.😂 So when I harvested from the three bins you talked about I put all the cocoons into one. Does that go on the shelf and wait for them to hatch to go up for sale? Or do the worms that I harvested out of the three go up for sale or do they continue breeding for me ? The question of the year I’ll see if I could tag you in the video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5aYqqCcaZJ2hdk I think this is the one

[@wormsforlife7352]

​@@TheGardenAndWormLady The cocoons that you collected go into a bin for ten weeks to hatch and grow into larger worms. After the 10 weeks they get light separated. Then they go to grow out bins for another 10 weeks. Then they are separated again, and they are breeders themselves. Some will start breeding at 16-18 weeks from cocoon. The majority will start breeding at 20 weeks from cocoon and should be 3"-3" 1/2 long and the weight of worms should come out between 12 - 18 oz. The 3 bins of breeders go back to breeding for another 3 weeks. Then the cocoons are collected and go into another bin to hatch. The process is continually repeated. If you have 9 bins of breeding worms, you will do 3 bins every week. And every week you will start a new bin with the cocoons. After 10 weeks you will start a grow out bin. After 20 weeks you will have 10 cocoon/hatchling bins and 10 grow out bins and you will be having a grow out bin coming out with an average of 1lb of worms at 3" 1/4 long, every week, after the 20 weeks. It takes self-discipline to do this. The cool thing is the worms are grown in batches from birth and in each batch the worms are generally the same size. You top feed them worm chow every day, at least the 20. Well, after you put the cocoons in the first bin it takes about a week before they get feed daily. You still put chow on the next day after starting it. Then usually 5 - 7 days. The neat thing is you actually get to see them at 1 week old, 3 weeks old, at 6 weeks old, at 9 weeks old and so on, Every single day.

[@yes350yes]

What am I seeing there in the bedding which looks like some kind of shavings and what is the need for it?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Sometimes I add pine shavings when I have them. They create pockets in the bedding to allow more air. I noticed that my European nightcrawlers really love it.

[@yes350yes]

Yes, I agree since my factory 360 is designed and looks just like that tower. I have 6 trays with mine , currently only using 4 . I think instructions say to put a sheet or two of newsprint in the bottom of first try to start, then after that just stack them. I got sidetracked. Its amazing how many people swear by the fluid they get that drains out . Like you I put no stock in that theory. If you do get drainage your bin is too wet and secondly the leachate doesnt go thru a worms gut so useless in my opinion.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Yep you are absolutely right. I saw a guy who had seven trays stacked up the tower.😅

[@yes350yes]

I also feed a dry mix , oats ,wheat flour, corn meal, chicken crumbles, diatomaceous earth , azomite. Of course the oats and crumbles get ground to a flour first. When I make up a new bedding try the chow gets mixed in ,, then some always on the surface. The worms are constantly on top eating the chow.

[@melodylamour6123]

Red wiggler since that is what I have. Also, you definitely need a big foot on your labels if it's not already copywrited

[@dennisfrench8225]

Can you add pure sugar in worm chow??? Just wondering if you ever done it thank you I enjoy your channel

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Yes I have. I did a Halloween video once and I took sugar and I put green food dye in it. But the food dye Hass to be water-based not oil based because the oil will kill the worms. I let that dry and then I sprinkled it on the surface of the worm farm, and they went crazy. Question I get is did it change the color of the worms. No it did not

[@claycappallo396]

What kind of battery water sprayer do you use. The one I foun online is 395.00.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

amzn.to/44vIic3 this is the link to the Amazon one I use

[@melodylamour6123]

I have several hibiscus plants. Is it okay to feed the worms the flowers after the blooms die or do I need to let the flower decay?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Yes I had a few and I would feed their leaves to my Worms

[@BillyBob-tt7hy]

I bought that, three tier Worm Farm, yesterday put 250 wigglers in and am looking forward to the results, yahoo.

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Perfect amount to get them breeding. Most people put a pound of worms in there which is not a bad thing, but they’ll breed slower.

[@robertsanchez5279]

Hi, The battey sprayer what is called?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

This is the one I use PetraTools 4 Gallon Battery Powered Backpack Sprayer (HD4000) - Extended Spray Time Long-Life Battery - New HD Wand Included, Wide Mouth Lid, Multiple Nozzles & Battery Included a.co/d/im83IZA

[@gabrielgreen9883]

What is your source of water?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

I have an entire house filtration system with reverse osmosis. But you can use sink water. Just fill a jug and leave the lid off for a few days then it’ll be OK to use.

[@p__o__l__s__k__y]

COVID kill me almost asweell...I refuse to take me to hospital and that's why I probably survived...tbh

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Wow! Mine was bad. I didn’t see my worms for like two months.

[@p__o__l__s__k__y]

@@TheGardenAndWormLady I can't go to toilet... peeing to the bottle 😓 39c° for 5 weeks 24 h exhaust me almost to death...I can't see properly to this day...my eyes get hurt so much after this COVID thing 😓

[@p__o__l__s__k__y]

when ambulance arrive second time to my place after 48h and they desperate to take me to hospital and I refuse again...they ask me to sign refusal paperwork to take me to hospital I signed...but they said on the front of my 6 year old daughter I gonna die in the bed in hours (idiot's) ...my daughter now is 12 and have very bad problems with "head"

[@p__o__l__s__k__y]

sorry 10

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

@@p__o__l__s__k__y so sorry that happened, you’re alive and that’s what’s important. Just continue to show her joy and happiness.

[@yes350yes]

Interesting, Im also a hoosier!!

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

That's cool! We’ve been here in Indiana like 15 year

[@claycappallo396]

Hi there I can design you your sticker

[@albertatencio1107]

Earth worms

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

Composting worms

[@helenaragon6539]

blues

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

I don’t have any blue worms

[@nancyfahey7518]

Blue worms are bad?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

@@nancyfahey7518 no but can be difficult and won’t breed with a red wiggler, they are known to take over a bin in time

[@zehlersan]

I love you garden and worm lady. But u should know better not to get vaccinated. Last time I had a shot is when my mom used to take us to doctor when I was like 8 or 10 and I'm still here. Healthy. I know it's not my business but I had to put in my 2 cents I suppose. But I am glad you are well. Have an amazing awesome day we love you!

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

It was terrible for me 😢

[@texaspatty4697]

I'm glad you got the vaccine, Dee.

[@markhook499]

Do you have any big bins, like Captain MATT?

[@TheGardenAndWormLady]

CFT’s no i don’t, I have six giant tubs that I harvest from the top either by scoping out the material for doing a sideways migration