Vermicompost and Worm Breeding at Any Scale || Arizona Worm Farm

If you've been curious about how a good, biologically active vermicompost compost is made, Zach Books guides us through the operation at Arizona Worm Farm in Phoenix, AZ. Excellent video that talks about not just how to make compost and raised bed mix on scale, but some of the basic necessities for starting one's own vermicompost operation as well as the economics and details behind worm breeding.
It answers questions about how much does it cost to start a worm farm, how much does worm compost cost to produce, and how much does vermicompost cost to sell. It answers what a basic vermicompost set up looks like and the initial investment. And more!
Check out Arizona Worm Farm: arizonawormfarm.com
This video was made possible in part through a grant from Southern SARE.
Collaborative Farming Podcast: / collaborativefarming
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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2020-38640-31521 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under project number LS21-348. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider.” The goal with this grant is to provide context and technical detail for the four principles of soil health.

[@notillgrowers]

Huge shootout to Jackson for making this video (on top of all the other work he does at notillgrowers.com). You can follow his work at on Instagram here: instagram.com/collaborativefarming/.

[@t3dwards13]

I must go there and get one of those shirts!!!

[@harlankraft578]

Great video beautiful operation they have built! Great knowledge base! Thank y’all for sharing this great content!!!

[@lawler-ex-sfodd]

Did I hear this right? $400 per 10 pounds of worms? Wow, didn't know worms were that expensive.

[@rwfoxtrot]

Major kudos to this gentleman for being so up front and transparent about his business costs and revenues. Many times you see or hear people go “trust me, you’ll make money” usually just before or after a sales pitch about their particular product. The man isn’t selling the greater public anything just sharing his knowledge and experience.

[@tonysu8860]

Well, he didn't really go down the list of all the bad experiences he probably had. Even probable disasters. He briefly mentioned that "like caring for any herd" but it would always be a possibility of some major disaster that could wipe out the herd (I remember a story about some kind of worm disease or blight that wiped out practically all worms across the Carolinas only a few decades ago), mistakes and so on. There's lots of good info in the video which makes for engaging content, but I'm sure he experienced some real trials he chose not to mention.

[@Dave-bq6gy]

@@tonysu8860 Yeah Tony, why bother doing anything as there's always a possibility of it going wrong! 😮😯😲

[@KaileyB616]

I need one of those "straight outta compost" t-shirts! 😂

[@Jennifer-gx6ou]

The Arizona Worm Farm is one of my favorite places on the planet for so many reasons! Watching him give trial and error pointers in this video to help potential "competitors" get started in the business only reinforces my love for the farm and all of the amazing employees. Forever Straight Outta Compost and forever a supporter!

[@homelife8597]

What an awesome informative video. We all have plenty of YT videos to chose from made by amateurs on what works them, but the insight Zack offers as a professional producer is invaluable. This is great content. Well done!

[@jessicaSmash]

Great videography and editing. Grateful to this farmer for sharing his process with such detail.

[@katipohl2431]

Here in Germany I breed and use worms too. For that I have large sunken worm bins with warm horse manure in winter because Eisenia fetida cannot survive the cold. Unfortunately lots of people destroy the worms because they are not helping them with good conditions for their survival.

[@koltoncrane3099]

Ya a lot of people just let them die hope eggs hatch in the spring. I put like two feet of lawn clippings and alfalfa to sort of compost over the winter over my women bin and it worked pretty good. Covering it with a plastic tarp helps keep snow off. I just cut a IBC tote or 500 gallon square bin in half to hold worms and compost. You probably need more protection the further north or the colder it gets.

[@tuttofunziano4710]

Hello. Can we contact? I have some question, also want to see your worms.

[@cacosta6294]

Im amazed , there's no other video like this , thanks to everyone that helped make this possible

[@tonysu8860]

From a 15 year wormer, Everything described in this video is excellent. It's perhaps the first and only video I've seen that describes one of my observations that different conditions optimize for breeding vs consuming. Very cool. Only quibble is that in the interests of scaling up and standardizing a procedure, quality is sacrificed compared to the vermicompost I create for myself. I've found that freshly processed vermicompost is great, but if I let my worms re-consome the vermicompost multiple times, I can achieve a much higher quality compost... the difference for me is that under optimum conditions, worms will consume at least their weight in food within 14 days, and some within 3 days. But if I let the worms re-consume that vermicompost up to 9 months, boy is that compost really, really better than anything I've ever bought or used from elsewhere. But, I doubt I'd be able to sell that super vermicompost for anything approaching those extra weeks and months needed to achieve that quality. But everything described including the current scale (80 foot wedge) is interesting and would be relevant to anyone hoping to start their own business.

[@irwnpndu]

what species the best for composting?

[@veralium29]

Re-consume?

[@SD-co9xe]

Have you gotten the vermicompost tested to determine the quality of the contents? If so, where do you get it tested?

[@mirsidorov5112]

Any aerobic compost will produce many different types of bacteria and fungi if left alone for a year or more. Check out Dr Johnson (and Dr Ingham) his presentation shows how populations of beneficial bacteria rise and flourish in aerobic conditions.

[@jamesg1425]

This is where I bought my worms. Their passion and friendliness is world class!

[@NanasWorms]

Great behind the scenes look at commercial vermicomposting. Thank you!

[@davidbryden7904]

The synchronicity of the universe is astounding! I was just attempting to start a backyard wormcastings setup and I find your latest post! 💚✌️

[@dougbaker7546]

I can see he really cares to bring a premium product for an affordable price a lot of time and effort in this product. Can’t wait to start myself.

[@minkademko2335]

Kudos to you for focusing on all you do. I find this video to be inspirational.

[@rogerbeck5704]

What a great educational video. I'm doing vermacompost on home scale and can't wait to harvest my first castings!

[@wendyjennings1502]

I have always wanted to do this on a commercial scale. Fantastic video. Thank you!

[@SeeStuDo]

Stellar instruction. Learned more about worms here than in all other sources I've read and watched combined. So many thanks for this one!

[@dougbaker7546]

Your videos are so cool that I can’t help but watch them over and over

[@manolopapas]

Amazing. Great video, very interesting. The guy is talking and really trying to help. Keep up the good work. Thank you.

[@bryanwaruhiu]

Congratulations to this gentleman! And thank you for revealing and teaching us how to start this worm business. I greatly appreciate this.

[@robertling9872]

Thank you guys for sharing your information activities and videos.

[@zenrockgardens]

Absolutely great video. Full of experience and tips. Loved it.

[@stevewiersma9425]

This guy does an incredible job of presenting his business (and industry). Great video!

[@adrianlouviere7650]

You are so kind to share all your hard-earned Knowledge. Very interesting. Thank you.

[@dandan8333]

Excellent information... a great extension of thoughts about growing worms from a decade or so ago. He indeed has a beautiful business.

[@bob.hudson]

Extremely interesting video, there is definitely not enough information out there on worm farming. I believe that of we want to be less dependents on compost this kind of operation is a valuable solution

[@peterv3216]

What an amazing content. I get excited everytime I see someone like Zach here doing what he's doing!(not that way!!!) He's truly a pioneer and a great entrepreneur. Love this content Jesse. I plan to visit our local compost maker (eastern Europe lol), harvest similar info and compare (lol). Dunno why but something tells me who's better already. Cheers and keep on doing a great service to this important movement!

[@harlowecustommicrogreens]

Fascinating operation. Getting the growth cycle of the worm worked out to keep them in production seems tough!

[@retsirk97]

I like this Zach guy, very upfront and honest, you can tell he loves what he does and is a hard worker

[@zacharyschiller7712]

Incredible video! Thanks for putting this together!

[@dmvv5749]

I am from India and I am happy to inform that I visited Arizona worm farm twice. It was excellent farm to learn

[@folsterfarms]

This video is very interesting and full of useful, actionable information! We have a sheep farm, and are trying to implement anything we can to stay organic and all natural. Value added products like this make sense and are critical to our operation’s business model. Thank you for sharing in such detail!

[@stickysat]

i wish i had a dad like Zach... i wish Zach was president of the U.S... the world needs much more like him...

[@sicuro5050]

Biden should have tried with worms before/ instead of humans just to make experiences

[@robertevans8024]

This has to be the most in depth, educational and fascinating video I've ever seen on raising worms and creating castings. I also love the shirt ! Clever ! 😂 I'm going to have to save this video to watch several times more. It's very inspiring. I'm in Philly Pa and have a 55 gallon black plastic barrel that I use to make compost every year. I add my yard waste from my raised beds, kitchen scraps and shredded brown paper bags and cardboard. Dried leaves when I can get them, if it's convenient. My backyard is small and concrete so everything is in raised beds. I constantly get offers from Uncle Jim's worm farm. But somehow worms find a way into my compost barrel every year and help me make great compost. I'd love to see more worms and will eventually buy some. I think I'd like to also raise Canadian Nightcrawlers as a hobby to use for fishing and give some to a friend, who has his own very successful KZbin fishing channel, for free whenever he needs them. If I could eventually make a few extra dollars selling them to bait shops and the Walmarts in my area, or right from my house that would be nice. I'm between the Delaware and the Schuylkill rivers and so many people fish both with nightcrawlers. I've got to do some research and homework first and I think I'm going to start with finding out more about Purina worm chow. That sounds very interesting. I had no idea they made food for worms. I heard some people use corn meal and sometimes slices of white bread to feed them. Congratulations on a successful business ! 👍👍💯 🕊️🙏💖

[@TheWafflesalsa]

That screening machine is so cool! I need to jury rig up something to help with screening.

[@JeffSmith-eq3kc]

Very interesting. His video on compost was extremely interesting. Gave me some great hints to creating a better compost. I'm not sure if I'll be farming worms, but it's darn interesting.

[@uzzielgesmundo9948]

❤ very insightful information on how to run a worm breeding business. I have been at his farm and it is a very busy and productive site. The producers, red wrigglers are really premium workers. The output of the product worm castings are really worth the value to put in your garden. I appreciate this business that Zack has. I have since I met him and been to his farm during the pandemic 2020, I have started a small in ground worm farm and appreciate that you do have to maintain constantly and requires a system in process so it’s stable. Look forward to more and learning how it’s done commercially to be done personally at home. Thanks for the video.

[@peterjdo]

That was fascinating 👍 what a great way to be in business.

[@bm8292]

Thanks Very well explained, especially for new entrants to the worm business.

[@jacobopstad5483]

I love the wedge approach

[@gioknows]

Outstanding! I have a feeling l will watch this video many times over. Cheers from Tulua, Colombia 🇨🇴

[@kearstinnekenerson6676]

I love this I have a two bin system I do for myself but I would like to grow mine a little more

[@michigannative2951]

Great information and thank you for sharing such valuable insight and information. I’ve been trying to convince my parents to have a worm farm, we have a mushroom farm and I think it’s great compliment to grow worms along with the mushrooms, plus we’re not limited to one income in case something happens.

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

I started worm farming 33-34 years ago. This video is a through explanation of worm farming. Although I have never done a large scale worm farm I have produced enough to use in a 40× 100 ft garden and start many people on the path. Although I have never bought worm chow I have bought some coir and peat moss because I haven't got many leaves that I don't want to leave on the soil where they fall. I do use organic grains that I have from the kitchen that are going out of date, ie cornmeal , rice, flour, and plenty of vegetable/ fruit peelings. . A V wormery is a good you tuber to look at to see how he handles his, , especially his later videos now that he has been at it for a while.. one of the reasons I like red wigglers is that in the snowy north where I live they are not as an invasive worm as some are. I found that one shelving unit with 6 or7 shelves and 2 restraunt dish bins each shelf I had plenty of worms for my intensive garden and to sell a few or give worms.

[@Growing_Green]

Amazing information! Thanks for sharing.

[@slversrfr99]

I live in Arizona and I was looking at something like this to start a business, but I underestimated how involved it actually is. :) This guy is killing it though! :D

[@yannickschulpen5611]

Absolutely great info! Thanks a million

[@jiujitsuforall8627]

As a novice but enthusiastic "worm farmer" I sure appreciated this informative video. Thanks!

[@dandan1364]

Incredible presentation!!!

[@Rezfin]

great video! Really good info. Thanks for sharing!

[@sandrarichardson2713]

This is not what I am wanting to do as far as raising worms on a large scale.....but this is such a fascinating and marvelously executed video!!!! Thank you for explaining the 'any scale' for us who just want to have enough worms to provide the castings for a home garden. All the details to being successful in keeping them alive and to reproduce such as the blip on temperatures. I could keep breeders in the house, cocoons on the back porch and the workers in the wedge until I had the wedge quite populated. Are there a large number of predators when worms are kept outside in a wedge? And if so, how are they managed? This has been wonderfully enlightening. Jesus bless.

[@dougbaker7546]

Thank you for making these videos Jessie hop I can visit your farm an say hey one day Awesome videos one of my favorites. Love from Powell co.

[@JesseJames83]

Fantastic video; thanks for sharing!

[@DougDennis]

awesome thanks for the video. i have tried before a few years ago and i think ill do it again

[@lloydrobertson9590]

Very impressive operation

[@stephenwise3635]

Such honesty, cheers from Manchester (UK) :)

[@jakesgrobler1634]

Great content, thanks for sharing.

[@user-yc7sg7xj4f]

Amazing educational work

[@daji3801]

Yes, I am from Cambodia. I like your program. Thank

[@unclecharlie9022]

I like the concept of a “walking” compost pile, feeding the front, and harvesting from the back. I will try a smaller compost row for my back yard.

[@sicuro5050]

Agree

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

On a tiny scale that is how I feed my worm bins after the initial few feedings. See my other comment.

[@TheCroupier74]

Great video, I though I was doing great things with my little 3 tiered worm cafe I bought from bunnings hardware. My worms are spoilt on fresh food scraps every few days, I tap off the worm juice and when I run out of room I spread the compost/castings on the garden. I would love to build a worm business one day.

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

I hated the worm tower. Bought one 15 years after I had been doing it...then switched to a simpler and expanded the worm farm..take a look at A V WORMERY youtube and in his later videos you will see much like I do.

[@BlueMountainWormsInc.]

great video lots of excellent tips!

[@douglasbarrows8110]

This was outta the park, home run!

[@benabel]

dude is the dave ramsey of compost

[@joshuakeene7521]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@bradical2723]

Or gordon

[@edwinmoatshe8063]

Wow, excellent content! Now lets get to the black soldier fly video.

[@BeeNaturalFarm]

We're interested in fostering the growth of beneficial microorganisms throughout the soil.

[@_sunshine_rainbows]

fantastic video and subbed

[@roseannamendez3273]

Suggestions for starting a personal setup

[@ghostindamachine]

What an amazing industry!

[@jordanwhetstone468]

I am curious. Near the end of the video Zach described how to start a worm wedge. What exactly do you need to do? 8'x3'x3' worth of compost with 10lbs or worms?

[@EarlybirdFarmSC]

Very interesting. Lots of great information. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know that there was a worm shortage. I wonder if that is in the south as well. My brother owns a hunting and fishing store and I hadn't heard him speak of trouble getting worms for his store. Always thought it was interesting farming them though. I was really hoping he would show how he harvest the wedge. Like does he remove the plywood, then chop threw it with a shovel to fill up the carts etc.

[@tonysu8860]

First, I'd guess that harvesting that 8' wedge would be done the same way the 80' wedge is harvested. As for a worm shortage, I'd guess that would be driven by first, The Pandemic caused many people to be interested in gardening for both a source of their own food and also to occupy time not spent in an office. The advent of large scale composting. More often, regular composting is being done at large scale but involves a tremendous amount of labor unless there is a big investment in machinery. Vermicomposting by comparison involves less labor but requires animal husbandry which introduces new risk factors and possible complexity.

[@EarlybirdFarmSC]

@@tonysu8860 Well as I was saying, he didn’t show how to harvest the worms from the 80 ft wedge either. He just talked about slicing off a chunk. I wanted to see how he specifically did that. Also, there is not worm shortage around here.

[@tonysu8860]

@@EarlybirdFarmSC The wedge method can be set up so it's perpetual and worms never have to be separated manually. From the looks of his operation, it looks like his 80' wedges simply move a couple feet with every "harvest" when the rows can't move in one direction any further, then only for that one wedge maybe the worms would have to be collected and relocated manually. If there is plenty of land, this single direction wedge migration can be harvested many times before something needs to be done about that last wedge. If an operation wanted to avoid this problem, pie shaped wedges that migrate around a single point would work perpetually and never need manual relocation.

[@EarlybirdFarmSC]

@@tonysu8860 Thanks!

[@PlantObsessed]

Wow I thought my 55 gallon bin was big. This is amazing.

[@didanz100]

Love your videos.

[@johnwilliamson4231]

Great information!!

[@raysymonds7147]

Bio-char is another item that could be added to the compost pile at the beginning !

[@Dave-bq6gy]

Great video!

[@cliveburgess4128]

More good knowledge, Thanks!!!

[@samstewart4444]

I thought the most useful breeding "trick" is to use inert bedding and feed from the top so worms will encounter each other. I only raise worms for fish bait, so the castings are a byproduct. Fortunately, I have plenty of friends with gardens, so nothing goes to waste.

[@tonysu8860]

I heard that, but wondering if I'm missing what is supposed to be special about that. When you grow worms, of course you're going to feed them periodically. That's actually normal and requisite. And of course however you add food, it will attract the worms. Will worms be more amorous and mate? I doubt it. Also, keep in mind that although probably not as desirable worms are hermaphrodites which means they can self-produce and not require a mate.

[@stopitmike]

@@tonysu8860 They are hermaphrodites, but they must mate to reproduce. The mating pair fertilizer each other if it all goes right.

[@desiraynagrone9282]

​@@tonysu8860 It is true worms are hermaphrodites, however they still require another worm to reproduce

[@wilkersekupang2350]

HI. IM from Indonesia. thank you for sharing video.🙂

[@clarkansas6590]

Good job

[@kiefinity162]

Thank you very much, from South Africa

[@bingbangbongmukbang3015]

What a great video

[@texastx8247]

Excellent

[@TheWormLady2]

Amazing 🤩

[@timmooney2460]

I noticed you do not have lids on bins. Do you use lights to contain the worms from escaping?

[@hala_harb_]

How we do this method & what the material is we use to look like a wall?

[@basvdflier]

Great video of a very nice business. What I find pretty crazy and naive to say is, that there aren't enough worms because of "climate change and adverse weather events"... People should understand that acres and acres of mono cultures, managed with roundup or alternatives, and yearly tilling with enormous machines is unsustainable. That is killing all life in the ground, including worms. Taking care of your soil with compost and not much fertilizers and chemicals will most probably result in more worm/bacteria/fungi life occurring naturally. The products of this business can help you kickstart your soil. The compost is amazing stuff to keep your own worms alive :-)

[@PIESvcs]

Looks like I will be investigating more about worm species. A by-product of my composting has become thousands of 'local' worms. If the use of local funghi in decomposition is valued over other constituents of the soil food web, I am wondering the pros & cons of worm species. Great insight to the processes and ideal conditions. To the guy concerned about the Carolinas worm disaster mentioned, maybe that also needs to be investigated. Application of intestinal worm treatments to livestock, incorporation of manure in compost and any other synthetic chemicals can, perhaps, decimate a worm population. So many vectors in the supply chain; even the food for the worms ...

[@shaunjones6049]

Very interesting guys 👍 a worm ranch 🤔🤔 are they hard to round up 🤔 do you have problems with Rustlers. 🤔🇬🇧

[@Meisha-san]

"Straight outta Compost" - I spilt my coffee 🤣 Just found you guys. Awesome presentation, loved every minute. Thank you & be Blessed.

[@mazlosoutdooradventures8594]

I've been raising my own worms for about 3 years now... Thank you for the video...lots of info to dissect I'm raising red wigglers. I think I'm do ok. But I got a question,. I've noticed that the ones I've added to gardens get huge compared to the ones in the bin where I raise them... I wonder why this is that I never seem to find big ones in the worm bin but they are huge in the gardens?

[@GanjaDaddi_]

Spatial awareness, They adjust to their size and population to the size of their environment

[@shannongrasman4354]

What are you using as bedding in the breeding and grow out bins? I use coconut coir and leaves in my small worm bin.

[@rosstisbury1626]

many thanks

[@niconelson5912]

Where can I find a similar sifter?

[@ryanpalmquist4823]

Awesome.

[@justingrogan3238]

I’m curious if breeding BSF as a protein source for the breeding of the worms would help cut down on the cost and time for feeding em

[@olliebarron8594]

do you have to harvest the castings if you are using your worm bin for fishing?

[@ricksanchez2090]

690 for a yard has gone up now to 768, 11% increase in 4 months

[@johnjude2685]

Like this Thanks

[@Brad-rr1ew]

Love that flannel…. lol it’s peaceful…,, everything is so toxic anymore.. the best to you…