Tiger Worm Round Up
Back in September of 2009 I made two bathtub worm farms as I needed to increase my stock of tiger worms. Sales of my worms farms via the “Garden Shop” and Trade Me were going extremely well, however the demand had created a major problem.
Simply put, not enough worms.
Most folk don’t want to purchase a farm without worms as that would be akin to buying a car only to discover that the gas tank is empty.
Once the bath tubs had become operational all seemed to going to plan and I believed that any worm production issues would soon be a thing of the past. I had also purchased a third bath tub which would help to further increase the worm population. Little did I know that a few months later things would go totally awry.
The first signs of trouble appeared when the tape I used to secure the weed mat to the sides of the bath started to come away. This happened due to a build up of moisture and hence the worms found their way into the bottom of the bath. Once in this area there was no way they could return to their food source and bedding above.
At this stage I realised that things would need to be changed as the worms were not staying where I wanted them and many were drowning in their own juice.
If you wish to see how the farm was originally put together it’s all detailed in this earlier post. It will also makes it easier to understand what I’m rambling about!
As shown below the problem was solved by using a larger piece of weed mat. This now meant that the upper part of the bath was escape proof.
Now the worms stay where they’re meant to and once again all is well down on “the farm”. Currently the tiger worms are producing about 5.9 litres of worm juice per week, all of which is used in the vegetable garden.
My motivation for writing this post is that others may have made a bath tub worm farm in a similar fashion and be experiencing the same problem. Hopefully this helps to set the record straight.
This post has 13 comments
January 26th, 2010
We use a lot of worm compost tea we make here on our organic farm in Tennessee and it really works wonders:) best of luck with your tubs:)
January 26th, 2010
Thanks Peggy … this is the first year I’ve used worm juice on my garden and agreed it does work wonders. Have been feeding my tomatoes fortnightly with it and getting some amazing results. Will post some photos shortly as they are starting to ripen just now. Checked out your blog and its look great. Call again and I will do like wise … always nice to meet another green thumb!
January 30th, 2010
I hope it didn’t put you back on your orders for the little fellas.. I’ve just started selling my worms on trademe in Christchurch so I’ve semi-followed your post on building a bath tub worm farm so I can share more worms.
Keep up the good work with posting – the more the better!
October 31st, 2010
Your guide has been a great help. Hopefully will put one of these together during the week. It costs much less than a worm-a-round and is more the size I am after. If you have any further information that will help me please feel free to email me.
I am mainly wondering what you have done for ventilation.
Cheers again for the guide
November 23rd, 2010
Very interested in your worm farm project and all the benefits from the enterprise. What I would like to know is what do you use for bedding for the worms?
Looking forward to hearing from you .
Ross
November 23rd, 2010
Hi Ross …
Mostly I used aged compost and horse manure plus shredded cardboard and newspaper. Food scraps, vegetable garden waste and other organic material is placed on top of that. Please feel free to come back to me if you have any other queries … Cheers.
November 23rd, 2010
HI Rodney
Thanks for your prompt reply, this info will get me started on my worm farm. Will keep you posted on my progress.
Ross
June 25th, 2012
Dear Rodney,
We are about to set up bath tub worm farms at the Taroona Community Garden in Hobart Tasmania. Does it make a difference whether the bath tubs are in the shade or in the sun? Does it make any difference whether the bath tub is made of plastic and not cast iron?
Thanks for all the great information
June 26th, 2012
I would suggest setting them up in the shade as it may get too hot during the summer. It doesn’t matter what the bath tub is made of however I would avoid cast iron as they are extremely heavy and therefore difficult to move about. Old porcelain on steel tubs are ideal and cheap to buy. I get mine on Trade Me for about $10.
Good luck with the new project and feel free to keep us informed.
July 19th, 2012
Hi Rodney – do you find that your houshold provides enough kitchen scraps for the 3 tubs of worms or do you gather other households also? ( reading as at the date on here)
July 19th, 2012
No it doesn’t however we get additional food from our son’s cafe.
September 28th, 2012
Rodney, just a couple of questions. How often do you empty the farm. Do you then introduce the worms to your garden of do you retain them for the farm.
September 29th, 2012
It really depends on how much material is being put in them. Most of our farms are full now therefore I will need to empty them. Average time to fill is about 2 years, we have 5 of these. Leave worms in the farms as they wont survive long term in the garden.