Hi Cass, this experiment seems to be going quite well for you. I'm glad you had such good results to post.
I like to hear about your bins. It's like my weekly fix of reality TV. Maybe you should approach Mark Burnett.
20 Survivors, 4 cocoons and a bucket of dirt....

Well I said I would revive this thread for the 4 week check and here I am! See the link above about the Experiment I am doing if you need that info. See link below to pictures of my 4 week check.

I was only supposed to find 2-4 living worms...I found 21(I must have miscounted last time) and they were mostly in the bottom 4 inches of bucket dirt. They are all still very happy worms and were active enough to try to squirm between my fingers when I was holding them!!

I did find lots of cocoons so that part seems to be coming true. The dirt smells much better now as promised. There were also tons of potworms!

That's it...no more news on this front for 2 whole months!! All I am to do in that time is water the bucket and wait.

Cass:)

Here is a link that might be useful:

Great job Cassblonde! I read the articles where you had the idea of doing this experiment. The only problem I have with the whole article or should I say book is that it gives so much info that I have to go back and reread it since I am just confused as to what kind of bin gives you the most worms. I did find in one of my bins the small mature stringy worm he talks about.

Okay I reread the article this time starting at the first page and was much enlightened. I now understand why when I once decided to use all of my kitchen scraps and placed it all in two thirds of the bin(yes I had much leaching, smell and heat) I all off a sudden had hundredes of visible cocoons on top of the not fed area. So I wont be so chicken any more but will rather use one thirds at a time and hope for many worms into which I will be able to start other deeper bins. I also will not mind setting some free outside and seeing if they reproduce and provide excellent qualities to the area. I also had noticed that I begun a second bin in a square kitty litter container about 18 inches high and was absolutly shocked 3 months later at the quantity of worms and cocoons in it. That bin had old paper and wood, wheat kitty litter no feces and is quite heavy and matted yet it didn't seem to matter. Thanks for posting the link and for you great pictures. Keep it up!

Cass,

This is SO interesting! It would seem, if this guy's claims are true, that the worms are quite adaptable (in an evolutionary sense) so that though individual worms might die in an unfavorable setting, enough can survive to set a second, adapted generation.

There's a worm-dealer that I found through someone here, called Foley Farms, where they do what others "said couldn't be done", namely, raise worms in ONLY paper. Probably a similar situation, where there was an original dieoff, followed by hardier offspring. That's kind of refreshing. It also gives me confidence that in spite of how many I lose, it only takes two survivors to (s-l-o-w-l-y) repopulate.

I'm still debating whether or not to go with the Foley worms because I'll end up giving my worms only paper bedding and Foley worms would be more used that and perhaps I'd have less initial loss BUT, Foley's are more expensive... (sound of mental gears whirring)...

I'm following your experiment, this is cool. But it'll be hard to wait until May!

Wendy

Thanks for the posts guys its nice to know my babblings are being read on this one.

Long wait till the next check and this thread may be gone by then...I'll be sure to check the pages of back posts when the time comes(saves me having to post links again*grin*).

Cass:)

Wendy,

I wouldnt go through a company solely because they claim their worms live in only paper. Im sure most of us use bedding that consists primarily of shredded paper. After a few feedings it is no longer all paper ::grins::.

You may have a little die off if going from one bedding medium to a totally new bedding medium. But is not anything to really worry about. Do watch out for scientific names though. Someone listed a link to a cape cod farm that lists lumbricus Rubellus as a red worm. Unless im way off that is the common nightcrawler.

Bryan

Running my own experiment in a flower pot but used 50 worms. So far at the 2 week point I counted 45 and lately I counted 55 go figure who knows what the actual count is. My worms have done much adapting since I am so brutal with them and I do have many of those small mature worms he mentions in my regular bin but so far just big fat ones in the flower pot.

Nice to hear from another experimentor. I am still just under a month away from completion and am very excited to see the results. Once I harvest I plan on using the dirt(which I hope will be loaded with eggs)as a starter layer for two bins I'm building for friends. I also plan on using a lot of the worms I harvest as starter worms for their bins as well as to up the population in my own bin.

The final 2 months is the hardest since you can't peek or anything, just water.

Cass:)

Just wanted to bump this post up since I'll soon be posting pics of the harvest.

I have seen some worms on the surface of my experiment bucket so I know there are worms in there:)

Looking forward to taking pics and sharing results!

Cass:)

Oh boy, I've been reminding myself every now and then to come and look for your post 'cause I want to know how the experiment has fared... can't wait!!

Wendy

So I did my final today and slpit the dirt between the two new bin that I am starting.

I have to say all my original worms lived.

There were lots and lots of cocoons.

I also saw a lot of small red worms but only time will tell if they are the shruken-will-grow-to-normal-size-in-2-weeks red worms.

So I will have to post here again in a couple weeks to let you all know how the new bins fair. After that they are both going to new homes:)

I'll post pics in a day or two and you can see the dirt:)

Cass:)

Hey Cass,

I just wondered what the status ended up being. Did you feel the results of your experiment matched those found by the guy who thought of this idea? Did your worms grow?

Wendy

Hi there Cass, just wondering how your 2 new bins went? I had been following your experiment, and just love all the pics you post. Haven't heard from you in a while, hope all is well,
Christina in NC

i am doing the same project iam only three weeks into it so your post is very helpful.will keep you posted.
stefan,quorn,uk