Well, you CAN order cocoons from some of the worm dealers, but why not just start with worms?

Baby worms that hatch in a bin environment don't try to escape and are more comfortable in the environment they were born in.

You can email this guy Bill Kreizter at billkreitzer@advancedbiotechnology.com. He is the inventor of the product vermipod where he encapsulates different species of earthworm cocoons. Not sure if he can answer your question, but you can ask him how he himself separates the cocoons from the worm cultures.

Hi Zaleon: Heres a link to one method to get your own clean cocoons to start a culture with. By using burlap and a plastic bin you can make a cocoon producing bed. You need to feed also of course. I use oatmeal ans eggshells powdered.

Here is a link that might be useful: Worms in Burlap

Hi there lkittle. I've read through the website you recommended. Fascinating!! How would you summarize the conditions and methods you used to produce cocoons?

Hey lkittle, I'm wondering what's the significance of using specifically oatmeal and eggshells. Do those two ingredients increase cocoon production?

Anyways, pretty ingenious cocoon harvesting there.

Hi zaleon; The method works great as long as you shake and clean the burlap every 7-10 days. The burlap will last for 8-10 washings if you bind the cut edges. The experiment is still giving results. the original 50 worms in each bin from April 29 2K7 have produced about 4 lbs ea. of worms so far. read the COWs with Worms!!!! post same site.

I'm pretty new to worming....here is my approach. When I harvested my first batch of castings, there were thousands of eggs. I tried picking out by hand, which took forever. When I brewed my first batch of tea, I poured two cups of castings into a tray. I then lightly searched through by hand to find any babies and put them in another bin. I then poured the castings into a 5 gallon bucket to brew (instead of using a nylon, sock, etc to hold them). Most of the eggs floated and stuck to the sides of the bucket when stirred. I then used a food strainer to collect them. Very clean and efficient. Hoped this helps. - Jim

Jim welcome to the forum! Thank you so much for bringing back this thread, which I have not seen. Your tip for removing cocoons from your tea is great. I am currently making a 32 gal garbage can tea brewing system. This is my first year of wormin' and I have never brewed tea before. I have about 50 gal af vermicompost sitting in finishing bins, but the bins are unheated and I suspect I will still have thousands of unhatched cocoons when I use it. I wonder if the cocoons would survive a 48hour aerated tea brewing process?
The above link to "worms in burlap" was of particular interest to me. I have a 3'x5' outdoor bin that I have been covering with multiple layers of burlap. Ikittles experiment validates what I have been seeing in my bin. His photos look very much like my bin. The chirt coffee-bean sacks I use allows me to observe the entire breeding process. I have poor vision and had not been able to ID cocoons until I saw his pics. I just went out to my bin and grabbed a cocoon off the top (they are abundant!) and dropped it a bucket of water. It floated and stood out nicely. Thanks again!
Pete

Pete- Glad I could contribute. I will try some tests and post the results. - Jim

newbee here. I have found many cacoons in my worm bins and have spent the last two days picking through the composted soil. Then I thought there has to be an easier way. So I googled and found you guys. AWESOME INFORMATION! Thanks. Going to make my first batch of tea next week and will sift the cacoons out with a strainer, THANKS! On another note I see many many baby worms. I hate to drown them when making tea. Any tips? or is there always going to be casualties? I cant become known as a wormurderer...lol

You might want to hold off making your tea for a little while. Bury worm food in an onion netting bag or similar in your VC and wait for a few days. The worms will come to feed and you can just scoop them up. Change the food in the bag and repeat until you think you've got most of them.
I don't make worm tea so I haven't tried this method but I've read this some where.