Rodney, just curious here. Is there any reason why you dont want worms in your potted plants? Seems to me that they would only benefit the plant by being in there. Sure they are not likely to "thrive" with a massive wormball explosion but having a couple in a pot would be a small conversion force for some of the OM in that mix leaving behind VC the plants can use.

I am always tickled when I dump a pot for recycling the soil and find worms in it. We have been doing starting in the raised bed of the greenhouse so they come up into the pots on their own. For me mo worms mo places = mo betta.

The info on the freezing is good to know, thanks for sharing.

The potting mix would be for pepper seedlings that I've got indoors. If I were to use the compost as is, when the eggs hatch I doubt the worms would stay cooped up in the little pots for long and I'd prefer to not have them migrating around my house. :) If it was outdoors it wouldn't be an issue.

Rodney

I can understand that... Peppers :) I have a lot of starts going now getting ready to be set out. Trinidad Scorpians, Mustard Habeneros, Tobasco, Jalapeno, Thai to name a few. Last year we only had a few plants and just one of each, this year going for overabundance :)

I have a little different thought on survivability of eggs not pertaining to cold though. Lately I have been wondering if my brood is expanding as I dont remove eggs when I harvest. Well today I did a harvest from my factory 360 and in the worm separation I found a good amount very tiny worms the size not much bigger a hair strand. This tells me my brood is doing fine and my theory that by the time the feeding tray becomes the harvest tray all is well. I also think that addition of burlap in the feeding tray per hint from Mendopete has made a big difference. Im also sure that some got by me and this doesnt bother me either as I wont mind some making into my garden this spring as that is where most of my vc will end up.

Found this thread while searching for info on how to hatch Eisenia eggs I found in my cold pile outside while harvesting Eisenia worms for my indoor bin. Certainly I could just toss em in the bin.

I just thought while I can find em I might try something new for me. No biggie, but some think the Eisenia Foetida do not and can not overwinter outside in CT or New England.

The problem with picking Eisenia Foetida out of an outdoor compost pile is you can/will also bring in an assortment of other critters (eggs) even tho you don't see them, so beware.

So wondered if those who buy Eisenia Foetida eggs online had some experience hatching those eggs? I thought about storing some in the fridge to keep for a spring hatching?

You could hatch them in a take out container filled with VC and sort out just the worms once they've hatched and they're bigger.

Ironically, I have some in a take out container now but she won't let me put em in the fridge. <sad face> So right now they are outside @48 deg.

Can't you put that container under your desk or bed or something inside the house? For outside since there's a container already, just place another container sans cocoons in its place so nobody gets suspicious and start asking questions.

Being the original author of this thread I thought I'd chime in. Early last year I used some of the egg cocoons I separated out of the worm compost to start an indoor worm bin. I simply put the cocoons in a small shoe box sized plastic container partially filled with a mix of shredded newspaper and coir to it and kept it at room temp.

Eggs. Photo taken on March 21, 2015

I don't know exactly when they hatched but this next photo, taken on May 18, 2015, is around the time when I really noticed them.

Being exposed to below freezing temperatures all winter didn't harm the eggs at all. They hatched and the worms did great for a while but due to my neglectfulness they unfortunately ended up dying a few months after.

Gumby- Is it possible to keep the container with eggs in an unused room or maybe in your basement (if you have one)? Or is there some specific reason you want to wait until spring to hatch them?

Rodney

<is there some specific reason you want to wait until spring to hatch them?> It was just a passing thought I had for an experiment seeing how eggs are often sold via mail. But that is/was all it was is a passing thought and not a problem for me to move them to an undisclosed safe location.

Shhhh - she may be watching/reading.

Thank You Rodney for the reply - I was hoping to hear from you. Good to know about the freezing temps, that is what I suspected since I find these worms outside in my cold compost piles. People local here (CT) don't believe. It has been said if you build it they will come - that includes the Eisenia Foetida red wiggler worms.

And Thank You 11otis for the covert suggestion <smile>.

I keep hearing that compost worms can't survive the winter. My cold piles - in a climate considerably colder than connecticut - have them come back every spring. This includes winters that have stayed below -20c for weeks and weeks, when pile is frozen solid and ground is frozen for about a foot down. (That said, I can't vouch for a fact that they are Eisenia Foetida, but they sure seem to be)

Perhaps when your winters are that cold the worms themselves die off but the cocoons they left behind hatch in the spring. Do you find any mature worms when your bins start to thaw in the spring?

To be honest, I have no idea, but I suspect you're right that it's the cocoons. I can say that usually by the time I look / dig deeper I find what seem to be mature worms, but that's not scientific. I read something somewhere ages ago that claimed that worms essentially hibernate by covering themselves in a mucous coating and that and ice around them keeps them alive. But to me there's no difference - they are there in the fall, and they're back in spring. Of course, the worms are not doing much during the winter, but the freeze/thaw cycle(s) do quite a bit to break down compostable materials, and I'd guess creating great conditions for the worms once they do reappear.

I'm really curious as to how many people find a large number redworms in their hot composting bins after it has cooled down? Last season I tried adding some worms to my hot compost (after it cooled) to see if they would thrive. When I started digging material out of that bin months later I found very few redworms. Does compost that has gone through the hot phase lack the "food" requirements to support a healthy redworm population?

Harry

Did you see centipedes/millipedes in there? How's the moisture? If it's an open bin, it is also possible that they have gone to greener pastures while it was hot. My backyard composters have lots of earth worms in them, not sure what species. They are mostly the short kind but not EF. I also found what I think are ENC, based on the size and stripes.

Just a thought for how I have done the eggs over time. In the beginning I saw the eggs and it was good. I saved all the eggs I could which could be in the 50-60 range at harvest time. But now as Im using the factory 360 and 6 trays I dont bother with eggs although I do see some. I feel like by the time the top tray gets to harvest its at least 3 months and should be plenty of time to hatch. Any eggs that are in the harvest tray at that time go into my holding bucket and they can continue to survive in there or not