A ‘Bag of Worms’ – In More Detail
August 19, 2009
My new Red Worm starter culture bags as compared to a ‘Compost Ecosystem’ bag (foreground)
***NOTE: This post was written in August of 2009. Please visit the Red Worm page for current pricing and shipping information. You will see below where changes have been made (and explanations added)***
As I mentioned yesterday, I am no longer offering specific quantities of worms. Instead, I have decided to switch over to a ‘Red Worm Starter Culture’ approach, in an effort to keep the business up and running while I put my focus elsewhere for the next few months. My hope is to be able to bring back the smaller (specific) quantities in time for next spring, when I should be able to dedicate a lot more time to this endeavour.
[UPDATE: I am very happy with the way the 'culture' and 'ecosystem' products have been received by customers thus far, and plan to continue focusing primarily on this approach. That being said, if you are in need of specific (larger) quantities of worms, don't hesitate to get in touch]
In a lot of ways, I think this is still a win/win situation, since customers will be getting worms that have been handled (and stressed) a lot less, and packed with loads of great ‘compost ecosystem‘ material (containing plenty of baby worms and cocoons, along with other beneficial compost critters). Aside from being a great inoculum for your worm bin, compost ecosystem also has a lot of ‘habitat’ and ‘food’ value to help your worms get adjusted to their new home much more easily!
Just so you know, research has shown that each Red Worm cocoon, on average, releases three new worms, and as I’ve discovered via my own experimentation, baby Red Worms can grow to adulthood in a matter of a few weeks under the right conditions. In other words, aside from all the adult worms that are already included your starter culture, you should expect to see plenty more before too long!
So where does this worm-filled material come from?
The material selected for my starter culture bags will only come from highly productive worm beds. It will also typically be further concentrated to ensure that there will be lots of adult worms in the mix. [UPDATE: Culture is still harvested from highly productive zones, but it is now always concentrated further as well]
A typical hand-full of material (and worms) that will go into a starter culture bag (along with plenty more just like it)
I can’t guarantee any specific exact number of adult worms, or worm weight – but customer satisfaction is extremely important to me, so rest assured you will get good value.
As you can see in the first picture, the bags themselves are somewhat larger than those used for compost ecosystem (and previously used for concentrated worm orders). When full, they’ll typically weigh around 3 1/2 lb or so (at time of packing – will likely lose moisture if shipped), and contain close to 3.5 litres of ‘stuff’ (worms plus material).
In all honesty, I had hoped the bags would be somewhat larger so that I could offer ‘small’ and ‘large’ options, but as it turns out the difference in size between these and the compost eco-bags isn’t enough (in my mind, anyway) to bother with this approach. If I get some larger bags sometime in the future, I may explore this option then.
Ok – well, I think that basically covers it! If you have ANY questions, and/or would like to order one or more of these bags, please visit the Red Worm page then send me an email.
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