How to Overwinter Red Wiggler Composting Worms in your Garden
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- Опубліковано 24 лис 2016
- Composting worms are the engine that drives the nutrient cycle in my garden. They eat organic material in my garden helping to break it down releasing plant available nutrients, beneficial microbes and plant growth hormone.
Today I am going to talk to you about how I over winter red wigglers in my garden so they can continue to drive the nutrient cycle year after year without needing to be re-introduced.
[1] Red Wiggler Facts
redwigglersupply.ca/worm-facts/
[2] Cold Hardiness of Worm Cocoons
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
[3] Insulation properties of soil
www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/p... - Навчання та стиль
red wigglers surviving outside this far north - astonishing and good news - now to source the food they require and the worms as well. Thank you so much!
Have fun my friend.
I have kept my red wriggles alive for ten years in my compost bin outside in the uk. They have also moved house 3 times. I now have worm bins in my garage too. 👍
How do you keep it warm in the garage over winter?
@@cinnamoroll100 pop a couple of blankets over. To be honest I put the worms back in the garden compost bin last year as I needed the space in my garage.. 👍
That's amazing, I imagine they are members of the family at this point!
Hi Nick 4 years late here but I have a question I can’t find red wigglers anywhere in England, are they the same as Tiger worms ?
@@Ryan92230 yes they are, also known as brandling worms. In England they're more commonly known as tiger worms but in USA red wrigglers. I'm in Northampton If you're not far away you can get some from me, pick your own.🤣👍🤠🪱💩
Good ideas. I learned from the book "All My Secrets of Organic and Container Gardening So Far" that you can also just throw an old scrap window (often obtained for free) over that cold compost pile during the winter which will insulate it even more at night and even add some small greenhouse effect during the days.
I started a horse manure compost last summer. The following spring, I found hundreds of red wringers in the compost, and never placed them there in the first place. I can't tell you how they managed to get there or how they spend the winter, but nature found a way, and I was very happy (Eastern KY).
Very good job describing the wonderful world of these garden helpers.
Red wigglers are awesome...I don't have ground freezing issues (normally) here in Texas, but learned a bunch about their care!
Glad I could help. In your area they would do great with food !
Guys sounds so educated. Well versed and very well presented. Thxs
Lots of useful into in here, Stephen. Nicely done!
Good info.! Have wonderful weekend Mr. Stephen!
Thank you and I hope you have a great weekend as well !
I was thinking about adding a double cover hoop on my raised bed. This will increase the heat in my raise beds by 10 degrees. Winters are cold here in Pa but not brutal. I need to add a compose space in my garden for composting. Also a great video about building your compost pile. As always thanks for sharing
Damn! That was an efficient video!! Thank you very much!!!
I live in Manitoba and I Always keep composing indoors during winter in order to keep a few worms alive.
Great Video! My compost bin is above 100F in Northern California, and worms are active around the edges.
Hey Stephen, This is a great video. I've had a very similar experience here in Winnipeg, MB.
3 years ago, I found a local lady selling red wigglers on Facebook, bought a 2 liter container from her and tossed them into my 1st black earth compost bin. 3 years later I have red wigglers in all 5 of my black compost bins.
FYI, I have noticed in April it looks like I have no worms in my black bins and I will look again in May and my bins are jumping with activity. It's June now and my bins are full of red wigglers and earth worms.
So you must be correct and the cocoons must winter inside the compost.
If you want to collect worms, I recommend searching youtube for the Worm Gitter. I have not tried it myself but it's easy enough to make a stick and try it out.
It blows my mind that red wigglers can survive outdoors in Winnipeg! Until today I was certain I'd have to take my worms indoors every fall, and I'm 2000 km southwest of Manitoba. What a worrywart!
@@d.jensen5153 yup, people always want to make thing look complicated. Nature is simpler than that.
Thank you Stephen for that useful information.
I am glad you enjoyed it my friend!
Useful and timely information here, thank you very much.
Glad I could help !
Excellent video, subbed
Cheers from Victoria
Thank you for the video. Very interesting! I have been so excited since I started my first compost pile. I keep going outside every day to see if I can tell the difference since the last time I looked . . . not that I actually expect to be able to see it composting in any meaningful way over the course of a 24 hour period.
Some times you can but what I found helpful is a compost thermometer. It keeps me satisfied seeing 20-30 c even though the pile has been going 6 weeks and it's -10 outside during the day !
***** LOL. That's a good idea. It gives some measurable sense of accomplishment without expecting mother nature to act unnatural.
Good info, and I believe your method would work well here in northeastern PA. But I live in a forest and am concerned with the non native worms going wild and eventually consuming all the organic litter on the forest floor. So I'm going to build a thermostatically controlled heat system for my worm farm & bins.
Interesting, has that ever happened?
Great and useful advice. Thank you! I'm pretty sure i lost mine last winter...
Really good! Thank you!
Great video
Wow! Had no Idea they could overwinter in zone3 weather!
It just takes a few tricks :)
Looking good more manly and thinner. Enjoyed the video.
Thank you my friend. I am working on it :)
I have been entertaining the idea of ordering red wigglers for some time now. Here in Florida, red colored worms can often be found in swampy areas under leaf litter very close to standing water, and underneath cow dung, etc. I have tried with no success to get those guys to naturalise in my garden. We have such a high abundance of earthworms inhabiting the higher ground, and from what I've read we also have an introduced species from southeast Asia . I woild love to have a good storebought, reliable variety of composting worm that will stay put as long as its requirements are met. Earthworms are too fickle, and on the move all the time to be of any real help to finishing compost
I suspect the worms you have already are far better than mine. You may be alright with the others in your garden. In Florida I suspect simply having any variety is what you wish.
Awesome idea but maybe keep the native slower worms around also for the proven survivability. Seems you work with limited space also. Spreading out and adding to your hot compost would probably help spread heat and you feeding the compost all winter + keeping the moisture right will help maintain the heat.
very well made video
It’s basically what I have been doing. I have paper in my compost too
Hi Shirley, Red Wigglers ( Eisenia Fetida- Australian Breed Earthworm ) has resistance power from -5 to 55. It is the richest protein element on earth, which eat almost all the degradable thing ( Paper, Cow dunk, kitchen waste, dried leave etc.) and converts them into best Vermicompost. Let me know if you have any more query.
Thank you sir
I keep Red wrigglers indoors in my composting bin that I bought from uncle Jim’s worm farm. Most of my worms are staying alive, but don’t seem very active. I’ve noticed they have barely ate any food, also.
As a general rule of thumb. Any cold that doesn't kill an animal, will end up slowing them down. So their lack of appetite and slow wriggling is normal in that context
good info thx for sharing. :)
I have been following your channel for a few months now and I get a lot of useful info.I mostly grow houseplants and since I started adding used tea bags, banana peel and used coffee grounds into my potted plants i started seeing earthworms.I am scared of earthworms but after watching this i understand i have to keep doing it to feed them?how did they get in there in the first place I use potting soil for my houseplants from my garden center.
Hello,Hope you are doing and save from this pandemic Covid 19, Red Wigglers ( Eisenia Fetida Australian Breed Earthworm ) has resistance power from -5 to 55. It is the richest protein element on earth, which eat almost all the degradable thing ( Paper, Cow dunk, kitchen waste, dried leave etc.) and converts them into best Vermicompost. Let me know if you have any more query. abhinavsingh23@gmail.com, +91 9810449546
My wed wigglers went a Winnebago and wide down to Waxahachie for the winter.
Lol
***** :D
I put a handful of worms from my worm bin into my compost bin (1.5 meter cube) I'm hoping they overwinter. Frost depth here is 1.3 meters (4 feet) on cold winters
I will try this winter to put shredded papers, whole newspapers, cardboard boxes then tarp before snow sets in.
Hi James, did y toss your worms and old compost in new and hot compost, and not only that, toss and mix tru or layered, without having to worry where y place your red wigglers, so y can feed them where next (to them). this is one of my biggest concern, not knowing where they are to feed them, or they have migrate to the bottom of the pile on the outside where the obvious mycelium or mycorhizal, or something acetomyces, I like to munch on it. I'm putting fresh garden scraps layered on top w/o disturbing them. w red wigglers, the instruction from Uncle Jim's is so different than what you do to your old transfered to the new compost pile. please explain. I did watch it a million times, but still confused. thanks.
Add a worm tower to keep the numbers up as well
Cold compost? Is that post rotted material? Love the vid. Am overwintering in Ontario. I also all grain homebrew. Thanks.
will u differentiate kinds of common earth worms we see in the garden which of which are good composter in ur next video pls
7 feet of frozen ground! In that kind of cold, I guess you need some kind of mining permit, just to put in a water line. Worms are tougher than I thought they were.
Insulated lines make a difference lol.
The ground may be frozen but just barely with those methods.
stephen. hi! you ve lost a lot of weight! congratulations!!!
Thank you my friend ! I appreciate your noticing. I have been working on keeping up with my son !
Have you ever tried combining hugelkultur with vermiculture? Maybe they can stay active all winter long if you incorporate the two technologies. Its just a thought as I have no idea if this would work. THanks!
I've been toying with this idea too!
Quick question : you mentioned adding castings in 2012.. were these purchased castings or your own? I ask because suddenly this winter I have found Eisenia’s randomly under rocks. (Where I have found them I have completely refurbished the soil and am quite aware of my native worms). I am wigging out a bit as last year I sorted through the soil when refurbishing and separated each and every worm and not red was found. Now suddenly in January in the PNW I have found a total of four. While not a huge amount, I am perplexed. Three options of origin that I am thinking..
My indoor Vermicompost had a rogue cocoon roll out to the garden. Unlikely as my guys are mostly Andrai and PE. These Eisenia’s in the garden are just gorgeous with their striping. My bin worms are Maroon with slight striping barely seen.
Second option.. I have been purchasing a brand of organic castings and last year I amended the castings (and a lot of them) into the refurbished soil.
Third. The Organic compost and steer manure mix could contain cocoons.
All seem plausible, but it is driving me nuts!!!! (Sorry for the long post)
as a newbie to both soil sciences and vermicomposting this doesn’t seem normal. I have always read that Eisenia aren’t found in gardens
How cold does it get where you are? We're in Manitoba where it gets to -45 celcius
I seen this spring under some mulch Ted wrigglers someone long ago must have put them there
That is great man ! Your garden will do way better with them.
Cold and Hot Compost? I had no idea there was a difference. just so I understand, in year 1 make a cold compost pile, year 2 add that to the hot compost pile and then that fall add the hot to the garden? is there a video that I missed that explains more or have I got the basics?
The reason I ask is that my first attempt at compost wasn't the best. I am starting to think that it was more a cold pile based on what you said in the video.
Yes year 1 make a cold compost
Year 2 use the cold compost to make a hot compost. You will need different materials such as the video suggested.
Spring year 3 apply the hot compost to the garden.
Hello sir, your video was very interesting, I thinking to
start olive farming in morocco in 30 hector, can you please advise me how can i
make big quantity of earthworms compost to fulfil my need, i don’t want to use chemical
fertiliser, i know it’s a hot country but i will try to arrange bit cool place
for worms .
Weather in morocco, it has bit of winter 3 month minimum
15 degree and rest of the year is hot up to 40 degree
Tell me what types of worms i should use ??
Thanks ,,
Canadian night crawlers love cold weather but I don’t know if you can get that worms in your country and they are not easy to take care !
I heard you say you add your brewing waste. Are you talking about spent grains and hops? or something else?
I heard him say something about cider... Perhaps some fruit pulp/skin?
👍👍👍
Do the red wigglers move in the "soil" or stay with in the worm castings?Ive been told you cant put red wrigglers into good old dirt.Is this true?
I live here in SC and I have a hole in ground as my bin. Hoping they survive winter.
Hi!
I'm a newbie farmer and I wanted to learn something. I've been looking for methods on how to attract worm on my compost pile. I am from a tropic country and I just want to know if my compost pile can attract red wigglers if i did not make my compost hot.
And lastly, is vermicast better than compost?
Just keep composting and the worms will find your pile. If you happen to find worms while working on other areas you can relocate them to your pile to help out. Just be consistent where you are composting and everything should work out.
Both vermicompost and compost have their benefits and they are different. For instance compost often has better soil structure where vermicompost often comes with plant growth hormones.
Thanks!
if you give meds to your farm animals ypu will Not have red wigglers. You will have to make a bed for them separately under a large tree for protection from too much sun and too much rain. Do not feed citrus meat fish bones or anything acidic. With time , I found out they love leaves - no walnut, processed compost and hey/ straw. I hope I was helpful. If it gets cold cover with a tarp and put at least 10 inches of hey on top
Where do you get red wrigglers?
Hello, I'm in NY and I would like to make a redworms casting, but I wonder if the native worms will kill my redworms? Sorry the question is the first time I want to do. Thanks.
no
do you have to have red wiggs or can you just use regular worms?
Red Wrigglers eat far more than regular earthworms.
Hi, what kind of onions at 2:13? Thanks.
Just regular yellow onions. They were grown from sets.
You don't need a compost pile. Just dump everything onto the ground and everything will grow even without a raise bed. The key is to let everything grow, then you will get as much organic matter as possible in your yard cause all plants, including weeds, are carbon fixers. If you do this year after year, you can build up very good soil without relying on importing organic matter from any outside source. DO NOT mow your lawn until the grass starts to self seed. Then cut the long grass stems and dump them back to the ground. If you do this for 5 years, you don't need to do any composting or raise beds any more cause your soil will turn from bad to acceptable.
I was so surprised to see red wrigglers in my garden this spring. I never put them there. But I live in an area built in the sixties anybody’s guess.
They would likely have been hanging around a mature neighborhood like yours. You are lucky!
I wasn't sure they could overwinter here, thanks for the info on how to keep them alive Stephen. You wouldn't happen to remember where you got yours do you? I've never seen them locally that I can remember.
My brother had them when he lived here. I have no idea where he got them sorry.
No worries, thanks for the other info again and a (slightly late) Merry Christmas to you Stephen!
Great video! Keep up the good work. Don't make a one time investment into Eisenia fetida! Invest in some worm bins and grow your own; you will be all the better for it!
Glad you enjoyed the video.
Where does a person find red wigglers in Alberta? My local bait shops sell earthworms only?
thank you
princessdirt.ca and wormsatwork.com are two that I know. I used princessdirt.ca before and was happy with them.
Glad they were able to help you out. I got mine from worm castings my brother gave me :)
I wonder if this effort would be better served by keeping an indoor source of worms. This would give you a way to compost kitchen scraps year round, but would require a small investment of indoor space. just my thoughts...
Indoor plants are great but my wife vetoed the idea so I am going to have to be content with what I have :)
Alberta Urban Garden Simple Organic and Sustainable indoor plants? I keep an indoor worm bin... It can be a Rubbermaid container, or a purchased container, etc... about once a week you put your kitchen scraps in and the worms eat, poop... and then repeat the process.... as long as the system doesn't get over fed, or too wet it doesn't smell... Fair warning tho, it is easy for newbies to make early mistakes and make gnats, or a smells until you get it right... I am in the newbie stage right now :)
Well at last!!! You mean I don't have to bring them inside my house for winter? That is such good news, you can ask Patrick, this seemed too gross for me, we have kind of an inside joke on this one lol The only other thing that is bothering me is, will this non native specie take the niche of our native ones? Maybe you have thoughts on that?
I doubt very much it's having a big impact on my native worms. Red wiggles need so much food and I simply don't provide it anywhere else in my yard :)
I'll have to ask Patrick about that joke!
can you eat them if populations get out of control or if your family rejects your turkey on thanksgiving? ;)
I suspect it would work but may not be that flavourful.
lol, too small dude. Try this, gather 2 or 3 pounds of night crawlers (easy to do after a rain) and prep them by feeding them slightly moist uncooked oatmeal flakes in a bucket for a couple of days. This gets the dirt out of their system.
Wash them then drop them in boiling water for a couple of minutes. When they stop wiggling remove them and place on paper towels to remove excess water. Grind them in a blender with a pound or two of uncooked hamburger.
Use in any recipe that calls for hamburger. It will save you money and the kids won't know the difference.
(This recipe is guaranteed to save you lots and lots of money on your meat bill if you tell the kids about the worms - they will swear off any home cooked meals made with hamburger for months to come)
Try it and let me know if it works. I've heard it tastes like chicken :)
I thought mulch would used but what you did is even better but a 7 foot frost that means a 8 foot foundation. |:
That's why we have Basements lol. Our frost jacking is only 4 foot though.
LOL still need a 5 foot foundation. I thought 3 foot was bad in Michigan.
I ordered reds and they all died! With the temp -25
HI Jack, Red Wigglers ( Eisenia Fetida- Australian Breed Earthworm ) has resistance power from -5 to 55. It is the richest protein element on earth, which eat almost all the degradable thing and converts them into best Vermicompost. Let me know if you have any more query.
Could a +7 degree low really be considered "winter"? In someone's universe it probably is.
Hello Denfktinso, Red Wigglers ( Eisenia Fetida- Australian Breed Earthworm ) has resistance power from -5 to 55. It is the richest protein element on earth, which eat almost all the degradable thing and converts them into best Vermicompost. Let me know if you have any more query.
I think I’ll let my worms outside because they have chance to survive if they dropped on the soil , I lost my worms indoors since they keep escaping and died on the floor😓
Diagrams with arrows please
Earth worms vs red wigglers composting
All great info but... why would you INVEST in anything? All of the ingredients are there to attract, catch and grow your own red wigglers without spending a penny! Happy gardening everyone!
You could feed them some if you like! This may attract them faster.Kitchen scraps are a great way to feed for free!
What is OVERWINTER?
Earth worms vs red wigglers compost
+0:29 lol
Gotta laugh.
They are called WRIGGLERS!
So basically they all die but their eggs survive? Haha
What happened to this channel?
1:50+ Temperatures are not measured in Celsius or Fahrenheit.
they are measured in DEGREES Celsius or Fahrenheit.
Only KELVIN is used without saying degrees.
Man I’m grateful I don’t live there. Brrrrrr
I have an over abundance of red wigglers from my indoor bin. Send me your contact info for pick up in Edmonton.