Making a wormery?

[Tree123]

anyone here make/own a wormery? Seems easy enough to make one?
Then buy 1k of lob worms then let them stay in the shed until a time that i need them plus save me some money on bait? Plus make some compost for the garden.

Once you added worms did they breed when they were in there?

 

[David Rogers 3]

Lobworms apparently don't breed in captivity and are the hardest of "bait worms" to keep in good condition. Damp used tealeaves (not bags) are about the best things I've found with which to supplement the compost they arrive from suppliers in. The sort of small red worms (brandlings?) that turn up naturally in garden compost bins are the easiest to gather and they keep themselves, but are possibly the least attractive to fish. Most online suppliers of lobworms sell pricey "wormkeeper" buckets, but I can't comment on these as I've never tried them/

 

[markcw]

Get some dendrabenas to start your wormery off. As for lobs, damp shredded newspaper or sphagnum moss is good for keeping them in,

 

[David Rogers 3]

Just remembered - I was advised to use grated raw potato, sprinkled on top of the compost, to feed lobworms and keep them in good condition. I've not tried it yet, though.

 

[markcw]

Piece of banana, tea leaves,
Worms will always go to the bottom of whatever they are kept in, I used to turn the lidded bucket I kept mine in 180 degrees top to bottom to agitate the medium and move any food in there around.

 

[Tree123]

Ok great. dendrabenas seem a good place to start. Im.not over bothered if they breed or not as i can always just buy a kilo at a time to keep postage costs worth while i just them to stay alive. I would prefer lobworms as i want worms for perch fishing but im sure large dendrabenas will do the job too Seen the worm buckets you mention with the posh worm food stuff you can buy.

 

[markcw]

Ok great. dendrabenas seem a good place to start. Im.not over bothered if they breed or not as i can always just buy a kilo at a time to keep postage costs worth while i just them to stay alive. I would prefer lobworms as i want worms for perch fishing but im sure large dendrabenas will do the job too Seen the worm buckets you mention with the posh worm food stuff you can buy.

You will know when they have bred, you will see what look like small strands of cotton in the medium they are kept in.
As for lobworms, if you have any grass verges on the roads/pavements near you, go there on a damp night, with a torch with red film covering the lens, you should be able to fill a 3 pint bait box in an hour, I had a few on a road near me before I moved, I used to start on one , work my way along one to the others and back again. Got home and put them in a tub with sphagnum mosskept on the garage floor
Considering at the time lobworms were around 12p each in tackle shop I saved a few quid,

 

[Tree123]

There is a park with wooded area with long grass about 5 mins walk away so they should be easily to get some lob worms

 

[markcw]

Try and find shorter grass, they are easier to get out .

 

[David Rogers 3]

I usually collect worms by sticking a garden fork in the lawn and moving it back and fore, but I must say this looks a good idea and it obviously works:

 

[Tree123]

I going to order some lobs this week as my local shop never seems to have any in i dendrabenas will be to small for tge big perch im after. Im going to go see if can harvest some too. Then see if i can keep them alive if i cant well ill just have to harvest them or buy them

Im going to take some prawns too. As ive only used them twice 1st time i had a decent fish 2nf time i lost a decent fish and want to improve my confidence in using them.

 

[john step]

If you do a search on this forum under "My Wormery" there is a thread I started on a space saving, all year round wormery, winter or summer.
I have only experience of breeding red worms which I find breed in profusion and are a good bait.
You can buy breeding stock of red worms on line often under the heading of Compost Worms.

I have just asked my wife the sandwich maker when we first moved into a certain address. This was in the 70s apparently. This is when I acquired the original breeding stock and they have followed me around from residence to residence providing free bait ever since.

 

[Keith M]

Redworm (not to be confused with dendrobaena or brandlings) are similar in size to dendrobaena and are extremely lively and a bright red in colour and Tench in particular really love them.

For years I kept Redworm in a large bucket full of earth and damp Spagnum moss (which is sold in some plant shops for making hanging baskets and other things) which I kept on the cold concrete floor of my shed.
NB:The bucket should have a few small drainage holes punched into its bottom too.

I started off with alternate layers of Earth and damp sphagnum moss which gradually got mixed up during the year as the worms moved about in it, and spring I replaced all of the layers of earth and sphagnum moss with fresh stuff.

I got my redworm stock from a under some well rotted horse manure in a field next to our estate lake; and occasionally topped them up with a few more redworms; although they did breed and there were sometimes lots of tiny white baby ones whenever I moved any of the apple slices and potato peel that I used to place on top to feed the worms with. I also used to put some lettuce leafs in with the apple slices and peelings every now and then.
Whenever I needed some redworms for bait I just lifted some of the slices of apple and potato peelings and there would be enough redworm to fill a small bait box with some damp sphagnum moss in it.

One thing I learned was to never put damaged worm back in with the other worms as that was a sure way to kill the rest of them for some reason.

Keith