Do Skinny Breeders Make Lots of Cocoons? Plus Breeder Bin Reset Tip
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hello!
We all love chonky worms! Chonky worms make great breeders! Well guess what?! Skinny breeders fresh from grow out bins make fantastic breeders too - yippee!
If you’re interested in some wonderful juvenile red wigglers worms that are ready to become skinny breeders, check out my website at:
rockinworms.com/products
Thank you!
Yours in the dirt,
Jayne
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Great little breeder hack!! Those cocoons were so bright yellow!! Excellent job Jayne & cameraman!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey Patrick! Thanks! It makes it so easy to scoop up almost all of the cocoons that have stuck to the breeder worm bodies - and the worms do the work! How great that?!
Thanks for stopping by 🥰👍🪱
The Early Worm 🪱 Escapes the Bird 🐦
Not Camera Ready❤ 😁❤
Awe. come on, Jayne...you're always cute 😍
Haha! Not only not camera ready but messed up the upload so the title defaulted to the date! 🙄😂
Thanks for the kind words but it was the right choice 😳😝🪱🤩
Perfect timing as always Jayne. I'll be opening up my first breeder bin on Sunday. That'll be 21 days since I put I think 300 worms in the bin with the pre compost and I haven't disturbed it since. I've got a new bin ready to transfer the breeders to their new home, and the eggs will remain in the old bin to grow on. Thank you once again for taking the time to help us all.
Hi Bill! How exciting! Your first breeder bin results in a few days 😎. I’d love to hear how it goes. Are you planning to count cocoons to get an idea of the reproduction rate?
Good thinking on setting up the breeder bin early 👍. I try to set up the new breeder bins a few day before I need them. It doesn’t always happen 🙄. But the worms do seem to adjust easier if the new bin has had a few days to settle. 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms Hi Jayne, I think I'll have to estimate the number of cocoons as I have Essential Tremor and so I wouldn't trust myself to try and pick them up. It's not really important as it's only for fun. Tomorrow's the great unveiling.😄
@@funnysods Hey Bill. Estimates are fine in lots of cases. I estimate the number of cocoons in my big commercial order - there’s no way I can count literally 10s of thousands of cocoons 😳.
Perhaps you can use a modified method to get yourself at least a closer, more accurate estimate. There’s 2 ways I’ve gone about it:
1) if you have scale, like a postal scale. Mine goes up to 11 pounds.
Take 1 ounce of well mixed breeder bin material (after you’ve removed the breeders!). Spread it out on a flat surface. Use tweezers or a toothpick or knife point (you get the idea) and pick thru the material, separating out the cocoons into a small pile. Other the pile several times to find them all. The smaller and darker ones can be hard to see. I also use bright light and strong reading glasses. Once you’ve separated out the coons in the 1 ounce just roll them to the side as you count them. No picking up of cocoons needed! Once you have the number you next weight ALL the bin contents. My standard bins come out at around 10 pounds. Anyway, if you have 100 ounces of bin material and you counted 25 cocoons in the 1 ounce, you can estimate you have 2500 total cocoons in the bin!
2) instead of using a scale, use a 1/4 measuring cup from the kitchen. Do the cocoon count the same way. After you get the number of cocoons in the 1/5 cup you can scoop out the entire bin contents in 1/4 cups. The multiply the number of 1/4 cups x the number of cocoons counted. That’s your total cocoon count estimate!
For me, for the commercial order, I do 3 test counts and take an average and then use the average cocoon count number for the bin total estimate.
OR just eyeball all the lovely cocoons and feel great about it!! 🥰🤩👍🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms hey Jayne, just did the great reveal and I had to come straight online and let you know the results. Fantastic! I can't believe how many cocoons are in the bin, they're everywhere. It would take me forever to try and separate or even to guess the numbers, but there are more eggs in that tiny tray than I've ever seen in my large CFT. A better result than I could've ever imagined. There is still a lot of bedding left so I just removed the breeders and put them in their new home and left the eggs and remaining worms. I noticed a fair few eggs have transferred into the new breeding bin with the worms and bits of bedding but it doesn't matter. I can't thank you enough Jayne for all your help and advice, you do a great job taking time out of your life to help to help us novices. Just one question, the eggs I've put in the new tray is now a grow out bin, right? How long before they start breeding or grow big enough to warrant removal and placing in a breeding bin?
@@funnysods Bill, that’s fantastic!! Congratulations 🎊 !
Masking the glow of your first successful breeder bin 😍🤩.
The original bin minus the breeders is a cocoons/nursery bin as all the worms will be about the same age - cocoons or wisps. The odd older nanny worm doesn’t change this unless there’s lots of them. If there’s lots of them then yes, it would be a grow out bin. Remember, these bin stage names are pretty standard but not 100% standard. I’ve heard other worm wranglers call their bins different names at different stages than what I do. Doesn’t matter. What matters is you call designate them a name you know and understand and can be consistent with as this makes managing your bins easier.
As for how long until cocoons grow into breeders, it’ll be several months. Plan on 4-5 months but exact timeframe will vary.
Again, congratulations!!!!🪱🪱🪱🪱🪱🙄
I'm loving that t-shirt Jayne. I had a feeling that we might have more in common than a crazy interest in worms.
Oh no Chris! I hate to disappoint you but it’s Caneraman that’s the Deadhead 🤩. I am however the one that finds and buys him the merch 🥰. Under the Dead shirt I had on a stained and ripped worm working shirt that would have not passed censorship! 😂😂. Camerman picked that shirt out of his collection and then dressed me like I was a toddler as my gloved hands were dirty and sweaty and I didn’t want to take the gloves off. 🙄😆😂
All that said, I’m glad you like the shirt! Camerman will be thrilled to know another Deadhead rocks the worms too 🥰🪱🪱
I have been doing loads of video research to start my very first worm bins. I hope to begin early June. Thank you.
Hi Sean! Welcome! Oooh a new worm wrangler in the making! Love it! 😍🥰
I hope you’ll share with us any cool information to find during your research. There’s always more to learn 🤩.
I also hope you’ll report back on how setting up your new worm adventure goes 👍🪱🪱
More great info as always Jayne!! The hack I use to get 99% of my cocoon is take a piece of burlap and wet it, set your breeders on top as they go through the holes they rub off any leftover cocoons on them.
Try it out and see what ya think.
Hi! The burlap trick would totally work too - I can see that 👍. A nice loose weave would act as the scrubbie, just like the soil is doing my way. If I come across some burlap in my mess of a sewing room I’ll grab it a give it a try. It’d be kinda nice and easy to pick up the burlap after the breeders have gone down and simply shake it off over the (now) cocoon bin. Love it! Thanks so much for sharing your hack 😍🤩.
If anyone tries it please report back!! 🪱🪱🪱
I was poking around my urban worm bag this afternoon. ( My verdict isn’t in on it yet. I think I should have stuck to bins like you have that aren’t very deep. I was amazed to see LOTS of wisps and juvenile worms. That excited me because more worms means they can compost more food scraps for me. My original worms weren’t chonky in the least. When I poked around today, I found the most wisps and subadult worms in cardboard toilet paper rolls that I’d filled with used paper towels and puréed food scraps. When I opened up a few ( in various stages of being broken down), they were like little worm day care centers. I didn’t see cocoons but I suspect that’s because I’m not used to looking for them and because the urban worm bag’s depth makes it hard to reach in ( for me). I set up a breeder bin today using pre compost. I’m curious to see if cocoons are easier to see with much less depth and because the bedding already had started composting. I am loving learning as I go- with the help of people like you.
Hi Mary! That’s so exciting - all those wisps and young worms 🤩. It’s not unusual to have an area with a concentration of cocoons resulting in a wisp nursery or day care. Remember that onion tops and end experiment I did? Those onions were loaded with babies. Some worm wranglers will use the paper rolls stuffed with yummy worm treats as baits to concentrate worms for harvesting. You’re doing just that 👍.
When I used fabric bags with 5 gallon buckets as worm bins could dump the contents out into a bin so I could see what was going on. I can’t even imagine digging into a big worm bag 😳. Not for me. I just wouldn’t be able to see anything. Even my large water trough worm bins are at my limit for depth. But, hey to each wrangler their own! 😆.
You don’t mention seeing adults…? That important too. If you starting thinking all the adults are gone and just babies are left, that signals serious bin problems!
Look for adults!!
You have to get your eye in for cocoons. Every single time (🙄) I am resetting a breeder bin and I open it up the first time I always think ‘Where are the cocoons? Why aren’t there cocoons?’ Even as I start to turn the material over. I have that moment of panic that something went horrible wrong. 😳. I’m not kidding. Every time. And then it’s like oh ok, there they are! Oh wow there’s a lot! Yippee!
Yes the cocoons will be easier to see in better lighting vs the darkness of the bag interior. I use strong focused lighting to pick cocoons. But even seeing them, especially as a beginner, takes a little time. You’ll get there!
I’m honored to be on this fun trip with you 🥰🪱🤩😎
No worries- there are lots of adults too. I was just pleasantly surprised to see so many babies.
@@marymccusker8133 Oh that’s good!! 🪱🪱🪱🪱
Hi Jayne, why do you have to count the breeders when you know how many you put in there? Is it hard to miss pulling one out?
~ Sandra
Sometimes I don’t count as I initially set up the bin. For example I can be on a worm chat call and not be able to accurately count and participate in the chat but need to get the breeder bin started 😍. So I’ll pull breeders out of various grow out bins, place them into a new breeder bin and let them at it! When I do the first reset I’ll count them out to my desired number (850 for my size regular bins) and then add or move breeders as necessary. I won’t count the bin again for several cycles. Subsequent counting is to replace worms that perish.
It actually is easy to miss worms - or is for me! I usually go go thru the bin 3 times to catch every worm. Obviously the 2nd and 3rd times thru take only a few minutes. And even then I sometimes miss a breeder 😳🙄! But it doesn’t materially affect anything. A missed worm gets put where it belongs when I come across it later on. 😎
Thanks for the great questions! 🪱🪱
Sorry Jane it's suppose to say a wormary
Hi Jane I’ve been following you and have started to do pre-composting. My question is my I add some fresh worm tea to the mix even if there are no worms it there yet. It has 50/50 Mix of cardboard shreds w/ aged manure then w/coffee grounds equal to 35% of the mix. I moisten with well water also usually 2 hands of existing bedding frm another bin. Total size is approximately 45 gal of bedding Tk you Cecilia
Hi Cecelia! Welcome! You’re off to a great start! It does sound like your mix may be heavy on the nitrogen with the manure and then the added coffee grounds. Keep an eye on it and if it’s starts to smell (heavy nitrogen can do that) be prepared to add in a bunch of carbon to balance it out. If you can scrounge up a second tote so you can offload the first tote as part of the aerating process- adding in additional carbon if needed - that can make the work a lot easier 😊. The 45 gallon tote size will help a lot with heat build up and retention and that accelerates the composting action 👍.
I look forward to updates! Thanks for sharing 😍🪱🪱
Once again,you are the Cocoon Queen! And Cameraman is the Kamera King! Heres a question. As you know, Ive been fooling around with trying to get my 5 gallon bucket pre composting to where it heats up, even if just a little. I have a bucket that got to about 93 degrees, which is the best Ive gotten so far (added fresh cardboard shreds mixed with fresh chick poop from my new chickie bins). So can I assume since its heating up thats theres bacteria working? And if thats a safe assumption, can I use a bit of the pre compost in that bucket to innoculate another bucket?
Kamera King. Omg. There’ll be no living with him soon 🙄🤣🤣🤣
Yes, if you get any heat rise above ambient you are doing well with having a decent amount of boots working. So recall that biota is working at and below room temperature too - it’s called cold composting and is very much what we’re doing in our worm bins! Mostly cold composting with a touch of hot composting on the food zones (scraps, chow, that stuff). Th biota that works at the hotter temperatures breaks down the materials faster. It’s really about speed.
You can think of your bucket as somewhere between prepared bedding and barely hot composting. It’s all much better than doing nothing at all.
It took me several batches to get the feel for my ratios with my ingredients. And once I found yeast and also jumped to larger totes, I got the much higher temperatures, into the mid to upper 120F. Your 5 gallon bucket is a difficult container. I sorta cheated as I used the mix I had made for the big boy sized tote that morning. It hadn’t heated yet but that doesn’t mean the biota hadn’t had time to gear itself up before I scooped it out.
I’m a big fan of using ‘old’ pre-compost to inoculate new compost. Absolutely! 👍 🪱🪱😎
@@RockinWorms Good deal. You're the best!
Another question (you know I always have another one). Is it best to innoculate another bin with hot pre compost? I know that you let the pre compost work until it cools down, but Im wondering if the bacteria "stop" working when they cool down to ambient temperature. Are they "hungriest" when the temps are hot?
@@katiem9644 Ask away! I don’t know scientifically the answer but yes, inoculating with very active biota seems like a good jump start to a new pre-compost tote. The stuff I use is usually cooking down but is still above ambient. 👍🪱
Hi Jane just a little help from you I've just been given a workday and I love it in from England pensioner and keen gardener and love the workday but I have a problem I've noticed there's lots off ants small I've cleaned 2trays out but they are now breeding in the 3're bin what can I use or do without harming the works of would be most appreciated.. les
Hi Les! My autocorrect changes ‘worm’ to ‘work’ all the time so I knew what you meant 🤗.
Ants can be a real pain in the patootie in worm bins.
The best way to deal with the ants is to clean them out and then place the worm bins up over water so the ants can’t get to the legs or bin itself.
It may be easier to pick out the worms and cocoons and toss the ant infested bedding into the garden and start over in a new fresh worm bedding/bin.
You may have to place your bins on some type of table with legs where the legs can sit in pots or buckets or cups/glasses of water. The water doesn’t have to be very deep or wide but the legs need to be completely surrounded by the water. The ants must NOT be able to get to the support legs. Personally I’d have the water at least 1” on all sides of the legs and 1” deep as well.
A deep dry covering of cardboard shred can also help keep ants out of bins. You can try that if the legs and water isn’t something you can do.
Let me know what you try and how it works! 🪱🪱