The worm farm business at Unco Industries is an example of soaring prices and profit for worm waste
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- The worm farm business at Unco Industries in Union Grove is soaring as the national trend toward everything "green" has spurred demand for worm castings - or worm waste, an organic fertilizer that is in huge demand.
For more on this story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
archive.jsonli...
Video by Mike De Sisti
#worms #fertilizer #wisconsin #uniongrove #organic #organicfarming #farm
Agreed. It's not only the business model that's admirable, but the fact that farming black gold is pretty much the MOST ethical and sustainable business on the planet. Instead of depleting the planet, you're nourishing it, and the worms are fed their whole lives, no-slaughter. I can't think of anything negative... :)
I've used that brand before, Wiggle Worm, it's OK, but as with all mass production facilities of worm castings, regardless of brand, they feed them a basic worm chow mix and the by-product of the breakdown is usually no more than 2-3 weeks before it's bagged up. I've been running my own worm bins now since the spring of 2010. I'll add a variety of scraps, such as carrots,celery,oatmeal,ground dry beans/peas, apple and banana peelings, ect. What you get with smaller home sized worm bins is a greater quality worm casting because you can allow a longer breakdown time before harvesting the castings, instead of just 2-3 weeks like they do in the big commercial worm casting facilities which are also fed just a plain basic worm chow, there is no comparison in quality to worm castings that have been fed a variety of fresh food scraps that have been thoroughly worked for 2-3 months instead of just 2-3 weeks.
I use old newspaper fed thru a paper shredder as bedding. I save all of my egg shells and store them in a large container until I have enough that I can then put into my blender and grind them up to the point that the egg shells are like a gritty powder.I never let my bins go anaerobic by keeping fresh bedding in it. The ground egg shells can be added to my worm bins for 2 reasons, one is it aids the worm's gut to help digest what they eat as well as it can keep the pH of the worm bin from going acidic. Egg shells have a neutral 7.0 pH range. All you need to start off with is 1 pound of worms and patience. Then keep adding bins and they will keep multiplying over the months. I use red wiggler worms. I only have 1 book on the subject and that's Mary Appelhof's "Worms Eat My Garbage". It will tell you everything you need to know about composting worms and maintaining worm bins.
It's a great hobby and it's something that will continue to give free fertilizer indefinitely and will be superior to any of the mass produced worm castings that come out of commercial factories.
undergroundbasement Awesome tips, thanks!
just bought the book on eBay... many thanks from UK.. :-))
Exactly,variety and bio diversity is always the best results. Healthier feed worms creates healthier worm compost. You are what you eat,and worms create what they are feed. Feed them inferior nutrients,they create inferior worm compost.
Thanks for the book suggestion!
I agree with mass production, but you are feeding them scraps? I feed mine quality food.
My tiny bucket of worm compost in the balcony works well too! Plants go crazy with this stuff, and I feed the worms kitchen scraps ( fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds, etc). The resulting poop has more nutrients, no chemicals, and again, it's the caviar of organic fertilizers for my veggies...
Yes
th-cam.com/video/9D0puK87nXo/w-d-xo.html
TESTIMONI HONDA VARIO - STELL BALAP TANPA TURUN MESIN ~ SOLUSI AKSELERASI MOTOR MATIC
What I enjoyed from this video is it looks like they really take pride in their product. It's nice to see that. I don't know if the guy at the end does that for every bag but messaging the castings to fit on the pallet just right appeals to my OCD personality :) Perfection.
First year I used this. It was amazing. So good I started my own worm farm.
I have a small scale worm farm. Bought it at a feed store. It wasn't cheap, but I have always wanted to start one and paid over $100. $40 for a quarter pound of red wriggles. A few years later I have many pounds of worms and am now expanding! my new home for worms is simply storage totes. A cheap way to go :)
Do you eat the worms
yeah with pasta
How much vermiculite organic material are you selling now from your worm farm?
Glad to hear about the totes, I just started my first bin in one. I used my homemade finished compost made from leaves and seaweed as bedding along with sawdust and leaf mulch and ripped up egg cartons in there too. I powdered up eggshells and add that to the food scraps, so far finely chopped apples, banana peels, cabbage and other scraps, hopefully I'm doing it right, I'll see. 🤞🏻 I also dust the scraps with a 1:1 powdered up oatmeal, flour, and cornmeal chow.
These are the companies that are the backbone of the economy being successful. However, small business has come under attack in recent years. Keep striving to survive and challenge the future of American small business by continuing to grow and be profitable. Good luck.
I've used compost, and still use it for tea sometimes, I've used fertilizers, I've used rock minerals and still do; but the Crazy thing is I started my own worm bin just a few months ago, and Nothing seems to work quite like the worm castings. And, the cool thing is, you can't over due it with worm castings lol you can add as much as you want!
Too an extend. it wont nutrient burn but too much worm casting will make your medium retain more water than you would like!
I love company's like this, they are a great inspiration.
The sandiest castings I have ever had came from their bag. The little guy does it better in my experience.
ha, ya i havent heard great things about Unco. Saving money to buy a worm farm up in Phillips, WI, and the guy that owns it now talked to the owner of unco about selling his castings to him , and he said he talked his product down and was rather arrogant
Another vid with John Kohler showed a place in maryland that composted food scraps 1 part to 3 parts wood chips and then once composted they sifted it and put a lot of it into their worm bins, which made for a cleaner setup for their worms, no rodents or other pests getting into the bins. I really think this is the way to go. One would have to have hundreds of thousands of worms to run a business even this large. I wonder about the mesh screen they have in the sifting process, large enough to let the castings through yet small enough not to let the worms through, perhaps 1/16th mesh? Imagine how much biomass you would have to have on a weekly basis to keep all those buckets and all those worms fed. Imagine all the scraps you could get from places that produced fruit, veggies, and coffee grounds.. Starbucks, jamba juice, many restaurants.. It does make sense that you'd have to train those companies to only put compost able items in your bins, and you would have to supply the bins for them and pick them up on a daily basis. Could be very profitable, and keep food from just rotting away in land fills.
I wouldn't doubt if they 10's of millions of worms. I heard that many companies even pay worm composters to haul their "trash" away (so it really sounds like a great business to have). Very eco-friendly and profitable in the process.
+Nonja Business Every bucket has 100 worms in them.
John Bonham Right, I mean I was talking about large industrial type deals.
I like the last sentence 'everything is run too good'
i use worm castings for my organic weed , works a treat .
Location, location, location. I had a lot of castings years ago and couldn't give them away.
Would love to have the full process. like what do you put in the buckets? how long do you leave them and how often do you check on the worms?
Trade secrets
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
Great video. Worm farming is a great solution to reduce landfill waste and enrich soil. I use a Worm Factory 360 for my apartment. I am researching large scale operations for neighborhood and commercial compost processing for food waste for Chattanooga, TN.
dont research it dude not worth it
Awesome I love what you're doing you are a legend I love you and your workers I love you.
I wonder how Monsanto can write a law that would be worded good enough to put you out of business
hobieslug45 lmao
Expect it right
They would call it the Patriot Worm Freedom Act. It will have bipartisan support.
They will provide a tried and tested memo:
Dear lawmakers,
A reminder re the Patriot Worms Act: $
Thanks,
Mr Monsanto
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
You can hate all you like but this is so much better than chemical fertilizers! Go ahead and make you're own if you can. That's great but don't ever knock someone for buying a natural product that works for them. You weren't perfect the first time you grew a plant. Have some patience.
who are you talking to lol
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
I know this video is 11 years old at this point...but where do you buy those buckets??? I have 1 bucket that's similar (got it from a worm farm 4 hours away from me), but I can't find a place to buy them for my own operation
This IS a small business. This is not big corporate America. It's a worm farm.
I have a question for you what size cft bin would be good for raising a million worms what would be a good size one to build I am still learning
Good shit.
they stacked the worm buckets on top of each other.. It's kind of tedious to put feed and water in. Should use some kind of frame
+Henry Rights (HoneyBeeFromCountryside) It's done that way so they know exactly how much of everything, goes in and comes out. 100 worms per bucket. You know all your costs and potential yields. They are automated, so it's not too labor intensive. With out the automation, you work your ass off. I know from experience.
Its 275 worms per bucket and everything only turns once per month, feeding, new media, ect...
I live in newfoundland Canada and I just bought 2 bags of the same made here. cool. they cost me 20 buks a bag though. this is not cheap shit.
applying vermicast to my fruit trees gave sweeter taste
Nice biz! Good product!
I am working towards a minimal till in my garden to promote worm growth.
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
Instead of using plastic bags has your company considered using burlap..??
Your poor little worms must be shell shocked after going through that shaker a few times.
Best part about this is that UNCO sounds like "poop" in japanese (うんこ) which is exactly what they are selling.
This is awesome. How and who do you market your product to mostly?
good cooperator
Where can I buy the shaker table
Verry good
Thanks but we are well on our way to writing our own book but I will check it out.
good work
greater ...video...
Makes that weed grow sky high!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
very good
شغلانه حلوه .
Where can we buy your product here in BC, Canada? Very informative. Thank you
maybe amazon?
Buy it at your local big box store (lowes, home depot, and etc) or hydroponics store.
@Maria Morales Im in BC canada too maybe i could sell you some
BrycesBTCAddress@gmail.com
th-cam.com/video/9D0puK87nXo/w-d-xo.html
TESTIMONI HONDA VARIO - STELL BALAP TANPA TURUN MESIN ~ SOLUSI AKSELERASI MOTOR MATIC
what type of worms that can go through the shakers
if that is the brand i am thinking it is, they suck.
Storing in a non breathable plastic bag. Bad bad news
Do you also ship outside your country? I from India..
Nice
Thank you very much, I have a very important question, for which the compost produced by the earthworm, can I use directly in the Green House, without other additions, or any treatment,
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
Why when i add your castings to my house plants do i have weeds growing in them? This only happened after I used the castings in my established house plants. i wonder if your storing the castings outside where seeds have been blowing into them?? not cool!!
+Jonathan Stahl fruits and vegetable waste are used to feed the worms. The fruits are broken down and eaten by the worms and the seeds are left behind. Some seeds are small enough to make it through the sifting process and then into the final product.
+Jonathan Stahl Don't whine. Just pull the damn weeds and enjoy the increased vigor of your plants!
+3Sphere, I'm making my own then I can control what it made out of that's a better solution.
There ya go. That works too! I use pure composted horse manure. I get yards and yards of it for free and compost it myself. The red squigglers love it! It makes very high quality castings. Oh and banana peels. Those little buggers really LOVE banana peels! It makes them very happy. I have blissed out worms.
When you don't pre-hot compost the worm feed you will get all of the seeds of every plant that went into the bin.
Very nice video. what are you feeding your worms ?.
maybe human's feces
source :
'Yes, you can use worm farms to treat human waste - quite effectively too. Make sure that the worm farm has plenty of air getting into it. I use a worm farm here to process our poo, black and grey water. The worm farm itself has no smell other than a faint earthy smell, unlike composting toilets which are a bit smelly - despite peoples claims. Also make sure that rodents and flies can't get into the worm farm - perhaps use some fly wire? You'll find that the worm farm will work much better if it is sitting on the ground too and the worm tea and vermicast leaches into the soil around your fruit trees and vegie patch - you will see the difference to their growth within a few days - I ran a test between tomatoes grown against the worm farm and some a couple of metres away and the worm farm one's won hands down.
If you don't have a worm farm, you could make one quickly by obtaining a timber fruit box - which have timber slats on their sides but also open gaps for the air to get in. Line it with fly wire to stop rats and mice getting into it, but it still allows the air to get in. Sit the box on the ground so the worm tea and vermicast can exit the worm farm without further thought on your part. It also allows the worms to get in and out of the worm farm when it gets either too cold or too hot. Don't stress they always come back. Before you add worms to the system, put some mulch (ie. wood chips large to fine particles) and maybe a bit of compost too if you have it on the bottom of the worm farm as this will work like a biological filter and provide startup bacteria for your worms to eat. If it smells at all, give the contents a bit of a stir to get air into the mixture. Don't worry about the vinegar flies as they are mostly harmless. I dare you to try and fill this box - you won't be able to! This is an awesome toilet processing facility in an emergency and will also work for the long term.'
in
teresamcguffey.com/greenwizards.org/?q=node/1144
from google (earthworm eat human manure) result 5
Follow the link below for more information about the worm farming business:
free-business-plans.com/business-plans/worm-farming-business-plan.html
Can worm's drown in water?
+KingKongGaming yes they can
+KingKongGaming Worm is?
Blood worm can't in salt water
Not if it has a pfd on
In a commercial process like that one what do you feed the worms?
people, make some side cash with your local mafia :D
Trade secret
not real worm casting...get from local...this kind of so call worm casting aren't real and definitely not 100%...you are lucky if you get 5 %
What size pots are they in the vid 250mm ???
+Norman Lang I believe 4 gallon buckets.
3 gallon buckets
I just bought 1000 worms, cut them all in half and now I have 2000. Winning!.............jk don’t try that.
Your stock just "split!"
I bought one
What end user is making business "too good"?
Kyle Ernst The orders he had to turn down , I think
He's turning down orders because they are operating at max production.. that's a good problem to have in business.
The only worm poop i use.
organic in plastic
LOL! I hear ya.
not as easy as it looks
It comes in a plastic bag , killing all the microbes in the dirt . Not a very good product .
o god so many
Now, worms r I'll treated. So sad.
Research, this company is dubious.
that shit
Wow, that hurt kid. A "yo mamma" comeback. Stay tough keyboard warrior.
Worm castings *are* "chemicals". argh ignorance.
+angus matheson Everything is technically chemical.
+angus matheson Everything is technically chemical.
Seems you folks read my statem4ent wrong. Of course they are chemicals, everything is literally chemicals.
+angus matheson he talking about synthetic man made chemicals
dictionaryzzz there is literally no difference between a man made version of a given chemical, and a naturally occurring one. *Everything* is chemicals.
You are harassing worms,
That's why not successful
Verry good