"Tree" Boosts Worm Production

Tree Boosts Worm Production CROPS Miscellaneous Paul Coleman has gone vertical with his worm production After starting out growing worms in plywood boxes he gradually expanded to 2 000 sq ft of outside concrete beds FARM SHOW Vol 26 No 5 He still uses the concrete beds for seasonal worm and casting production However a new worm tree system inside his greenhouse is showing promise I hang 10 split 55-gal drums on wood frames says Coleman Each drum holds 10 to 15 lbs of worms so one tree will produce up to 150 lbs of worms in a 4 by 4-ft area Each tree consists of a 4 by 4-in upright with two 2 by 4-in crosspieces at each level supporting two barrel halves Each level is at right angles to the previous level for easy access The uprights are secured at their tops to the greenhouse frame With 20 trees in one end of his 28 by 100-ft plastic covered greenhouse Coleman keeps around 3 000 lbs of worms busy making castings year round Two wood stoves keep the worms warm in the winter In the summer an evaporative cooler keeps them cool Coleman also uses the greenhouse for starting seedlings for his intensive market garden However the worm castings are his primary product That s a big switch from earlier years when worm sales were his main product and he couldn t give away the castings In fact he used more than 7 tons of castings as fill when he built his greenhouse Now he can t produce enough castings to meet market demand Everybody is back into gardening and they want to do it with worm castings instead of chemical and petroleum based fertilizers he says To feed his worms Coleman has developed a ration based on cotton gin trash corn wheat and oats run through a hammer mill Coleman harvests castings from his worm trees and beds at the rate of 1 000 to 2 000 lbs per week depending on the season He bags them for sale through retail outlets the local farmer s market and from his farm In the spring I have people waiting for the castings to fall from my harvester he says Coleman does still sell worms especially to gardeners who want to produce their own castings He sells Can-O-Worms a home vermicomposting unit that comes with two pounds of worms The multi-layer flow-through method is designed for home use I keep two of them in my greenhouse and feed them plant clippings and kitchen scraps says Coleman More and more people are keeping worm bins at home One reason may be the price While he sells his castings for 50 cents per lb Coleman says he has seen others charging from $1 to $2 per lb Coleman also sells worms to large-scale composting facilities Some outfits have 1 000 to 5 000 lbs of worms though others are as small as 50 lbs or less reports Coleman I still have people asking for 1 000 lbs of worms but I advise them to start small and get good at castings production As sales increase try to stay one step ahead of demand Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Paul Coleman Early Bird Worm Farm 6902 Hwy 25 N Hodges S C 29653 ph 864 374-7350; earlybirdworms@yahoo com; www earlybirdworms com

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