I need the compost for inside plant pots and would prefer not to have worms inside.
Have now harvested 5 trays of Compost and started more trays with the worms.
I sorted most of the worms from the compost and transferred them, also as many
cocoons as I could find.
I purchase a cheap second hand Chinese wormery, not a wormcity but adequate.
I put the compost in that and check it daily, as I find worms and young (or cocoons),
they are moved to the main wormery.
This raises a question, it is now November.
How long will it take for all worms to hatch?
And I assume it will take some time before newly hatched worms will lay new cocoons?
Therefore it should be possible to have clean compost.
Worm free compost
RE: Worm free compost
Hi Mick, this is like that other well known question, "how long is a piece of string"
It will take a minimum of three weeks for a cocoon to hatch BUT it can take much longer, up to six months or even more. Hatching depends on a number of things, temperature being a major factor. So the location of the your bin will have a big influence on your worms berth control. If you can get your bin indoors where you can maintain a temperature around 20c you should get the majority of your cocoons hatched in about a month.
Cocoons are nature's way of ensuring that worms will bounce back after a major problem, for example worms will be die when frozen but cocoons can be frozen and still hatch when thawed and the conditions return to an acceptable level.
Baby worms reach breeding age in approximately eight weeks (this again depends on a number of factors including temperature) so to avoid new cocoons there is only a four week window.
There is no way to quickly remove all worms from a potting mix. Is it really necessary to remove them all? worms will not harm your plants and will contain themselves in the pot. Maybe you could leave them in the pot to start with and then after a month remove the plant from the pot and hunt for the baby worms.
Hope that's of some help
Willy
It will take a minimum of three weeks for a cocoon to hatch BUT it can take much longer, up to six months or even more. Hatching depends on a number of things, temperature being a major factor. So the location of the your bin will have a big influence on your worms berth control. If you can get your bin indoors where you can maintain a temperature around 20c you should get the majority of your cocoons hatched in about a month.
Cocoons are nature's way of ensuring that worms will bounce back after a major problem, for example worms will be die when frozen but cocoons can be frozen and still hatch when thawed and the conditions return to an acceptable level.
Baby worms reach breeding age in approximately eight weeks (this again depends on a number of factors including temperature) so to avoid new cocoons there is only a four week window.
There is no way to quickly remove all worms from a potting mix. Is it really necessary to remove them all? worms will not harm your plants and will contain themselves in the pot. Maybe you could leave them in the pot to start with and then after a month remove the plant from the pot and hunt for the baby worms.
Hope that's of some help
Willy
RE: Worm free compost
Thanks. Its in a garage so protected from really low temperatures.