By: Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
“It takes 21 days for a cocoon to hatch, then it takes eight weeks for the baby worms to turn into adults,” explained Josiah Wills, the young entrepreneur behind Worms Against Warming (www.wormsagainstwarming.com).
After that, he continued, they can begin to breed – up to twice a week – laying a series of egg filled cocoons and producing up to six new worms each week under good conditions. Then, after eight weeks, these new worms can start breeding as well.
“Two cocoons every week is six worms every week, so that is exponential,” Wills explained.
As long as you can provide food and habitat, he said, the worms will continue to produce. If resources fall off, they will quit breeding.
“That’s what’s marvelous about worms,” he said enthusiastically. “If there’s not enough food, they’ll just stop breeding, and they’ll get smaller. If there’s too much food, they’ll get fatter and breed more.”
They’re self-regulating in that regard. But, he said, there is still a lot of science involved in keeping them. They’re very sensitive to their habitats, and changes in pH or the addition of toxins to their environment can cause them to flee.
That’s why Wills currently raises his worms on a mixture that includes livestock manure and shredded paper.
“I have three ingredients; one is newspaper or cardboard, the second is cow or horse manure, and the third is rabbit manure,” Wills explained.
The ratios are important, he said, because “rabbit manure is very acidic… you’ve got to make sure it’s well drained.”
It also has to be fresh, he said, because it’s the main food source, while the cow manure is more of “a side dish” along with the newspaper, as well as serving as the bedding.
Wills has worked out his formula for raising worms through trial and error, examples of which he shares on his blog, but while his worms are raised on manure, they can survive on any organic vegetable matter, as long as it isn’t toxic.
This can make them useful for composting, and their castings – a fancy name for worm poop – can be used alone as an organic fertilizer, or made into fertilizing worm tea which can also work as an organic pest control option, Wills said.
“The casting has five times more nutrients than topsoil, actually,” he said.
Wills said he may sell castings someday, but currently he has an agreement with one person who purchases all of his castings.
He does sell what he calls “nursery kits” – either with young worms or breeding adults – for those who want to produce their own castings, or just raise their own fishing worms.
The worms in his kits are red wigglers, a common bait worm. You can just leave these worms in the kit, and continue to harvest bait for a long while before you have to worry about feeding your worms.
If you plan to use them for vermicomposting, or worm composting, Wills suggests doing more research on your own before you feed them any food scraps. Rapid changes in pH from certain food scraps, or foods that are toxic to worms, can cause them to flee their enclosure he said.
You can purchase worm kits from his website, and his blog contains links to resources for maintaining a proper environment.
Or, if you’re interested in learning directly from Wills, he will be teaching a class on raising worms at the Olive Hill Center for Arts & Education later this month. That class, originally scheduled for July 22, will be rescheduled due to a conflict with another event. You can check the Center’s website, ohcae.org, for more information, or follow the blog at wormsagainstwarming.com.
The fourteen-year-old worm farmer, who said he’s “always been entrepreneurial” has plans to continue growing his business and web presence, and sharing information via his blog so that others can be successful raising the worms he sells, no matter what they plan to raise them for.
And, as his company name suggests, to continue doing his part to battle climate change with his worms.
“I actually did a speech about how worms can help against global warming, at a 4-H competition,” he said with a smile. “Worms are a fantastic way to battle climate change, because not only can they eradicate forms of waste such as paper, cardboard, and spoiled food which give off (carbon) emissions, they can recycle it into a fertilizer five times more potent than topsoil. This could even be a way to replace nutrients lost from topsoil erosion, (and) it’s nearly free!”
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
