Well, it’s been three weeks now since we started our red worm experiment. As you recall, we used a small bin with three types of red composting worms…the red wigglers, the European nightcrawlers and the African nightcrawlers and fed them manure from horses that had just been given the deworming medication Ivermectin.
I am happy to report that the red worms are fairing fantastic! They are very active and healthy looking. No ill effects that we can see. We had an interesting question from a fellow vermicomposter….”Could the medication make the worms sterile?” I will keep you updated on that too. Hopefully soon, we’ll see some little baby worms.
Will Horse Dewormers Kill Red Worms? Update #1
May 23rd, 2010Master Gardeners, Red Wiggler Worms and Monster Worms
May 18th, 2010
Monster Worms now has a Master Gardener in the family. On Saturday, May 15th, Dave and 29 of his classmates received their Master Gardener Certificates. He had been taking classes and studying since January. 
We are very proud of him. While in class, he was also able to pass on his knowledge of vermiculture and of our red worms. Specifically the red wigglers, European nightcrawlers and African nightcrawlers. All great composting and fishing worms.
Happy Mother’s Day from Monster Worms!
May 9th, 2010
We enjoyed Mother’s Day one day early because I had to be out of town on May 9th. I woke up to find two cute, excited girls, a wonderful breakfast and presents. My favorite present was a T-shirt that they drew on for the occasion. Each girl drew on one side and put on things that were special to them. In the evening, we went to a Mother, Daughter dance and I wore that shirt. I received a lot of compliments about it.
After breakfast, we went outside and did one of my favorite things…..worked in the garden. We normally start our garden earlier, but we were a little behind this year. In the past, I used to rototill the garden, but I feel that this is not good for the soil. What I do now is I dig out a trench where I want to plant. I then put in compost from our Dual Drum compost tumbler or from our homemade compost bin. This not only provides nutrients for the roots but needed 
air too because the soil is not compacted. We then put some of the soil that we dug out on top of the compost and plant our seeds or plants. Everything in our garden is from seed except for the tomato plants.
The girls helped me with all of this. They love to put seeds in the ground and watch them grow. We all enjoy eating the vegetables that come out of our garden. I had a wonderful day with my girls. What did you do for Mother’s Day?
Will Horse Dewormers Kill Red Worms?
May 3rd, 2010A common worry among people raising red worms for vermiculture is if manure “tainted” with the deworming medication, Ivermectin, will kill their red worms if fed to them. We have decided to put this matter to rest.
Recently, the horses at the stable where we get our manure from were given Ivermectin. One day afterward, we collected a bucket of this manure and fed it to some of our red worms. We have a small tray of red wigglers, European nightcrawlers and African nightcrawlers that we use for demonstrations at schools and other events. We figured that this tray would be perfect because we could easily monitor the worms and sadly, if the medication killed them, we wouldn’t lose too many.
Well, I have to say….so far so good. This manure was fed to them over a week ago and no dead worms. Matter of fact, they are all throughout this manure and they look great!. I’ll report back in another week or so and let you know how it is going.
Having Fun With Compost
April 17th, 2010At Monster Worms, not only do we enjoy vermiculture, but we enjoy hot composting too. Ever since our daughters could walk, they have been involved with all of our projects. They know that spent flowers and leaves can turn into “dirt” because they have seen it happen first hand. I remember one time when my oldest daughter, who was about four at the time, talked to a wilting flower in a vase and said, “It’s okay, you’ll go into the compost and make more flowers.”
The other day the girls and I put some of our compost, that I got out of our dual drum compost tumbler, into our brick planter boxes and half wine barrels. We then planted flowers that we bought at a local nursery. Every year we do this. It’s like a tradition. The girls get to pick out which flowers that they want to plant. When they were younger, I had to dig the holes and help them plant. Now, they can do it on their own. They love it and they enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor.
The Mason Bee….The Perfect Pollinator
February 26th, 2010Have you noticed that in the Spring and Summer there are not very many honey bees around? Have you had trouble in the past getting your fruits and vegetables to set because of lack of pollination?
Then you need to get a Mason Bee box! Why? Well…..to attract the excellent pollinating Mason Bees!
Mason Bees pollinate our spring fruit trees, flowers and vegetables. They are named from their habit of making compartments of mud in their nests, which are made in hollow reeds or holes in wood made by wood boring insects or woodpeckers. If they can’t find these types of holes in which to build their nests, they will go elsewhere. That is why providing a bee box with ready made nesting holes for them is such a great idea!
Mason bees are very effective spring pollinators. Two or three females can pollinate the equivalent of a mature apple tree in one season! They fly in cool or rainy weather and can supplement or replace honey bees as commercial pollinators in some situations.
Unlike honey bees, they are solitary and produce neither honey nor beeswax. Since they have no honey to defend, they will only sting if squeezed or stepped on. They make excellent garden “pets” since they both pollinate the plants and are safe for children and pets.
What could be more perfect for your garden? The Mason Bee is an excellent pollinator and doesn’t sting unless it gets squished. I think that I would fight back then too!
Gusanito Worm Farm Bins are Tough!
February 20th, 2010
Today while doing some Spring cleaning in the garage, I knocked off our Gusanito Worm Farm Bin from its shelf. This shelf is over four feet high! Actually four feet, five inches. As I walked around the other side (I won’t tell you what words were coming out of my mouth), I expected to see a mess of broken plastic, red worms and castings all over the place. To my surprise, what I saw instead was our five tray Gusanito standing upright! The only thing askew was the roof. It was lying on the floor.
This Gusanito dove head first into some boxes, did a loop, a full twist and landed on its feet three feet to the right. I think that it deserves a gold medal. Amazing…..the only damage that I could see was a slight turned up corner on the front left “foot” and the side next to the foot had a very slight bow to it. It is barely noticeable. I checked on the red worms. They acted as if nothing had even happened……maybe it was all just a daydream……..
The Worm Inn — An Innovative, Easy, Fun Way to Vermicompost!
February 19th, 2010
We’ve added a new, fun product to our website that I’m sure you will agree is the easy way to compost with red worms (vermicomposting). It’s called The Worm Inn and it is really simple to use. What’s easy about it is that once you have it set up, all you have to do is add to the top and the castings come out the bottom. What could be easier than that?
The Worm Inn utilizes the “continuous flow” method of vermicomposting. What this means is that the worms constantly work upward as food is added all the while leaving behind their castings. These castings will settle toward the bottom of the breathable bag.
To get it all set up, all you have to do is this:
- Place bedding material in the bottom to absorb moisture
- Then a layer of food scraps
- Add the red worms. (2-3 lbs. of red wigglers or European nightcrawlers)
- Put in the rest of the food scraps
- Add a thick layer of more bedding
- Finally, spray down the whole system with water because the contents need to remain moist
Only add about 2-3 lbs. of food per week. The worms will eat their bedding material too. Be sure to cover any new food you add with existing or new bedding material. This will help to prevent attracting fruit flies.
As the system settles, the worms move upward, digesting the microbial waste of the food This results in the castings, a nutrient rich fertilizer. These castings are left below as the worms constantly move upward toward more food.
After several weeks, the castings are ready to be used and are collected from the bottom of the bag. To open the bottom of the bag, loosen the toggles. Make sure that you have placed a container below to catch the castings. Tighten the toggles when no more castings come out or when you start to see bedding material.
This “continuous flow” of regularly adding food scraps and bedding, and then harvesting the castings from the bottom makes indoor composting practical and fun for anyone.
You should try it…I think you’ll really like it!
Red Worms in the White House?
February 17th, 2010I recently read an article about First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign which was designed to help parents deal with and eliminate childhood obesity. In this article she talked about the organic garden she set up on the White House lawn and how important fresh fruits and vegetables are in our diets.
Back in August, actually on President Obama’s birthday, I happened to be in Washington, DC and I had the opportunity to visit the White House. (I didn’t get past the black wrought iron fence though. 
) I walked all the way around the grounds and I got a glimpse of this organic garden.
All of this got me to thinkin’ though, do they do any composting? If the garden is organic, what do they use for fertilizer? And what about all of their food scraps? Do you think that they throw them out?
I have a couple of great ideas for them…..they could buy a bunch of our Dual Drum or Original Compost tumblers and compost all of the garden waste, shrub prunings, grass clippings and fallen leaves. Then inside they could put a whole row of our Gusanito worm farm bins next to the bowling alley. All of their food scraps could be put in them for the red worms to eat.
If they did this, they would have all the organic compost and worms castings that they would need for their garden. They would also be diverting a bunch of “garbage” from going into a landfill.
So what do you think First Lady Obama? Red worms in the White House?
Running “A-Fowl” in Brentwood, CA update
February 12th, 2010It looks like Kimberly Kennedy’s feathered friends, Henny and Penny, lost their bid to remain in Brentwood. Last Tuesday the city council members voted to kick them out of the city unless they find a home on a lot of at least 20,000 square feet.
Where will they go? Will they cluck for anyone else besides Kimberly? Will they end up on someone’s table for dinner? Oh my….. Poor chickens.
Maybe we should bring over a few of our red worms for a special treat for them. That should cheer them up.
Photo credit: Sherry LaVars/BayAreaNewsGroup
Cleantech Industrial War…….is the US losing?
February 4th, 2010The United States, once a leader in global technology, is slowly losing ground to other countries. A letter recently was sent to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu by Silicon Valley executives, including former Intel CEO Andy Grove, to “sound the alarm bell to make America aware of how rapidly other nations, particularly China, are moving on clean energy.” The letter further states, “Unless we move quickly and commit substantial resources on a sustained basis, we risk becoming an energy also-ran, and risk developing a new dependency.”
In the 1980‘s, the governments of Denmark, Germany and Spain started policies and incentives to jump-start cleantech enterprises. John Denniston, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers said, “China is doing it. Europe is doing it. If we don’t take the lead, instead of importing oil, we will be importing advanced technologies.” Here is one more scary quote “ Unless there’s a dramatic shift in national policy in the United States, the road to success in cleantech most likely goes through Beijing,” said Matthew Lewis, spokesman for the San Francisco office Climate Works Foundation.
To read more about this, click here to see the article in the Mercury News.
It sounds like the U.S. needs to get in gear and stop exporting our technology overseas. Cleantech businesses right here need to be supported by our government.
Why am I writing about this? To make you more aware of what is going on and to say that I feel that we can all do something to help. Two years ago we had solar panels installed on our roof to supplement our electrical needs. This year we only paid $58 for one years worth of electricity! We definitely reduced our carbon footprint. NextEnergy in Concord, Ca did the installation and we highly recommend them. By the way…..if you use us as a referral, we get a $250 gift card!
Here at Monster Worms, we recycle and compost everything that we can and therefore only a small amount goes into our garbage can. Almost all of our light bulbs are CFLs, extra insulation is in our attic, we have dual pane windows and our cleaning is done with natural cleaners. If we each do a little to conserve, use clean energy, recycle, etc., our world will be a cleaner, greener place. What do you do to help? Would you like to share?
Photo credit: LiPo Ching, Mercury News (BayAreaNewsGroup)
Running “A-Fowl” in Brentwood, CA
January 31st, 2010Chickens were present at a recent city council meeting in Brentwood, CA. Why were they there? To help themselves and others like them from getting evicted out of the city. Apparently, there is a rule that states that these fowl creatures can’t be on a residential lot smaller than 20,000 square feet. They were there to try to persuade the council members to relax this rule.
The hens’ owner, Kimberly Kennedy, insists that she wants to be more sustainable. She also feels that tending to her feathered friends and collecting their eggs will help to teach her children about responsibility.
Her neighbors think that they just stink and draw flies.
I bet these chickens would love to eat some of our red worms! Hopefully our worms won’t find out that I wrote this! Shhh……don’t tell them. They might stop working for us.
Does anyone out there have any chickens? Do they really stink and draw flies?
To read the article written in the Contra Costa Times, go to www.CCTimes.com.
Photo credit: Sherry LaVars/BayAreaNewsGroup
Canadian Nightcrawlers Caught in the Act!
January 28th, 2010On a cloudy day recently, I happened to be outside and Lo and Behold!!! What did I see? Canadian Nightcrawlers out on our lawn….together….in broad daylight!! Oh my. I didn’t really want to stare because I felt a little embarrassed. But I couldn’t help it, I just had to watch…but only for a little while. After all, they should have some privacy.
Later I checked on them and they were gone. Mission accomplished…….Either that or the birds got them!
Canadian Nightcrawlers live in our lawns. The have permanent burrows that can be at least four feet deep. They normally come to the surface at night to mate and find food, which they bring into their burrows. Seeing them in the daytime is rare…unless their burrows have been flooded. Direct sunlight kills them.
They are not composting worms and should not be used for that. Normally they are used for fishing. They will not breed in captivity, unless they are able to make a deep burrow. If you want good worms for composting, get the red wigglers, European Nightcrawlers or the African Nightcrawlers.
Has anyone else seen this is in the daytime? This is a first for me.
Please Recycle Your Christmas Tree
January 16th, 2010If you still have your Christmas tree, are you wondering what to do with it? Recycle it!
Every year we buy a live Christmas tree to put into our house. We all love to decorate and look at it. It also smells so nice. But what do you do with it when the holidays are over?
Unfortunately, many people put their used trees in the trash or burn them. This just adds to the stuff piling up at our landfills or adds to the air pollution. Many communities now offer tree recycling and provide drop off locations. They take these trees, grind them up and then compost them. Perfect! Also, the Boy Scouts of America offer to pick up trees right at your curb in many communities. All they ask for is a small donation. Most of these options are now not available due to the time of year, but there is always next year.
So, if you still have your tree, what do you do? Compost it. We cut up our tree and put it into either our homemade compost bin or our dual drum compost tumbler. The branches take a little while to break down, but they eventually do. It will all one day turn into nutrient-rich compost that you can put back into the earth.
Monster Worms and the Nutcracker
January 1st, 2010What does Monster Worms and the Nutcracker have in common? Well…two members of the Monster Worms family were highly involved in the Black Diamond Ballet Theatre’s wonderful 2009 Nutcracker performance.
Our oldest daughter loves to dance and she’s really good! This is the second year that she has performed in the Nutcracker. In this years show, she played one of the children in the dance scene in Act 1 and later on she was a Bon Bon. Our girl loves to perform and she was very sad to have the shows end.
The other member of the family that played a big roll was Dave. Not only did he make sure that our daughter made it to all of her rehearsals and had her hair and makeup done, but he also made the sleigh that was used in the show. It looked great! Maybe next year in appreciation they’ll add in a special red worm dance. 
For more information about the ballet company, go to www.BlackDiamondBalletTheatre.org
Does Santa Need Red Composting Worms?
December 27th, 2009
Santa, along with many other things, has been on my mind lately. It seems that wherever I go, I have seen him…..in airports, shopping malls and downtown at the Christmas parade. That guy sure does get around.
I figured that with nine reindeer and all those elves, he could probably use a bunch of red wigglers and/or European nightcrawlers to turn all that reindeer poop, straw from their stalls, and leftover household food scraps into nutrient-rich castings.
Since the North Pole is cold though, he would need to keep his red worms inside so that they wouldn’t freeze. He could start off with several Gusanito worm farm bins and keep them in his work shop. What do you think?
Santa Photo: Sherry LaVars/BayAreaNewsGroup
Reindeer Photo: weblogs.cltv.com/news/local/chicago/regina/
Mixing Red Worm Species in Vermicomposting Bins
December 6th, 2009
Several months ago, we decided to put three different species of red worms together in our Gusanito worm farm bin and in a recycled plastic tote just to see what would happen. Would the worms get along? Would one species overtake the other? Would one group force another to move out and find a new home?
NO! None of that happened. The worms got along beautifully together and continue to do so. They are happily making castings and cocoons. The worms that we put in there are the red wigglers (Eisenia fetida or foetida), the European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) and the African Nightcrawlers (Eudrilus eugeniae). The red worms in the photo from top to bottom are the African, European and Red Wiggler.
We also did this experiment for two other reasons:
1.) Because we wanted to see if the larger Euros or Africans would be able to migrate through the holes in the trays. I am happy to report that they had no problem at all. We have found all three red worm species traversing the trays.
2.) The plastic tote is the one that Dave takes to his demonstrations at schools and garden clubs. We wanted to show the kids and adults the different types of composting worms available.
Fungus Gnats and Worm Farm Bins
November 26th, 2009We answer all sorts of vermiculture questions from our customers and I participate on vermi forums to try to help solve problems. Lately, there have been a lot of questions regarding how to get rid of fungus gnats.
Fungus gnats like to live and breed in moist environments. The big key is to maintain your bin so that you are not setting up a hospitable environment for them. Basically, you want to suppress or cut them off from the area that they like. How do you do this?
A few years ago, we had a problem with fungus gnats in our house plants. I covered the top of the dirt with sand. The sand still allowed for water to go through and some air, but the gnats couldn’t. This solved our problem. While this worked for our house plants, I don’t recommend this for your worm bin. There is an easier way to deal with this situation.
Our bins are open at the top. We cover them with burlap and an inch layer of dry shredded newspaper. Instead of burlap, you could use an old cotton t-shirt. This makes it very difficult for the fungus gnats to get to the moist castings and bedding. We also believe that the fungus gnats will “set up house” in moist cardboard. Leaving this on top of the bedding or exposed provides an ideal environment for the gnats.
Here is a comment from Erick, a fellow vermicomposter after he followed our advice:
“As it turns out it was an excellent tip. Just the t-shirt has stopped the current population from expanding and the few stragglers should be gone soon. Awesome results and in so very few days. Thanks again! Ha ha, having a swarm fly out of the bin made it pretty hard to promote the cause to people that have shown some cautious interest, but this definitely helped.”
Termites Anyone?
November 20th, 2009Termites are a group of eusocial insects. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter and soil. They are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests.
As eusocial insects, termites live in colonies. A typical colony contains nymphs, workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both genders, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens.
So, why am I bringing this up? Well, the other day after it rained, I saw a swarm of them coming out of the ground from our landscaping in the front yard.
My first thought was…..I have to protect the house!! But how?….I went into the kitchen and grabbed our bottle of white vinegar, ran out to the front yard…..the dog thought I was crazy….and poured it over the hole they were coming out of. That stopped them dead in their tracks. I didn’t see any more come out of that hole again. And….I did it without using those nasty chemical sprays!! Has anyone else had this problem?
Photographer: Ganesh-B.R.Hills www.everystockphoto.com
Fishing With Red Worms, Specifically the European Nightcrawler
November 12th, 2009The below comments were sent to us from a very happy customer. He and his wife came to us and bought some European Nightcrawlers for vermicomposting and fishing. He loves them……especially for fishing!
Hi Folks,
I thought my Monster Worm stories were over for the year. However, a good friend and I went back to my favorite little reservoir, in the Sierra’s, last week and caught six great German Browns’s. Of course with my Monster Worms and double hook system and JRWfishing hooks. Mind you this was a big deal. I’ve been fishing in that reservoir for nearly 30 years. Never caught a fish there until this summer (earlier photo and story). It’s amazing. 
We saw six other folks fishing that day. Two were using lures across the lake – nada. Two were in fancy wader floats using fins to propel them and expensive fly fishing rigs – one between them. We caught six. Two were 12+ inches and the other four were over 10”.
Got to tell you I was, am jazzed. Can hardly wait til next season. No more crawling over huge boulders on the creek, or scratching my way through brush in the meadow section. I’m going to fish the shore, and use my ‘rubber ducky’ to fish the lake.
Thanks again for your assistance in getting me started with my worms. They are working just great.
David D.
