Can I Make Money Raising Worms? There’s gold in them thar worms. Or is it just a scheme? Welcome to the wacky world of worm farming. If worms were a form of currency, Clyde would be rolling in it. Let’s say that his Mississippi worm farm, now an impressive 3,000 pounds of nurtured red wigglers—about 300,00 of them—actually earned him the $9.25 a pound that a Henderson-based company called Combined Resource Systems promised him. He’d be looking at $27,750.
Wait 60 days or so, and that number could more than double as the worms continue eating his trash, pooping fertilizer and reproducing, which was his plan when he sunk almost $60,000 into the project—$30,000 for the worms and another $30,000 to build them a happy home. It seemed a nice investment and a good change from carpentry work. But now, when he thinks about the worms out there wriggling in the shed costing him $125 a day to care for, when he considers the four hours of work they require every day and the $25,000 that he still owes the bank, he gets queasy. Setting up a small-scale worm farm. Setting Up and Equipment You will need: Something to keep your worms in (a polystyrene box with a lid, an old fridge, a plastic bin with lid, or a ready-made worm farm). At least one newspaper (or less if it's a polystyrene box). Some moist soil. A few crushed eggshells. Some green waste: vegetable or fruit scraps and peels, old moistened bread, left-over rice and pasta.
A little manure if available. A convenient place to keep your worm farm, is in an old fridge, preferably white, which you can often pick up for free. Black or dark green plastic worm farms are wonderful in terms of ease of use and design, but make sure you keep them well away from direct sun for most of the day, particularly in summer. Preparing the Bed First of all tear up your newspaper into small pieces, leaving a couple of sheets for later, soak it in water until it's a bit mushy and then mix well with the soil and crushed eggshells. Put your worms on top. Put about the same weight of food as worms. Feeding Harvesting. Commercial worm farming. Start a Worm Farm for Profit. Edit Article Edited by Fianchetto, Nicoletta Z., Flickety, Lutherus and 3 others Few opportunities arise in life that offer the possibility of teaching, learning, giving back, being environmentally friendly all the while earning an income in the process like worm farming.
At one point in the past, worm farming was more of a hobby than a career. The niche was extremely tiny: people raised worms to sell to bait shops for fishing. With a renewed environmental focus that has spread globally, worm farming is gaining popularity as well as a foothold in the world of legitimate business endeavors. With the bare minimum of start up costs, you can start a worm farm for profit quickly, easily and definitely on the cheap. Ad Steps 1Provide the optimum location and environment. 7Place the worm food in a single spot in the tub. What do Worms Eat? All About the Diet of Worms. A worm’s diet is based off of where they live and if they are surface worms or they live deep under the ground.
Worms that are generally near the surface of the dirt can eat anything from dead leaves to cardboard all the way to melon rinds and sawdust. For this reason, many people have taken to using worm buckets to process a lot of their garbage instead of having it sit in landfills where it cannot decompose properly. For instance, are you throwing away a lot of fruit and veggies cores/peelings? Well, set up a few worm bins and drop all of that waste in there and pretty soon you will have some fabulous compost to use for your plants. Worms are some of the only creatures that can process all sorts of waste as their diet. Now, if you are looking to set up your own worm bin, it is super easy! That is all! Our articles are free for you to copy and distribute. Return to Worm Farming Homepage for more articles or to order worm farms. What do Worms Eat? All About the Diet of Worms.