Does anyone know how long I should leave my white worm culture before using them.

Thanks

As long as you have enough to 'harvest' and enough left to keep breeding you will be fine.

Matthew said...

> Does anyone know how long I should leave my white

> worm culture before using them.

It's always a good idea to have a spare culture up your sleeve

so that you can avoid harvesting from the same one all the

time. I have 5 or 6 cultures going and could still use more...

It's hard to say how long to wait before a culture is harvestable

as it depends on many things, including the size of the starter.

Andrew.

I purchased one of the biosuppliers starter packages from the LFS. That was the largest container they had available. I am asking when it can be harvested as I want to set up a second culture, but would prefer not to part with another twenty dollars if I can help it.

I have had my whiteworm culture going for about 3 years . It is a large pooly box with garden soil . I have given the odd bit away here and there but have never split it although i should one day ,. As to what i fed them iwell huttons ham and chicken luncheon works really well. My partner works for mainland prodcts so its cheap,

I have also heard of cat biscuts and most common is damp white bread.

I feed my fish whiteworm about twice a week no promblem . Some people say be careful not to feed to much but haven't had any promblems yet

I guess I just have to wing it, and see where I get to from there

I read a website that said that cooked rice was an excellent food and caused population explosions in the author's white worm cultures. I feed my recently purchased culture with rice but I couldn't vouch for how good it is as a food because I've only had the culture a few weeks and haven't tried feeding anything else.

But is he sure the explosion is white worms and not uneaten rice? :lol:

good question Caryl, I presume rice, if left long enough, develops its own lifeform.

I hope this hasn't come across as sarcastic, apologies if it has that was never my intention

would be intersted how rice goes as i haven't heard of that food source for whiteworms before

Neither had I. My daughter did a project for the Science Fair on which food whiteworms preferred but that was a few years ago and I can't remember what the answer was!

She used bread and milk, cat food, crushed dog biscuits, porridge and luncheon from memory. I think there may have been one or 2 more. May have to hunt the project out. I am sure it is tucked away here somewhere.

Right, volunteers needed to try different foods for white worms, once I start my second culture I am happy to try rice

Folks,

I use moist cheap white bread, have done for years.

Seems to work and is easy (so suits me fine).

The trick (with all foods I reckon) is to not add too much.

It's better to underfeed than overfeed.

Andrew.

When I used bread it always went mouldy. Was this a case of too much bread? I did not moisten it in any way.

Caryl said...

> When I used bread it always went mouldy. Was this a

> case of too much bread?

I would say so, yes. I generally add an amount that

will be eaten in about 3 days. For one of my big cultures

(fishbox size) that's about half a slice (a quarter of a slice

placed in two locations). It takes a while for cultures to

build up to the level where they're eating that much bread

though so it's best to start off with much less and increase

the amount over a few months...

I feel it's important to cover most of the soil surface with a

sheet of glass as well as to have a cover on the culture to

exclude most light (and ideally, critters). I also keep my

cultures cool, sitting on my concrete garage floor.

Andrew.

I've been feeding mine baby cereal and brewers yeast and have it outside...Which I think may be a bit too cold for them at the moment. Little guys scream "It's cold! Bring us back inside!" every time I take the lid off to feed them.

I had no luck with previous cultures, this culture I was told to put a sheet of glass over the top of the culture, and for some reason it works, there seems to have been rapid growth, and my worms are always feeding. I am using moistened bread, moistened with water from the fish tank, and am feeding small squares, just enough so that they eat it in about a day. I feed this amount so that if I do feed too much it is usually finished by the second day. I don't like the thought of leaving foods longer than that as I know how easily mould can decimate a culture.

You have it EXACTLY right Matthew.

Just feed from the glass and your culture will last for ages.

It seems like with the glass there, since a lot of them collect against the glass they're concentrated where the food is instead of down in the dirt so they eat more, grow more.

Ira said...

> It seems like with the glass there, since a lot of them

> collect against the glass they're concentrated where the

> food is instead of down in the dirt so they eat more, grow

> more.

I suspect it has something to do with the increased humidity

at the surface (between the soil and the glass). Worms

don't have a hard shell to reduce moisture loss so are prone

to dessication if they spend too much time in a dry environment.

Andrew.