Sophia Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Has anyone tried using moth balls in the vicinity of a (grindal) worm colony? I have a wooden box with 2 plastic containers inside. One has a happy culture of squiggly worms, the other is overrun with bugs. If I put mothballs in the wooden box will the bugs die or will they migrate elsewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 11, 2010 Report Share Posted June 11, 2010 Try and see, and try not to poison your fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 and please let us know how you get on....PLEASE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 12, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 I read about it online somewhere last week and I thought SURELY someone on here has tried it but it looks like it has to be me haha I think I will have to rehouse my good grindals in another box for the experiment, just in case. hmmmm now Barrie, I have clicked on your balldresses link, they are very nice. I do however have a question - will doves fly out of the skirt as I sashay down the street? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 errr no :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 I just culture mine on scouring pads and get no bugs But yeah would be interseting to hear you how you get on, I guess as long as you don't stick the moth balls in the cultures or no flies affected by them get back in there then it would be fine.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 now Barrie, I have clicked on your balldresses link, they are very nice. I do however have a question - will doves fly out of the skirt as I sashay down the street? errr no :lol: Awww, come on Barrie, I am sure something could be arranged if that is what Sophia wanted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Mothballs contain naphthaline which is not a particularly nice substance so take care with it. I have those grindals that you gave me and have gotten rid of the mites and now have grindals coming out my ears! With careful management, mites are not a problem at all. Maybe I should write an article about it for the Aq. World magazine... :roll: In my spare time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zev Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Careful, Jennifer... Caryl can seem to sniff out posts when people say things like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Somebody has to since not many volunteer! :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrienne Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 you might be on a win today Caryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Awww, come on Barrie, I am sure something could be arranged if that is what Sophia wanted as long as Im not the model :oops: I have a little more meat on my bones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Mothballs contain naphthaline which is not a particularly nice substance so take care with it. I have those grindals that you gave me and have gotten rid of the mites and now have grindals coming out my ears! With careful management, mites are not a problem at all. Maybe I should write an article about it for the Aq. World magazine... :roll: In my spare time... By all means write an artical but it would be great to see how you got rid of the mites and maggots as I normally have 5 or 6 cultures going. Im trying to starve the bugs out at the moment with the idea of a few worms living in the soil while the bugs go elseware for tucker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 12, 2010 Report Share Posted June 12, 2010 Here is what I do to keep clean cultures: 1. Each grindal culture is a shallow take-away food container with no holes in the lid 2. I mix peat with ground eggshells, wet it and squeeze it dry 3. Put a layer of the peat in the container, no more than 10mm thick 4. Put a clean culture of worms in a small spot on top of the peat 5. Put a 10mm square piece of luncheon directly on the spot of worms 5. Keep the culture at 25-27 degrees (it should be ready to feed out in 2-3 weeks). 6. Remove the piece of leftover luncheon every day, any mites will be clinging to it. If they are not clinging to it, they will be right under where it was so are easy to pluck away (once the culture is really clean, you may only have to remove a couple of mites per week to keep it under control although it is possible to have no mites). I have glass on some of my cultures but find that it can go anerobic pretty quick. I prefer to just feed out when the population gets large enough that they start climbing the walls and lid (I dunk the lid in the tank or wipe the sides of the container down with my finger). I feed out every day with the same culture for about three weeks and then start new culture using 'clean' worms from the lid and sides of the container. If I have an infected culture, I keep it away from the clean cultures. It is possible to clean up infected cultures but it is easier to just start up new ones. To clean up an infected culture I do this: 1. Put a thin layer of the infected culture in a sealed container (so the mites cannot escape). 2. Wet the culture so that it is like wet mud, and create a small peak that rises out of the mud 3. Stick a piece of luncheon to a glass cover and place the luncheon on the peak 4. Each day remove the luncheon and the mites that are clinging to it. Scrape away any mites that are on the glass and under where the luncheon was. You can also flood the mixture with water and pour off the adult mites since they float - the grindals will survive in water for a week but they will not be able to feed or multiply this way. It is difficult to dry out the culture after that though and the worms will not be concentrated around the food so will not multiply very fast (it is best to keep them concentrated right under the food, that way they only think of eating and multiplying - that is why a thin culture works best). I can post pics if needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted June 13, 2010 Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 and send it all to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2010 I read more about mothballs and it says in some cases the naptha will kill bugs with it's vapours and the rest it just sends packing. It's funny what Jen says about flooding the bugs with water... my worms are living on top of the water cylinder and they get warm and breed pretty well. Without additional water added I find water pooling as condensation on the lid and there are lots of worms squiggling around in each drop. I have no worms climbing up the sides but plenty on the lid - how is that ?? Since I couldn't find mothballs yesterday I cut a bigger piece of glass and the worms have come back to eat the meat under it and the mites have spread to the very edges. Taking the glass off does catch lots of mites. If I find mothballs when out shopping I will still try this way and next resort is to flood the bugs out. I think I can dry the culture well enough with draining it in a sieve and leaving the lid off for a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 since Sunday my bugload has gone down I scooped a bunch of them off over a few minute period and they have not replenished. Maybe I have high bug expectations but I would have expected them to multiply faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Today I went to check on the bugs and found more than a few in my 'good' worm colony so out I went to the chinese supermarket and got some POWER MOTH BALLS. Not just any moth balls, but Power moth balls haha. First of all I got the main bug colony and waved a mothball over it to see exactly how poisonous they are, thinking the bugs would divide like the red sea, but not so. More of a slow reaction, bugs crawling up the side of the lunchbox so I scooped them out over and over, cleaned the glass etc. I spent about 5 or 10 mins messing around with the bugs and the mothball. Then I decided to leave the ball on top of the glass, ie not in contact with the soil, but with the box lid on. I thought this might also have them crawling up the sides quickly. Again, not much of a panic reaction from the bugs but by this time there weren't that many left anyway. I did the same with my good worm colony and they had an hour or so with the lid on and the mothball inside - most of the bugs are under the glass though. As many of my worms are up under the glass in this box I didn't want to take the glass off to get the bugs in case it hurt the worms. Next I put both semi cleaned up worm containers back in their wooden box with 1 mothball and put the wooden lid on with a gap of about 5mm. The mothball packet says to leave the mothballs completely enclosed for 7 days to kill bugs so what I've done is quite a diluted version. The gas can get into the colony through the small vent holes but it can also escape into the airing cupboard. I checked the bugs after a couple of hours. The main bug colony is still very quiet, the smaller one not much change. I will check again in the morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Thanks for keeping in touch with this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 fingers crossed it works! -------- I spoke too soon had to take the container out of the airing cupboard (is in the garage under the house), close the lid completely and leave it out of the warm.... could smell the naptha in the room above apparently. So anyway, will check it in the morning and see what it looks like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 very interesting - this morning the bugs were wandering about the peat as normal. Obviously they are harder to kill than the Power Mothball packet suggests! I have now taken the mothball out of the wooden box, taken the lids off the plastic containers and put the wooden box lid back on completely. The box itself is still quite smelly so will see if that in itself is enough to ward them off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barrie Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 thats a bit dissapointing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 If I can get away with it tonight I will put a ball in the closed box with the container lids off and see if any change. I wanted to phase the bug massacre in gently in case it hurts the worms... 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insect Direct Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 try feeding less, or in smaller portions more frequently. ideally so all the food is gone within 12-24hours. better to treat the cause as appose to the problem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 yes I did that and also these worms went for a couple of weeks without food and the bugs kept multiplying - and the drier the peat, the happier the bugs were. anyway back to the bug log - some progress! got back from work and checked on the bugs. The box was still pretty stinky and when I opened the lid I couldn't see any bugs. Upon holding it under the light and squinting hard I could see them on the surface and under the glass but not moving. As their air cleared with the lid off they slowly started to move again .... so with that I dropped a mothball down the side of the wooden box, left the container lids off, and put the wooden box lid back on. Still out of the airing cupboard but it's not cold down there so that's OK. Will check in the morning and see if the bugs start moving again. I have instructed the worms not to die. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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