Here are some amazing facts for worm farm enthusiasts that can help a lot in getting to know more about the lowly creature.

So here are some amazing facts worth sharing.

Earthworms breathe through their skin and although an earthworm looks as simple as it is, it is a complex creature that with five hearts making up an astounding yet fully functional circulatory system, calciferous glands for neutralizing and digesting food.

Aside from that, it also has a saddle secreting mucus for egg capsules, a brain- although miniscule- and a central nervous system, hundreds of similar organs like the kidneys.

It has the organs of both a male and a female which allows it to reproduce on its own, a crop and gizzard with coarse sand matter to aid in grinding food.

Worm tea, the other politically-correct name for worm urine and castings or worm manure, make good fertilizers and best used for fattening garden ornamental plants or vegetables.

Better believe it, but without the help of worms aiding in the decomposition process, every dead plant or animal would remain at the same state that it died over time.

Withered plants and leaves, as well as the carcasses of dead animals or even leftover or wasted food would just pile up and just add up to unkempt clutter.

The largest earthworm known to man was found in South Africa and measured an unbelievable 22 feet from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail.

Worms can grow a new tail, regardless of the number of times it gets cut off and it can even food equal to it's weight and may even be made to eat more given the desired conditions.

Aside from his theory on evolution, the scientist Charles Darwin studied worms for almost 40 years, saying that, "It may be doubted whether there are many other animals in the world which have played so important a part in the history of the world...."

Worms have been around for 120 million years, without much change in their anatomy.

In the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs, even Cleopatra regarded worms as sacred.

Worms are indeed complex and, figuratively speaking, are highly sensitive creatures that can feel vibrations on the ground.

Earthworms are made up of at least 150 muscular round segments and there are more than 4,000 worm species with over 2,500 varieties.

There can be as much as a million or more worms in a single acre eating no less than 10 tons of withered leaves, roots, branches and stems and turning no less than 45 tons of soil a year.

When food and garden waste is dumped to a garbage landfill, organic nutrients that result from decomposition play a key part with today's environmental problems from water pollution to the production of deadly greenhouse gasses.

More than half of all household garbage is leftover food and garden waste, thus, the practicality and cost-effectiveness of composting these organize wastes and worm farming is alternative options to producing homemade organic fertilizers.

Most composting worms that are usually used for worm farms do not have eyes, but are keen creatures that can sense vibrations, light and varying temperatures through specially-made and unique organs found in their skin.                                       

If worms don't like the conditions around them be it the temperature or the built-up moisture in the worm boxes, they will attempt to leave the area and look for another habitat and if they don't find a new home in a different or suitable composted material, they die on their own.

Worm population in a well-maintained worm farm will double every 2-3 months and given the right conditions, adult worms can produce up to 12 offspring per week.

So, there we have it, some of the more amazing facts for worm enthusiasts.

Most people would never guess that growing worms could be a profitable business. There are many people that would buy worms from a worm farm. Mostly, they are people who need quality worms for their fishing trips or gardeners who wants good worms that can work the soil. Building a farm is extremely easy, and a small business can be set up as quickly as a matter of hours. Here are some tips on how to get started on your first farm.

Use good worms only

First of all, it is important to get the right type of worms. You can't just go out into your garden and catch just any type of worm. There are specific worms that worm people look for, some of which are tiger worms and red worms. If you don't know where to find these types of worms, you can go to a plant nursery or to another farm and purchase a few to get started.

Get some soil

Next, you will need to get some soil. The soil is not that important, you don't need to go to the market and buy top quality soil. Clean, moist soil from your backyard will do. Just use your intuition when finding a moist, fertile soil.

Build a place for your worms to live

Once you have your worms and your soil, it's time to build a good environment for them to grow in. Worms love dark and moist places, so pick a place in your house that is cool and away from the sun. The darker the better, and if it's a little humid, that's even better.

Find some type of containers that you can use to keep your worms in. Any type of waterproof plastic containers will do. Other common worm housing units are apple crates, plastic bins, wooden boxes, or glass jars. The advantage of box-shaped containers is that you can stack them up so that they don't take up too much space. People who are starting out like to just use old empty glass jars that are lying around the house.

Line the container with some newspaper. This will keep light away from the soil, and help to keep it moist. Then, put in the soil, and moisten it with some fresh water. Now, place the worms into the soil, and add some particles of food that they can feed on to begin with. Top it off with a little more soil, moisten it by spraying a little more fresh water, and it's done! You have built your first and very own worm production farm.

Feed your worms regularly

Worms aren't picky eaters, and you can feed them most anything. Popular food choices are leaves, fruits, vegetables, eggshells, and paper. There are only a few things that you shouldn't feed your worms, some of which are citrus fruits and onions.

Building a worm farm is one of the easiest businesses to build and maintain. It only take a few hours to collect all the materials you need, and once you have build your farm there is very minimal maintenance. The worms do all the work for you! If you are looking for a low-maintenance, no-brainer business to earn a little cash on the side, then a worm farm is the business for you.

A worm farm is a great small project especially for people who love gardening. A small container converted into a farm can fit a small apartment or house which makes it even perfect. The casting or vermicast produced from worm farming or vermicomposting is a great fertilizer. When used in flower beds, you can expect to have flowers blooming earlier this year. If used in vegetable patches, expect tastier and better looking vegetables at harvest season.

Worm farming is a great small project but how would it work as a commercial endeavor? Well according to the business directory, worm farming is a good viable business if you know what you're doing that is. Commercial worm farming involves breeding, selling and shipping worms and casting to clients. There's quite a load of work even if you're working with small little wrigglers. Sales of worms alone can reach at least $2,000 a month if you market your produce well enough and work your butt off in sales and marketing.

The concept of commercial production of worms and castings is basically the same as a home production one. You pile up red worms on a bedding of cardboard, leaves, and soil and place food waste on top and let the worms do the rest. In a couple of months the worms would have produced quite a large amount of castings and liquid fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer is the liquid produce from the worm farm. You can actually call it worm pee if you like. This liquid is rich and is very suitable as a fertilizer as well.

The number of worms or the size of the farm really depends on you. Just make sure you have a large enough container if you like to have large farm. The worms will usually control their own population so you don't have to worry that much of having not enough worms. However, aside from worms, your farm would probably include some other creatures since it is practically the center of decomposition. More often than not, you will find molds, fungi, pot worms and even mites in there. Now, these creatures are not necessarily bad for they also help enrich the process of converting food wastes into rich fertilizers.

At times, there would be maggots and flies as well. Although, these also do not affect the process that much, but can be quite disgusting and you would like to remove them from the farm. There are some quick and easy ways to control maggots and flies and the first one would be by not placing meat as food for the worms. Meat, poultry, and dairy products will attract insects and create unpleasant odors from the farm. But if you stopped placing meat and yet the farm still smells bad, you can reduce the amount of food you give the worms. Probably, you have too much food residue now which is the reason it smells bad.

Maintaining a farm is not that difficult either. You need to keep the farm damp but not wet since water can easily drown your worms. A lot of people make that mistake. They water their farms too much that the worms get drowned.

If you notice the worms in your worm farm is not breeding, then it would be best to cover up the farm or place it in a much cooler and shadier place. Worms love damp and dark places. They work better that way and will help your farm produce more worms and more castings for fertilizers.

Setting up a worm farm is an interesting and a very easy project to do. With the right materials and a detailed instruction guide, you can begin harvesting compost in a couple of days. A worm farm is ideal for people who pretty much would like to recycle food scraps but have no time or space to set up and maintain a big compost bin. This is why worm farming is perfect for people who live in apartments or relatively small houses who loves plants.

Despite the simple task involve in setting up your farm, there might be several problems or stumbling blocks that people have to face. In general, however, problems involving your farm are not as huge as some might thing. Simple solutions are often more than enough to cope with situations like presence of flies or an unusually bad smell from the worms.

Let's begin with the worm themselves. Worms will produce compost but sometimes a bad smell comes out from the farm. The farms should only smell when there's too much uneaten food residue in the area. To remove the smell, stop feeding the worms for a while. Place some more garden lime on the top level of the stray. Stir the layer as well to allow air into the mixture which also helps the worms move around better. In time the smell will be gone which signals you to start feeding your worm friends again.

And speaking of food, you should feed your worms just enough. Mature worms can eat about half their own body weight which is about 250 grams worth of mashed or blended food. Avoid feeding your worms onions, citrus, garlic, garden waste, dairy products, manures and meat. Meat and acidic food will also bring out a nasty smell from your farm which is another reason why you should not feed it to the worms. Do not worry about the population of your worms. Your worms will regulate themselves.

One of the other things that you might encounter are ants or flies invading your worm farm. Ants will usually enter the farm when the area has become really dry and quite acidic. One way to get rid of them is to add water into your container to increase the moisture level. It would be a good thing also to elevate the container.

You can place garden lime where the ants are at or place the container on legs on a basin of water. That should do the trick. For flies, small ones are usually not that too much of a problem. For large flies, however, one way to reduce their number would be to reduce the amount and frequency of feeding your worms. When cockroaches start to invade, place a lid over the container.

Another possible problem would be maggots. But maggots only appear when you introduce meat into the farm. So the solution obviously would be not to feed them meat. However, when for some reason maggots still do appear, it would be best to remove them by allowing them to cling into bread soaked in milk.

Other added tips for your worm farm include making the farm damp. However, do not make it too wet since the worms can drown from the water. If you find your worms not reproducing, it would be best to place the farm under a shade. A cooler place will help keep the soil moist which is ideal for worm reproduction.

Getting started on a worm farm is not that complicated, all you need is a bit of passion for recycling and some trivia about worms.

Here is a hodge podge of some worm trivia that could help motivate and inspire you more with your worm farm venture.

How much do worms eat? Well, mature worms which can eat up as much as their own body weight every day.

For those that are just starting out in worm farming and would like to know how to make worms eat more to be more productive.

The answer is simple- shred, mash or blend food scraps since these will make it more digestible and easily consumed by the worms.

Also maintain worm bed temperature at around 23-25 degrees Celsius, since it is at these temperatures that worms feed better.

Lastly, avoid acidic foods, since it messes up the worms' digestive system.

Here are some things you may also want to avoid feeding your worms, manure, onions, citrus fruits or peelings, garlic, garden waste sprayed with insecticides, dairy products like milk and cheese or meat.

Here are some more frequently asked questions that can help would be worm farmers get on their way to succeeding in this hobby.

Is it ok to water the worm bed regularly? Watering the farm will enhance the production of liquid fertilizer, but make sure not to pour too much water into it or it could drown the worms.

Take note that food wastes are about 80% water, which is released as the worms break them down.

If water is poured over the system every couple of weeks, be sure to just add water only as much as getting the worm bed damp and cool, you will have a constant supply of liquid fertilizer.

Will I be able to harvest more worms? The answer is no, worms regulate themselves with any given or available space and the amount of food administered to them.

Is it normal for these worms to gather on the lid of the farm when it is raining? Yes, since it a normal response for these worms to react this way during the rainy season to avoid getting drowned. Simply move the worm farm boxes over to an area where it does not get exposed to too much rain and replace the worms back to the farm bedding.

Why are worms not moving to the top level of the tray? This may be so because you may have added new food before the worms have consumed the previous feeding batch.

Worms have the instinct to stay with leftover food and will not search for a new food source until it consumes what was left previously.

Before you add new trays, stop feeding the worms for at least five days to ensure all existing food has been consumed.

Also make sure that the level of castings in the working tray needs to be high enough for the worms to pass easily up to the next tray.

Can worms endure high temperatures? Worms can tolerate a temperature range between 10-30 degrees Celsius.

If temperatures get hotter than its tolerable levels, move the farm into a shady, cool area where it could regulate the moisture and humidity of the worm boxes.

In cold temperatures, make sure to cover the box with old garments or carpets, blankets and wool shavings to sustain the warm temperature.

It is also best advised to feed the worms at least a quarter more than it should, since more food digested by the worms allow for more heat being generated in their bodies.

So take heed of these ideas and you can be on your way to getting started on a worm farm with confidence.

When you are doing worm farming, it does not mean that you can leave you worms unattended.  There are worm predators which can pounce on your worms and eat everything.  Why keep your worms for profit if you just let predators take them away.

You have to make sure that you worm farm is safe for your worms.  Who are the predators and what should you do?

* Make sure that you worm farm has proper drainage.  Make sure that you are not using contaminated water.  Also avoid using paper which had contact with pesticides since this is also source of contamination.

* Make sure that your worms are safe from predators like birds, moles, hedgehogs, foxes, toads, snakes, beetles, leeches, slugs, and parasites.  All of these feed on worms.

* Even if there are predators in the area which are not interested in eating the worms but are eating the worm's food.  Then you should also be careful.  If worms are not fed enough, they try to leave the worm beds. 

* If you are feeding birds in your area, then it would be ok.  Just make sure to feed them in a different section, you definitely do not want them to eat your profit.

* If you are living in a populated area, you would have to have a different kind of worm protection.  There could be thieves that are looking for free fishing bait.  So make sure that your worm farms are duly protected.

To protect your worm farm, you can have shed that can be locked to make sure that unwanted people and presence are kept out. Make sure that the floor is kept clean.  If you have concrete flooring, you can hose it down to remove the dirt and leftover scraps.  Some worm farm owners have a technique of keeping their farm safe from predators.  They would put their worm bin on a stand with legs, then they would put it a container where there is water surrounding it.

Aside from being cautious in providing safety measures in the worm farm's surroundings, you also need to be cautious of the food you provide to your worms.  Some worm farmers aside from giving ready to eat food also give food treated with chemicals.  These medications and chemicals should be handled with care since these substances could be harmful. 

Although worms eat meat, or eat anything that is offered to them, it is for the best altogether to remove meat among the things that farmers offer.  With meat, there is a higher possibility that pets will be attracted to and eventually will be bad for the worms.  Flies and maggots can also be attracted to the worm farm if meat is offered to the worms.

Aside from these foods, we should also avoid offering citrus fruit, onions, and garlic.  Its strong smell drives the worm away.  Another kind of food that needs to be avoided are dairy products, aside from attracting also predators, they also emit foul odors as they rot. 

Taking care of worms is an easy job, as long as you take note of what you should and should not do.  Worm farming can be both financially profitable and enjoyable.  There are even studies saying that worm farming relieves stress.  So, happy farming!

Worm farming is one of the best and simplest way of advocating environmental consciousness through the process of recycling and how to make your own worm farm is just as easy as setting up your garden.

You can start building your own worm farm using old Styrofoam boxes, used tires, wooden crates or similar type of box or crate containers.

You will also need to make sure the worm trays are kept moist -not too wet nor too dry, as long as it is damp and cool. Should it start drying up, just pour in water evenly until the compost bed absorb enough water to stay moist.

Various kinds of worm farm containers are available at hardware stores and garden shops, you may need to check around for fair prices and good buys, should you need to acquire new ones and save yourself the hassle of modifying boxes to make into worm farms.

Worm farms must be kept away from direct contact with the ground to prevent pests getting into the farm and there should also be a drainage tap or water collection area within the container in case it gets too wet, the liquid overflow can also be used a liquid fertilizer.

You must use special composting worms that can be purchased from garden shops and hardware stores, since ordinary earthworms are not ideal types for farming.

The ideal types of composting worms for your worm farms are Indian blues, red wrigglers or Tiger Worms.

You can start of with 1,500-2,000 worms to get your worm farm started.

Composting worms only eat organic matter, thus are good composters, instead of the usual earthworms that you find in the garden, which are earth workers that aerate and burrow the soil and do not make them good composters.

The primary purpose of setting up a worm farm is not to mass produce worms or culture them, but to get the product that the worms produce when fed with organic material similar to that used in a compost pile.

This by-product is called castings and while it's technically worm manure, it is a highly productive fertilizer or add-on for garden soil or potted plants.

The technical term for using worms to process compost and produce castings is 'vermicomposting', and the by-product is called vermicompost or vermicast.

To get high quality castings from worm farm, it is necessary use the proper type of worms.

Getting on all fours and digging the ground to look for worms is not exactly the way to go about it, since there are actually worms that are of the composting types.

These are worms that adapt well to living in a limited area or boxed container and those processing organic waste are the ones used for worm farms.

The wrong type of worm, especially the usual earthworms, tends burrow down deep and are not suited to cramped spaces.

You may want to purchase your worms from an experienced vermicomposting supplier, as you go along, you may be able to identify your local worms and be able to establish whether or not they are good ones for suited to your farm.

An easy structure would be start the farm using a cubic container, be it a Styrofoam box or wooden crate. 

You begin by placing a couple of sheets of shredded newspaper or cardboard on the worm tray to serve as bedding, followed by a few handfuls of soil.

Moisten the bedding material lightly with water, and begin add some organic waste for food, and then the worms.

Cover with the top of the container with something that will keep out the light while retaining moisture, using materials such as burlap, shredded box board or newspaper.

As much as possible, try and resist the urge to look at the worms for a couple of weeks, then take off the cover and add some more food.

Continue to do this process as the worms multiply and if the container starts to smell bad, you may be supplying the worms with excess food than they can process.

Be sure not to add any animal products or waste like spoiled meat, milk products or oil-based matter, which can cause the smell or attract pests.

If you notice the bin is about half full, it's a good time to harvest the castings.

There are several of ways to do this.

Some just push everything to one side, being sure to pull out large non-decomposed food and then they add the new bedding, dirt, food to the empty side and wait a couple of weeks for the worms to move over to the new side, leaving the vermicompost behind that can be removed and used in the garden.

So this is how to make your own worm farm and by now you already know how to go about it.

Worm farming is gaining popularity. If you want to get into the business, you have to learn how to take care of red worms which happen to be the best producers of fertilizer for the soil.

To do that, you have to build your own worm bin. This consists of several boxes, shredded newspaper, and a strip of insect screen as well as the red worms. You can probably find the first two in your garage, the third from the hardware store and the last in a nursery.

When you have all the materials, put a few holes on the top and bottom of the bin and then throw in the shredded newspaper inside the container to serve as the bedding. You can also potting mix or use both at the same time. Once the red worms are inside, cover the top with a lid because these creatures don't like sunlight.

Unlike the cat, dog or fish you bought from the pet store, you don't have to feed red worms right away. You can wait about 3 to 4 days before giving them food and since you don't know yet how much they can consume, put in a small amount first and then gauge how much more should be added to their diet.

If there are big and small red worms, put some food on the outside edges since the adult red worms prefer to hang out there while the younger ones prefer to get food from the center.

The food that is given to red worms is much different that what you will normally find in the pet store. This is because they only eat things that will naturally compost. A few examples of these include coffee grounds, grass clippings, manure, rabbit pellets, vacuum dust and vegetable matter. Never give your red worms dairy products, meats and certain vegetables like onion.

Just like other household pets, red worms also need some water so water them from time to time but make sure that it is not too soggy. Although they like water, too much could drown your little pets.

Red worms are sold by the pound and one pound is about 1,000 red worms. That population will double in 2 to 3 months and while some say that they have a way of regulating their population, it wouldn't hurt to transfer some to another container.

If there is no space anymore to relocate your red worms, you can try out what other people have done and that is to sell red worms. After all, the waste or vermicast they produce are great for the soil so you can help others save money by trying out this home made fertilizer instead of buying this from the store.

The other option to control the red worm population is to use them as fish bait. Although some people will argue that another variety of worm known as the European Night Crawler is better to catch fish, you will surely be able to catch a few with your homemade variety.

Raising red worms takes a lot of hard work so watch them regularly. Make sure that there is sufficient food available and their bedding is just right because this is the only way to have a successful worm farm.

Creating your own worm farm is a good way of recycling wastes from your home.  This is also a good source of organic fertilizer for your plants, especially if you have vegetables and fruits.  Aside from these, worm farms also offer financial opportunities.  You can either sell the humus or worm castings to organic gardeners or sell the worms themselves. 

There are opportunities in worm farming or vermiculture.  How do you start your own worm farm?

* Prepare a container made of wood or plastic.  The measurements are not that important.  If you worm farm is inside a room, make sure that it does not have any leak for the water to rush our.  Worms are more comfortable with dark places.  So if you are using a clear container, you can wrap newspapers around it to make it darker.  Also make sure that you have a location which is far from vibration.  Worms are sensitive to vibrating movements.

* Of course, you would need worms.  Use Red Worms or also called manure worms.

* For the bedding, you can use newspapers.  Shred it, and then make sure it is moist, do not make it too wet.  Then add some garden soil and some egg shells.  Crush them prior to putting inside the container.  Put water in the container, enough to make the bedding moist. Too much water inside the container may drown them.  So make sure that the moisture is just enough to make them breathe.

When feeding your worms there are several things you need to consider:

a.) You can feed them fruit and vegetable scraps and leftovers which starch concentration like pasta and bread.

b.) Avoid feeding your worms with food with high acid content like coffee, oranges and tea bags. When unavoidable, balance it with egg shells.

c.) When feeding worms with egg shells, make sure that it is cooked.  If it is from boiled eggs then it would be okay.  But if not, then just put them in a cup of hot water and put it inside the microwave oven where it would cook.

d.) Avoid feeding your worms with poultry and meat products.  These kinds of food can create a certain smell that would attract insects to the bed.

e.) Aldo avoid dairy products and chips, they can also create a problem by attracting worm eaters and other insects.

* Keep the worms in room or farm temperature of 40 degrees F and 85 degrees F.  So, do not let the farm to stand in sunlight for too long.

* There would be a time that you will be seeing cocoons with baby worms in your farm.  You can add egg shells in the farm, since these shells have calcium that helps red worms in reproducing. 

* Upon noticing that the bed cannot be identified anymore, then you would have to harvest.  You can harvest the worm; you can also harvest the castings.  It is up to you.  But it is clear, that you would have to harvest.  Worms cannot survive in their own waste. 

* Do not put plastic bags, bottle caps, rubber bands, sponges, aluminum foil, and glass in the farm bin.  This would make your worm farm look like a trash can.

* Never let your feline companions use the worm bin for their litter.  Ammonia will kill your worms and the odor is intolerable.  Make sure that your worm farm is duly protected against feline abuse.

This maybe annoying to accept, when you're a worm farm keeper, but the animals you intend to supply with your worms may just be the ones you need to shield your worms from. You built your worm farm essentially to rake in some profits. So simply sitting by doing nothing, letting those animals eat away your produce, just won't do. You want to keep coming with a sure and steady level of produce to sell to people and establishments needing those worms.

These animals, when fed and kept on the same farm as the worms in your worm farm, maybe affecting your worm produce in ways you hardly notice or would like to control. Various birds love to eat worms, so do foxes, snakes, toads, hedgehogs, slugs, leaches, beetles, and many parasites. So that's the first worry when protecting your worms.

Another worry here concerns what you feed your worms. These would be the manure you probably get from livestock farms. You use those manure to feed your worms. The problem lies in the fact that those livestock ingest some form of medication, which, if you don't know about, may negatively affect your worms. Those medications may not always be cleanly digested by livestock, and so the residue stacks up in the manure, which then goes to your worms.

Another problem with manure feeds include cluster flies and mites which prey on your worms. So you'd better be in the know about which livestock farms you can trust when getting manure as worm-feeds.

Related to this is when children have access to your worm farms. Not only may their inquisitive hands mishandle the worms, these children may also be affected by the left-over medication in the manure you feed your worms with. You'd best be putting up large signs to keep children away from your worm farm.

As for your worm bins, you need good drainage, so that the water gets replaced. Stale water tends to be contaminated over time, essentially harming your worms. You'd also need to be careful about drainage material you use. Some use shreds of cardboard, but some of these cardboards may have been contaminated by pesticides, which will in turn come into contact with your worms.

Another cost-affecting factor is which other predator consume the feeds you give to your worms. Worms tend to eat a lot, and if the feed supply allotted to them gets consumed by some other predator, then the worms may not be eating as much as they should, or as you expect them. They'd suffer and may be leave their designated worm beds. Even if the predator is not after the worms themselves, the effect is the same: you may suffer a reduction in your worm produce. One specific problem here is the presence of raccoons on your farm, because these critters tend to find their way into hidden containers and can open up latches.

For those who have birds on the same farm when you have your worms, there's no problem with these birds so long as you can find ways to keep them uninterested in your worms. So you might as well find ways to feed these birds in areas away from your worms, to prevent them from being curious and in the end finding your worms and eating them.

The last kind of predators neither consumes worm feeds nor lives on your farm. If your worm farm is found in or is located in a densely populated area, thieves and trespassers or nosy neighbors. So you will have to be sure your doors are not that easy to lock-pick and that your fences discourage passers-by from simply jumping over them so they could snatch some wrigglers from your worm farm.