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Author Topic: What to do With Worms?  (Read 8767 times)

reelcharacter

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What to do With Worms?
« on: Mar 20, 2004, 05:18 PM »
As I look out my Central New York window and see our first good rain coming down on the 9" of snow we recently received, I know a night of pick'in worms is not too far away.

How do you keep your worms alive and well? Do you “catch” them any way other than bending over and picking them with your hands on a rainy night?

I have tried shredded newspaper or leaves with some success, while housing the worms in a plastic 5 gallon pail. Have found the coffee grounds and/or corn meal to quite easily and quickly mold.

I have a couple square Styrofoam boxes that were used to transport frozen fish to a restaurant that I plan to try out this summer in the basement. Saw something similar at Wal-Mart a few days ago, with two air holes, worm bedding and worm food packets included in the prepackaged kit.

Standard worm bedding bears a strikingly similar appearance to blown in fiber insulation. Anyone ever try using the insulation? What have you used to bed your worms in and how often do you have to feed them and change the bedding material?

I keep referring to worms, but there are differences between out favorite Trout or Panfish worms and the big ‘ole Night Crawlers. Can you keep both the same way or are different keeping methods suggested?

Thanks,
-Reelcharacter

 
Email me to swap information on fishing holes or to go fish'in sometime in the Syracuse Central NY area (Onondaga and Madison county water holes in particular).

mike692

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #1 on: Mar 20, 2004, 07:36 PM »
Night crawlers and red worms are completely different animals. Crawlers seem to prefer the cooler days of spring, and get scarce when the weather gets hot. Red worms on the other hand don't mind the heat, and can usually be found in a pile of manure in the middle of August. As long as there is some moisture.
There was a bedding out that came pre-moistened with the food already in the bedding. When the crawlers turned the bedding to castings, you just changed the bedding. I can't remember what it's called. That would be ideal. I'd keep them in a styrofoam cooler in a regrigerator if possible. I have only had moderate success keeping crawlers for any length of time.

I have kept red worms inside for years. I make a bedding out of peat moss, shredded newspaper, rabbit manure, and leaves. Keep it moist but not wet. You can feed them vegetable scraps, but only as much as they will clean up in a day or two.
There is tons of info on the net about raising red worms. Just do a search.

broken rod

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #2 on: Mar 20, 2004, 07:51 PM »
ive got a cool trick my grandpa tought me for picking night crawlers take 2 steel rods one extion cord cut of the female end hook one wire to one rod and the other to the other rod make the end of the rods insulated so you can move the rods with out un pluging it stick both rods in the ground about 12 inchs apart plug in and the crawlers pop right out this works for regular worms right in the middle of the day just rember to keep the rods close enough to complete the circut just keep moving the rods around till you find them ;D
tight lines, chuck

raleigh

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #3 on: Mar 20, 2004, 10:23 PM »
Thats a great idea Broken rod, I have never thought of that but I would imagin it would work. With night crawlers we used to water the garden for about a half hour before dark. After dark we would be able to go and catch about 100 or so in about an hour. All we ever did to keep them alive is fill a coffe can or two about 3/4 full with soft damp dirt and put them in there. We would put a lid on the can and put a white trash bag around the bag. (nothing special) An stick them in the fridge. The night crawlers would live for about 3 or 4 months. Every once and a while would put a little water in the can to keep the dirt moist. I tryed making a small worm farm last year with no success. I put there bedding and there food in a little cooler. I went and checked it a week later, thinking I would have happy little worms in the cooler. Nothing, there was no way for them to escape, I must have dug up a batch of magic worms  :D because somthing had happened to ALL of them.

reelcharacter

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #4 on: Mar 21, 2004, 12:27 AM »
Broken Rod,

Have actually tried this before, but without any positive results. From what you are saying I must have had the two rods too far apart. I used long nails or metal rods stuck in the end of wooden 4' long dowels. Each dowel/nail had one wire connected to it The dowels I would think would be insulated, but do not know if I would want to handle them or walk on grass with this current running through it.

-Reelcharacter
Email me to swap information on fishing holes or to go fish'in sometime in the Syracuse Central NY area (Onondaga and Madison county water holes in particular).

reelcharacter

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #5 on: Mar 21, 2004, 12:30 AM »
Night crawlers and red worms are completely different animals.

I have kept red worms inside for years. I make a bedding out of peat moss, shredded newspaper, rabbit manure, and leaves. Keep it moist but not wet. You can feed them vegetable scraps, but only as much as they will clean up in a day or two.
There is tons of info on the net about raising red worms. Just do a search.

Thanks, will go do some electronic look'in around. I thought there were differences between the two, more-so than just the size and appearance thing. Time to start a worm farm . . .

-Reelcharacter
Email me to swap information on fishing holes or to go fish'in sometime in the Syracuse Central NY area (Onondaga and Madison county water holes in particular).

broken rod

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #6 on: Mar 21, 2004, 12:36 AM »
the shock isnt bad my friend and i use to shock each other with them ;D
you might want to go with something you can stick in the ground deeper and maybe a little thicker then nails i use mine all the time and they pop right out of the ground.  ;D
tight lines, chuck

suskymusky

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #7 on: Mar 21, 2004, 06:38 AM »
I use commercial worm bedding and styrofoam coolers.I don't feed them anything because it heats up like a compost pile and cooks them.I pick out the dead worms every couple of days and keep the bedding moist.I pick a supply of nightwalkers in March or April and have enough until August if I take care of them.I tried the shock treatment for worms with some luck.I got jolted when I touched the dirt.I was thinking of trying that solution that you mix with water and pour on the ground to get worms during the day.I tried diluted bleach before but only got a few nightwalkers.
"IMAGINATION is more important than KNOWLEDGE" Albert Einstein

reelcharacter

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #8 on: Mar 22, 2004, 10:36 AM »
SM,

I recall reading an ad for that solution years ago. They still sell it somewhere?

A friend once told me that everytime they backwashed their pool, the worms would pop right up out of the ground during the day, even in the dead of summer.

-Reelcharacter
Email me to swap information on fishing holes or to go fish'in sometime in the Syracuse Central NY area (Onondaga and Madison county water holes in particular).

Cider

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #9 on: Mar 22, 2004, 11:11 AM »
Make a box with window screen for the sides or small diameter hardware cloth (really fine).  Then dig a hole in a compost pile or some where in the backyard with rich soil (somewhere that stays fairly moist but not flooded).  Lower the box in leaving the top slightly above grade.  Fill it with soil and backfill in around it.  The lid should be on a piano hinge and made of something solid that can take the weather.  When you get worms just put them in the box.  They won't get out and you can get them whenever you want by digging them up with a small trowel.  Mother nature will help keep them alive.  You can supplement by adding coffee grounds and shredded newspaper every so often.

If you buy them as needed: Crawlers should be kept refrigerated.  You can keep trout/earthworms at room temp in the basement.

howey1176

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #10 on: Mar 22, 2004, 11:31 AM »
I built a worm box. Nothing special just a box made out of boards and plywood. About a foot and a half deep, 4' long and 3' wide, with a hinged lid. I fill it with dirt and put all of my crawlers in there. I'll go out and pick 6 or 7 hundred crawlers put them in there and they will last me all season. I keep it in the basement. I feed them pieces of cucumbers, potatoes, eggshells and such.
Harold

reubenpa

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #11 on: Mar 26, 2004, 07:35 AM »
I used to sell worms in my teen years, so I never could keep them long. I used dozens and dozens and sold over 200 dozn from april - first of june.  I did keep dozens of them in a five gallon bucket with dirt from my parents garden which gets hard when it dries.  I would put very little water into it once a week or two, and not mess up the dirt. It appeared that after the initial die off from picking, they stayed alive. I never fed them anything and they came out big and thick and with thick skins so they didn't rip. The wetter they are it seems that they get softer.  My customers loved them  my .02
Just wanna be fishing, not just wishin

TroutFishingBear

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Re: What to do With Worms?
« Reply #12 on: Mar 26, 2004, 05:47 PM »
Buy a worm box from sportsmans warehouse or any other sporting goods' store.
I've heard and even seen that coffee grinds with the dirt makes the worms a lot fatter, therefore, better for fishing.

 



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