Grindal Worms

[Spinal]

So, hopefully soon I'm getting my first killi's (Psuedepiplatys Annulatus to be precise). and I need to plan in advance... If they get here relatively soon, they will be few live food from my LFS, but in the meantime, I need to get a Grindal worm culture going.

Now, I know there are LOTS of guides and how-to's out there on how to cultivate these things, but I had a question... Compost can be fairly acidic, which GW don't like. Hence, many people reccomend adding Lime to it (lime as in the stone, not the fruit ); but lime is hard to come by in small quantities around here... Hence I was thinking of other products that might work, and Bakind Soda came to mind... (bicarbonate of soda, NaHCO3).

Now, from what little I remember, NaHCO3 is poorly soluble in water making mixing it with compost fairly easy. It is alkaline, so it should counteract the acidic compost.

Ideas? Will this work? How much I will add depends on the acidity of the compost (I guess I'm aiming for a perfectly neutral pH, right?)

Michele

 

[Arfie]

I just put mine in normal run of the mill compost from a packet and they do just fine and have done for well over a year.

They seem to be able to survive pretty much anything, I moved my stuff around and put them on top of a cabinet and forgot all about them for over a month I then added some food and sprayed with water and the following day there were hundreds of them.

You dont have to worry about what to feed them either I will normally use porridge, but I don't have any at the moment, so I'm feeding the worms on out of date fish food they seem to love it.

Arfie

 

[BigC]

Keeping your Grindal Worm

Temp
72° - 84° (F) is ideal; 74° - 84° (F) is the optimum

Breeding
For breeding you will need the following:
• A Container; e.g. an ice-cream tub or similar with holes punched in the lid.
• Media (Potting Compost); I use Irish Moss peat with a little garden lime added, as worms do not like acid soil.
• Food; I use soaked oat cereal
Place your compost in your container to about one inch deep. Spray this until it is nice and damp, but not soaking wet. Place your starter in a depression in the centre of the container. Gently level this and add 1/2 a teaspoon of food to begin with. Gradually add a little more food as the culture uses more and begins to grow. Spread this further out in small round blobs over the media. Take care not to overfeed!!
Your culture should be ready to harvest in about two weeks.

Harvesting
Wet a piece of glass or plastic, sprinkle this with a little food (oat cereal can be used but I use crushed up fish food .. Place this on the media, food face down. Prop one end on a bottle cap or lean it against the side of the container. Next day the worms can be simply rinsed off the side of the glass. Gently rake the culture before feeding.
The worms can be harvested daily. If production starts to tail off just start another culture using a drop of your media.
* By using fish food to harvest the worms everything can be eaten by the fish, leaving less

Regards
BigC

 

[Spinal]

BigC, as usual thanks! You've got lots of info That said, I had already read your guide on another thread, and was commenting on your use of garden lime... I'm thinking of replacing that with Bicarb soda... its effects should be the same... But do you know the specific acidity of the soil GW prefer? Definetly not acidic, but do they prefer neutral or alkaline?
Michele

Keeping your Grindal Worm

Temp
72° - 84° (F) is ideal; 74° - 84° (F) is the optimum

Breeding
For breeding you will need the following:
• A Container; e.g. an ice-cream tub or similar with holes punched in the lid.
• Media (Potting Compost); I use Irish Moss peat with a little garden lime added, as worms do not like acid soil.
• Food; I use soaked oat cereal
Place your compost in your container to about one inch deep. Spray this until it is nice and damp, but not soaking wet. Place your starter in a depression in the centre of the container. Gently level this and add 1/2 a teaspoon of food to begin with. Gradually add a little more food as the culture uses more and begins to grow. Spread this further out in small round blobs over the media. Take care not to overfeed!!
Your culture should be ready to harvest in about two weeks.

Harvesting
Wet a piece of glass or plastic, sprinkle this with a little food (oat cereal can be used but I use crushed up fish food .. Place this on the media, food face down. Prop one end on a bottle cap or lean it against the side of the container. Next day the worms can be simply rinsed off the side of the glass. Gently rake the culture before feeding.
The worms can be harvested daily. If production starts to tail off just start another culture using a drop of your media.
* By using fish food to harvest the worms everything can be eaten by the fish, leaving less

Regards
BigC

 

[BigC]

Hi Michele,
I think you are getting too deep into specifics. Unless you are using totally acidic soil such as peat, you will not have a problem with Grindalworm.
Regards
BigC