Red Worms in Toronto?

[Paulo]

Where can i find red works in Toronto?

I need more for my compost, and i cannot find a place to buy them

Thanks

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Cathy's Composters in Bradford

will mail them. I got some a month or so ago from her at a Seedy Saturday at Bathurst and Dundas. I think they got a chill and all died on me in 2 weeks. ( I am waiting to hear from her.) She will be at an Ecofest in Oakville coming up in April ( don't know when). There was a guy on Queen Street East selling them but he moved to the States apparently. I hope you are not going to put them in your outside composter. At this time of the year, they'll die and you'll be out a few$. She charges $25 for 1/2 lb. If you find somewhere else that sells them please post the addresses. I'd love to know.

Sally

[Travis]

Red worms migrated from the ground up into my compost.

[Compost Nut]

Hi I'm in the process of raising worms and am interested in learning how you cared for the worms you bought and why they may have died. All may not be lost, though, as there may be some worm cocoons in the container they came in that hopefully will emerge in time. I have not yet ordered any worms so don't know under what conditions they are/were sent. I live in BC and weather conditions here are not as harsh as out East. Gary

[Paulo]

Sally: I was hoping to find them locally. My compost is indoors. I found 2 addresses I will have to check, one in King St and other in Queen. I will let you know

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Gary:

I had vermicimposters for years when I belonged to the Master Composters program sponsered by the Recycling Council of Ontario and used to test prototype outdoors composters for the City of Toronto so I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of (vermi)composting. I also have pretty much every composting book on the market. So I am particularly peeved at this situation and trying to understand what could have happened.

The worms were already in 1/2 lb packages when I bought them. Basically worms and peat moss packaged up in a stack of damp newspapers. Sealed with packing tape. I put them in my cloth bag. I walked four blocks from the community centre to my car ( the temperature was about 4 degrees celsius. Not cold enough to kill them in the packaging). I took them home and left them in the package for about 4 or 5 hours while I went out and bought a new Rubbermaid container and rinsed it. I drilled holes in the side about two inches from the bottom and inserted 2 PVC pipes with holes in them that I used in previous composters ( cleaned, of course).The pipes were capped with plastic mesh caps. I also drilled 4 vent holes in the top and used the same mesh ventilation caps for top ventilation.

I rinsed out my paper shredder container and shredded brown paper bags that I collected and then soaked them. After an hour I drained off that water and put the bedding in the composter, opened the package and let the worms crawl out. The cellulose in the paper usually suffices as food indefinitely. I pulled the packaging out after all the worms had moved out of it. It was f ew days before I added food scraps as I found out the hard way years ago not to overload the container. A few worms tried crawling up to the top but I kept throwing them back in. After about a week I started pushing things around and realized that the worms were dying. There were a few eggs but not what I normally see. I left the lid off to see if more ventilation helped, checked the mositure level etc. but it was too late. They were all gone after two weeks. I can only think of a few things that went wrong:

- they got a terminal chill either travelling from wherever she brought them from ( or in the 4 blocks I carried them. I find that hard to believe though) and never recovered.

- the pH in the bin got out of hand somehow ( I don't have a pH tester at the moment)

- somehow they didn't have enough ventilation ( I have never had this problem before especially with this composter design)

- something in the materials was toxic to them.

If you have any other ideas, please let me know. I would really appreciate the input.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Compost Nut" Newsgroups: rec.gardens Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 2:05 AM Subject: Re: Red Worms in Toronto?

Lm_4e.18762$ [e-mail],

[Pen]

I don't know why but it's usually a good idea to get your bin and bedding set up a week in advance. Shredded paper for some reason is harsh on worms when first moistened. In your case if you just bought the worm and didn't have anywhere to put them, moisten soiless potting mix or coir in a smaller, separate container would have sufficed. Let them rest there a week while your bin and bedding settles then dump the contents of the smaller container into your worm bin. Coir or coconut husk can be found at plant nurseries, it's usually near the orchid mixes.

Also take a look at this site:

[Sallyrat&Sweetie]

Thanks, Pen.

I have always used brown paper and never had problems but there is always a first time. When I got the worms I had no idea that I would be setting up. It was an impulsive gesture brought on by the fact that there is nowhere to get them in this city and I just took advantage of the moment.

I have bookmarked the website. It looks really interesting. I think I had this site before and lost it so I'm glad to get it back.