CATDOLL : CATDOLL: How to raise earthworms so they grow fast

1. How to raise earthworms to make them grow fast

Earthworms like to eat fruit peels and vegetable leaves. It is best to feed them banana peels, which will ensure that they grow faster.

2. How do anglers raise earthworms themselves?

1. Site and stocking

Earthworms can be raised both indoors and outdoors. In the south, the temperature is high in summer and autumn, so it is better to raise them indoors. However, large-scale raising can be carried out outdoors, and solar energy can be used to increase the temperature when the temperature is low. However, the site must be selected near a water source and with convenient transportation. In rural areas, the site can be used near the village or in the gaps between the forests. When the breeding area is large, water pipes or automatic sprinklers should be installed.

The worm bed is usually 5 meters wide, with a walkway in the middle of 70 to 80 centimeters, but if the material is delivered by car, the width should be increased. The walkway should be filled more than 30 centimeters high, and the two worm beds on both sides are 2 meters wide each. Ditches are opened on the outside of the two worm beds to facilitate drainage.

After the earthworm bed is completed, place the fermented feed horizontally on the earthworm bed in strips 20 to 30 cm wide and 10 to 15 cm apart. Before placing earthworm seeds, wet the earthworm bed first, then place the earthworm seeds in the area without feed, with a stocking density of 0.5 kg/m2 (about 1,000), and then add some water to facilitate earthworm activity. Avoid placing earthworm seeds after the earthworm bed is filled with animal manure to avoid loss of earthworm seeds.

2. Add materials at the right time

Taihu red earthworms have a wide range of diets and eat almost everything, but the key is that the feed must be fully decomposed. Composting takes 30 days, or it can be dug into a pond. It is better to ferment water plants, green grass, fruits, vegetable peels and slops in poultry and livestock manure. Because the food that earthworms eat in a day is roughly equal to their own weight, it is necessary to add feed in time. Timely means that earthworms are collected and added when there is still 20% feed in the earthworm bed. The added feed must be in a plum blossom shape, leaving 5 to 8 cm gaps between the piles. If the livestock and poultry manure is too thin, it should be poured into strips. Leave 1/3 to 1/4 of the gap area and water it before adding. Thunderstorms can easily flatten the cow manure that has just been added for one or two days, forming a compaction that is not breathable. The earthworms are suffocated and the ground temperature is high. The earthworms on the edge of the earthworm bed will crawl into the ditch, and some will jump to the surface of the earthworm bed. If there is still unfermented livestock manure that is producing biogas, the earthworms will die immediately. Therefore, it is necessary to observe frequently before and after thunderstorms. If the grass is not covered after adding feed, dig up the newly added animal manure on the earthworm bed 20 cm wide before and after thunderstorms. In winter, if a thin layer of feed is covered on the earthworm bed, it will also cause the earthworms to die. If no feed is added or watered for a long time, the earthworm body will shrink. When the earthworm cannot survive, it will self-dissolve and die, but it will leave a batch of egg cocoons.

If conditions permit, EM biotechnology can be used. This is a high-tech technology introduced from Japan by Jiangsu Province in 1991. It is an effective microbial community, such as 10 bacterial genera such as nitrogen-fixing bacteria and lactic acid bacteria, and more than 80 bacterial species. This bacterial community has the functions of accelerating the maturation of various organic fertilizers, improving soil fertility, reducing pests and diseases, and purifying the environment. It can also promote crops, livestock, poultry, and fish to be in a better ecological environment and growth state, and use less or no pesticides and fertilizers. Spraying diluted EM liquid on animal manure and earthworm bed bait can remove odor, inhibit the reproduction of harmful bacteria, and reduce the damage of lice and flies. Earthworms eat organic waste such as animal manure fermented by EM, and beneficial bacteria reproduce in their bodies and are absorbed as nutrients, enhancing disease resistance. Earthworms grow fast and have a high reproduction rate. In 1995, I used EM to raise earthworms indoors for 85 days, and the earthworms multiplied by 65.9 times, which was 51.6 times more than the control group (sprayed with clean water), and 14.3 times more. In addition, the earthworms sprayed with EM were slightly thicker, slightly reddish in color, and stronger.

3. Moisturizing and ventilation

The earthworm bed is a place for raising earthworms. We should pay great attention to temperature, humidity and ventilation. Water frequently to keep it moist. Water once a day in summer, once every 5 to 10 days in low temperature period, and once every 3 to 5 days in cool period, so that the humidity is kept at around 30%. And we should seriously cover the bed with grass all year round to keep moisture and ventilation. This can promote earthworms to eat more, grow faster, lay more eggs, have a high hatching rate of egg cocoons and a high survival rate of young earthworms. We conducted a comparative test of covering with grass in 1994, and the results showed that the earthworm yield of the earthworm bed covered with straw curtains increased by 80%. In addition, if there is a large thunderstorm after covering with grass, it can avoid the surface of the earthworm bed from being hardened, and avoid the earthworms from encountering methane and causing death. A few farmers did not manage well during the low temperature period, resulting in earthworm body shrinkage and less egg laying. There are many reasons, such as not watering for a long time, not adding feed in time, etc. The most important thing is that ventilation is not done well. Under hypoxic conditions, earthworms become dark brown, weak, slow in activity, and many of their offspring die. In particular, animal manure that has not yet been fully fermented will continue to ferment in the film, producing methane that harms earthworms. In hypoxia, fish schools float to the surface and are easy to find, but earthworm beds covered in film are not easy to find due to hypoxia. Only by properly ventilating, increasing oxygen, and expelling harmful gases can this be avoided. There are two ways: scoop out the cocoons and place them on the earthworm bed next to them or on the algae film, at a depth that is below the iron shovel and there are basically no earthworms.

3. How can we raise earthworms well and grow more of them?

Moist soil