Our Worm Farm Operation

Because we are already in the “GREEN” business dealing with wastewater treatment products it was a natural addition for us to get into the Vermiculture business? Most commercial worm farm businesses are successful on a local level and we certainly supply our local markets with both worm castings and fishing bait worms. But we also sell our high quality and all natural worm castings across the United States. Our web site is mostly based on education and to that end this page is split into two sections.

For those of you reaching our web site who are just beginning to research the worm farming business opportunity, or are in business and looking to improve your operation, I will answer a few common questions we have heard over the years running a successful vermiculture business. Please use our contact page if you have questions that are not answered here, we are more than happy to help you out.

Yes worm farming is hard, but like all farming it can be done successfully with good equipment (worm harvester) and a good system of growing the worms. After a great deal of researching we selected the “The UNCO System”.
The cultured nightcrawlers used in the UNCO Industries system are excellent producers of high quality worm castings and make a super organic fertilizer. Our opinion is that the worm castings produced from our UNCO duplicated system are better than what is made from red worms, and the UNCO cultured nightcrawlers are more prolific producers. You will see plenty of red worms for sale to start a worm farm or for raising fishing worms and even for composting with worms. But worm growing is more than that, you need a business plan and you need to select the right types of worms to start your commercial worm farming business off on the right foot.

You must establish a good market for your products locally to have a successful vermiculture business. It is easy to sell the bait worms locally for fishing worms. Once the word of mouth gets out in your area that you have great bait worms that don’t need to be refrigerated, you will have local fishermen showing up and calling. Ask around for the local organic growers in your area. These are the people who will become your customers the quickest. These organic growers and organic home gardeners are always looking for pure earthworm castings. They want to use all natural organic fertilizers to get the many added benefits of worm manure. You can sell worm tea, compost worms, worm food, garden worms, worm composting bins, worm boxes, and worm bedding.

Start small, know what you are getting yourself into, and talk to worm farmers who are already in business. Get to know worm anatomy, get some worm raising experience, know your worm facts, and worm casting benefits before increasing your worm farm operation. One of the nice things about the worm farming business is that you can always grow bigger when you have the customers and you have some experience under your belt.

Earth worm Castings” need to be produced by the worms and then separated from the worms and other debris.
We have found the best production of worm castings comes from following the UNCO Industries vermiculture business model. Separating and collecting the worm castings can be time consuming and back breaking work.
We suggest you start small and get a feel for what you are doing before shelling out the money for worm sifting machines and equipment. UNCO industries will sell you worm operation equipment in addition to their worm farming system and education. We started by hand, then progressed to used equipment, and then finally purchased new equipment that we still use today. The used equipment we picked up locally from a business using the UNCO system and equipment.

It included a pulverizer, conveyor system, and a used MK-VIII Worm and Casting Harvester (Dual screen automated worm harvesting equipment). We have since junked the old worm harvester and invested in a new “Worm Shi*fter” which we are extremely happy with. It has saved us a lot of headaches and time in our operations. Feel free to check out their web site for more information. http://www.brockwoodfarm.com/wormharvester/

And finally, like any business you need to operate smart to be profitable. Anything that you can do to save time and money is worth checking out. You will find that efficiency is very important in this business. Ultimately, you have to produce high quality worm castings or you will not be in business long!

Our Organic Fertilizer ( Wiggle Worm Soil Builder )

Worm castings are not just a fertilizer, they are much more. The main reason for their use is to enrich the soil. They help to build up the soil structure, boosting its water-holding capacity, and adding to the biodiversity and long-term productivity of your soil. In other words, organic worm castings are an integral part of intelligent soil management. Chemical fertilizers just add nutrients to the soil, they do not help to improve the soil structure.

Worm castings or Earthworm excreta are an excellent soil-conditioning material with a high water holding capacity and a ‘natural time release’ for releasing nitrogen into the soil. They improve drainage minimizing soil erosion and helps stop soluble nitrogen and phosphorus rich runoff. The worm castings form aggregates, which are mineral clusters that combine in such a way that they can withstand water erosion and compaction, and also increase water retention. Chemical fertilizers offer none of these benefits. Our Wiggle Worm Soil Builder worm castings are produced by earthworms eating organic matter, processing those organic materials through digestion, and then excreting the castings. An important feature of worm castings is that during the processing of the organic material by earthworms, many of the nutrients they contain are changed to forms more readily taken up by plants, such as nitrate nitrogen, exchangeable phosphorus and soluble potassium, calcium, and magnesium. They also contain plant growth hormones (Cytokinins and Auxins) that promote a stronger more fibrous root system which allows the plant to uptake more nutrients. Plus they are full of trace minerals like Iron, Calcium, Magnesium and Boron. All this is done in a natural way and your plants will love it because it is 100% natural and organic. Chemical fertilizers are produced from petroleum or natural gas and are synthetic.

They can contain a lot of fillers that do nothing for your soil or plants. During the digestion process the worms change the organic wastes in many ways. One of the many benefits of this process is that the worms deodorize and neutralize the organic waste. Part of the earthworm’s digestion process changes the pH of the organic material and the castings come out in a pH range of around 7 (neutral). Therefore, our Wiggle Worm Soil Builder worm castings are a natural soil enhancer and they are naturally odorless (they smell like a forest after rain). In conclusion, chemical fertilizers may be cheaper and more convenient to buy. But if you really want to boost your soil and grow better and healthier plants, make a little extra effort and go organic. In fact, 100% natural and pure worm castings is the best way you can go.

Pure Worm Castings vs Other Organic Compost
Our Wiggle Worm Soil Builder worm castings are a PURE castings product. High quality pure worm castings start with providing the absolute best bedding material. Our worker worms bed in the richest peat humus in the world.
This is the bedding they need to produce the highest quality castings. We then feed our worms specific grains that contribute to the worms protein needs and vitamins that help the worms digest the organic materials better. Then water, and not just any water, we provide 100% well water that has more minerals for the worms. They are produced inside a building with controlled heat and humidity. By comparison, castings from a typical worm farm will not be as pure because there is no way to ensure that ALL of the bedding has passed through the stomach of the worm and if the beds are outdoors, some of the nutrients may have leached out due to rain. Castings that come from Vermicomposting of waste materials like lawn waste and municipal landfills are of lesser quality too.

Those composts are lacking purity, nutrients are usually leached away, and they may contain hot spots (which can burn young plants). Plus there is the potential for chemical residues like pesticides sprayed on lawns and heavy metals from waste. There is also the possibility of bacteria and glass and other garbage materials that can get past the screening process. Our Wiggle Worm Soil Builder earthworm castings provide many special benefits beyond what farmers or gardeners can expect from just manure or compost. In fact, most specialists recommend that castings be used as a top dressing or supplement. In this way, castings help make the most effective use of all your bulk soil amendments. “A little goes a long way” because the benefits of castings are so concentrated. Sure our castings cost a little more than other organic or chemical fertilizers. For that extra money you are getting the following benefits:

It’s 100% natural and pure ORGANIC worm castings ~ You just need a little on top of an existing plant

Can add 20% to a potting soil to make your own “Rich” potting soil

Make a worm castings tea and use it to water all your plants and vegetables

Works on any kind of indoor or outdoor plant ~ No Odor so you can use it indoors without worry

Improves soil water retention so you don’t have to water as much ~ Improves soil structure

This is a fantastic product that will produce Fantastic Results! Most popular package comes in 25 lb bags which is excellent for homeowners and can be shipped to you. We also carry larger packaging sizes including a one ton bulk bag. Remember to ask us about FREE private labeling of our worm castings. Private labeling is great for business promotions, fundraising, botanical gift shops, retail sales at organic farms, retail sales at farmer markets, and also retail sales at garden stores. Just contact us for current pricing.

 


Organic Dirt


25 Pound Bag of Worm Castings


1-TON Bulk