Red Wiggler Breeder Bins - Optimizing for Reproduction

Red Wiggler Breeder Bins - Optimizing for Reproduction

Red Wigglers have an impressive capacity for reproduction.

Theoretically, 500 worms can become 2 and a half million worms in only 6 months.

Let's talk about how to tap into that potential, and what are the drivers behind composting worm reproduction.

 

Population Density

Worms need a partner to mate, and if they can't find a partner, then no babies.

You want enough worms that they can find other hot singles in their area, but not so many that they have to compete for available nutrition.

A good starting point for population density is 190 worms per square foot. This is what I have used with great success.

How to Count out Worms for a Breeder Bin

If you are only running a breeder bin or two, sitting down and counting out individual worms isn't the worst thing.

But if you want to skip that process, or have too many worms to count, you can assume an average weight by counting a number of worms (the higher the better, I usually aim for 75-100).

Harvest a bunch of worms down to pure worm. Grab a small amount that you're willing to count out manually, weigh them, and then count them one by one, placing them back in the pile with the other worms.

Divide their total weight by the number of worms you counted for an average weight.

You can then use that average weight to decide "This amount of weight = this many worms.

 

Nutrition

Worms will not reproduce if they don't feel there is an abundance of nutrients.

The goal here is to make sure the worms never lack ready-to-eat food in the bin.

Some of the most readily available foods for worms include watermelon and other cucurbits, avocados, and high protein animal feeds such as alfalfa meal or chicken crumbles. This will help encourage reproduction.

Typically using alfalfa meal, chicken crumble, etc., will be the easiest to work with in a breeder bin.

You should have some experience keeping a worm colony happy before you attempt a breeder bin, so I won't really talk much about how to feed the worms here, but here are a couple common methods to feed them.

1. Sprinkle a light layer of alfalfa meal/chicken crumbles on top of the bin, which the worms should eat within a couple days, and then replace it as soon as its gone, or almost gone.

2. Blend watermelon/cucurbits, sweet potatoes, avocados or other foods your worms have shown they love, and pour a couple lines down the surface of your breeder bin. Replace when gone.


Moisture

Breeder bins perform best if kept a bit more moist than other situations.

A moisture content close to 80% saturated is optimal for breeding.

Organic matter has a certain capacity amount of pore space that can absorb water. But when its not holding water its actually holding air - kind of like a sponge.

So you want most of the pore space (80%) holding water, but not totally saturated so that the water doesn't displace all of the air out of the material.

Again, breeder bins are a bit of an advanced technique, so if you're not familiar with what 80% moisture may feel like you may want to go back to some of the basics.


Temperature

25 degrees Celsius, or 77 degrees Fahrenheit is the proven best temperature for reproduction.

Reproduction increases linearly up to 77, but rapidly drops off if you go too much over that temperature, so aiming for a bit cooler, like 70 degrees, isn't a bad idea. You'll still get good reproduction without risking going too warm.


Source.

Chart showing effect of temperature on red wiggler reproduction


Can Worms Reproduce Too Much?

Worms self regulate their population, so generally they won't get to a point where they have too many worms. BUT, yes it actually can happen.

If worms have a big increase in nutrition, and lay a bunch of cocoons, but then those eggs start hatching and the source of nutrition is removed then there can be too many mouths to feed and too little nutrition.

The worst case scenario here is that the worms will get small, wimpy, and some may die, but if you're not worried about your worm population and just want your food scraps gone, its not necessarily a problem. The population will rebalance itself to the amount of available food.

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