Written by Vince Wheeler

Why Are Earthworms Important?

Earthworms eat organic material such as rotten vegetibles and fruits, leaves, and grasses. In exchange, it leaves behind a nurtrient rich concentrates that make soil furtile. That enriched soil gives plants so much of the food they need. If you plant two plants in your yard and give one plant worm castings and just plant the other without worm castings, you’ll notice the plant that recieved this extra nutriants will thrive and grow more than just a little better. It’s hard to overstate how much vitality worm castings add to vegetibles gardens and fruit trees. The earth would look drastically different without earthworms.

Earthworms Incease Yields In Your Garden

Reseach has shown that the extra vitility earthworms bring to soil will typically increase your yields as much as one-third. That’s not something to ignore. If someone plans to grow produce, rather it is for commercial or home use, gaining one-third more tomatoes or other vegetibles amounts to more money in your pocket or more food in your pantry.

Can You Make Money With A Worm Farm?

Absolutely! Earthworms are very profitable. You have several paths to profitability. First, you can sell worms to as fish bait. Find local bait and tackle stores that will buy your worms. Next, you can sell worm to people seeking to start worm farms themselves. Both of these methods can make you money, but the real money is selling worm castings, called vermicompost.

Here’s a list of buyers of worm castings:

1. Organic Farms: An organic farm is severly handicapped by the limitations on the type of fertilizers they’re allowed to use. It is nearly impossible to find better food for plants than vermicompost.
2. Marijuana Growers: With the explosion in medical and recreational marijuana, the market is only getting bigger. The growers who know what they are doing, realize they can’t beat the benifits of worm castings. Gaining up to 1/3 more yield on a crop such as marijuana can be the difference between a successful harvest and failure. It’s expensive to grow marijuana and yield is important.
3. Vineyards: I watched a video of a man who owned a vineyard. He was showing the difference of grapevines that had a scoop of worm castings and a vine that didn’t. The difference was huge. The one plant was nearly twice as big and much more lush than the plant without castings.
4. Nurseries: Companies that specialize in growing plants for sale will get better looking plants which translates directly to more sales. Customers will always buy plants that look healthier than what the competition provides.
5. Local Gardeners: You could possibly create a network of local gardeners who want to grow organicly. One or two gardeners won’t move the needle, but if you get a few dozen who all share your contact information could start to had up to real money.

Basically, anyone who grows or maintains any type of plants could benefit from vermicompost.

Organic Liquid Worm Casting: Worm Tea

As good as worm castings are, liquid worm casting is better. Known as worm tea it’s created by running water through the worm castings. The runoff is  a concentrated powerful nutrient that will make your plants explode with growth. This can be added to water as commercial growers, marijuana growers, and even home gardeners water their crops. This is as close to liquid gold that you can use feed your plants. It is almost impossible to give too much to your plants. Because it is 100% organic, it provides the boost many commercial growers get from lab created fertilizers, without the stigma.

What Does It Take To Build A Worm Farm?

Worms require a few things: Clean water, an abundance of vegetible and plant matter, and cool temperatures.

Most of us can get access to fresh water. The water can have any florides or chlorine added to it, so most city water is off limits. Something I’ve learned over the years is the “Glacier” water machines that you find outside most stores has very good quality water. I’ve found it with a little as 2 ppm. To put that in perspective, most city water has 600 ppm. Spring water or well water will likely work just fine.

Food is likely going to be your  hardest aspect of creating a successful worm farm. You need vegetibles, fruits, and plants that don’t have pesticides. Sounds easier than it really is. You can wash your supply, but that takes time and resources. If you can find an organic farm, that could be a huge resource. If you can find a restaurant that specializes in organic food, you can take all their scraps and feed it to your worms. Be creative and think outside the box. If you solve this problem, you’re way ahead of the pack.

Finally, you need to keep your worms cool. More than 75-80 degrees (F) and your worms will start struggling. Warmer than that and they’ll start dying. If you live in a cool climate, you’re in luck. If not, you’ll need to solve this problem. You can find commercial swamp coolers that could work, but if the temperatures are too high, you’re likely to spend too much money on electricity to make your farm financially successful. Going underground could be a solution for hot climates.

All of these issues are challenges, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. This is a realatively easy operation, depending on how large you grow your business. If you do your homework, find venderes to buy your product, and create consistant compost or worm tea, you’ll make plenty of money. As I build my worm garden, I’ll create additional resources to teach what I learn.