Did anyone raise worms?

[herofan]

A few years ago here in KY, a lot of people got into the "worm business," and it wasn't for fishing. I don't know a lot about it because i didn't participate, but I had some friends who did. People would buy a specific type of worm and put them in large crates of dirt and allow them to multiply. They would go in and dampen the soil and some even fed them paper shavings. They would sell the worms at certain intervals, and some people did make some money for a while. The worms were supposedly used for cleaning out landfills(which never made any sense to me). People were building sheds and attending meetings like it was a huge thing. Then, it turned out to be a scam and a lot of people lost money. Did this happen anywhere else?

[hillsdown]

My husband raised worms when he was a kid for some pharmaceutical companies . I think they ended up breaking even, no get rich quick with worms .

[john250]

A few years ago here in KY, a lot of people got into the "worm business," and it wasn't for fishing. I don't know a lot about it because i didn't participate, but I had some friends who did. People would buy a specific type of worm and put them in large crates of dirt and allow them to multiply. They would go in and dampen the soil and some even fed them paper shavings. They would sell the worms at certain intervals, and some people did make some money for a while. The worms were supposedly used for cleaning out landfills(which never made any sense to me). People were building sheds and attending meetings like it was a huge thing. Then, it turned out to be a scam and a lot of people lost money. Did this happen anywhere else?

It seems someone in the Carter family (the politicians not the musicians) raised worms and got a lot of big city press for it. I think his were for bait. Probably brother Billy.
Then, research in the 80's suggested farmers should be counting their worms. In some cases people even "seeded" worms. They were studied a lot. Search agronomy archives for worms.

[JSCATTLE]

A few years ago here in KY, a lot of people got into the "worm business," and it wasn't for fishing. I don't know a lot about it because i didn't participate, but I had some friends who did. People would buy a specific type of worm and put them in large crates of dirt and allow them to multiply. They would go in and dampen the soil and some even fed them paper shavings. They would sell the worms at certain intervals, and some people did make some money for a while. The worms were supposedly used for cleaning out landfills(which never made any sense to me). People were building sheds and attending meetings like it was a huge thing. Then, it turned out to be a scam and a lot of people lost money. Did this happen anywhere else?

It seems someone in the Carter family (the politicians not the musicians) raised worms and got a lot of big city press for it. I think his were for bait. Probably brother Billy.
Then, research in the 80's suggested farmers should be counting their worms. In some cases people even "seeded" worms. They were studied a lot. Search agronomy archives for worms.

Did that work out better than billy beer ?

[Jogeephus]

At $6.99/case I suspect it did. I work for a man who raises worms in a wharehouse setting. He does pretty well with them.

[JSCATTLE]

At $6.99/case I suspect it did. I work for a man who raises worms in a wharehouse setting. He does pretty well with them.

Does he sell the castings for fertilizer ? And worms for bait ? I tried raising worms for bait did pretty well until I left the lid off the old bath tub I had them in . It rained and my worms couldn't swim .

[Dave]

My GF sells compost worms to the city people who think they need to buy them to get good compost. She gets $38 a pound shipped to you. I make a pile of old bedding, waste hay, and manure from the barn. It is just heaped up outside, nothing special. After it has heated up and then cooled down I use the loader to take the top foot or so off last years pile (that is where all the worms are) and put it on top of the new pile. People order them and she takes a shovel and digs them. Only thing she is out is her time and the cost of shipping. Only thing I do is pile the barn cleanings which I was doing anyway. The rest of the old pile generally goes to my garden or the garden of one of my kids.

[john250]

At $6.99/case I suspect it did. I work for a man who raises worms in a wharehouse setting. He does pretty well with them.

Does he sell the castings for fertilizer ? And worms for bait ? I tried raising worms for bait did pretty well until I left the lid off the old bath tub I had them in . It rained and my worms couldn't swim .

Should have had flood insurance. Yep.

[lynnmcmahan]

Knew some folks that got in the worm business back in the '70's. It was a scam from the start. One company charged a large start up fee with a guarantee to buy back at a high price, like $20 a #. Of course it didn't take long for the buy company to go bust and games's over. Another deal, company guaranteed $32 a # but the fine print read "after dehydration". There was almost a cuttin over that.
Lot of sweet deals out there, remember there's one born every day.

[Jogeephus]

At $6.99/case I suspect it did. I work for a man who raises worms in a wharehouse setting. He does pretty well with them.

Does he sell the castings for fertilizer ? And worms for bait ? I tried raising worms for bait did pretty well until I left the lid off the old bath tub I had them in . It rained and my worms couldn't swim .

I don't know what he does with the castings but he has a contract with someone who buys all he can raise and they deliver them to the stores for bait. He uses electricty to raise them to the top so its just a matter of raking them into containers when they come to pick them up. His whole setup is on tables inside an old wharehouse. Its pretty large scale and it looks to be pretty easy but I think he is probably lucky to have the market he does.

[gimpyrancher]

Anyone that seriously composts, raises worms. Just can't figure out why anyone would sell them instead of putting them into our own soil. But that's just me.

[Jogeephus]

Adding them to your own soil will do little good if you don't have the proper carrying capacity and if you did - then you'd already have them.