Huh? You don't need to "go to buy worms and equipment" You probably have containers the worms will be perfectly happy in already, free.

"like bags etc!!" Please translate.

"and then order 15lbs of worms" Everybody kills their first worms. You might want to start with less considering their price. And how bad dead worms smell. Harvesting your own free from the compost from the "I'm was going to start composting" is the best price. I did not pay for mine. They all volunteered for the good life.

I bet many vermicomposters first composted for a bit first. It is good practice. If you can maintain a compost bin then you can take on 1,000 lives of a vermicompost bin. If they die it counts against one in heaven.

If the goal is to make money vermicomposting you will be money poor but worm and vermicasting rich. The $$$ public does not yet realize the value of vermicastings and will only pay $ for what is worth $$$ and cost you $$$ to make.

Vermicastings might be like mom's home cooking on a holiday. She will work her knuckles to the bone for free for family but you just can't buy that love at no restaurant for any price.

I hope that answered your question because I have no idea what you were asking. I'm pretty horrible but the other folk here are the best one could hope for to answer questions.

I couldn't have said it better myself, which is why I didn't try.

I should point out that worms do not automatically show up in compost piles in all areas. I never had worms in my compost piles, though the area around them was full of night crawlers.

I too avoided the post multiple times. I even used urban dictionary.com to try and translate it. No Good. But 15 pounds of souls were at stake. There was a movie where a person from the West wanted to build in the East in India. The stumbling block was the people in the west valued even the worms and had to had remove each from the soil before building could happen.

"I should point out that worms do not automatically show up in compost piles in all areas. I never had worms in my compost piles, though the area around them was full of night crawlers." I bet that is true.

I still have no idea what this poster was talking about. But throwing money at vermicomposting is unlikely to work. One can't "BUY WORMS". Sitting and poking at and watching might work if one is lucky. If not post here. We may be able to help only because we have had the same issue ourself.

I would encourage you to build a worm bin out of scrap wood and place it in a shady spot on the ground. Add 1 pound of worms and learn how to care for them as they rapidly reproduce (hopefully).
Commercial vermicomposting woul require lots of experience, patience, a solid and dependable feedstock. and lots of space or reactor systems that costs thousands of $$$.

Folks sorry about the confusion the bags were for the finished product if I decided to sell the compost.I'm planning to do windrows feeding and bedding should be no problem.I'm just stumped about where to get the worms and anything I might need and not be ripped off.I'm starting this on the cheap(because I have no choice!)But I live on a farm so I'm blessed to have a lot of feedstock here on the farm.Cow,horse manure and two teenage boys to get it for me Ha!!Ha!!Been layed off for over a year and almost no prospects of getting a job anytime soon.

Ken where is your manre presently? If you have it piled up, you probably already have worms. That is their natural environment. Dig around and check. I started last summer with about 1500 worms given to me. I probably have 20,000 now. 15lbs of worms is not cheap! I have no money invested in my system, except a few bucks for gas. Don't be in a hurry to buy all those bags yet. It would be at least 6 months untill an initial harvest. Long term deal. I would still build a "mother bin" to start. Good luck.

Mendopete Its around where we feed hay all winter and two of my uncles raise horses they right now just throw the manure off the bank behind the barn I might just go look under all that years of horse pies LOL!!To bad I cain't get below and harvest all of this old compost.

Chances are very good you have composting/manure worms somewhere on your farm. Most old (1-2 yr.) manure piles will have worms. If you can't find worms on your own farm, ask your neighbors if they have any old manure piles you could dig through.

The lowest bulk pricing for E. fetida I've seen is $15/lb. +shipping. It's more important to find a reliable source that will guarantee live delivery and weigh the worms before they add bedding rather than a source that's advertising the lowest per pound price.

It seems to me that selling worms may be an "easier" (neither are easy) business than selling vermicompost. Of course you will eventually have both, but there is a difference in how you set up the system if you're trying to maximize worm production vs compost production.

If you have burrowing critters (moles, gophers, etc.) or cold winters in your area, you may want to consider enclosed windrows (see link below).

Good luck.

Andrew

Here is a link that might be useful: enclosed windrow

Great link Andrew! I have been thinking of starting a similar system using straw bales instead of digging down. I have a little open and idle lane of forest area I could use.
Ken if that manure pile does not have worms under it I will send you a pound! I grew up fishing and any manure pile is always a sure bet for some bait. Unless you live on toxic soil, composting worms are present if that pile has been there awhile. Now, how to harvest them out of there? Don't you wish you had not thrown the manure in such hard to access place? Get the oldest and darkest stuff possible to start up the system. :) have fun!

My post, which said the same thing as these last few guys, I must of not posted properly. But don't even buy bags. Old bread bags, anything kitschy like that will make the product sell even more. I am imagining vermicomost sold in wonder bread bags.

To make a tiny bit of money you really don't have to spend much if anything. Even a sign made by children might be more apealing than a $$$ sign.

PS forget the shoveling job. The two teenage boys should be at the library looking for well educated highly paid girls to marry. Grandchildren. Priceless.

Folks thank you for all the feedback has helped alot and sorry again for the confusion on my first post.That being said I need to pick your brains a little bit more I was going to compost bedding and worm food together and then add that on top of the windrow I'm begaining to think that this is wrong can someone set me straight.I don't want to be throwing slop on top of the rows because I'll have every critter in the country here.

You might want to set up a small, a medium and your large vermicomposting operation. That way the small system can teach. Closely watching, and even failing in a small system is the best teacher. Failing twice is maybe twice as valuable. The amount of time sucessfull vermicomposters sit around poking at or thinking about their systems is maybe not calculated in sucess. I surly sit and look at my few tiny systems and how they are doing and am learning tons if I ever get to have a larger system to run. I can't imagine having a large system and having problems I would have no experience dealing with if I had not first had a smaller system and thus know what to do.

Good ideal I'll try that I was just thinking that in my worm bin all the bedding that my worms get is newspaper once a week and I usually put my feed right on top of that!

If you have aged manure available to you, you can feed that to your smaller indoor systems. If you want to compost kitchen scraps and bedding, then add that to outdoor bins bedded with manure, it will work just fine. If you are going to sell the vermicast, you might want to figure out a good formula and stick with it. One thing people will want in your worm compost is consistency.

I am far from an expert. Try a google search "KISS worm farm" Hope this helps and good luck.

I think you mean the KISS plan.

Here is a link that might be useful: KISS Plan

Ken,

Since you are unemployed right now you might consider going into the bait business. I'm not talking wholesale with shipping and all that. I'm talking about going to Sam's club or some place and buying some little styro cups they put cole slaw in. Then sit on the side of the road near where the fishing is in your area and sell them out of a cooler. Very little overhead.

You'll have a slow start and will probably need to undercut the nearby bait shops. Guys stop to buy their ice and beer and pick up their worms there, but if they start seeing you there every weekend morning they'll start buying from you for a better deal. You might find yourself selling 50 tubs or more in a few hours after a bit. Not bad for non-taxed cash.

You'll have to develop a system of sorting and counting but that comes with the learning process. If nothing else you'll get some quality time with your boys planning the project and teaching them how to think through a process and work out problems. Like grandkids: 'priceless'.