Re: [Killietalk] How wet to keep the 'scrubby pad' grindal worms

[Mark Pearlscott <mark at pearlscott_com>]

Matt,

The pad I gave you is polyester padding which I picked up at the local 
fabric store.  I mention this because when I hear 'scrubby' pad, I think 
of those green scratch pads for scraping, and the poly-pad is anything 
but coarse.  Anyhow...

Water - I agree with Barry, I never intentionally add water to the 
culture.  Just whatever gets in there from harvesting the glass plate 
that sits on top of the food.  The poly-pad is moist, but toward the dry 
end of things.  Like Barry's... a little water in the corner if you tilt 
the shoe-box on edge.

Feeding - I feed once a day, 10 dog food pellets (which are large). 
When the culture is consuming that much per day it is in full 
production, and I harvest once per day.  If they aren't eating that 
much, then I just keep feeding until they do.  Only add food when all 
the previous food is gone.

Subculture - Just add a new poly-pad on top of the existing one (in an 
established culture) and treat the culture as you would normally.  Once 
the culture is eating the normal amount again (see above), remove the 
top pad and place it in its own shoe-box.  It is that simple.

You can also do the same thing to get a poly culture from a dirt/peat 
culture of worms.  The only different things I do are to add an extra 
layer of glass between the dirt and the poly-pad (to keep the poly-pad 
more clean), and start the food on the outside edge of the poly pad 
(instead of feeding in the middle) which helps the worms find it easier.

Crashes - Though some people have reported crashes, you can avoid them. 
  Every now and then, look at the bottom of the pad.  If it is thick and 
dark with worm waste, harvest the pad, and then rinse the pad really 
well under tap water (or clean water, etc.).  Don't forget to rinse out 
the shoe-box.  Then re-assemble and treat it as a new culture (i.e. a 
little less food to start).  You'll never need to loose a culture again.

Cheers,

Mark
---------------------------------------------------
Mark Pearlscott, LMP
Treatment Massage, The Injury & Pain Relief Clinic
4500 9th Avenue NE, Suite 300-12, Seattle, WA 98105
http://www.TreatmentMassage.com
(206) 234-9929

"Providing goal-oriented, result-based, corrective
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matt kaufman wrote:
> Mark Pearlscott, may his name be praised, gave me a started scrubby-pad grindal worm culture on Saturday, and it's been 4 days, and it's still alive! And the worms appear to be thriving! THis is by far the longest success
> I've had with a non-dirt culture. Dirt cultures have worked for me, but all get mited and infested with those @#$ at #$@# gnats eventually. My dirt cultures I kept pretty damp. They lasted longer if I had some red wigglers in with them.
>  
>  
> Questions for the list: How wet to keep it -> mist it down each day? Once in a while? Keep a pool of water around the pad? 
> Feeding: Feed when the food disappears? I have some kitten chow that appears to be a big hit.
> Subculture: Advice I got was, just soak another pad in water, and put it atop the existing culture, and wait for it to be colonized. I'd like to start another culture and get it going before feeding too heavily from the one I have.
>  
> I have the culture in a large rubbermaid container with a tight lid. I drilled a couple holes in the lid and stuck in those plugs you use for the fruit fly cultures (open cell foam I guess.) So far, so good. Hopefully those wretched gnats don't show up.
>  
> Oh, and the fish adore the live food. 
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