Re: Microworm culture

[George Slusarczuk <yurko at warwick_net>]

Hello Dale,

If you add a pinch of dry yeast spread over the surface, the chances of
the culture smeling bad are greatly diminished. I use Fleischman's dry
yeast, the kind that comes in a foil package.

I think that the bad smell is due to rogue bacteria/yeast/molds that
invade a culture. Adding yeast gives the "good" yeast a head start and
the rogues don't get a chance to take over the culture. If I see mold in
a going culture (it happens sometimes -- white, yellow, blue, black,
patches growing on the medium), I start a new culture. A good culture
doesn't have ANY mold growing in it.

In over 20 years of microworm culturing (always adding yeast) I've NEVER
had the bad smell described by others. Usually it is a "fruity" odor
that, after a month or two, becomes "earthy". That is when I start a new
culture.

I use multiple small containers -- the squat glass jars from baby foods
(2-1/8" diameter, 2-1/2" tall) -- with a WOODEN tongue applicator
(obtainable in any drugstore) cut in half as the "runway for the
microworms. (Plastic tongue applicators don't seem to work as well.) It
is MUCH easier to scrape the microworms off a flat surface, rather than
the round sides of a jar or tub!

I use UNBLEACHED corn meal as the medium. It is less messy than other
media, but people have success with any starchy food. Just add enough
water (boiled to sterilize it, but then cooled) to a heaping spoonfull
of corn meal in a CLEAN jar. Wait for the meal to soak the water in and
add enough water to form a THIN film of water on the surface. 

Sprinkle a few (~10) grains of dry yeast on the wet surface and leave
(covered) overnight, to give the yeast a chance to grow. Add your
microworm culture, a wet wooden tongue depressor cut in half crosswise,
and wait. If patches of mold appear initially -- remove them! After the
yeast and microworms are going strong, no mold should appear.

After a while (the time is variable and depends on the size of the
inoculum, etc., but is usually 1-2 weeks) the microworms will cover the
tongue depressor in a solid mass and can be conveniently harvested.

Every month, or so, start another jar. That way you will have several
jars producing. When the productivity slows down, discard the culture,
sterilize the jar and the tongue depressor by boiling them for 5 min. in
water, and you are ready to start anew.

Good luck!

George



Dale Medina wrote:
> 
> I have a microworm culture here in a small plastic
> container perhaps 6 inches around and about 5 inches
> deep.  I kept on trying this culture since I started
> keeping killies but with no avail.  BUT NOW FOR THE
> FIRST TIME..I ACTUALLY SAW SOME THINGS CRAWLING ON THE
> SIDES OF THE CONTAINER!! ok maybe this is nothing to
> be excited about..but I immediately scraped the side
> with a cotton tipped applicator and dipped that in the
> tank. My question is how could I get this culture
> going? I'd love to have more of this.  I have never
> bought any small species of killies for fear of not
> having a small enough food for the first few days. All
> I have is bbs.
> 
> Thanks everybody
> 
> Dale
> 08412
> 
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