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Re: Mold in grindal worm bedding



The only times I've had problem of mold in my grindal cultures was when
I was overfeeding the culture.  When you start over, if you don't have
very many worms, use a very small amount of flake or powdered fish food
(DON'T OVERFEED - you can tell that the worms are overfed if the culture
has any residual food from the previous day's feeding; if you're feeding
the culture daily, don't worry about underfeeding).

I have found that fish food is a great starter food for the culture as I
just sprinkle one or two medium flakes on the surface (over the worms)
and moisten the flakes slightly to soften.  Within minutes the worms
should be attacking the flakes.  As the population increases, increase
the amount of food you are using, but take care to make sure that no
food remains after 24 hours; if there is, you're overfeeding.  After a
week or so, you can switch to a less expensive feed (I use soybean flour
from a health food store).

Once the culture is going, you'll be able to harvest the worms as they
will congregate in the feeding area if you've been placing the food in
the same place in the culture each time you feed.

However, be sure to keep the culture warm (at least 70F).  When my
cultures are exposed to lower temperatures, the worms slow down
noticeably (each less, grow slower, slower reproduction, etc.).


> 
> Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:10:49 -0500
> From: "Tomoko Schum" <tomokoschum at earthlink_net>
> Subject: Mold in grindal worm bedding
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> My grindal worm bedding is getting covered with mold.
> I am going to start over with new bedding.  Can someone
> tell me how to avoid introducing mold spore into new
> bedding?  Does higher/lower pH inhibit mold growth?
> 
> Some of the boxes are still producing well despite the
> mold but other boxes are doing poorly.  Besides the
> mold problem I have another problem that I have not
> figured out just what it is.
> 
> I believe that the latter problem started out with a
> low consumption of baby food.  The food gets wet and
> very sticky rather quickly.  I suppose the food is
> rotting before grindal worm gets to it.  The boxes with
> this problem does not seem to have mold problem.  Just
> sticky mess and the worms are not congregating near the
> food.
> 
> Can someone shed some light on this situation?
> 
> TIA,
> 
> Tomoko