I was thinking about talking a little bit about worms in my Microbiology talk at the upcoming San Diego Permaculture Convergence. Unfortunately I have had to withdraw from the Planning Committee and subsequent Speaker positions. So I think that I will present a little of what I had been planning to talk about here.<\/p>\n
How many people give their earthworms sand?<\/p>\n
Sand you say, wouldn’t that scratch their little soft mucusy bodies?<\/p>\n
Yes, sand. Earthworms have gizzards to grind up their food instead of teeth. Just like a chicken only much smaller. Hence the microbiology connection. So instead of pebble sized pieces of stone like for chickens you need tiny pieces of stone – like sand. You don’t need much, but their gizzard-sand teeth, wear down and it needs to be replaced regularly. My guess is somewhere on the order of a pinch of fine quartz sand per pound of worms -every month? Sort of depends on what you’re feeding them as well but this is a good ballpark number. If anyone actually has data email me. If the sand is not quartz it will probably wear down faster and need to be replaced more often. Enjoy your verma-composting. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was thinking about talking a little bit about worms in my Microbiology talk at the upcoming San Diego Permaculture Convergence. Unfortunately I have had to withdraw from the Planning Committee and subsequent Speaker positions. So I think that I … Continue reading