Worms

[oldjarhead100]

I have a worm question is there a way to overwinter them in fabric pots , I usually just dump a handful in ,in the spring and call it a day but do they over winter Hmmm to early for thoughts like that lol

[Rwise]

My thought would be as long as they dont get to cold/hot or dry or run out of food they would be fine. Bait shops keep them in the fridge.
But I have no idea how much cold a worm can take, at what temp do they die?.

[Cloud]

Worms can survive down to 55f. I have 2 worm bins in my shed and one survived the winter but the other one got colder next to the door and they all died.

[SoOrbudgal]

Well now there Cloud guess you got some wormy soil eh?

[Cloud]

Hehe I mostly harvest the worm castings. I've been growing organic for a year now so extra castings are nice. Need to upgrade from 5gal fabric pots to 7 or 10 before I add worms to soil.

[crucialbunny]

I live in So. Cal, so freezing isn't an issue with my 2 worm bins but I did lose an entire bin from heat back in September. I now keep them under my potting table with a shade cover draped in front. I noticed that during the colder months the reproduction rate of my red wrigglers dropped dramatically but now with warming days of Spring I'm finding tons of new young worms. For the most part the composting material generates it's own heat so I would recommend a bit more than usual added to the heart of your bin to offset the cold temperatures.

[TheKieftan]

I actually worm farm as a hobby and am I happy I finally have a question I can definitely answer first it depends on the breed things like red wigglers won’t handle any cold because they’re native to the equator what you want is either a native worm species which will always be able to survive or a deeper burrowing most likely Nightcrawlers the reason I say this is the way worms survive winter is by burrowing so low the cold never reaches them then they enter a weird hibernation like state called estivation they basically cover themselves in slime and wait for it to warm but if you worms can’t burrow deep enough depth will depend on length and intensity of your winter then they will die

ps I just re read your question I got a bit excited and carried away someone was finally asking about worms honestly overwintering in fabric pots is not the greatest and not doable if you have sub freezing temps EVER and even if it doesn’t you’d need to water the dirt as if there were a plant in it the entire winter which would be a pain easiest thing would be get a Rubbermaid container modify it with MANY air holes on top and along side at top put coir or ph neutral peat moss and water throw your worms in now you have a free garbage disposal over the winter if you’re feeding right foods it won’t smell and come spring not only will your worms still be alive but you’ll have some nice worm castings to start your grow with

[oldjarhead100]

Thanks all good info TheKieftan you didn't go overboard I have a worm bin in the cellar I was thinking about my fabric pots there are alot of them and the part about watering them save me a ton of work I was going to pile them all together and cover them with hay ,I think Ill just add some every spring lol.
is there a limit to how many worms fit in the worm bin and how many should I toss in in the spring I use 7,10,and 25 gallon pots

[TheKieftan]

There is a limit but it really just depends on the worms and the type of dirt also available food supply if there’s not enough then they’ll start laying cocoons worms have this weird ability to balance their population perfectly with their environment if you aren’t seeing yellow / green shiny round things in your bin then their population has probably capped if they have food there’s a couple exceptions if you just changed bedding I find they won’t lay cocoons for awhile weeks and the same goes if they’re bedding is saturated with castings

[TheKieftan]

And to how many I wouldn’t take more than half the population but tbh I haven’t experimented too much with worm removal because I use then to make casting which I use to make my own potting soil