What is the purpose of raising earthworms and what you need to know to raise earthworms

Do you know what to raise earthworms for? Currently, many households and farms around the world raise earthworms to serve many different purposes.

1. What is the purpose of raising earthworms and what you need to know to raise earthworms

What is the purpose of raising earthworms?What are the specific effects of earthworms? How to prepare and carry out to be able to raise earthworms in the most effective way? Please follow our article below to get information and get all your questions answered.

What is the purpose of raising earthworms?

What is the purpose of raising earthworms? You may not know, earthworms have many uses. different for both animals, plants and the surrounding environment. Let’s find out in detail.

⫸ See more: What is earthworm fluid? The most effective way to produce and use earthworm solution to fertilize plants!

1.1 Effects on animals

For poultry and livestock such as chickens, pigs, cows, buffaloes, frogs… earthworms are a favorite and nutritious food. Earthworms contain up to 70% protein in raw form, this is a very large amount of protein equivalent to fish meat. It is a source of clean food that also saves costs.

In earthworms there are many different amino acids to supplement nutrition for pets. Earthworms even have the special ability to stimulate the natural growth factors of pets, poultry and livestock that other foods cannot match.

Earthworms can also be stored for a long time and are better than other foods. Poultry and livestock like to eat earthworms more than regular things. This is a form that helps provide large amounts of food for animals at low cost and has been researched with American experts. If animal food is mixed with earthworms, the animal’s harvest yield will also be higher.

Earthworms are used as food for animals.

For example, with chickens, the growth ability will increase by about 20% and the number of eggs harvested will increase by about 10%. With the current high cost of animal feed, this is the optimal method. There are even many units that raise earthworms just to trade and provide food for livestock and poultry.

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1.2 Effects on plants

Do you know how to make earthworm solution to water plants? This is a well-known method to create organic fertilizer for plants. In earthworm compost there are many microbial mixtures that can easily dissolve in water and contain a lot of humus. For this reason, using earthworms or their manure to fertilize plants can not only help plants grow better but also improve the soil.

The acids in earthworm compost also help plants absorb it more easily, from which crops or plants can absorb abundant water to grow. Earthworm manure, when applied to the ground, will improve the soil and increase its water holding capacity, which is an important factor in increasing crop yield.

Currently, earthworm excrement is used for many different purposes: helping plants germinate, stimulating growth and enhancing nutrition. Another effect is that vermicompost can partly control harmful insects to plants.

1.3 Effects on humans

Not only in Vietnam but many other countries around the world now use earthworms to make medicine. Medicines made from earthworms can cure diseases related to blood pressure, heart disease or joints… More specifically, medicine from earthworms will increase blood circulation in the body, helping the body regulate temperature and stabilize blood pressure.

For young children, there are medicines made from earthworms that will help overcome loss of appetite, lack of appetite, rickets, poor sleep, physical weakness… Using the product properly will help children develop healthily both in terms of perception and some other senses on the body.

Some medicines are made from earthworms.

Especially for women, earthworms can reduce the impact of uterine contractions after birth, dilate the trachea or treat asthma. Some medications to treat atherosclerosis or stroke are currently also made from earthworms.

1.4 Effects on food

When asking the question “What is the purpose of raising earthworms?”, have you ever thought that it would be related to dishes? Currently in the world, many countries have offered hundreds of different dishes related to earthworms. Specifically, in Taiwan, the number of dishes has reached more than 200. In European countries, earthworms are eaten with fried eggs as breakfast.

In earthworms there is a very abundant amount of protein, protein and other nutrients are no less, even higher than fish meat. The amount of vitamins B1 and B2 in earthworms is up to 10 times higher than beans and up to 15 times higher than fish meal. Some vitamins such as vitamins A, C, E as well as minerals are also very good for humans.

There have been many canned foods made from earthworms on the market. The amount of nutrition and dishes from earthworms have been rated high by nutritionists around the world. Even in the future, earthworms may become a popular food not only for animals but also for humans.

1.5 Effects on the environment

Currently the amount of waste worldwide is increasing and fortunately earthworms can solve this problem. In Japan, they have tens of thousands of tons of waste every year and they use earthworms to process waste as well as make use of dried earthworms and earthworm compost from there.

On average, 1 ton of earthworms will solve up to dozens of tons of organic waste within 3 months. Many countries around the world have applied this method to treat waste to better clean and protect the environment.

Earthworms are used to treat waste.

During the waste treatment process, organic substances will be standardized into organic fertilizer, from which the environment and ecological regions also ensure their ability to develop. Many households raise earthworms to treat garbage, waste or wastewater, and can even take advantage of earthworms to create fertilizer for their gardens.

⫸ See more: 3 Simple ways to compost manure that decomposes quickly most

2. Top 6 reasons to answer the question “What is the purpose of raising earthworms?”

2. 1. To produce high-quality vermicompost 

Earthworms eat waste food and animal waste, thanks to their digestive system, they produce high-quality earthworm fertilizer for plants. Almost all types of plants love this premium organic fertilizer line!

2.2 To treat organic waste, pet waste, and clean the environment

Earthworms eat organic waste, animal feces… while protecting the environment and creating high-quality fertilizer for plants

2.3 Create earthworm solution to fertilize plants

⫸ See more: Earthworm fluid for roses, orchids and vegetables

2.4 Providing high quality nutritional ingredients for pets

Earthworm powder, earthworm meat… contain a lot of nutrients, and are used to produce animal feed (for pigs, chickens, shrimp, fish…) very effectively. This is a rich source of protein for pets, helping them grow quickly and healthily.

2.5 Making human food and producing cosmetics

2.6 Improving infertile soil

⫸ See more: [What is the food of earthworms?] How to compost and how to feed earthworms

3. What do you need to do to raise earthworms?

Based on understanding the uses of earthworms, the next step you need to learn is: How to best raise earthworms? 

3.1 Tools

To raise earthworms, you need to know what earthworms eat? How to compost food for earthworms as well as prepare some necessary tools.

• Tools for cultivating, tending or harvesting earthworms.
• The covering is made from rush or jute.
• Watering bucket with shower head (can be made yourself).
• Long-handled water scoop, helmet and work clothes.

3.2 Barn

Vermiculture cages must be built or placed in a cool, dry place, not flooded, not exposed to direct sunlight, and have a clean, neutral water source to facilitate care. On the other hand, the cage must have good drainage, effective heat release, and ensure stable temperature and humidity. In particular, worm farming tanks and pits must be fully covered and have a roof to protect them from rain and sun. At night, the earthworm farm needs to have lighting. Currently, people can raise earthworms in three ways:

Dig holes or create beds

 Dig a farming hole in a high and dry place, the depth ranges from 0.4m to 0.5m, the width ranges from 1 to 1.2m, the hole length ranges from 2, 3 to 4m depending on need. There must be a drainage ditch around the earthworm farming pit. Alternatively, people can also raise earthworms in beds. 

The raising bed is 0.3 to 0.4m high, 1m wide, 2 to 4m long. Surrounding the raised bed, it is necessary to build a board with a banana tree trunk or food packaging on top. For households that still lack capital, they can raise livestock.

Use foam containers, boxes or trays

 If you want to raise earthworms to supplement nutrients in the diet of livestock, poultry or seafood, raising them in boxes, hay or foam boxes is a quick, cost-effective solution.

 In addition, people can also take advantage of unused drums or jars or plastic pots or buckets or plastic cans to raise worms. Based on farming needs, we will choose the appropriate size of foam container or farming box and farming tray. Note, the earthworm farming box must be tightly closed to prevent the earthworms from escaping.

The barn has built-in tank compartments

For households wishing to raise earthworms for business purposes, of course, it is necessary to build large-scale and solid barns. Depending on the land area and number of earthworms needed to be raised, we will design the barn area accordingly. 

According to longtime breeders, earthworm cages must ensure minimum dimensions: 1.5m width, 0.5m height, length. Normally, people will build barns in long rows with adjacent cells. 

Each cage has small holes to help drain water. Vermiculture cages can be built of bricks or made of wooden planks. The most reasonable farming density is 3 to 4 kg of seed worms/m2. The cage must be covered to ensure high humidity and shade for earthworms to reproduce. 

3.3 Substrate

Substrate is a very important part of earthworm farming. We need to prepare a clean and nutritious substrate, even using old cow manure as a substrate. Some methods for making substrates also need to be consulted to choose the best way to make substrates and food. You can refer to 2 popular methods below.

Prepare the substrate thoroughly.

Hot annealing

To heat compost, you need animal manure such as cow manure, buffalo manure… Then cover it with straw or dry leaves. Because earthworms are somewhat intolerant of animal urine, you also need to remove urine if any.

On the hard surface, create a layer of cattle manure about 1/2 hand thick and spread on it a corresponding amount of filler containing lime powder. Repeat this job until the software is about 1m thick, then insert a ventilation pipe in the middle to ensure better ventilation.

Create a mixture of animal manure and filler with a ratio of 7:3 as best. You should also pay attention to covering the rain and sun with available things such as thatch panels or end leaves. After about 1 week, water and turn the substrate again to help the substrate have the right amount of air and moisture. Repeat the above process 3-4 times and you have created the substrate.

Cool Annealing

With the cold annealing method, you do the same as with hot annealing, but do not use lime powder. In addition, with this method you also need a period of up to 3 months before the substrate can be used well.

See more: >Very simple way to compost organic waste without odor

3.4 Release earthworms

Depending on the purpose of raising earthworms, you can use baby worms, mother worms, eggs or use the whole thing. If you use the whole thing and have cocoons, the worms will be able to easily get used to the new farming environment to create better breeding conditions.

Put earthworms into rows.

Throw earthworms in a straight line like a bed. The most appropriate time of the day to drop earthworms is in the morning, and it only takes less than 10 minutes for the earthworms to burrow into the substrate. Those that cannot get down to the ground or wiggle in place are poor quality animals due to injury, you can collect them and discard them.

Once you have finished releasing earthworms, use a watering tool to water gently. You can water like you water vegetables in each row. If on hot days, water multiple times to cool down the earthworm’s environment. One thing to note is that when releasing earthworms, you should only release about 10kg/m2.

3.5 Cover

This is also a very important thing that you must pay attention to because it affects harvest yield. Use anything you can to cover the earthworms. You can use sacks, mats, leaves… to cover and create “darkness” for the environment.

Earthworms have the ability to reproduce strongly when in a dark environment. If they encounter light, they will crawl underground. After covering, water gently again.

Learn more: How to make your own highly effective bio-nitrogen to fertilize plants!

3.6 Temperature

The best temperature to help earthworms thrive is from 20 degrees Celsius to 30 degrees Celsius. In the North, winter is often very cold, so farmers need to pay attention: When the temperature drops, we need to cover the cage carefully and light more electric lights at night to keep the temperature appropriate. If the cage temperature is too cold, it can cause the worms to hibernate or freeze to death. 

3.7 About lighting

The characteristic of earthworms is that they are afraid of sunlight, so when building cages and taking care of them, you need to understand this clearly. The barn must avoid direct sunlight. For peace of mind, farmers should use a protective cover over the raised bed or pit. 

Another important note when raising earthworms that farmers must not ignore is the issue of air. CO2, H2S, NH4 are all mortal enemies of earthworms. Therefore, their food must be clean, without the above ingredients to avoid affecting the development of earthworms. 

3.8 Humidification

To check that the humidity is suitable for earthworm farming, we will take a handful of substrate in our hand and gently squeeze it, there must be water flowing out between our fingers. If there is no water flowing out, the environment is too dry, and if water flows in a stream, it is too humid. Normally, you should water about twice a day. In the summer, water more than once and in the winter it can be less than once.

Don’t forget to regularly water the earthworms.

3.9 Care

No matter what you raise earthworms for, you definitely want to ensure the highest yield.  To achieve that, we need careful care. Earthworms’ food is garbage or organic fertilizers such as animal manure. Spread the food about 5cm on the surface of the substrate, and continue feeding the earthworms when you see that the food on the surface is gone. Normally, we feed the first time 1-2 days after releasing earthworms.

Earthworm food also needs to be put in a tank or bucket of water to soak for 1-2 days. This helps the food become a paste, making it easier for the earthworms to eat. At different times of the year, the frequency of feeding earthworms is also different, based on the needs and decomposition speed of the environment. After feeding the earthworms, water them and cover them with covers.

• Summer: feed earthworms once every 2-3 days. The amount of food is 2-3cm thick.
• Winter: feed earthworms once every 3-5 days. The amount of food is 4-5cm thick.

3.10 Disease Prevention

To ensure harvest productivity, during the earthworm farming process you should apply some methods of protection or disease prevention.

• Monitor the earthworm farming environment, if you see cockroaches, centipedes, ants… you need to exterminate them.
• Carry out careful shielding work to prevent chickens, ducks, mice… from eating earthworms.
• Do not let earthworms come into contact with chemicals such as dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, soap…
• To raise earthworms better, you can pay attention to rainy and sunny weather, surrounding noise, pH of the substrate…

In addition, if you see a large amount of worms or need to create new beds by multiplying from the old beds, prepare a substrate with the same size as the old bed but only half the thickness. Then use a shovel or specialized tool to scoop half the earthworms and the compost or substrate from the old bed.

Make the new bed equal to the old one.

At this time, people should wait 1 day before feeding the new earthworms, just half the amount of food compared to the old earthworms. You should also only multiply new beds after the old bed has been stable for 2-4 months to ensure the highest success rate.

Hopefully through this article, you will know whatto raise earthworms for, how to raise earthworms for the best results. Wishing you success.