How to cultivate earthworms?

Earthworms live in the soil and feed on humus in the soil. In addition to metal, glass, plastic and rubber, many organic wastes and sludge can be used as feed for earthworms. Such as waste residue from paper mills, sugar mills, food factories, aquatic products processing plants, wineries, sewage sludge, livestock droppings, pericarp and vegetable leaves, weeds, sawdust and garbage, etc. But these organic compounds do not contain mineral oil, lime, soapy water and excessive salt.

Earthworms can grow and reproduce in the range of 10 ℃ ~ 30 ℃, and the optimum temperature is 20 ℃ ~ 25 ℃. It is required that the soil moisture content is 35%-40%, and the pH value is 6.6-7.4. Earthworms are androgynous, but they need allogeneic fertilization to lay eggs. The fertilized egg developed into young worms after 18-21 days in the cocoon. Small earthworms take about 4 months from birth to maturity. After maturation, the eggs were spawned once a month, and 1012 eggs were reproduced each time. A good variety can reproduce nearly a thousand times a year.

The base material and feed for cultivating earthworms require rotten clinker that has no odor, no toxic substances and has been fermented. The production method of base material is basically the same as that of feed. That is, the collected raw materials are stacked layer by layer according to the proportion of 60% dung and 40% grass (all dung can also be used). If the material is dry, sprinkle water on the heap until water flows out under the heap. After the "white smoke" is emitted from the heap, it can be turned over and remixed with water. After repeated for 3 or 5 times, the whole pile can be used as base material and feed for earthworms after being fully fermented. If it is all made of dung, there is no need to cut the pile.

Earthworms can be cultured in various ways, such as trough, enclosure, pit, feed land and so on.

Spread the fermented base material in a feeding container with a thickness of 10 cm to 30 cm. With the introduction of earthworm species, there are 1 000 and 2 000 vermis per square meter. Feed should be added in time after the base material is consumed. There are three methods: ball-shaped fixed-point feeding, interlaced strip feeding and block feeding. After the new material is put in, the earthworm climbs into the new material and feeds, and the egg packets in the old material can be collected and hatched. Incubation time is related to temperature. It takes about 30 days at 15 ℃ and 20 days at 20 ℃. The higher the temperature, the shorter the hatching time, but the lower the hatching rate.

The feeding and management of earthworms are mainly as follows: ① ensures that the base material and feed are loose and aerated; ② keeps moist; ③ protects against virus and natural enemies, such as maggots, ants, frogs, mice and pesticides; ④ avoids direct sunlight and freezing.

The collection of earthworms can be carried out by means of fear of light, heat, flooding and food attraction.