Worm farming in a floodplain?

Question

We have five acres of the worst heavy clay I have ever seen here in Nebraska. For a couple months in spring, much of it is under an inch or more of water for several months at a time. (March to May, sometimes later.)

I am desperate to improve it and am considering digging a trench and starting up a worm farm to raise the numbers of the little guys on the property, but I am concerned that they would all be drowned every spring anyway.

Would I be better off doing a raised bed of some sort for them, or would that just make them freeze instead? What about an unlined trench? (I'd like them to be able to get out and work on the rest of my yard anyway.) Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this?

Answer 1

I would forget the worms and concentrate on drainage.Get the water draining off the land,sow it down,pasture some horses or cows,and let nature handle the rest. This will build your organic material which will gradually increase the value of your pasture and the worms will come!Usually all this is easily said and hard to do.Try to figure where the water should be draining and help it with some well-placedditches.These can be built cheaply with a breaking plow or a middle-buster plow and a tractor.With better drainage a good pasture will thrive-the FSA office can help with pamphlets and advice.Can sympathize with you.We own some botom land near the M8ississippi River with lots of gumbo-Tennessee term for mostly clay.Very rich land but impossibleto plow wet and if not properly handled by this time of year dries into concrete!Good luck-have lots of patience and your hard work will pay off.

Answer 2

five acres and heavy clay, with drowning water in the spring, that is a twenty year ministration of faith.

How good are you when it come to having your prays answered.

I believe your going to be praying a lot, a lot more than you every thought about praying.

You know with a good clay base instead of draining the water pen it up and pump more in and find a nice alge with a high sugar content, or water lily pad. grow frogs sell the leggs harvest the alge and produce alcolhol, push the water around to keep it from freezing  or cat tales the make alcohol too.

<alcoholisagas.com> new book with disk if you purchase from the site.

If you want to listen and get a good idea they had a show one night a few weeks back on talk radio "Coast to Coast.com"

The old Art Bell Show.

They have the show Archived for the audence to listen to over the inter net.

the book with the disk is 59.00USD from the site.

Answer 3

Most worm farming is done indoors in bins and the casting collected. So I don't know if your worm idea will work at all. The worms will come as the soil improves, if they are not already there now. You can easily check by taking a shovelful of soil and counting the worms.

There are better ways to improve the soil. Plant cover crops and till in the green manure they produce. in a couple of years you should see great improvement if you just do this. Take soil tests and add what's needed. Add a couple of tons of compost annually to the area. Graze animals on it part of the year, their manure will do much to improve tilth.

Drainage should not be as big an issue once the soil is improved as the water holding capacity of the soil will go up with the organic matter and the soil will be better able to drain, also because of the added organic matter.

Answer 4

It looks like you have two big problems to work on before the worms will help you too much. To start with you need to figure out some kind of drainage for your land. Along with the drainage, you need to start building up the organic matter in your soil. Add as much mulch as you can to your soil. With drainage and organic matter your worm population will build up rapidly and stay healthy. I am assuming that your interest here is build up your soil by increasing the worm population and just worm farming as such.

Answer 5

I raise hogs for a living here in NC, we had a man who had worms and they ate some of the waste here on the farm, he worked day and nite to feed those little buggers, its harder then I think most people think to raise worms.. It can been done, but there is alot to learn before you buy or build anything, and one thing I do remember, they Don't like alot of water.. and they do like alot of food...   This is a pretty good site if you want to get a ( no pun here ) taste of worm farming..  Good Luck...