Worms in Aquaponics

Last week I was cleaning out one of the beds that uses a continuous flow technique.  The plants had become so overgrown that it was time to do some serious pruning.  Because I was removing so much of the top of the plants I thought it would be a good idea to prune the roots as well.  These Everglades tomato plants are so hardy and they really respond to this pruning technique.

The grow media in this particular bed was a base of pea sized gravel with about 2 inches of expanded clay (Hydroton) on the top.

When the bed was first set up, I put some earthworms in there just to see how they did.  The answer to that question is..... they did wonderful thank you very much!  The earthworms help break down solids from the fish tank and help keep your grow beds clean.  They also assist with "mineralization" which is a fancy term that means they convert their food to available nutrients for the plant roots.  If you read much about serious aquaponics then you will run across the use of worms, but not earthworms.

My earthworms didnt know that they were not the preferred worm for aquaponics.  Each time I dug up some roots to prune I came up with enormous earthworms!  Now I know many aquaponic enthusiasts are crazy for red wigglers for their worms, but I am liking earthworms.  The first and foremost reason is because earthworms are cheap.  They are already growing in our compost beds.  We dont have hardly any red wigglers in our compost.  Maybe they arent indigenous to South Florida.  I dont know, I just know that if you want red wigglers you have to buy them.

Because our compost pile is fed with bunny manure, I purge the worms before putting them in the bed.  I dont want to introduce any e.coli from our furred friends into the aquaponic gardens. 

Purging the worms is easy, just put them in a small amount of moistened corn meal for a few hours and they will have the equivalent of terrible diarrhea and vomiting. It is gross when you look in and see all that black gunk in the cornmeal, but the worm is clean inside and out.

I just give them a quick rinse in some water from one of the fish tanks and then into the bed they go and boy do they grow!

I put just a few earthworms in there when I set up the bed with the tomatoes at the end of last summer and now it is full of earthworms.  I have been routinely adding worms to each new bed that we set up, but I havent done much in the way of digging around to see how they were doing.  Out of sight out of mind is the way they have been operating.

So I say if you dont have some worms in your grow beds, get some.  You may not have to go any further than your compost pile.

So do you use worms in your aquaponics beds?

Aquaponics Worms

How do worms survive in an aquaponic grow bed? Don’t they drown?

We have all seen worms crawling out onto the sidewalk after a soaking rain, seemly gasping for air. That they choose exposure to the sun and hungry birds to the water logged soil seems to tell us that worms don’t like soaking wet environments. And what is an aquaponics grow bed if not a soaking wet environment?
The difference with aquaponics worms is that they do not remain constantly full of water, but rather flood, and then drain. This allows for a “drying out” period between soakings that also encourages air circulation within the grow media.
This brings me to the most important reason why worms thrive within aquaponics: oxygen. The reason why those worms crawl from the soil to their death on the sidewalk is not because of the water, but because the water has forced the oxygen out of the soil. In aquaponics, however, not only does the flood and drain action pull oxygen into the grow bed media, but the water that is circulating throughout the system is highly oxygenated. In fact, I’ve found aquaponics worms thriving within my sump tanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you ever have too many worms?

Sadly, no. My fish certainly wish there were too many worms! But the fact is that worms regulate their population to match the conditions within their environment and as soon as those conditions no longer support additional aquaponics worms they slow down or stop reproducing.

I’m considering a system inside my home. Will they escape?

Again the answer is “no”. Worms hate the light, and are happiest in the moist dark of your grow beds. The only time you will see your aquaponics worms once they are in your grow bed is when you pull out a plant. They will be happily intertwined in the roots taking care of sloughed off dead root material.

 

I heard that worms can carry E. coli. Is this true?

NO! In fact this rumor is so silly that I wrote an entire blog post on it in October, 2011 titled “Aquaponics and The Wonderful Worm“. Click on the title to read more.

How do I get the worms to go into my grow beds?

First, you need to purchase them from a reliable source. Our worms are drop-shipped directly to you from a USDA inspected and certified facility. Once they arrive you should add them to your grow beds ASAP. They will actually dig themselves in without any help from you! Watch this five minute video to see how I do it.

Aquaponics, ækw??p?n?ks, pisciponics http://aquaponics-commercial-backyard.blogspot.com.es/