Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor - library.uniteddiversity ...

wet, too dense, and even too coarse, and all of these can lead
to problems. Some worms end up living in their food, with no
bedding at all. These situations can certainly make caring for
your worms a lot more difficult.
All bedding materials should conform to certain requirements.
Bedding should:
• retain moisture in a form that is accessible to worms;
• stay loose and allow for air passage between the individual
pieces of bedding;
• allow for drainage of excess moisture;
• not be too coarse;
• not be a food source that is high in protein;
• be aged past the heating stage, for manures and green
wastes; and
• be a carbon source for batteria.
Even when a type of bedding meets all of these requirements,
you should always test a small group of worms on the new bedding
first. If the test group survives and is doing fine after twenty-four
hours, there's a good chance that the rest of your worms
will be fine, too. So, with all of these points in mind, let's look
at several bedding options and the various pros and cons associated
with each.
Peat moss
Peat moss, or sphagnum moss, has been one of the most
widely used of all the worm beddings for commercial worm
growers. Many people have preferred to use "Canadian" peat
moss, because it is believed to be a much more sterile medium;
whereas, American peat moss ils more likely to contain impurities
and be tough and stringy, w|hich might prove harmful to the
worms. However, some worm growers use American sphagnum
moss and thoroughly "leach" it before using it as worm bedding.
To leach the moss, it must be soaked in water for several
hours and then squeezed of excess water. This is done several
times until only clear water runs from the moss. Many breeders
still prefer to ship worms in Canadian sphagnum moss.
44 The Worm Book