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Archive for January, 2010
Raising Alabama Jumpers In Michigan Black Peat Moss Part 2
Jan 30th
After thirty days, my experiment with raising Alabama Jumpers in Michigan peat moss has proven fruitful. The Alabama Jumpers are doing well and keep producing little jumpers.
I checked on the worms this afternoon and noticed I had newly hatched Alabama Jumpers and some up to two inches long in the breeder bin already. It appears they lay cocoons that hatch and grow rapidly to this point thus far.
The bedding material is packed tight again as I already loosened it up with a garden claw two weeks ago. My concern is the amount of oxygen able to penetrate towards the bottom since the deeper I go the more packed the bedding material is. I did not loosen the bedding this time as I plan to screen the worm bin one evening this week.
The Alabama Jumpers are thoroughly enjoying the Purina Worm Chow I have been feeding them daily.
Not only are there little ones in the breeder worm bin, however the adolescent Alabama Jumpers are in great shape, thick and healthy.
Going back to the original experiment with bedding consisting of hardwood sawdust and shavings, the material is over 50% composted now into worm castings. This bedding material does not pack hard as the Michigan black peat moss does hence the oxygen levels appear to be doing well since the Alabama Jumpers congregate throughout the bedding material. In this bin I still continue to feed them the Purina Worm Chow as well as some food scraps every few weeks. I noticed the other evening that this bin was covered with literally a hundred or more new juvenile Alabama Jumpers as I was adding some more feed.
This brings me to another point. I am still noticing that the areas with food scraps contain the larger mature worms and newly hatched juveniles. I am not seeing any of the two inch or so juveniles in the food scrap area as I am only finding them in the surrounding areas.
Contrary to what most web sites state, that one cannot breed Alabama Jumpers in captivity, when it comes to raising them in an environment favorable for reproduction to occur, these two experiments prove otherwise. In fact both experiments have proven to be an effective means by which anyone can raise prolific Alabama Jumpers in a worm bin. The only concern is the Michigan black peat compacting so hard over a two week period which can be eliminated by stirring up the worm bin bedding thoroughly every two weeks.
This is good sign since not only can Alabama Jumpers be raised for composting but they make an awesome live fishing worm. I have fished with them as bait myself in the past and was quite impressed. They remain on the hook apparently due to the tougher skin they have which enables them to borrow through hard packed clay and survive in course sandy soils. The Alabama Jumper lives up to its name as super live bait worm by wiggling more in the water than its relatives.
Bruce Galle
Alabama Jumpers Raised In Black Peat Moss
Jan 15th
Well the latest bedding for the Alabama Jumpers I have tried is black peat moss. This material is a little more difficult to come by but most nurseries and higher end places will carry it.
Black peat is a darker, richer looking material since it is decomposed further than the most familiar variety sphagnum peat which is browner in color.
I originally tried the sphagnum peat moss for raising Alabama Jumpers however being it has the highest water holding capacity of the peat moss family this raised an issue. The sphagnum peat held the water which eventually drained towards the bottom layers making them too wet. Much like a sponge will drain when full of water.
The black peat moss holds the moisture better without draining, hence keeping a balance of moisture throughout the bin.
I was fascinated when I released the Alabama Jumpers into the black peat moss as they appeared right at home. Usually there is an adjustment period of up to 2 weeks when changing the bedding material.
I released 275 Alabama Jumpers into approximately a half filled 5 gallon bucket with the black peat moss. I had predrilled holes on the top and along the bottom sides of the bucket.
Since the release of the Alabama Jumpers into the black peat two weeks ago, I now have some cocoons as well as young recently hatched Alabama Jumper worms.
This brings me to a couple points making Alabama Jumpers unique based on my observations thus far. First the Alabama Jumper cocoons apparently hatch much faster than other worms. The cocoons were laid and some hatched within a short two week period. On the down side, I have only noticed one Alabama Jumper hatchling per cocoon thus far. I believe the rapid laying and hatching of the cocoons could be away for the Alabama Jumpers to overcome the shortcoming of one worm per egg in order to compete in reproduction with other types of worms.
I have been feeding the Alabama Jumpers the Purina Worm Chow every other day.
Will post further news as it becomes available!
As usual, if looking for the best prices on Alabama Jumpers, Purina Worm Chow and other compost worms, we recommend Organic Worm Farm which has their new online store available at Order Worms.
Bruce
Using A Worm Bin To Raise Productive Alabama Jumpers
Jan 8th
Over and over it has been stated that one cannot raise Alabama Jumpers in captivity if you want them to be prolific. I am happy to be able to report I have finally proven this to be false as I currently have a good number of second generation Alabama Jumpers now growing in an interior worm bin on the farm.
The worm bin for this experiment was not large, rather only 4 ½ square feet of surface area. The depth is 18 inches with the original bedding material of 14 inches deep. I have approximately 800 Alabama Jumper worms in the worm bin.
As my original posts have stated, I have been able to hold these Alabama Jumpers and keep them healthy for approximately three months now. The problem was in having the correct conditions which would enable them to reproduce. As the last article mentioned, I was feeding them strictly Purina Worm Chow as they gobble it down. Currently I use it as a substitute which still disappears daily.
The difference came about when I began adding vegetable scraps, same as one would add to a red wiggler worm bin or worm farm.
I have noticed something recently with the addition of a second mound of pureed vegetable scraps once it cooled down. The majority of the Alabama Jumpers in this mound are the larger worms. I am not sure whether this is a coincidence or if there is some type of social behavior. I have never seen them to be aggressive to one another; hence I do not believe that the younger mature worms are being chased away. I do have to wonder if there could be some type of hierarchy to the Alabama Jumpers which is understood that only larger mature worms to take over an area suitable for breeding while maintaining an understanding that the smaller worms stay out. This definitely has me intrigued so I have a new theory to try.
Back to the original reason for this article, as the picture illustrates below some recently hatched Alabama Jumpers. As they are young and this is an experiment, I am not going to pull a lot of them out as I am trying to disturb them as little as possible to receive more accurate results.
I will be trying to watch these to see at what rate they grow. To accomplish this I am trying a new bedding material which I will screen after two weeks in hopes of harvesting some cocoons from the Alabama Jumpers to raise separately.
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