Red Wigglers for Gardening in the Southwest
One of the things people ask the most is how my red wigglers got to the point where they could take the severe hot and cold temperatures here in Las Vegas. They learned, like I did that red worms are only supposed to live in more moderate climates and there was no way they could survive here in Las Vegas.
So how did I get a weird, heat tolerant strain of worms?
To be honest, it was an accident.
See, like most smart gardeners, I knew that I needed worms if I was going to grow decent fruit and veggies. And because I’m always seeing how I can save my money for things I really need, like Private Selection sea salt caramel truffle ice cream (YUM!). I knew I wanted something sustainable and natural.
Plus, I didn’t want to run to the nursery and chuck money out for fertilizer, mulch, potting soil and the rest of it every planting season. I wanted to have everything right here in my own backyard at no additional cost year after year. That meant…
Red Wigglers for Gardening!
So, like almost everyone who comes here for worms has done, I bought my worms online. (Bad idea!) And just like has happened to almost everyone who comes here, they all died. (Live and learn, right?)
Well, I’m not one to quit. So I got another batch from someone here in Las Vegas who has since moved. This time I got a full 4,000 red wigglers with the idea that I was going to slowly get them used to the heat. I planned it so I got the worms in late winter when it was still cool outside.
At first I kept the worms in the moderate temperatures of the house, but slowly over 6 weeks I took them outside longer and longer to get them used to the outside temperatures. Kinda like you do when hardening off your transplants, except I took a lot longer to do it.
My worms were doing great on this outside-inside-outside schedule and 2 weeks before I went to plant my garden, I put all 4000+ plus worms in one of my garden bins!
I was so proud of myself for taking the time to really do it right and acclimate my worms. All that screwing around hauling them in and out was going to pay off for sure. It wasn’t going to be like last time when they all died. I was thrilled to finally have it figured out and feeling a bit proud of myself.
But as my mother used to say, “Not so fast, Johnnie Boy!”
Two weeks later I went out to plant that bin and I didn’t see a single worm.
Not one… They all died. All 4,000 worms… dead.
Frustrated and in disbelief, I just said “screw it!” and went ahead and planted that bin anyway.
A funny thing happened though. The veggies in that bin grew a lot better than in my other 2 bins. I figured it had something to do with the amount of sun they were getting though. It never occurred to me that there might actually be something going on underneath the soil.
But at the end of the first growing season, in the dead heat of summer, I dug up that bin and found…
Thousands of red wigglers!!!
From maybe 100 worms (or maybe it was their eggs, I’m really not sure) I’d overlooked in that bin, the strongest, toughest, most hearty red wigglers survived and bred.
I couldn’t believe it. I thought they’d all died. Apparently not, and it turns out that the ones that lived could handle the heat. And they just kept on breeding and breeding and breeding…
Making more heat-tolerant red wigglers. And more. And more.
Over the next 4 years gardening summer and winter but not really paying any attention to the worms, I had probably over 100,000 worms that made it through the hot summers and the icy cold winters including a 4 day stretch of 110 degree+ days and winter mornings when I had ice on my car.
These were some incredible worms that survived season after season, year after year, no matter how hot it got, and no matter how cold it got!
Then something interesting happened…
A friend came over and wanted to try some of my worms in her garden. By that time I had so many worms living in my bins that I didn’t know what to do with them all so I was happy to give her a few thousand. We weren’t really sure if they’d work for her though, she had a much different setup than my raised bed garden.
Well, we shouldn’t have worried because she had the best growing season she’d ever had in 8 years of gardening in Las Vegas!
She was ecstatic and had all her gardening friends come and get these incredible worms that could live in the crazy heat and cold of Las Vegas from me. Those people sent their friends to me, they sent their friends… and it just snowballed from there.
Since then hundreds of people have come (and come again) to get these heat tolerant worms from me. I actually had to stop selling them so my worms could breed and make babies before I ran out!
Pretty, cool, huh?
And the best part?
The worms you order from me off the site are BETTER than the worms I’m talking about here. Here’s what I mean. These “red-hot” heat tolerant worms are perfect for hot, dry areas and I’d love for you to have in your garden!
If you’re in a hot climate, get these beautiful red wigglers for your garden or compost. They are delivered by the US Postal Service right to your house. Just order here. Shipping is FREE and the more you get, the less it is per pound. I’d suggest you get at least two pounds because one pound doesn’t go very far.
If you have questions, you can email me at john@lasvegasworms.com
Hello,
I have a container garden using between 5 to 15 gallon buckets for veggies + a baby lemon tree, plum tree, and pomegranate tree. I’d like to purchase your worms but think the 1000 order is too much for what I need. Is there an option for smaller orders?
Hi Tricia,
I would highly suggest you get at least 1,000. It sounds like you have 10 five-gallon buckets. You might even want to get 2 or 3,000.
Unfortunately, as I write this, I don’t have worms for you now, but I’ll have worms in the spring of 2019!
John
I have several questions:
I have two composting bins. One is about the size of a 55-gallon barrel without a bottom. (Taking forever to breakdown) The other is one that stands on legs and I have to rotate it. Can I put worms in them to speed up the composting process?
I also have a raised bed 2 ft x10 ft with about 16 inches of soil on top of the existing ground. Can I put the worms directly into this bed?
Finally, I travel regularly and can be gone for 3 weeks. How do I keep the worms fed?
How many worms should I buy to start this process?
Hi Tess,
Yes, you can put worms in either bin to make the composting go A LOT faster… but, if you have black barrels in the sun, even my heat tolerant worms are going to cook. So, if you want to keep using your barrels, I’d put them in the shade.
Also, if you use the barrels, you want to keep the barrels well-watered, without bottoms, that will be easy since any extra water will just drain out the bottom.
Your raised beds are a better place to put your worms. And yes, you can just put the worms right in your raised beds. I’d do that, then put the stuff from your barrels on top of the raised beds where the worms will eat it all up.
It’s no problem being gone 3 weeks at a time. The worms will eat whatever is in the soil and be just fine. You’ll want to feed them when you get home is all.
And for 2 ft x 10 ft area, I’d start with 5-8 pounds of worms and let them multiply on their own.
Talk soon,
John
Ok, call me.
Hey I have started a compost box at my place and want to use the help of worms what part of Vegas are you located in my box is about 30 x 30 with about 18 inches of soil in it mixes with lots of vegetiable scrap it’s a plastic compost box howany worms would you recommend and is it to cold for them right now ?
Hi Jason,
I’d probably start with 2,000 red wigglers. You have a decent area you are putting them in and the worms will have plenty to eat in your compost. They will reproduce and in a few months, you’ll have a great population in your composting bin.
It’s not too cold to put worms in now, just cover them with a few inches of mulch, hay, straw, paper or whatever.
I’m moving locations and I’m not sure where I’ll end up. Give me a call and I can get you set up.
John
Hi Jonh! Great info & im excited about your worms. Quick question…would adding your worms help with my regular soil compost or should I start a separate compost bin just for the worms? Thanks so much!
Mary A – Mesa AZ
Hi Mary,
If it was me now, I would just add the worms to the garden because that keeps it simple. The worm composting bin is just another thing to keep track of. It’s easier to put them in the ground (soil compost or raised bed) and feed them there.
That’s what I would do now anyway. When I first started, I loved having the worms in their own bin so I could check on them, experiment with different foods, watch them, and study them. You might enjoy that too.
It’s really up to you. They’d be great for you soil, and they are really cool to have as a sort of pet. And yes, I know that sounds stupid and I would have laughed 6 years ago, but they really are cool.
Good luck, and call if you have questions,
John
Hey Farren,
I’m happy to hear your worms are doing so well. Great talking to you today on the phone today, and call with any other questions. Alos great that your red wigglers have multiplied to the point of needing extra space.
Brian got worms from me and I shipped them to AZ. They were thriving last I heard! 🙂
Hi John,
I picked up some Red Wigglers from you a few weeks ago. Just wanted to give you a brief update.
The wigglers are doing really well, I swear I think their population has doubled already – maybe a slight exaggeration, but they are really active and their numbers are definitely up, with many smaller juveniles in the population. The coconut coir bed was a great starter for them, they definitely took to it right away. I’m feeding them kitchen leftovers, mostly fruit and vegetables which I first liquefy using my blender.
One interesting thing: I have them in the top bin of double stacked Rubbermaid bins, with a few holes in the bottom of the top bin for drainage. Every morning I check the bottom bin, and will find maybe 50 worms in that bin, all pretty much clumped together in a ball in the shallow puddle of run off. I suspect something drew them down the holes, and that they clump together to possibly to keep warm. Anyway, I will pour them all back into the top bin, but next morning the same scenario. I’m thinking through ways to counter this, maybe much smaller drainage holes in the bin – I used a 3/16” drill bit to make the holes.
You also gave me some black soldier flies. These don’t seem to be doing as well, seems like the cold nights we have had the past few weeks really slows them down. They are still alive, but very inactive, almost dormant. Feeding them pretty much the same thing as the wigglers. I want to do more research on these guys, but haven’t had the time recently; the little I have read only whets my appetite – seems like these guys are have very promising capabilities. My plan is to continue to feed them, and see how they do until spring when the weather warms up. I’ll send you an update in the future.
Anyway – hope all is well, thanks again for your help!
Jim
P.S. Tried to email you are john@lasvegasworms.com, but my email bounced back to me.
Thanks for the nice note here, Jim. I’m looking forward to seeing you be successful with those black soldier flies. I’ll trade you a bunch more this summer for rabbit poop! And yes, you’re right, they slow down in the cold. Actually, both the worms and soldier flies do. You must have a great set-up for your worms.I’m not sure what to make of the worms heading for the bottom bin. They usually stop doing that after a week or so. There might be a problem with your upper bin, make sure you aren’t overfeeding. And no fresh rabbit poop! Talk soon- John
Hi. I live on the Baja Peninsula in Mexico on the Sea of Cortez. It’s sub-tropical here but mega-hot in summer. We’re building a very deep raised-bed garden and plan to do the worm-hole technique for putting the compost in – are you familiar with it? We’ll be building the soil from scratch with lots of sand, cardboard, dried papaya leaves, kitchen vegetable scraps & dried seaweed. Question: when should we introduce heat-tolerant worms, now in the cool of the year and before the soil is developed or wait till the soil is matured but the temperatures are hot? Another consideration is the rainy season in summer when we can get several 3″ rainstorms and usually one hurricane per year with 24 inches of rain in 24 hours. Are your worm-babies up for this?
I have no idea if my worms can take that kind of punishment. They’ve never been subjected to something like that before. The biggest issue is that these worms live in the top 8 inches of soil. You once-a-year hurricanes will wash them away annually!
It won’t matter if you put them in the cool now or the hot later, they will survive.
Hi,
I need some worms, and your “Las Vegas Locals” appear to be
exactly what I need.
Your website says Cheyenne and Jones That’s great.
How can we set up a time to get 1000 redworms?
Thanks
Randy
Yeah, man. I am way late getting back to you. Just so everyone knows, the best way to get ahold of me is to call me. I don’t do technology well. And yes, Randy did just that… he called me and we got him set up with worms!
if the outside temp is 110 the soil temp is cooler and if the worms can go 10 inches deep they have been fine even in a 3’x2 ‘ container thats only got 10″ of soil in it. Mine have survived winter and summer here in Vegas too. Isn’t it just about depth of soil and covering it w a breathable material ?
Hi Lori,
Glad you have such a great, healthy population of worms here in Las Vegas!
You’re absoluty right, the soil will be cooler than the air. In fact, only 4 1/2 feet down the soil is around 60 degrees year-round, which is why the next time I build a house, I’m going to make it partially underground.
I think soil depth makes a difference for most worms, my soil where I garden/have my worms is only about 8 inches deep. Normal red wigglers from other places have to have somewhere to go when it gets really, really hot.
Weird though, the worms I have will be only an inch… a single inch… deep in the soil even when the day is at the hottest. They are used to the heat, or immune to it. I don’t know, actually. All I know is that they don’t burrow down when it gets hot like normal red wigglers do.
If your worms are used to the heat, I bet yours could also survive like mine! 🙂
You can also get rid of the breathable covering material if you wanted to simplify things even more!
Hi John! I’m also in Las Vegas and will be contacting you soon for worms as soon as the two new 4×12 beds are filled in about a week. Two quick questions, 1) what is the best way to introduce that many worms into a new bed, and, 2) when you say “feed your worms” are you simply talking about adding organic matter (compost, etc) into the garden or is there certain nutrition that you recommend for them?
Hi Shawn,
First of all, you’re smart to get ahold of me for your worms if you’re putting them outside. Otherwise you run a really high risk of having any other worms die on you.
I just put a few thousand worms into a new bed a week or so ago. All you need to do is wet the area down really well before you put your worms in. Make sure that if you use a hose that you let the water run until it cools off a little bit. As heat tolerant as these worms are, you don’t want to introduce them to 120 degree hose water that’s been sitting in the sun all day.
Yes, adding compost is just fine to feed your worms. I add freshly chopped fruits and veggies on top of the garden and then cover that with some kind of mulch. I don’t worry about nutrition for the worms as long as I’m feeding a variety of fruit, veggies, and manure. They’ll eat and thrive eating about anything so you really don’t need to worry about it unless you are feeding one kind of fruit or veggie exclusively.
Give me a call before you come over so we can set a time and so I can answer any other question you have. 6O8-576-9689.
Talk soon- John
Hi Deric,
First of all, if you’re in a hot area, you need to get your worms from me or they will most likely die.
If you want to have a self-sustaining system where you don’t want to add any chemicals or fertilizer to your soil, I’d recommend at least 100 worms per square foot. This insures that you don’t have to do anything except for feed your worms and your garden will produce an incredible harvest.
So, you have 3X3X10 for 90 square feet. I’d get at least 1,000 worms and then simply feed them and let them reproduce.
I have bins that are only 6 square feet and in the growing season I have between 5,000 and 15,000 worms in each bin. That’s A LOT of worms and you don’t need that many, but you can never really have enough.
For most people what’s most cost effective is to get 100 worms per square foot and let the worms reproduce over the year. That way they can start with between 1,000 and 3,000 worms and still get great results.
I hope that helps you out! John