Culturing White Worms for food - mold?

[clhardy5]

So a couple of weeks ago, I ordered and received a white worm starter culture from Amazon. Truth be told....I thought they were all dead - as the package came on a HOT day, and there didn't appear to be any life in the bag. The Amazon store owner said to go ahead and put the culture in new soil, and feed it bread dipped in milk as there may be some worms or cysts that made it. Its been a couple of weeks now, and I just checked the culture (put new bread in on Wednesday), and there are worms that are alive....but....there is also a fuzzy mold growing on top. I googled if this was ok or not and got different answers.

Anyone hear culture white worms that can tell me whether to remove the mold? Or to leave it?

Now that I see baby worms, I don't want the culture to crash because of some yucky mold.

TIA

ps....I found a different supplier here on R2R to buy from (when I though my culture was dead) - and he was awesome and mentioned that shipping in hot weather was not advised....and to wait. I think that is awesome! I love sellers who are truthful. I haven't ordered from him yet as we are still having record breaking heat.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

So a couple of weeks ago, I ordered and received a white worm starter culture from Amazon. Truth be told....I thought they were all dead - as the package came on a HOT day, and there didn't appear to be any life in the bag. The Amazon store owner said to go ahead and put the culture in new soil, and feed it bread dipped in milk as there may be some worms or cysts that made it. Its been a couple of weeks now, and I just checked the culture (put new bread in on Wednesday), and there are worms that are alive....but....there is also a fuzzy mold growing on top. I googled if this was ok or not and got different answers.

Anyone hear culture white worms that can tell me whether to remove the mold? Or to leave it?

Now that I see baby worms, I don't want the culture to crash because of some yucky mold.

TIA

ps....I found a different supplier here on R2R to buy from (when I though my culture was dead) - and he was awesome and mentioned that shipping in hot weather was not advised....and to wait. I think that is awesome! I love sellers who are truthful. I haven't ordered from him yet as we are still having record breaking heat.

I have a Grindal worm culture I just ordered and when I put cat food on the soil and wet it I notice the beginnings of fuzzy mold beginning to grow which I haven't noticed in past cultures... hoping it's not just that the soil is contaminated with mold spores and will continue like this

 

[fryman]

Mold is not good and I would remove the moldy bits immediately.

Are you keeping the culture in a fridge? I had problems until I got a wine fridge. It's important to keep white worms cool, 50 to 68F max. I keep mine at 14C (57F).

 

[clhardy5]

Mold is not good and I would remove the moldy bits immediately.

Are you keeping the culture in a fridge? I had problems until I got a wine fridge. It's important to keep white worms cool, 50 to 68F max. I keep mine at 14C (57F).

Thanks. I will remove the mold. I'm keeping them in my basement storage area. Temp is a constant 67 degrees. How do I keep the mold from coming back?

 

[fryman]

I don't get any mold now so not really sure. I had mold when I tried growing them outside and temps got too high. Food molds faster at higher temp. Also the culture got infested with mites and the worms eventually died. The wine fridge was key for me, I don't have any mold or mites.

I use greek yogurt with nutritional yeast as feed and replace every 3 days. White worms will eat bread but only if that's all they have, they seem to prefer yogurt. My recommendation is to check the culture at least every few days and replace any extra food. It takes some experience to figure out how much to feed without waste.

*edit* Note that white worms are different from grindal worms. Grindal worms are smaller and grow best at room temp (72F). My experience is with white worms, Enchytraeus albidus

 

[clhardy5]

I don't get any mold now so not really sure. I had mold when I tried growing them outside and temps got too high. Food molds faster at higher temp. Also the culture got infested with mites and the worms eventually died. The wine fridge was key for me, I don't have any mold or mites.

I use greek yogurt with nutritional yeast as feed and replace every 3 days. White worms will eat bread but only if that's all they have, they seem to prefer yogurt. My recommendation is to check the culture at least every few days and replace any extra food. It takes some experience to figure out how much to feed without waste.

*edit* Note that white worms are different from grindal worms. Grindal worms are smaller and grow best at room temp (72F). My experience is with white worms, Enchytraeus albidus

Thanks so much for your help!

I"m on the lookout for a used wine fridge. I think the basement is cool enough until I find one (67 degrees) I was putting organic yogurt on a piece of bread and sprinkling nutritional yeast on top.....Maybe I'll skip the bread and change out the yogurt every couple of days. What do you do with the worm that are stuck on and in the food? I noticed the moldy bread had quite a few baby worms on/in it.

I'm pretty sure I got white worms - at least that is what I ordered. Right now I have very small white worms - and a few that are about 1 cm.....I'm hoping they get bigger. The culture has only been going for two weeks.

I will definitely check every two days - and remove any mold I see. I haven't seen any mites yet. I did 'bake' my soil in the oven before starting - trying to avoid the mites.

 

[fryman]

What do you do with the worm that are stuck on and in the food? I noticed the moldy bread had quite a few baby worms on/in it.

I use needlepoint mesh on the substrate and spread yogurt on top, with a rigid plastic sheet on top of that. Some excess yogurt goes through the mesh and gets stuck to the soil which I scrape off with a small spatula from the dollar store. So some yogurt gets mixed into the substrate. I wash worms from the mesh and plastic into a sieve to seperate the worms, which then get fed to my fish.

 

[clhardy5]

I use needlepoint mesh on the substrate and spread yogurt on top, with a rigid plastic sheet on top of that. Some excess yogurt goes through the mesh and gets stuck to the soil which I scrape off with a small spatula from the dollar store. So some yogurt gets mixed into the substrate. I wash worms from the mesh and plastic into a sieve to seperate the worms, which then get fed to my fish.

Thanks for your help. I don't think my culture is going to make it. Unless these white 'bugs' are baby worms. Am I incorrect in thinking these are not baby white worms?

White bugs? (You tube video of the white things moving)

 

[fryman]

Thanks for your help. I don't think my culture is going to make it. Unless these white 'bugs' are baby worms. Am I incorrect in thinking these are not baby white worms?

White bugs? (You tube video of the white things moving)

Those are not baby worms, I'm sorry to say. They look like insect larvae to me.

If you try again, I recomend the procedure from "David with the fish" on youtube. He has a bunch of videos about his process.

 

[Eatfrenchfries]

Thanks. I will remove the mold. I'm keeping them in my basement storage area. Temp is a constant 67 degrees. How do I keep the mold from coming back?

Use springtails. They're commonly used in gardens and reptile bioactive set ups. They'll clear your culture of mold. I use them myself to keep cultures sterile. Mold occurs due to wet bread being a prime petri dish.