Worm exchange

Gail Jardin wrote:I have wondered what others do with their extra composting worms if they have a limited garden space of their own. I for one usually gift them to other gardeners and help get their vermicompost set up. Who here gifts worms? Who just builds more compost or puts them in the ground to do their thing? Sometimes I use them for fishing, but that is only going to use up so many each year.

Thomas Dean wrote:

Gail Jardin wrote:I have wondered what others do with their extra composting worms if they have a limited garden space of their own. I for one usually gift them to other gardeners and help get their vermicompost set up. Who here gifts worms? Who just builds more compost or puts them in the ground to do their thing? Sometimes I use them for fishing, but that is only going to use up so many each year.

Hey, a great site that organizes the gifting of invertebrates is https://argiope.se/ovogram/
This site was developed by a Swedish guy who initially set it up to help butterfly hobby-ists find homes for excess "ova" (eggs) but it has since grown to other invertebrates being exchanged.  It's a "pay it forward" system where users share inverts with no promise of receiving in the future, but the system tracks sharing and recommends recipients.  Sender covers the cost of postage, which for butterfly eggs is little more than a regular letter, but for worms to travel safely, would be more costly.
I have sent and received LOTS of neat species of stuff through the site, including receiving Eisenia hortensis (European nightcrawler) in the mail.  
Just some "heads up" about the site:
*it's international... some stuff that is exchanged is not legal in some areas.  
*there's no cost.  The moderator runs it for fun, he likes to tinker with code
*steep learning curve... it's a weird system to figure out... and generally you have to share before people will share with you.
*lots of nice people... and a few jerks
*you have to share personal info to get anything... people have to know your address to send you an "ovogram" (egg-gift)

Gail Jardin wrote:

Thomas Dean wrote:

Gail Jardin wrote:I have wondered what others do with their extra composting worms if they have a limited garden space of their own. I for one usually gift them to other gardeners and help get their vermicompost set up. Who here gifts worms? Who just builds more compost or puts them in the ground to do their thing? Sometimes I use them for fishing, but that is only going to use up so many each year.

Hey, a great site that organizes the gifting of invertebrates is https://argiope.se/ovogram/
This site was developed by a Swedish guy who initially set it up to help butterfly hobby-ists find homes for excess "ova" (eggs) but it has since grown to other invertebrates being exchanged.  It's a "pay it forward" system where users share inverts with no promise of receiving in the future, but the system tracks sharing and recommends recipients.  Sender covers the cost of postage, which for butterfly eggs is little more than a regular letter, but for worms to travel safely, would be more costly.
I have sent and received LOTS of neat species of stuff through the site, including receiving Eisenia hortensis (European nightcrawler) in the mail.  
Just some "heads up" about the site:
*it's international... some stuff that is exchanged is not legal in some areas.  
*there's no cost.  The moderator runs it for fun, he likes to tinker with code
*steep learning curve... it's a weird system to figure out... and generally you have to share before people will share with you.
*lots of nice people... and a few jerks
*you have to share personal info to get anything... people have to know your address to send you an "ovogram" (egg-gift)

I haven't navigated to that link yet, but the idea sounds incredible! I have hatched butterflies and praying mantis a few times in the spring, but buying eggs to release beneficial bugs gets expensive. I hope I can figure out that site and get some ova for pollinators and or integrated pest management through that site. Thanks for sharing![/quote

Gail,
Good luck.  I haven't seen huge amounts of "beneficial insects" posted, but, as I said, the platform is there.  Most of what has been exchanged is species that people "collect" - someone captures something local, gets it to lay eggs, and shares the eggs to people who otherwise would not be able to collect that species for their collection.  There are other species that are keep in constant semi-domestic states that are traded too, such as eri silkmoths, darkling beetles, etc.  But I HAVE seen mantid egg cases (ootheca) offered.  If you just show up with the expectation to receive ovograms, it may never pan out.  I replied it to the OP because they were looking for a place to gift extra worms - it's really designed to be a "pay it forward" system, but it never hurts to try.  I learned A LOT about invertebrates through my interactions on the site, and by raising some random bugs.  I never mounted anything, just raised them and tried to get them to procreate successfully, which is sometimes harder than you'd believe!  Now there are many more local species that I know about than before (and I wasn't ill informed before) just from the experiences trying to capture and raise local species to share.  My kids and nieces and nephew think I'm a genius because I seem to know so much about local bugs.  

Mart Hale wrote:When I first came to my yard about 10 years ago I could not find an earth worm when I dug  I found only 3 a year.       But since I have gone to deep mulch method of gardening I have them all over the place and find them about where ever I dig now.


I have given worm bins but the people who got them did not keep up with them and they all died,  oh well it was worth the try to see if it was for them.


I actually grow plants now to feed worms,   I grow comfrey that in turns the worms adore as well as my bananas.      The more worms around the base of my plants the happier my plants are.

Mart