artchic528
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2011
- Messages
- 42
Less smelly and easier Mealworm farm?
Hello! I know I don't post a lot, rather I just lurk about from time to time, but now I have some questions pertaining to mealworms.
I am setting up a self sorting mealworm farm so I always have mealworms on hand. Its going to be a three drawer system with mesh screens on the bottom of the drawers. I am starting with about 200 mealworms, a number that won't overwhelm me when they pupate into darkling beetles and then reproduce and I wind up with hundreds of thousands of mealworm larvae on the first cycle.
I tried setting up a farm in the past and I guess I didn't do it right because I didn't get any mealworms from my beetles, probably because I didn't sort anything out and everything was all in one bin thus resulting in mass cannibalism, and mostly it just smelt of sour milk and ammonia mixed together. The smell made my eyes water everytime I opened the bin. I eventually gave up and put the bin outside for the woodland creatures to pick through. I should add that I put sliced potatoes in the bin for moisture (about one russet potato sliced up in fourths for roughly 1000 mealworms and then eventually their beetle forms).
I discerned that I put too much potato in the bins, and too moist a potato. I should have put only a single slice of potato that I've blotted with paper towels to lesson the moisture. The excess moisture from the unblotted potatos was fouling the bran and causing a bad smell. Also, I didn't clean out the bin regularly and the dead and decaying bodies of the worms, pupae and beetles was creating a foul smell.
So, I think this time around, I'll put a small amount of carrot in the bins/drawers and because the drawers have mesh screening on the bottom, it'll auto sort to some extent and I can just take the drawer of frass out from below (if its from the beetles I can then set it aside and watch for mealworm larvae to appear later on) clean it further and use it in the garden (I've heard good things about gardening with mealworm frass).
I guess I should get to the point and my questions. I would like to know how to further reduce the sour milk/ammonia smell, and any advice and/or tips to making the process of farming mealworms less difficult.
Hello! I know I don't post a lot, rather I just lurk about from time to time, but now I have some questions pertaining to mealworms.
I am setting up a self sorting mealworm farm so I always have mealworms on hand. Its going to be a three drawer system with mesh screens on the bottom of the drawers. I am starting with about 200 mealworms, a number that won't overwhelm me when they pupate into darkling beetles and then reproduce and I wind up with hundreds of thousands of mealworm larvae on the first cycle.
I tried setting up a farm in the past and I guess I didn't do it right because I didn't get any mealworms from my beetles, probably because I didn't sort anything out and everything was all in one bin thus resulting in mass cannibalism, and mostly it just smelt of sour milk and ammonia mixed together. The smell made my eyes water everytime I opened the bin. I eventually gave up and put the bin outside for the woodland creatures to pick through. I should add that I put sliced potatoes in the bin for moisture (about one russet potato sliced up in fourths for roughly 1000 mealworms and then eventually their beetle forms).
I discerned that I put too much potato in the bins, and too moist a potato. I should have put only a single slice of potato that I've blotted with paper towels to lesson the moisture. The excess moisture from the unblotted potatos was fouling the bran and causing a bad smell. Also, I didn't clean out the bin regularly and the dead and decaying bodies of the worms, pupae and beetles was creating a foul smell.
So, I think this time around, I'll put a small amount of carrot in the bins/drawers and because the drawers have mesh screening on the bottom, it'll auto sort to some extent and I can just take the drawer of frass out from below (if its from the beetles I can then set it aside and watch for mealworm larvae to appear later on) clean it further and use it in the garden (I've heard good things about gardening with mealworm frass).
I guess I should get to the point and my questions. I would like to know how to further reduce the sour milk/ammonia smell, and any advice and/or tips to making the process of farming mealworms less difficult.
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