Saturday, October 30, 2010

New System

I have invented a new mealworm system called the Mealworm Tower System or the MTS.

Heres a diagram:
-----------------------
First container[Mealworms are placed here]

___________ Screen
----------------------------
Second container[Pupae are placed here]

___________ Screen
----------------------------
Third container Beetles are placed here]

___________ Screen
----------------------------
Fourth Container [Babies fall into this container so does the frass]


---------------------------- bottom without screen



So far its working well in the next little bit i'll be testing the MTS in large scale!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Warmth

•Warmth plays an Important part in the experiments above especially during the winter months. Its best to keep the temps at about 74-85F
Hope this helps

Frass

Frass can be used for plants and gardens and is really healthy for plants.
-Frass Is dark black in color.
-In order to make frass you need to feed the mealworms. In an overfeeding challenge this works wonders in order to make 1 pound you’d need 2 pounds of mealworms. ect.
Hope this helps

Overfeeding Challenge Tutorial

•Not recommended unless you have a flow through system as it has a lot more ventilation then other systems.
•Start small like 1 carrot a week and then add an additional carrot/food a week until you reach 40+ a week.
•Don’t clean out the uneaten food unless it begins to mold
Hope this helps

2010 Plans

•Get 1000 mealworms within 1 year from 100 mealworms
•Do an overfeeding challenge for 9+ months
•Make 1-2 pounds of frass in a year

**If the overfeeding challenge works out i'll do it for more then 9 months.

Mealworm LifeCycle

NOTICE: NOT MY PICTURE JUST SHOWING THE MEALWORM LIFECYCLE!!!!

Flow Through System Tutorial#1

Flow Through System

•-This is my personal favorite system.
•Very easy to make here’s what you’ll need:
•Glue/tape
•Screen
•Two containers
•Mealworms and substrate
•Food Items



•Now here’s how to make it:
•Cut the bottom off the one enclosure and tape/glue screen onto the hole.
•Do the same to the lid.
•Add in substrate and mealworms
•Feed them and water them [feed them carrots potatoes and watermelon.]
•That’s it for the flow through system very good for overfeeding challenges and

9 Months Of Experince

So far i have nine whole months of experince. And i gotta say its been quite the experince. I've delt with population burns, too little moisture, too much moisture, too little substrate and too little heat. Now i think i've got the basics down so this winter i'm gonna begin an overfeeding challenge of course i'll make some blog posts about that as i'm doing it.
Till then peace!
-Compostguy

Welcome

Hello everyone! Welcome to the mealworm Blog, this is gonna be a blog all about mealworms and my experinces with them. Such as:
-Overfeeding Challanges
-Care tutorials
-Other Tutorials

I hope you learn a lot about mealworms from this blog