vermicomposting

Ty Ms Maggie!.. I'll go read it right now! :D


(and Im back- that's a bin and I cant keep them below 70 degrees in teh 90degree Ga summers. Its a cool do -it yourself for someone esle tho. Very simple and cheap!)

Nin

This message was edited Mar 21, 2007 10:55 AM

Ninnian - regarding whether the red worms (red wigglers, Eisenia fotida) should be released into the yard - I asked that myself of some bug experts at the university extension office. It was pointed out to me that North America has virtually no native worms (they really aren't sure) and that all worms we see in our soil are probably European imports. So you may already have red worms in your soil.

I was also told that red worms are, at the very least, considered harmless, and probably, in fact, have a beneficial effect on the soil.

I just ordered a worm bin; will let the company know when it arrives and then they will ship me the worms. I'm really looking forward to this and making some great compost, especially for my container plantings. I live in Florida and the company is also here; so I'm assuming that my climate will be OK and I do have a shady place to put them.

I'm collecting coffee grinds from every lunch room in my building. How much of this should I chuck onto the compost pile, and, Is there such a thing as "too many coffee grinds," in the compost bin? Don't want to upset my wormies!

From what I understand I don't think too much coffee grinds is ever too much. I'm assuming you'll put other stuff in there and not just the coffee grinds. Also if you have a large compost pile this shouldn't be a problem -- I won't concentrate on coffee grounds in my worm bin though.
I have been learning so much --- they also like used tea bags; just remove the staples first. They don't care for onions or garlic too much and not too much acidic stuff; i.e., citrus and tomatoes.

Here's a dumb question. How will I know if the worms have moved into my compost pile? I moved a top 3" yesterday and worked in a cup of bloodmeal. The banana peels from last week were lucking sort of putrid and there was a slight odor of "rottiness." I added some more banana peels and scraps, and some more coffee grinds. Then, I covered everything up again. Couldn't see any worms in there. Trying to decide if I need to go buy some worms.

P.S.. I moved a pot and found two fat, white GRUB worms, which were quickly turned into ex-GRUB worms....

Comments on the GRUBS welcome.

You need the grobs and all the other bugs you find in the pile. Worms don't have teeth. The other critters break down the material to allow the mold that the worms do eat to grow. several of those other bugs are far better decomposers than the worms are. Look here

http://www.happydranch.com/invertebrates.html

Great info.

Maggie

Keep it wet (not difficult after the rains this weekend) and if you find some worms elsewhere, move them to the pile. Did you put actual dirt into the pile? They need that. If you get the red worms, they don't like the heat. Also you might try putting a layer of shredded newspaper in it. They love a newspaper apartment!

Started off with a shredded paper layer on the dirt. Wetted it down...then built upon it. Do I need to add another layer of shredded paper? I have lots more, and tons of coffee crinds. Just need WORMS!

Don't worry - if there are any around they will find it and breed like crazy...

Given them some things that make them happy -- canteloupe rinds and coffee grounds! Mine also love that corrugated cardboard. Maybe you could rip a box into some smaller pieces.

Nobody wants to eat a yucky banana peel! They will if they have to, but really, they're nasty and bitter.

Suzy

Really? They don't like bananas? I have tons of coffee grinds. Didn't want them to OD on caffeine, but Hey! Who am I to hinder a coffee addict?!

Especiallly if it promotes breeding!!! Plant your banana peels around roses if you have any -- gives them potassium.

I've got cantaloupe rinds on the shelf right now.

They'll have an orgy.

Mine love banana skins, it seems... and certainly the melon rinds. They also love the skins from baked yams (the more flesh the better). As for coffee grinds, they don't congregate where the grinds are concentrated in one place (as in a filter) so I sprinkle the grinds through the bedding when I add them. Doesn't seem to harm the critters.

If you're worried about acidity, some people pulverize eggs shells in the blender with some water and add it to the bedding from time to time. Whole egg shells never get eaten and don't break down.

Here's my new compost bin! I put it together last Sunday.

This is great!! I have been trying to find info for my worms! There is a couple of ladies that live a few miles from me that raise red worms and sell them. I bought a pound back in January and have them in a bin in my basement. The ladies I bought them from also raise rabbits and the worms LOVE the rabbit manure! So I've been feeding mine a mix of rabbit droppings, coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, ect! The ladies I bought them from told me that the worm castings are actually toxic to the worms and that every 3 months the castings should be removed from the bin. Is this a practice that you all do? and what is the best way to go about it?
Sue :)

Never heard that bit of wisdom, Sue. Glad to know it. I guess out in the Real World the castings don't get concentrated like they do in a bin.

I have a double bin, and when the top one where the worms are is ready for harvest, I get the second one ready with damp shredded newspaper, etc., and go through the castings to put as many worms in the second one as possible, then dump the first bin where it's needed. Great way to distribute worms -- you can't get them all into the next bin, and of course there are eggs everywhere. Then I put the second bin into the first and it starts all over.

I've never heard about the castings being toxic. In fact I have a little trouble believing it.

I have several ways of harvesting the compost. The method I'm using now is simple: I pull all the finished, ready-to use compost over to one half of the bin, worms and all, and stop feeding that side. Then I put fresh bedding in the other half, and start feeding there only. The worms start migrating to the new side. But even after two months, the old side is packed with worms! If the castings were toxic, I'd expect the worms to migrate and live in the fresh bedding where the food is.

Another method I devised is to put a screen made of hardware cloth (see the photo) on top of the final layer of compost in the bin and start new bedding and feeding on top of it. The worms migrate vertically to the new area. But I found that they really like to stay in their old home, castings and all.

A more common way of harvesting is to spread a plastic tarp on the floor/ground in bright light and pile the compost in pyramids. Because the worms hate the light, they migrate to the middle of each pile and you can pull away the outer layer every hour or so. This method doesn't get the egg cases -- you have to do that manually or forget about them. In the other two methods I described, the babies migrate when they hatch.

All in all, harvesting is one of the most problematic parts of this little hobby. It certainly teaches patience and thoughtful ingenuity, though, and that's not a bad thing. And the compost is worth it.

Plus, if the castings get into the garden, unless it gets too hot, then you have the benefit of worms in your garden. Win-win!

Thanks for all the advice! Andy thanks for the variety of ways to extract the castings. I've never minded getting down and dirty so sifting through and separating worms from castings won't be a problem! I like the idea of double binning. I used a plastic tote which I drilled holes along the bottom for ventilation and in the cover of the tote. So I'm heading out for another one! Well, I know what I'll be doing tonight after everyone goes to bed!!(I'm a night owl so this will be better than flipping channels!)
I'm glad to hear no-one has had a problem with toxicity from the castings. I was getting nervous about harming the little guys!
Hey, what kind of reactions does everyone get when you tell people about your worms?! I've have gotten alot of raised eyebrows from relatives!! :)

you tell people you have worms?

dear andycdn, thank you for being so dilligent in posting your experience with worms. this has been so helpful and informative. i think i am going to try it this fall (inside of course, its too cold here). im hoping i will have enough worm compost to start my seedlings in the spring. thank you.. kathy

andy, since you are providing fresh bedding on one side of your worm bin, the castings will not build up enough to be toxic to the worms - they can move to the fresh bedding. I've seen a number of worm bins die from folks never sifting out the castings.

Well --- my little "babies" are now started in their new bin. The grandkids arrived yesterday and the worms today; they were eager and very interested in helping me set it all up........ I am going to aim for just feeding them once a week (as was suggested in their brochure).

I have a really good 2-page info handout on worm composting from UC Coop & Santa Clara County, which I've converted to a PDF. I tried, but it doesn't look like I can post it as an attachment here, so if anyone would like a copy, D-Mail me with your e-mail address and I'll send it.

Yes I have told people I have worms!lol! Yesterday my daughter was sitting with one of her friends in our living room and she asked what I was doing. I replied,"I'm going downstairs to water the worms." Her friend immediately busted out laughing!! She thought I was joking! So I took her downstairs to check them out! I actually had to find some in the bin and show her! She thought it was pretty neat-maybe she'll be a future vermicomposter! My daughter on the other hand just gave me the eyeroll! Can't win them all!lol
Sue

Hi, Sue, you couldn't pay me enough to be a teenager again. All the embarrasment and aingst! Goodness. Anyway, was wondering about your name. Did it by chance have anything to do with a goat breed? :~)

Lana

My first goat was an Alpine/Saanan and her name was Sandy(sometimes it was Sandra Dee!!!) She was with us for 9 years and then she had a couple of strokes. That was about 2 years ago and boy do I miss her! I don't think she knew she was a goat! She followed me everywhere even "helped" us build a new barn one year!! She would pretend to pick up boxes of nails and give a sideways glance to see if you were looking, if we didn't rub her when she wanted-just like a little kid, they know how to get your attention!Lol!

We had a big black Alpine named Toro---we got to bond with him as soon as he was born at my friend's place. She knew we wanted a big wither to keep our back-40 cleared, and she called me as soon as he was born. He was such a kick! We had him disbudded; when he was little, my son and the goat used to love to put their foreheads together and see who could hold out the longest. Guess who always won? He loved to play with the dog, too.

When we moved, we gave him to some folks we knew would give him a good home. They TOTALLY included him in their family, to the point that he was on their wedding invitation!

I had an old saanen doe here that I purchased from a livestock dealer who had gotten her at auction. She was in such bad shape from before the auction she could barely walk from being weak and emaciated...and pregnant! I babied her back to health and she ended up kidding 2 bucks a few weeks later, they weren't the smartest 2 boys but they were sweet :~) The next year she gave me triplets! I bottle fed the triplets and milked her to make cheese. She wasn't a milk goat when I got her but I turned her into one. She would stand loose in the field and chew her cud while I milked her. First she would turn and smell me and lick my face :~) That same year the Nubian doe I had gave triplets so I ended up feeding 6 bottle babies! I finally sold her when I got into Boer goats. I missed her terribly and would love to have a Saanen milk doe again. She had such a personality and regal look about her.

Lana

Hi all maybe someone could help me?? I have my worms in a ten gallon plastic tote box, in the basement, Today I had to use the phone, and I set the paper with the phone number on the top of the worm bin. When I picked up the paper I found tiny tiny small black bugs, I never seen them before, but they showed up on the white paper. So I opened the lid and found about fifty tiny black specks moving around. I just ran my finger over them and wiped them out, now later I see more out side the lid, on top, Any one know what I got? baby fruit specks? What would you do? spray? No ? I don't want to hurt my worms. I would like to do some thing now, before they start taking over the basement. Why, because I have my bedroom in the basement! Thanks

If it's some form of fruit fly, get a plastic container with a lid, like the ones soft butter comes in. Poke some small holes in the lid, and put about 1/2" of apple cider vinegar in the bowl. FFs can't resist it -- nor can they get out! I had them and this got rid of them.

Hey 19flip44,

Try this page, are they mites?? If so, you don't need to do anything about them. If they bother you, you can try keeping the bin a little less moist but I just leave mine. I like them a whole lot better than I like fruit flies.

I love this site for figuring out what's in my bin. Skip the ads on top and scroll all the way through. there is a ton of info on this site. Also check out the list on the far right- links to photos of other bugs in the bin.
http://www.happydranch.com/87.html
http://www.happydranch.com/invertebrates.html

Maggie

Hey brigidlily and margran, Thanks for the fast answer, But at this stage, they are so small, like a point of a pin. I can't tell what they are! To small to pick up, I don't know if they have legs or what, they are not fly or jumping, yet! I'll keep a real close eye out on them, I took the lid in to the bathroom tub and sprayed them with hot water, and so far today I haven't seen any thing move. Thanks again. 19flip44

Thanks for that link, margaran. I tend to agree with just letting them be (of course, my compost pile is outside and when I bring the worms in for the summer I might have a different perspective) as they pretty much just work at the process.

Wow, Im cathcing up and am very appreciative of ya'lls womy wrangling stories!
Ive started a compost pile(ill find if Im doing it right later I guess... Im so busy I just dont hav etime to do all teh research... how wrong can a pile go, anyhow?? No meats or dairy and the occassional layer of dried leaves)

I get fruit wasps( I think) ... but I try not to freak out about it. Surely they are helping , and mabye they will eat my banana peels! (I cant save em forvere to go on roses or tomatoes...)

Nin

Whatever you're putting in WILL eventually compost. You can hurry it up if and when you have the time (HAHAHAHAHA) but left on its own, it will still compost. Be sure and throw in a handful of dirt or sand now and then.

Hey,
I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack...

Get this. I'm doing all I can to make my compost pile heat up, right? So I remember "greens," and I remember the HUGE, HUGE pile of leaves and grass my DH has out back near the drop off. So I go look and, sure enough, there's a beautiful pile of grass clippings. So, since my neighbor just told me she KNOWS we have snakes, I ask my DDH to go get me a wheelbarrow of grass clippings for my little compost pile. Which he does. And I go with him, cause, of course you're brave when the DH is around....And he sticks the shovel in and I'm looking at all this STEAM coming out of his pile!!!!! So I'm asking him how he got it to heat up, and he's saying, "I don't know, it just gets hot," and I'm freaking out cause I'm buying bloodmeal and turning and sweating, and HE'S doing nothing except dumping leaves and grass clippings. Not even table scraps!!!

Can ya'll help me turn up my heat, please?

P.S. Here's my little pile...