Worm farming is not easy, even if you read the book ;). There are so many factors.
What kind of compost did you add? Was it finished? Compost is considered food, for sure. Did you notice a temperature change in the bin?
It's possible you overfed with the compost if it wasn't finished. Egg cases can be an indication of overfeeding.
Where do I start?
It was finished compost that I added. I didn't realize I should have considered the compost as food. It was a little warm near some coffee grounds.
Huh, egg cases can be an indication of overfeeding? There are lots of them in there.
Do you think I should just put the compost w/ egg casings back in the bin? I removed all the food I had added.
The food/ bedding issue confused me for a long time. The long and short of it is, anything that goes into a bin is food. Bedding is deemed bedding because it aerates and cools the bin (that forest floor analogy), but of course worms eat it eventually, too.
It's hard for me to make the call about putting the compost back in the bin, but worms are sensitive to changes and don't like to be jostled too much. If you've been working with them a lot today they probably need a break. See what happens over a few days or a week- they will probably adjust ok as long as the temperature, moisture and bedding are to their liking. Feed lightly in the bins for a while. After a change, food adds to stress.
Worms lay a lot of eggs if there is too much food because they want to take advantage of the presence of extra food for their offspring. If you overfeed consistantly, however, it can overwhelm the worms. The balance can be tricky.
Okay, I added some extra bedding (shredded paper). I also separated them into two bins and added the mix back in.
I've been following this thread with great interest. Although my methods of vermiculture are quite contrary to what everyone else does, I can't resist jumping in on the occassional comment. Not too long ago I posted my bad about trying to bake my worms with a heat pad which was left on for over three weeks without any attention to the beds. They are now beginning to return to normal and I like ilexwhite's comment about slightly over feeding the worms to stimulate egg capsule hatching. I'm feed every fourth day now in only one center trough in each bin, and there is an abundance of little worms plus some excess food in each trough. I also find that adding more moisture to the media than normal also increases worm hatchings. Good point ilexwhite.
Thanks mraider. I'll have to try the extra moisture trick in my experimenting bin. I didn't know about that one.
Hey, I have a question for you- do you propigate your worms in seperate quarters, or do you let the bin propigate on its own?
You know, I finally (!) figured out what you mean by spent worm media- it clicked one day when I was messing around in the bin. I've been using is as a second-stage seedling mix with pretty good results, though I noticed a phosphorus defiency (purple undersides of leaves) so I added a pinch of bone meal. Fixed them right up.
Thanks for the that site, ilexwhite. Very interesting. I was trying to see if his buckets had holes, but it appears the tops are open and covered with boards? Our bin is doing very well, we're really pleased. DH was out running around in the yard last evening after a heavy with a container and a flashlight on a worm hunt! This is the same guy I had to talk to like a trooper to get this bin set up for 6 months. I gotta push him out of the way to see the worms, LOL It's great!!
We used the directions for the worm bin I found on here and put holes in the bottom of both bins, now we have worms in both bins, and they seem to be just fine, but we're thinking about adding one additional bin with no holes so we have some way to sort? I'm not sure that will work.
Any suggestions on that. We've only had these guys for about a month so don't have too much in the way of castings etc as yet, although they are happily eating newspaper and veggies scraps. We're only feeding every 4th day at mraider's suggestion and going easy on the amount. So far, no flies or smell.....LOL
No flies and no smell are both great indicators. Sounds like it's working well for you, doccat. It also sounds like you've trained your DH well... ;)
That's great advice from mraider- you can't really underfeed worms but you can definately overfeed them. In my great big bin, I have taken to not feeding mine at all until they have finished their prior supper and the top of the bin looks "paved". I have fewer egg cases, but happy worms and a somewhat quicker turn on castings, though for really good castings, you really should let the worms redigest them several times over. Every pass through a worm's gut makes improvements to the castings.
Glad you liked the video. That guy is my hero. Those little buckets are just where he raises worms- his propigating buckets. The worms don't live in there for long. You really need holes in your bin if it's the worms' full-time home.
I don't quite understand about the bin with no holes- do you want to sort worms and castings? For small bins, the best way is the "mountain" method. Dump the bin out on a tarp or garbage bag, and make a mountain of the contents. As the worms move to the bottom to escape the light, scrape the castings off the top. Reform the mountain as you go, best you can. Separate out undigested matter and return it to the bin. When it gets too hard to separate worms from castings, you're done, and the worms go home to fresh bedding. It takes a while, but I do other things and come back to the mountain when the worms have moved down.
You probably won't be harvesting for a few more months- for most bins, 6 months is the usual amount of time before first harvest.
ilexwhite...I let my worms propigate on their own - in the bins...wouldn't even know how to propigate worms on the side. When I harvest worms for the outdoor horse manure compost bin, I feed in the same center trench for three days in a row, and on the third day I pick out a three gallon coffee can of mostly worms to transfer outside.
As you say, the spent media or worm casings is not a complete potting soil. It is however, by itself suitable for germinating. When I potted up my pepper seedlings I use this formula: Three scoops of spent worm media; four scoops of peat moss (soaked and excess moisture removed with aquarium net); one scoop of eighteen month old composted horse manure (grated fine through 1/4-inch screen); and a half scoup of coffee grounds. Using a hand trowel for a scoop, this gives me enough mixture for a flat of 18, 3-inch square peat pots.
As a DG suggestion, several months ago I started using gravel syphoned aquarium water in the blender to slurry the fruit and vegetable peelings I use as worm food. My four worm bins have a four, 4-ft florscent light fixture above, and the rogue tomato plants suddenly got bigber, thicker stems which were no longer spindly. Could have been potassium or something else in the aquarium water that made a difference, just don't know. I have used gravel syphoned aquarium water for years to water house plants, and there appears to be sufficient nutrients to maintain potted plants without the burn.
As an added comment, I harvest about 1/4 to 1/2-inch of media off the top of each worm bin prior to feeding to use as my germination mix as well as my potting mixes. Easy to do, and four bins provide me with about 60 gallons anually of spent worm media (casings if you wish). The replacement peat moss media I used is added with the feeding slurry as required. I probably exceed the 15% replacement rule, but worms certainly don't mind. But a word of caution...always soak peat moss for at least 24 hours, using warm water if possible, and squeeze out the excess moisture with a six-inch nylon aquarium net. This helps removes the excess acidity of the peat moss. Regular addition of ground up egg shells is also a great benefit to any acedic media.
Thanks to everyone for their questions and answers - I've learned a lot just from reading! I've got a question that I wonder if someone can answer. I have a black plastic compost bin outside - just ordinary; not vermicompost. I put vegetable/fruit scraps, coffee grounds, etc in it all winter. Last week I pulled the bin apart to move it to a different area and check on the compost that had been there for the past year. When I went to turn the material, I found that it was FULL of worms; really cool! We are in a rural area, part wooded, part brush, part gardens, part lawn. Usually I find night crawlers under the leaf litter. These worms, however, were much shorter, red worms; not the typical ones that I find. So, is this vermiculture that just happened? Should I just leave everything the way it is and assume that since they managed to get throughout the compost on their own that it is a good habitat for them? Does this often happen? I've had compost piles for years but never seen this! (There were litterally thousands of worms. It almost looked as if there were more worms than compost! I've never seen that many worms in one place in my life!!) Let me know if I should send a picture. Thanks for any advice/info!
Gardenfrances, you are doing it just right!! That's one of the great things about using compost, all those raw materials draw in worms. Helping to break down the materials and help them decompose into lovely black gold. Congratulations on your wonderful success. Pictures would be great.
Gardenfraces, that's terrific. If you have that many worms, it's clearly a great habitat for them. It does happen under compost, but more often those numbers occur under manure piles. Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it! Let us know of any updates and changes. It sounds really neat.
Thanks for the encouragement! I'm adding some pics. The compost was initially in the black compost bin, so I hope I didn't mess things up when I moved it! I put the bin back over as much as I could and covered the rest with leaves.
This shows the area where the compost bin is.
When we rake our lawn, we always put the leaves and brush along the outer section of the property; you can see that in this picture. After reading your replies, I decided to look under the leaf litter to get a picture of the night crawlers that I usually see along the borders when I garden or dig for "good" soil. to my surprise, I found only the red worms and no night crawlers.
Wonderful pictures and the worms are great. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks! So I guess that I just never noticed the red worms because the night crawlers are so much more obvious? The night crawlers don't seem to be active yet. I guess I have the red worms to thank for much of the "good" soil that I have been using from under the leaves. Cool!! I'm excited and thanks for the new info! (Pic is of under the leaf litter)
