Rocket Soul
Well-Known Member
Subbed
Vermicomposters Unite! Official Worm Farmers Thread
- Thread starter Rising Moon
- Start date
Tyleb173rd
Well-Known Member
I'm finally catching on to how the worms operate. They are eating a ton now.
Tyleb173rd
Well-Known Member
Would the bugs spread to the plants? I have all kinds of little boogers in my worm bin.
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
Hmm I have 4 worm bins currently and love this idea if the co2 is in a quantity to actually have an effect on the plants... has anyone tested this that you can link to?
Jp.the.pope
Well-Known Member
I like where your heads at
Also finished the clone / veg boxes and lights. Not sure if you saw the update in my grow room thread
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
mine will be kept by my passive air intake to the flower room.
Was looking for a little advice. I have 1000 worms coming. I will be putting them in a 20-27gal tote (seems like 1 tote is best for 1k worms i think its about 3-5 square feet). I have a couple options for bedding available.
1) I have some working compost downstairs that has been tended to for the past month or so. its working nicely. So i was wondering if i should just use some of this for bedding, and maybe some leftover soil mixed with that. the soil is in totes moistened to aid root breakdown until I get it composting amendments again. It's from my previous run and has not been reamended
2) I could just start with a fresh bin as I have leaves composting, peat, coco, pumice, rock dusts, working compost, ect ect ect.
what would be best for a beginner? probably starting fresh?
Was looking for a little advice. I have 1000 worms coming. I will be putting them in a 20-27gal tote (seems like 1 tote is best for 1k worms i think its about 3-5 square feet). I have a couple options for bedding available.
1) I have some working compost downstairs that has been tended to for the past month or so. its working nicely. So i was wondering if i should just use some of this for bedding, and maybe some leftover soil mixed with that. the soil is in totes moistened to aid root breakdown until I get it composting amendments again. It's from my previous run and has not been reamended
2) I could just start with a fresh bin as I have leaves composting, peat, coco, pumice, rock dusts, working compost, ect ect ect.
what would be best for a beginner? probably starting fresh?
Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
Your compost mixed with some old soil would work best in my opinion! I had a hard time when I first got my worm bin getting the bedding down right. Once I started using the mostly finished product from my tumbling composters...Things started going much better. I mix in old soil when I'm low on the compost for bedding. Works great.
iHearAll
Well-Known Member
plain composted manure and burried in veggie scraps. i think black cow would be ok but havent tried store bought manure. if you can get fresh manure then just let it sit in a pile for two or three weeks to let it mature. if you have chickens itd be a goid opportunity to let them scratch the fly larvae out of the pile
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
Layered or just kinda mixed together? And i mainly want to feed on one side of the bin, so i can harvest a side when its done and just feed them on the other side so they leave the side with castings. Or should i just let them work the whole bin and vary my feeding locations throughout and sort the pile when its devoured.
Im working through this thread to see what everyone has been doing to pick out all the jewel advice
Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
Mixed together!Layered or just kinda mixed together? And i mainly want to feed on one side of the bin, so i can harvest a side when its done and just feed them on the other side so they leave the side with castings. Or should i just let them work the whole bin and vary my feeding locations throughout and sort the pile when its devoured.
Im working through this thread to see what everyone has been doing to pick out all the jewel advice
For my giant worm tub, I started with one giant bit of bedding and food buried everywhere, once the bedding starts to look like a big pile of worm castings I'll shovel it all to one side of the tub, make new bedding on the other side with scraps, etc. After about week, the old side will be ready to harvest and the process starts again.
My worm tower is a little easier, just put a fresh level on top of the old one and wait for them to crawl up. But the population in the tub seems like they thrive better and breed more. Not sure why!
Rrog
Well-Known Member
@NaturalFarmer was measuring CO2 from some composting that was happening during top-dressing his plants.
A worm bin would be a steady source.
A worm bin would be a steady source.
"What would be best for a beginner?" Well, you finally asked the right question.
K.I.S.S. till you can keep the worms without killing them, THEN experiment.
I would really suggest going to redwormcomposting.com for excellent information on getting started. Not only basic information, but the guy likes to experiment and tells just what works and what doesn't.
BTW, you will need 2 totes. One, for the worms and bedding with drainage and air holes drilled into it and a second with no holes to catch the drippings from the first. Use bricks or something to create a space between the two, for the leachate. There is a 'How to' with pics on the site mentioned. Mine are still working well after 7 years.
For bedding in my stock bins, a simple peat moss/perlite/lime mix is used. Have 3 stock bins and up to 7 bins during the season. The seasonal bins may have used mix, or, whatever is handy in them since they get used entirely, worms and all. The stock bins are so full of worms the ones removed for the seasonal bins are never missed.
Worms are easy, but just like mj they can be loved to death in the same way. Usually from overfeeding and too much water. It's hard at first, but a real LITFA attitude is necessary.
Wet
K.I.S.S. till you can keep the worms without killing them, THEN experiment.I would really suggest going to redwormcomposting.com for excellent information on getting started. Not only basic information, but the guy likes to experiment and tells just what works and what doesn't.
BTW, you will need 2 totes. One, for the worms and bedding with drainage and air holes drilled into it and a second with no holes to catch the drippings from the first. Use bricks or something to create a space between the two, for the leachate. There is a 'How to' with pics on the site mentioned. Mine are still working well after 7 years.
For bedding in my stock bins, a simple peat moss/perlite/lime mix is used. Have 3 stock bins and up to 7 bins during the season. The seasonal bins may have used mix, or, whatever is handy in them since they get used entirely, worms and all. The stock bins are so full of worms the ones removed for the seasonal bins are never missed.
Worms are easy, but just like mj they can be loved to death in the same way. Usually from overfeeding and too much water. It's hard at first, but a real LITFA attitude is necessary.
Wet
NaturalFarmer
Well-Known Member
I'm currently thinking that the CO2 from my soil is a by product of the high calcium carbonate and not decomposition. As the calcium becomes available for the plant in an acidic soil, it releases the carbon as CO2. I do think there is a much more dynamic process going on then that but my soil has 81% calcium saturation and much of that is in carbonate form.
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Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
I'm jealous of how aware you are of the actual make up of your soil! I know how to build a good soil, and I believe I build a good soil because I get good results consistently. But I can't quote my calcium concentrations and shit like that lol. Now that I've got my big beds set up tho I'm gonna drop the exscuses and start doing lab tests of my soil every few months.
NaturalFarmer
Well-Known Member
Thanks bro. Just make sure you get the base saturation test with it. I really would like to do a plant tissue analysis someday when it becomes legal to see what is really going on and whether more yield can be squeezed from different strains.
http://www.spectrumanalytic.com/services/analysis/plants.html
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
"What would be best for a beginner?" Well, you finally asked the right question.
I would really suggest going to redwormcomposting.com for excellent information on getting started. Not only basic information, but the guy likes to experiment and tells just what works and what doesn't.
BTW, you will need 2 totes. One, for the worms and bedding with drainage and air holes drilled into it and a second with no holes to catch the drippings from the first. Use bricks or something to create a space between the two, for the leachate. There is a 'How to' with pics on the site mentioned. Mine are still working well after 7 years.
For bedding in my stock bins, a simple peat moss/perlite/lime mix is used. Have 3 stock bins and up to 7 bins during the season. The seasonal bins may have used mix, or, whatever is handy in them since they get used entirely, worms and all. The stock bins are so full of worms the ones removed for the seasonal bins are never missed.
Worms are easy, but just like mj they can be loved to death in the same way. Usually from overfeeding and too much water. It's hard at first, but a real LITFA attitude is necessary.
Wet
as always, great info and thank you for it. i would have messed up right off the get go without the drain tub
i will go and check out the site you recommended for sure.
how many lbs of food per week or bi weekly should I expect to feed the little buggers? 1000 worms.....
also... how much dolomite per gallon of bedding do you think? i have oyster shell if dolomite is not as useful....
im gonna get my bin put together tomorrow. peat, coco, shredded leaves, dolomite, rock dust, pumice, and put some food in early so it can start breaking down and the worms have a meal to welcome them when they arrive. i have some compost working they should like, and also scraps in the freezer i can thaw out, mash and put in.
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