Worm question

Cotyledon420

Cotyledon420

Well-Known Member
So I've been throwing food scraps in the same place in my yard... In the back of my head I was doing it in hopes of maybe finding some worms coming up to compost the food scraps well all the leaves have falling off the trees and I was cleaning up my back porch and I just thought about putting all those leaves where all the food was too and I've stacked cages up around it and then pack the leaves in there to see if maybe it could compost but as I was digging up the soil a little bit I found an old corn cob I threw out there and there was worms in it so my question is are these composting worms and can I use them in my indoor garden or should I keep them outside or I don't know what should I do guys...can I use these in my indoor organic grow? They are small very small worms I can take pics they were in the corn and I dig up the top and find a bunch under the leaves
 
potpimp

potpimp

Sector 5 Moderator
I'm not sure what kind of worms were in the corn cob but I'm almost positive they aren't red wigglers, which is what you want for vermiculture. I picked up a couple of containers of "fish bait" worms, red wigglers, last year and they worked out well for my worm farm.
 
Jjgrow420

Jjgrow420

Well-Known Member
They're easy to find on Kijiji or whatever you mericans use. Craig's list?
You might find a friend too searching red wigglers on there
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Cotyledon420 said:
I can buy worms I just was wondering if I could start a little out door bin or something using native worms
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Having access to a back yard compost pile is better than nothing at all but I can tell you from exp that red wigglers are the best composting worms you can find. You could keep them in a pile outside if they are somewhat protected by a layer of warm decomposing leaves but that doesn’t mean they won’t wander off when food gets scarce or conditions do not remain to their liking. Starting an indoor worm bin is the easiest way to keep them happy and well fed so they won’t even try to escape. I love my worm factory 360 and it seems so do they: started out with 500 worms and now we have several thousands making more baby worms every day.
 
Cotyledon420

Cotyledon420

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Having access to a back yard compost pile is better than nothing at all but I can tell you from exp that red wigglers are the best composting worms you can find. You could keep them in a pile outside if they are somewhat protected by a layer of warm decomposing leaves but that doesn’t mean they won’t wander off when food gets scarce or conditions do not remain to their liking. Starting an indoor worm bin is the easiest way to keep them happy and well fed so they won’t even try to escape. I love my worm factory 360 and it seems so do they: started out with 500 worms and now we have several thousands making more baby worms every day.
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About to check out the so called worm factory you speak of lol
 
potpimp

potpimp

Sector 5 Moderator
Richard Drysift said:
Having access to a back yard compost pile is better than nothing at all but I can tell you from exp that red wigglers are the best composting worms you can find. You could keep them in a pile outside if they are somewhat protected by a layer of warm decomposing leaves but that doesn’t mean they won’t wander off when food gets scarce or conditions do not remain to their liking. Starting an indoor worm bin is the easiest way to keep them happy and well fed so they won’t even try to escape. I love my worm factory 360 and it seems so do they: started out with 500 worms and now we have several thousands making more baby worms every day.
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Awesome!! You're doing it the right way. I bought some worm castings from Uncle Jim's but nothing beats raising them yourself.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
All worms are recyclers. All eat organic material and shit EWC for us. Some are better than others.

Edit add: corncob is hardwood. It's not compost heap material. Instead save, dry and use to smoke meats. If you see bacon and it's hardwood smoked it's almost certainly corncob smoked. Unless it claims otherwise. They use the stripped cobs from feed corn. There's mountains of them at plants processing feed corn.
 
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hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
No bones or meat scraps in any amount. Rodents immediately. Leaves, leaves and more leaves. You must turn compost. It's only the deepest portions that reach temperatures of 155 F. This is necessary to kill any seeds in it. No volunteer weeds needed. You'll know when it's done and ready for use.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
cobshopgrow said:
allow me the joke.
All humans are recyclers. All eat organic material and shit EWC for us. Some are better than others.
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Dude, in El Paso Texas they sell "composted" human waste from the solid waste utility. My mom had a load delivered and spread on her yard. Tomatoes, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. All free eh? But that never reached composting temperature. Mom was a nurse. Freaked her out.
 
Y

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
I would leave the pile and the worms outside.

Grab some "Compost Starter" from the hardware store. Its usually kelp and alfalfa meal inoculated with some kind of Lacto Bacillus bacteria. The bacteria will help break down your leaves to usable compost. The bacteria also attracts lots worms, and they do the EWC thing, in your compost. Then after awhile they crawl away and you don't need to mess with them anymore.

You're left with awesome compost/EWC that has great leaf mold texture with little sticks and stuff.

If you really want to get down, mix all your soil amendments into the compost pile. With everything in there, the loaded compost will feed your plants everything they need, all the way through.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
youraveragehorticulturist said:
I would leave the pile and the worms outside.

Grab some "Compost Starter" from the hardware store. Its usually kelp and alfalfa meal inoculated with some kind of Lacto Bacillus bacteria. The bacteria will help break down your leaves to usable compost. The bacteria also attracts lots worms, and they do the EWC thing, in your compost. Then after awhile they crawl away and you don't need to mess with them anymore.

You're left with awesome compost/EWC that has great leaf mold texture with little sticks and stuff.

If you really want to get down, mix all your soil amendments into the compost pile. With everything in there, the loaded compost will feed your plants everything they need, all the way through.
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I'll add that soybean meal and malted barley are also really good compost starters. They ferment well and promote microbe activity.
 
Flork

Flork

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
Dude, in El Paso Texas they sell "composted" human waste from the solid waste utility. My mom had a load delivered and spread on her yard. Tomatoes, squash, watermelon and cantaloupe. All free eh? But that never reached composting temperature. Mom was a nurse. Freaked her out.
Click to expand...

Yes, in Austin we have Dillo Dirt which has composted human waste.
I've never used it, kinda freaks me out too.

As far as a worm farm goes, I prefer bagged EWC due to the possibility of a stampede.
 
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