melaninTonic
Member
Yes, I'm doing this. Lucky you, having a cellar: sounds like ideal temps and should stay somewhat stable year round.So, HEY!
Back to Worms and Vermicomposting.
Anyone doing it?
I have a root cellar that stays about 58 F year round. 14.8 C was the temperature this morning when I checked.
I was thinking that now that I have some of those blue storage tubs free after moving that I might use two and make a vermicomposting system.
Anyone do this? How does it work for you?
Our single tub is in our downstairs bathroom: there's just two of us so one bathroom really is enough, so the downstairs bathroom is becoming a bit of a utility space until we manage to build an extra storage/utility outbuilding.
It works great, but have had some issues with fungus gnats. Used Mosquito Bits and sticky traps, and that does a fair job of controlling the problem but I'd try to avoid having your vermicompost get invaded in the first place. I have to 'treat' all castings with a Mosquito Bits 'tea' before applying it to the plants: it's a bit of a pain but better than the alternative of having an infestation in the grow tents.
I think ideally we'd need at least three tubs to cover everything that we're growing now, but if it were just the ladies, one 10-12 gallon tub might be enough. I want to be feeding the entire vegetable garden eventually.
The worms are pretty easy to keep happy. Give them some compost, dirt, some un-dyed shredded cardboard (preferably without glue too), vegetable and fruit scraps, crushed egg shells, and keep the tub somewhat moist but never too wet... and they'll thrive. (You shouldn't really need to add water at all except perhaps when you first set up the bin). Make sure you put some breathing holes around the top of the walls if the tub, and some drainage holes in the bottom. You can glue some mesh over them to prevent material from leaking out, and bugs from getting in. I feed them once per week.
Avoid feeding them citrus, spicy things, meat. They can probably handle small amounts of citrus but the consensus is it isn't great for them. I've found they love some apple and banana peel thrown in the mix.
Make sure the food scraps are covered with a 1/4 inch of dirt/compost/castings when you feed them, to avoid odours. If you do this, you shouldn't have any smell emanating at all.
Harvesting the castings is something for another time, maybe once you've got started, hit me up.
Good luck!