Vermicomposting basic questions

[plantsinpants]

how much can i expect to pay for a pound of red wigglers,
how many months does the whole process take
and how much castings can a pound of worms produce?? im new at this so dont laugh too much

thanks

 

[svchop889]

they produce whet they produce a pound of worms can turn into more than that they do multiply, there going to fuck in that shit man like some hardcore wiggling is going to be going on man lol

 

[Hank's Hooter]

they say that they eat their ouwn body weight every 24 hrs. They are little. I am still learning from mine

 

[svchop889]

they say that they eat their ouwn body weight every 24 hrs. They are little. I am still learning from mine

so how much of that is converted into waste/castings what percentage of what hey consume is just pooped out>? if one pound of worms consume 24 pounds of food in one day how much of that ends up being worm poop?

 

[wyteboi]

Martha says 2 thousand worms can eat up to 7 pounds of food a week. and i think it takes a couple months before its compost, an ready to harvest.

 

[fred1]

how much can i expect to pay for a pound of red wigglers = $25
how many months does the whole process take = depending on your bin size 3-6 months
and how much castings can a pound of worms produce?? im new at this so dont laugh too much = several pounds in 3-6 months

 

[snew]

Just started my farm yesterday. Looking forward to finding the answer to these questions myself.

 

[Hank's Hooter]

If hey eat a pound of compostiong food then they poop out a pound of worm castings. A pound of worms takes up less mass than my fist does. I thought it wold go faster than it is. Seems like a pound a day would add up pretty quick, but I have had my worms for months and still am waiting to harvest my first batch of poo. I think if I made my worm bin trays smaller, then I wold be able to harvest poo more often. My trays are made two foot square with 1x4 for the edges. That gives me one cubic foot of space. Also one thing I don't do, but know I should- bled up the compost before putting it in the worm bin. Otherwise you have to wait for it to decompose enough that the worms can eat it. I have a feelin I would be ready to harvest my fist tray by now if I had been doing that all along. I just don't have a blender or a food processor.

 

[Wetdog]

how much can i expect to pay for a pound of red wigglers = $25
how many months does the whole process take = depending on your bin size 3-6 months
and how much castings can a pound of worms produce?? im new at this so dont laugh too much = several pounds in 3-6 months

It's not fast, but it is exponential in the sense of the worm reproduction. Not a 1 worm, 1 baby worm, but more like 1 worm, 25 baby worms sort of deal.

You can also take enough castings from a unfinished bin (a cup or so), to make tea and benefit your plants right away.

My bin is getting close to the point where I can take enough worms to start a second bin.

This second bin is going to be completely mj medium oriented, using peat moss
as the bedding material rather than the usual shredded newspapers/cardboard and bokashi bran (wheat bran activated with EM-1 concentrate), for the food.

We'll see how it works.

Even if it isn't all changed into worm castings, my mix is peat based anyway, so a bit of perlite to lighten it up and some dolomite lime should be GTG.

BTW, I add a bit of dolomitic lime to the peat I'm using now for bedding material. Mix, moisten, and let sit a week or more before adding to the bin. I've been alternating it with the shredded newspaper/cardboard for the bedding material.

So far, the worms seem happy and alive with the kitchen scraps, so I haven't fucked up too much yet. They really seem to like coffee grounds, filter and all, which works out really well.

I'll keep the first bin as before, on the kitchen scraps and whatever is working and experiment on the second bin.

Motto: Don't put all your worms in one bin.

Wet

 

[snew]

It's not fast, but it is exponential in the sense of the worm reproduction. Not a 1 worm, 1 baby worm, but more like 1 worm, 25 baby worms sort of deal.

You can also take enough castings from a unfinished bin (a cup or so), to make tea and benefit your plants right away.

My bin is getting close to the point where I can take enough worms to start a second bin.

This second bin is going to be completely mj medium oriented, using peat moss
as the bedding material rather than the usual shredded newspapers/cardboard and bokashi bran (wheat bran activated with EM-1 concentrate), for the food.

We'll see how it works.

Even if it isn't all changed into worm castings, my mix is peat based anyway, so a bit of perlite to lighten it up and some dolomite lime should be GTG.

BTW, I add a bit of dolomitic lime to the peat I'm using now for bedding material. Mix, moisten, and let sit a week or more before adding to the bin. I've been alternating it with the shredded newspaper/cardboard for the bedding material.

So far, the worms seem happy and alive with the kitchen scraps, so I haven't fucked up too much yet. They really seem to like coffee grounds, filter and all, which works out really well.

I'll keep the first bin as before, on the kitchen scraps and whatever is working and experiment on the second bin.

Motto: Don't put all your worms in one bin.

Wet

Have you added MJ leafs to your at all yet. I put a few in and they don't appear to have eaten any of it yet.

 

[Wetdog]

Have you added MJ leafs to your at all yet. I put a few in and they don't appear to have eaten any of it yet.

No, my kid seems to want to smoke all my leaves regardless.

From what I've read/understood, the worms eat the mold/fungus/bacteria growing ON the food, consuming the 'food' at the same time.

I'm not sure, but it seems the more rotten/mouldly the food source is, the faster the worms rip into it.

I'm a total newb at this, but haven't fucked up enough to kill off my worms yet, so I just keep on keeping on and watching what happens.

Experience is usually gained by fucking up. At my age, I just try to keep my fuck ups at a minimum.

Wet

 

[Hank's Hooter]

I now run all my scraps through a food processer. Can be a nasty jub if the compost buck has been sitting a couple of weeks. Worms love it!!! I just poured 5 gallons of chopped slop in there a few days ago. It is dense with worms now! I have been putting MJ leaves in the processer with the kitchen scraps. All is good. My next project will be to build my bin so that it catches and stores and liquid. I will use this as a watering supliment for a little added kick.

 

[woodsmaneh!]

how much can i expect to pay for a pound of red wigglers, 30 to 40$ there are about 1000 worms in a pound.
how many months does the whole process take. 30 to 60 days
and how much castings can a pound of worms produce?? 1/2 pound of scraps per 1 pound of worms.

Check this site out Cathy knows her stuff.

http://www.cathyscomposters.com/faq.htm

Peace

 

[Dr. VonDank]

They love cereal boxes as well. We're in the process of having a commercial grinder made so we can just toss the whole rootball in and break down befor the worm gets to it. Reds love used coffee filters and grounds too.

 

[snew]

how much can i expect to pay for a pound of red wigglers, 30 to 40$ there are about 1000 worms in a pound.
how many months does the whole process take. 30 to 60 days
and how much castings can a pound of worms produce?? 1/2 pound of scraps per 1 pound of worms.

Check this site out Cathy knows her stuff.

http://www.cathyscomposters.com/faq.htm

Peace

I got 1 lb. of reds the first week of January. 1/2 pound a day is a bit of a stretch they can't keep up with food scrapes from 2 people. I am finally beginning to cumulate a significant amount of worm casting. It takes a lot longer than one would expect just like all organic choices. I'm not unhappy the process I just wish I would have started with more than 1 pound of worms. Its a learning process. Now my general compost is full of night crawlers even though they say that night crawlers don't compost they are all though it eating way.

 

[woodsmaneh!]

Put in another pound if you have room.

 

[snew]

Put in another pound if you have room.

Their multiplying. I would not be surprised if they have doubled already.

 

[jfoote]

First post woo hoo!! I used to work for a company that sold these great systems... always seemed to work pretty well for me. They collect a worm tea that you must dilute but its a great from what i've seen in veggies. Also a worm farm finder so you don't have to let your little wrigglers bake in the mail, you get them fresh and healthy usually the supplier will give you a generous portion of castings if you arrange to pick up. Good luck and enjoy!

www.findworms.com

 

[aiwelaweka]

If you have the space I would dump all the worms into the compost pile along with all your kitchen scraps and every plant animal stuff that you going throw away and just make some crip compost, because farming worm poop is just not worth it. Unless you just enjoy raising worms. If you do that your compost pile will be full of worm poop

 

[MrMeagadam]

to help your worms out dry everything out and grind it up. coffe grounds are amazing but it lowers the ph dramticly whenever you put in coffee grounds put in wased and crused eggshells as well this will help to balence out the ph. only put in organic stuff ie no meat products they will rot and smell like ass. the poop will only be as good as what you give to them so its healthy stuff from now on . no matter what you put in there rember to let it cure first. the cure involves putting it into anouther bin with all your worms and microbeastys that are already in the soil and putting only water in this way it will balence out the ph