New Vermicomposter

[CaptainCAVEMAN]

I just ordered my worms and amendments. Thanks for the info and design OP!

+rep

 

[Rrog]

Look at the momentum! Keep us posted, eh Caveman?

 

[Redbird1223]

Boom! went to wal-mart and picked up 3 10 gal roughneck containers as specified @ $6 = $18
and 3 cups of worms from the fridge over by the fishing/hunting stuff (make sure they're alive, bought a bad cup, pweew!) @ $4 = $12
so 30 bucks and I'm in! they're not red wigglers, but I'll get some more worms later. Uncle Jim's Worm Farm
I don't have a spigot on the bottom tray yet either, but I will!

Drilled 20 holes in each and mixed up some
used Roots organics soil (with home made bio-char!!)
pulled apart some old root balls (should be an event in tough-man comp)
Kellogg's soil w/ big white fungal web
a little alfalfa meal and 2 coffee cans full of fruit/veggie pulp from my juicer

 

[Rrog]

That is just awesome! Please keep us posted. As a small FYI, just keep the medium moist as you would a plant and you won't get much leachate. I've heard that nightcrawlers don't work well in a worm bin, compared to Red Wigglers. I have no experience with night crawlers personally.

 

[Redbird1223]

yeah i heard that too. the cup said red worms, but they tricked me. still happy tho

 

[Rrog]

You should be very happy. And you'll be a lot happier when you see these guys turn garbage into gold. Keep in mind the cost of this while doing it... HAHAHA!

 

[BeaverHuntr]

Well done Redbird.... Well Done.

 

[sullivan666]

Such a good thread!

I was going to make up a bin per instructions here, but I found a pre-made bin for $30 on craigslist. The owner claims its basically new and he paid $120 for it. Hopefully picking it up tomorrow.

 

[theQuetzalcoatl]

Redbird has just proved AGAIN that there's NO reason not to be worm composting. Great job! Kudo's and rep!

 

[RetiredMatthebrute]

i built my worm bin in 2011 before x mas, i just used 2 totes. made my bedding out of brown cardboard soaked in water and ripped up...

dont use leaves in your worm bin as they dont break them down verry well..

after about 3 months i was finding tons and tons of worm eggs, i only bought like 1 lb of red wrigglers and im sure there is prob close to 20lbs in there. need to harvest that castings and start it fresh. i really like the idea of the 2 bin system so they essentially seperate themselvs.

 

[theQuetzalcoatl]

i built my worm bin in 2011 before x mas, i just used 2 totes. made my bedding out of brown cardboard soaked in water and ripped up...

dont use leaves in your worm bin as they dont break them down verry well..

after about 3 months i was finding tons and tons of worm eggs, i only bought like 1 lb of red wrigglers and im sure there is prob close to 20lbs in there. need to harvest that castings and start it fresh. i really like the idea of the 2 bin system so they essentially seperate themselvs.

As of today mines is 4 bins, a leachate tray, and three compost bins. I have one that's 2/3 full of compost, one that has fresh organics in it that the worms are slowly migrating into and an empty one. Fucking unbelievable.

 

[RetiredMatthebrute]

from what i understand the leechate is not really good for plants, not sure if that was covered here or not. when i first started my bin i wanted to use it because it was brown and smelled like shit so i figured it must be good stuff. but after reading a bit about it i found its not really good for the plants due to it being aneroboic or arobic or some shit like that...anyways great thread, worm composting is fun and easy way to recycle. they dont smell so you could essentially put one in your dining room with no ill effects. the kids also enjoy looking for critters in there.

 

[Rrog]

Watering less will minimize leachate I was told and have found. I would not think the leachate could possibly be harmful. It would have nutritional goodness and not sure how it would be anaerobic given it's collecting in an open air pan from an aerobic soil environment. Even if it were, the aerobic microbes in the soil would make toast out of them anyway.

 

[theQuetzalcoatl]

Everything I've seen and read says the leachate is phenomenal! You just have to dilute it 20/1 because it's so high in dissolved solids.

 

[Rrog]

And it might be a little hot, depending. Good comment on diluting it. I've never had any leachate with my Geopot "bin."

 

[RetiredMatthebrute]

well i have heard both, that it is great and that it is bad....so i just figured i would mention it.

 

[theQuetzalcoatl]

That's why we're here. Your feedback is appreciated and noted! I haven't had ANY leachate to speak of so far, but I've read of people saturating their bin with water to collect a diluted leachate. My fear doing that would be making the compost anaerobic and causing a big stink.

 

[Mohican]

You can always bubble the diluted leachate like a tea for a couple days. Promotes the the good (aerobic) bacteria and kills the bad (anaerobic).

 

[theQuetzalcoatl]

I couldn't be more pleased with how well this thread is going. Thanks to all of you for your input so far.

 

[RetiredMatthebrute]

well i had alot of leechate from my bin because i actually watered the bin to get leechate....took forever for the bin to dry out to ideal dampness. i dont recomend trying this.

and yes i agree its nice when you start a thread and it gets posotive feedback and results, healthy convorsation and different topics. These types of threads are the good ones that actually help people learn.