New Vermicomposter
- Thread starter theQuetzalcoatl
- Start date
CaptainCAVEMAN
Well-Known Member
All I need is worms!
FYI - Jim's Worm Farm only ships worms on monday so that they don't sit in freight over the weekend.
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
Cathy's is the same way. I had my worms on Tuesday.
Rrog
Well-Known Member
You guys will be minting gold
Groovy quickie tip from CC this AM. When looking at fresh greens, especially high N greens, you can accidentally create a composting scenario where heat can build up in the bin... So to cool off the greens:
Take a 5 gallon bucket and add a couple of gallons of peat moss with some compost or even aged horse manure. Get it to the right moisture level as if you were going to add it to your worm bin. Add your chopped comfrey leaves (whatever) and cover with the same mix, hydrated.
In about 7 days or so it is safe to add to your worm bins and not worry about it heating up like a compost pile.
Groovy quickie tip from CC this AM. When looking at fresh greens, especially high N greens, you can accidentally create a composting scenario where heat can build up in the bin... So to cool off the greens:
Take a 5 gallon bucket and add a couple of gallons of peat moss with some compost or even aged horse manure. Get it to the right moisture level as if you were going to add it to your worm bin. Add your chopped comfrey leaves (whatever) and cover with the same mix, hydrated.
In about 7 days or so it is safe to add to your worm bins and not worry about it heating up like a compost pile.
Stir Fried
Active Member
Hi,
my wife was interested in worm composting and found this resource in our area, http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Worms_Eat_My_Garbage_3.html
We set up a box with worms and, like you, were amazed at how much organic material they could compost. Lots of information and ideas on her site.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Worm_Bins_and_Equipment_9.html
my wife was interested in worm composting and found this resource in our area, http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Worms_Eat_My_Garbage_3.html
We set up a box with worms and, like you, were amazed at how much organic material they could compost. Lots of information and ideas on her site.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Worm_Bins_and_Equipment_9.html
Rrog
Well-Known Member
That's a classic Worm book that I have not read yet. The author, Mary Applehof, did a lot of work to get soil scientists from around the world to work together to explore commercial VermiComposting. She died before the collection of works : Vermicomposting Technology- was published. That's the book I'm currently reading.
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
Picture intensive update! Bear with me Promised info coming up.
I started freezing my organics, not to cut down on the smell but because they process into a slurry much easier when frozen. Once shredded into a slurry they defrost almost instantly.
Here's about 2 days organics from my house and the house across the street (my in laws)
It makes about a gallon of slurry
To a gallon of slurry I've added (only once every couple of weeks) 2 cups of shredded paper, 2 cups of perlite, a decent handful of coco coir, a teaspoon of greensand and a teaspoon of pyro clay. (pyro clay feeds the good fungi who break down the organics for the worms to eat. )
Once that's all mixed I add about 8 ounces of water (distilled usually)
It goes into a part of the bin where I've scraped back the existing castings, I bury the slurry with castings, cover with newspaper and slide back under the table out of the way. Tomorrow or the next day 99% of the slurry will be gone and turned into castings. The lighter coloured mess is slurry. The darker, the last batch of slurry turned into castings.
In this last image is shredded cauliflower that I put in almost a week ago. for some reason it's not breaking down and therefore they aren't eating it. If it hasn't started breaking down in a couple more days I'm going to dig it out and discard it.
Hope you like it. I"m still excited as hell about this whole process.
I started freezing my organics, not to cut down on the smell but because they process into a slurry much easier when frozen. Once shredded into a slurry they defrost almost instantly.
Here's about 2 days organics from my house and the house across the street (my in laws)
It makes about a gallon of slurry
To a gallon of slurry I've added (only once every couple of weeks) 2 cups of shredded paper, 2 cups of perlite, a decent handful of coco coir, a teaspoon of greensand and a teaspoon of pyro clay. (pyro clay feeds the good fungi who break down the organics for the worms to eat. )
Once that's all mixed I add about 8 ounces of water (distilled usually)
It goes into a part of the bin where I've scraped back the existing castings, I bury the slurry with castings, cover with newspaper and slide back under the table out of the way. Tomorrow or the next day 99% of the slurry will be gone and turned into castings. The lighter coloured mess is slurry. The darker, the last batch of slurry turned into castings.
In this last image is shredded cauliflower that I put in almost a week ago. for some reason it's not breaking down and therefore they aren't eating it. If it hasn't started breaking down in a couple more days I'm going to dig it out and discard it.
Hope you like it. I"m still excited as hell about this whole process.
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
http://www.nutrilifeproducts.com/products/supplements/inorganic/pyroClay/ literally elemental food for your fungi. I actually bought it by accident thinking it was rock dust (Azomite) When I get my azomite I'll be adding it as well.
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
Thanks for posting those! It's great tp see other peoples composters in action. It's always a relief to see that other people's dirt looks the same. Even though it looks and smells and functions how it's supposed to I find I always have a niggling doubt until I see other people having the same results. I can't wait to see more people posting. I was talking to my son last night and he suggested that once we're all producing enough castings and worms that we should start sharing worm starter kits with new composters. It's a good idea. Maybe for the costs of shipping or something.
Redbird1223
Active Member
!!!!!!!!!!!! that boy's trying to go green already!
I have been keeping my bin in the garage but it's been chilly here lately, so I pulled them into the house to see if they do better.
cause right now I have a worm zoo instead of a worm farm! haha get to work!!!
I have been keeping my bin in the garage but it's been chilly here lately, so I pulled them into the house to see if they do better.
cause right now I have a worm zoo instead of a worm farm! haha get to work!!!
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
Technically I suppose you could. However the paper is the carbon source for the worms You'd have to replace it with something, why not compost your (non thermal) receipts and junk mail? I don't see the reason for hesitation.
Redbird1223
Active Member
that's pretty much what I'm doing
Oriah
Well-Known Member
Thanks. Yeah i just dont like the thought of ink and dyes from the paper and such going into the compost, and thus into our meds and food.
Whats your thoughts on this? Whats worms carbon source in nature?
theQuetzalcoatl
Active Member
Newspaper ink is made from soy. It's completely edible, pant based and green. Printer toner from your bills is primarily straight carbon (like charcoal) mixed with a polymer. I don't know a lot about the polymers but do know that the only primary health risk from toner is inhaling it as a powder. In many cases the toners are the same soy base as newspaper ink.
To answer your second question it looks like they get it from consuming dead plant matter in the wild. *shrugs* I totally get where you're coming from. I"m still comfortable feeding them newsprint and the small amount of shredded mail I get. (Other than bills I get pretty small amounts of mail)
To answer your second question it looks like they get it from consuming dead plant matter in the wild. *shrugs* I totally get where you're coming from. I"m still comfortable feeding them newsprint and the small amount of shredded mail I get. (Other than bills I get pretty small amounts of mail)
RetiredMatthebrute
Well-Known Member
you dont want to use color ink..
anyways fig i wuld drop in and post up some pics of my worm bin.
anyways fig i wuld drop in and post up some pics of my worm bin.
Snafu1236
Well-Known Member
Hehe, you're missing a key concept here.
The whole point of composting is to recycle
Of course, I throw used soil (soemtimes) into my composter as well for recycling. However, I have a lot more junkmail than I do used soil everyday.
_Snafu