Large scale worm composting

Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Soooo my method worked good, but it doesn't for cold winters in Michigan so I moved my worms indoors. Fortunately my lovely grandmother has a well built, heated barn on her property. I have these trough type structures. About 2 feet deep, 5 feet across, 15 feet long. I do a similar method for taking care of things, except I leave out the food scraps and add them after the hot composting is done, as the same time the worms enter the fray.

I'm able to generate about a cubic yard of worm castings every couple weeks.
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
So I haven't gotten into bagging castings yet, what I do is use the old tractor my grandpa left behind (Jah bless his soul), after the vermicompost has been sifted, I load it up onto a trailer. I use my trail blazer to haul up to 2 cubic yards at a time to my lot in South Lansing.

There I will mix it into soil blends or keep it by itself. I store some stuff in tubs with air holes kept out of the sun and rain, some underneath tarps to likewise stay protected. I usually don't keep much stock on the property though, I operate on a very made to order basis. This ensures a fresh quality product but this is a 10 to 20 hour a week activity depending on how busy sales are.
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
This year I am no longer doing soil blends because I'm am converting a large portion of my lot into a vineyard. But I will still be selling worm castings.

I don't sell by the pound because that cheats the consumer out of product in my opinion.

If you have a truck or your own container I charge $10 per cubic foot or $200 per cubic yard. $150 per cubic yard if you shovel it onto your truck yourself. If you're in south Lansing, MI give me a shout! I'll be opening up to sales again after the weekend of 4/20! My lot is in accessible during the winter and I still got some debris from the trees to clear!
 
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W

whitey78

Well-Known Member
I’ve thought about this myself... a family friend owns a produce company that sells to small/medium sized stores and local restaurants so he’s not huge but they are tossing a 30 yard dumpster + a week of unsaleable produce and cardboard containers... I’ve thought about it and tried to talk some of my family members into it as we also have a gigantic space that’s been unrented going on 2 years now...but the non weed growers of the family, which is everyone else that would be involved besides me with it who all think I’m nuts and shot down my idea... I thought about starting small on my own but I’d either have to take all or nothing over there... mj is medically legal in my state but only the legal drug pushers can grow it which is a small handful of 6 big money companies/people in my state and I see them holding the monopoly as long as possible... but when that changes I think it could be a very viable business...
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
whitey78 said:
I’ve thought about this myself... a family friend owns a produce company that sells to small/medium sized stores and local restaurants so he’s not huge but they are tossing a 30 yard dumpster + a week of unsaleable produce and cardboard containers... I’ve thought about it and tried to talk some of my family members into it as we also have a gigantic space that’s been unrented going on 2 years now...but the non weed growers of the family, which is everyone else that would be involved besides me with it who all think I’m nuts and shot down my idea... I thought about starting small on my own but I’d either have to take all or nothing over there... mj is medically legal in my state but only the legal drug pushers can grow it which is a small handful of 6 big money companies/people in my state and I see them holding the monopoly as long as possible... but when that changes I think it could be a very viable business...
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You can actually make a good profit sellingg vermicompost to normal gardeners too man! Weed growers aren't the only ones that want organic fertilizer options!
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Okay, so first my apologies, it's been a long day. And I've been hitting my wax pen and drinking a couple jolly pumpkin aged ales so forgive me if I'm a little loose with details. Also a couple things are trade secrets man I can't just put all the good stuff online for free ;)
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Dear Rasta Roy,
Wa Gwaan! I and I give tanks fi ola dem I-tal knowledge spread by mi outernational bredren.
Me a go.
One Love
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
This landscaping style work takes about 5 hours a week. If I had nicer equipment this could probably be cut down to 2 hours but I'm using a push mower and raking leaves by hand. I also have a friend that owns pet bunnies and their bunny litter and manure also contributes to the mix. Slight edit! I also collect a lot organic food waste from family and friends and to be honest it's hard to keep track of but I would say it's about 6 to 10 gallons of waste a week.
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Dear Rasta Roy,

After my previous thanks and praise, and in order to be understood by the viewing masses, I will switch from my original Jamdom linguo back to my perverted Oxford English.

I truly am grateful for all the information you have posted. It comforts me on my endeavor. Furthermore, I can now produce a decent guesstimate on the labor requirements for this part of the project.
This is paramount, as I live and currently work about two hours away from the production zone. However, I have several potential local partners with a similar approach and deep respect of our Mother Earth.
Needless to say that, should you agree, I shall pick your brains in a very near future, once I have fully processed all the goodies you send our way.

RastaFarianingly yours,
M
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Mazer said:
Dear Rasta Roy,

After my previous thanks and praise, and in order to be understood by the viewing masses, I will switch from my original Jamdom linguo back to my perverted Oxford English.

I truly am grateful for all the information you have posted. It comforts me on my endeavor. Furthermore, I can now produce a decent guesstimate on the labor requirements for this part of the project.
This is paramount, as I live and currently work about two hours away from the production zone. However, I have several potential local partners with a similar approach and deep respect of our Mother Earth.
Needless to say that, should you agree, I shall pick your brains in a very near future, once I have fully processed all the goodies you send our way.

RastaFarianingly yours,
M
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Always happy to contribute to the collective consciousness! Message me anytime! Praise Jah!
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Rasta Roy said:
Always happy to contribute to the collective consciousness! Message me anytime! Praise Jah!
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Dear Rasta Roy,
I crunched the numbers you put in your earlier posts. Do you mind checking them and telling me how accurate or inaccurate they might be?

I am about to go ahead and do a leap of faith. I am seriously thinking about going part time on my bill paying job (that I have to say I like) and invest time in worm excrements production. (I simply love how preposterous it sounds!) Should you prefer I PM you on the later.

Accountingly yours,
M
 
Rasta Roy

Rasta Roy

Well-Known Member
Mazer said:
Dear Rasta Roy,
I crunched the numbers you put in your earlier posts. Do you mind checking them and telling me how accurate or inaccurate they might be?

I am about to go ahead and do a leap of faith. I am seriously thinking about going part time on my bill paying job (that I have to say I like) and invest time in worm excrements production. (I simply love how preposterous it sounds!) Should you prefer I PM you on the later.

Accountingly yours,
M
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Message away my man!
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Dear Gentlefolks,
An academic-fluently-french-speaking-friend pointed me towards some videos over the net of the (apparently) most knowledgeable international worm specialist called Marchel Bouche. His name means something like mouth or butcher...
He is giving some amazing numbers on worm activities.
Amongst other things (that I understood) he states that
  • in 1hectare or about 2,5acres in a year worms can ingest 4600lbs of N, and transform it into 16,5% of N usable by plants and the rest will be processed in a later time!
  • t is about 10x more than the amount of fertilizers farmers put on their land!
  • The full digestion process takes about 40 days.
the subtitles are a bit rough but it is interesting So for the most adventurous amongst you:
part1:
part2:


GreyPouponingly yours,
M
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Dear @TheEpicFlowers,

Did you watch the talk? Did you understand? If so, you are a true hero to my eyes.
I took four years of french in HS but I could only understand "oui, non" and of course "merde ".

Bonjouringly yours,
M
 
TheEpicFlowers

TheEpicFlowers

Well-Known Member
My wife is French... both my kids go to a French school, and I still don't speak a lick of it ! Haha.. how terrible is That?!?!.
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
TheEpicFlowers said:
My wife is French... both my kids go to a French school, and I still don't speak a lick of it ! Haha.. how terrible is That?!?!.
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Cher TheEpicFlowers,

I would not say it is terrible! French is an alien language! Only Dr. Spock and Macaron should be speaking it. I am getting carried away! lets get back to big worm farms.

Does anyone has experience using cinder blocks to create windrow like worm bins? I am contemplating that idea.

Concretely yours,
M
 
Dmannn

Dmannn

Well-Known Member
I know i about a guy outside the chico dump..25 foot tall by 100yd long windrows, he uses a 10yd bucket loader to turn and then separate..I buy his worm juice for my AACT..It's $55 bucks a gallon..
 
Mazer

Mazer

Well-Known Member
Dmannn said:
I know i about a guy outside the chico dump..25 foot tall by 100yd long windrows, he uses a 10yd bucket loader to turn and then separate..I buy his worm juice for my AACT..It's $55 bucks a gallon..
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Dear Dmannn,
I thank you for your input. The fellow you mentioned does not have bins but little hills! 25 foot tall by 100 yard is a huge volume! ans his prices are outrageous! why dont you set yourself up with a small bin it would not cost you any more than the 55$ you pay for a gallon and you will have a virtually free endless traceable clean supply of the material with a very limited amount of effort.

DYIingly yours,
M
 
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