lets talk worms! Bins, castings, techniques etc

^^^ exceptional phenos are pretty common in bodhi seeds BUT one must truly search for the beans that hold (i hate this word) "elite" status. Everyone rushes shit because of money. Id like to start doing seed. I will only make seed with parents that have been searched out. Not ### x ### because they were so so. Not rushing and taking your time to get there is the way to do it imo. Slow progress is lasting progress!

I have high hopes on a few though lol... here is 1 of bout 4 looking exceptional. Good castings work magic...

Happy growing!

@MustangStudFarm I may have to take a look at Lambs quarter. I will be sending off soil samples in October or November and if i have a similar manganese problem, i may be looking into adding this.
BTW, I should have my first no till, water only flower hitting the market in the next month. Some of its phenohunt winners I started from beans. If you ever make it to the east side of the state, I'd love to get your thoughts on it!

rkmcdon said:

@MustangStudFarm I may have to take a look at Lambs quarter. I will be sending off soil samples in October or November and if i have a similar manganese problem, i may be looking into adding this.
BTW, I should have my first no till, water only flower hitting the market in the next month. Some of its phenohunt winners I started from beans. If you ever make it to the east side of the state, I'd love to get your thoughts on it!

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Are you an Okie??? What soil testing service are you going with? I feel like I have used them all and most extension offices and Logan Labs are hard to read and will cost more than $80. Plus, you have to ask for a "weighted scoop test". These labs are used to dealing with ground soil, so they have a "scoop" that is supposed to be a 2g scoop, but our potting soil weighs less, so you have to tell them to weigh the scoop otherwise the test will be skewed. It's very aggravating. I started using "Soil Savvy" for $30 and it's a solubility test that shows lockout and it's very easy to read. The traditional testing, that was developed in 1984, consist of a Mehlich 3 and saturated paste test. Soil Savvy replaces the saturated paste test and it's a lot more modern. I buy Soil Savvy kits in bulk of 4 and it's $25 each. That way, I don't have to wait on shipping. The way that these tests work is that they give you a kit that has everything included such as the vial for the soil, scoop to measure soil, prepaid postage, prepaid lab fees, and a bar code to look up your test results on their website. Just my 2cents...

rkmcdon said:

@MustangStudFarm I may have to take a look at Lambs quarter. I will be sending off soil samples in October or November and if i have a similar manganese problem, i may be looking into adding this.
BTW, I should have my first no till, water only flower hitting the market in the next month. Some of its phenohunt winners I started from beans. If you ever make it to the east side of the state, I'd love to get your thoughts on it!

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I'm confident that you will have Mn issues unless you are using ground soil with compost. The ground has plenty of minerals like that. I've been using greensand for Mn, but lambsquarter is the all natural and free way of getting it. However, I have a poison ivy rash like a biblical case of leprosy from picking it.

rkmcdon said:

@MustangStudFarm I may have to take a look at Lambs quarter. I will be sending off soil samples in October or November and if i have a similar manganese problem, i may be looking into adding this.
BTW, I should have my first no till, water only flower hitting the market in the next month. Some of its phenohunt winners I started from beans. If you ever make it to the east side of the state, I'd love to get your thoughts on it!

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Congrats on the no till flower. You will never go back!

MustangStudFarm said:

Are you an Okie??? What soil testing service are you going with? I feel like I have used them all and most extension offices and Logan Labs are hard to read and will cost more than $80. Plus, you have to ask for a "weighted scoop test". These labs are used to dealing with ground soil, so they have a "scoop" that is supposed to be a 2g scoop, but our potting soil weighs less, so you have to tell them to weigh the scoop otherwise the test will be skewed. It's very aggravating. I started using "Soil Savvy" for $30 and it's a solubility test that shows lockout and it's very easy to read. The traditional testing, that was developed in 1984, consist of a Mehlich 3 and saturated paste test. Soil Savvy replaces the saturated paste test and it's a lot more modern. I buy Soil Savvy kits in bulk of 4 and it's $25 each. That way, I don't have to wait on shipping. The way that these tests work is that they give you a kit that has everything included such as the vial for the soil, scoop to measure soil, prepaid postage, prepaid lab fees, and a bar code to look up your test results on their website. Just my 2cents...

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Yes, I'm in Oklahoma!
I had planned on going with the build a soil lab test which i believe utilizes logan labs and is $100 if you do the full panel. Have used that one? https://buildasoil.com/products/buildasoil-complete-most-comprehensive-logan-labs-testing?_pos=6&_sid=a0101746e&_ss=r&variant=32360227799124
I'll give the soil savvy a look. I plan to do regular testing after each cycle with the soil and $25 certainly sounds better than $100, I had just thought I'd get more out of the build a soil kit. Soil testing is new to me though, so if you've had experience with both and get what you need out of the cheaper test, it sounds like a win-win!

rkmcdon said:

I had planned on going with the build a soil lab test which i believe utilizes logan labs and is $100 if you do the full panel.

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I've used Logan Labs and you need a degree to read their test results. I never had BAS recommendations to go with it, so I don't know how that works. Hopefully, they help you translate it. It's like the first step is to tell them that you are using a lightweight medium so they do a "weighted scoop test" which means they actually weigh the scoop. They have a scoop that they use for ground soil and one scoop = 2g, but you need lightweight mediums weighed everytime. BAS should do all of that for you, I hope. Logan Labs uses a Mehlich 3 and Saturated Paste test which were developed in 1984. Soil Savvy would replace the saturated paste test(solubility test) and it's new science that claims to be more accurate. I just get a solubility test alone because that's all that matters, it shows enough of what you need to get by. After you get your soil tested, you might feel the need to correct the soil and get retested. I can get 4 tests for the price of 1. However, what you have planned might be a good start for test #1 if you have someone decipher it for you. I'm not here to change your mind. You should do what you want and see how it works for you. Everytime that I talked about soil testing on RIU, I got made fun of,so nobody on here was any help.

I've had my soil tested from Oklahoma State Univ, Logan Labs, Spectrum Analytic, and Soil Savvy. If you are using Logan Labs, might as well get your water tested too. That's something that Soil Savvy can't do. I'm assuming you are on well water. Also, if you are ever around the Lake Thunderbird area, hit me up.

For my first test, i may do the soil savvy plus the build a soil complete panel just to do a side by side. I think the batch i'm wanting to test the soil on is due for harvest in about 3 weeks. I'll post results once I get them.
I'm over on the eastern side of the state, in Sequoyah County near the Arkansas state line along I40.

Diesel0889 said:

You boys or girls like Africans!
View attachment 4667218View attachment 4667220
They along with (from what I hear) everything from that part of the world comes longgggg lol! Just shut heat mat under bin off due to it supposed to be warmer today. Been a minute since I had any africans so gotta figure em out again! Although I'm game. They are probably my favorite worm and the castings and rate they produce them are great! If any of you guys have them bring on the info! Anyone else use heat mat under there bin?

Happy growing!

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I have a bunch of Africans on the way. Never used em before can’t wait to see what the can do!

green_machine_two9er said:

I have a bunch of Africans on the way. Never used em before can’t wait to see what the can do!

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Trying to make space as I build my new room so they stay warm myself! Good luck!

I was just talking to an Oklahoma fan the other day at work. Seemed excited about the season so I wish you all luck if you're football fans.

So my worms are loving some avocado seeds right now. Two different seeds, one they crawling on, the other they are balled inside the actual seed. Thought it was pretty cool.

Hope all is well with you guys.

Not fully relevant, but figured I'd share this little Mason jar bokashi ferment type thing I did.

Made a quiche a couple weeks ago, so had like 10 egg shells at once. Rinsed them then put them in the oven for a little while. Soaked the egg carton in a little water with a of em1. Strained out the cardboard after a couple hours of soaking. Had some coffee grounds too so ending up turning almost the whole breakfast into some useful waste. Kind of layered all that into a quart Mason jar with some handfuls of bokashi bran mixing it as I went. Put a coffee filter and just the ring to hold the filter over the top so it could breath. Left it in an empty worm bin tote just sitting in the closet. After a couple weeks it was a pretty solid mass of white fungus up top. I wasn't too sure about adding it to the worm bins, so ended up throwing it in a tote of some compost i have sitting in my parents backyard tonight. I had to pry it out with a stick into the tote.

Wish I would've taken pictures, so you all could offer some ideas or thoughts on it. Not really sure why I felt the need to do it, but the wake n bake had an effect I'm sure. Hopefully I get to see some cool growth up top on that compost though, would be a nice sign before mixing up some more soil.

loco41 said:

I was just talking to an Oklahoma fan the other day at work. Seemed excited about the season so I wish you all luck if you're football fans.

So my worms are loving some avocado seeds right now. Two different seeds, one they crawling on, the other they are balled inside the actual seed. Thought it was pretty cool.

Hope all is well with you guys.

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I've heard they love avacado's. I've put one in my bin before but the soldier fly's devoured it first. I've actually heard of people using avocado as a way of harvesting worms from a bin. Put it in, come back in a day or two and collect the worms that have accumulated

loco41 said:

Not fully relevant, but figured I'd share this little Mason jar bokashi ferment type thing I did.

Made a quiche a couple weeks ago, so had like 10 egg shells at once. Rinsed them then put them in the oven for a little while. Soaked the egg carton in a little water with a of em1. Strained out the cardboard after a couple hours of soaking. Had some coffee grounds too so ending up turning almost the whole breakfast into some useful waste. Kind of layered all that into a quart Mason jar with some handfuls of bokashi bran mixing it as I went. Put a coffee filter and just the ring to hold the filter over the top so it could breath. Left it in an empty worm bin tote just sitting in the closet. After a couple weeks it was a pretty solid mass of white fungus up top. I wasn't too sure about adding it to the worm bins, so ended up throwing it in a tote of some compost i have sitting in my parents backyard tonight. I had to pry it out with a stick into the tote.

Wish I would've taken pictures, so you all could offer some ideas or thoughts on it. Not really sure why I felt the need to do it, but the wake n bake had an effect I'm sure. Hopefully I get to see some cool growth up top on that compost though, would be a nice sign before mixing up some more soil.

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@DonTesla used to do stuff like that, I miss him. https://www.rollitup.org/t/all-natural-organics-the-dons-summaries-faq-thread-2017-18.953545/

rkmcdon said:

For my first test, i may do the soil savvy plus the build a soil complete panel just to do a side by side. I think the batch i'm wanting to test the soil on is due for harvest in about 3 weeks. I'll post results once I get them.
I'm over on the eastern side of the state, in Sequoyah County near the Arkansas state line along I40.

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This sounds interesting! I feel bad about suggesting a Soil Savvy test but the cost really isn't that much, so I shouldn't feel bad about talking you into buying it. I feel guilty when I talk people into spending money, but it's money well spent. It will be similar to the saturated paste test from Logan Labs but with new technology. Good Luck!!!

Here is the Soil Savvy website, it's interesting to read. https://www.unibestinc.com/technology

Here's my worm bin. It's just a trash can with holes in the bottom. I'm going to make a real one but this seems to work somewhat. I toss vegetable and fruit scraps in it and every now and then I toss some used coco or soil on top. I ended up with it full at the beginning of this last summer. The worms were all at the top where the food was and the bottom was what they had already eaten through. It's not ideal but I had the best crop of peppers ever in the raised bed where I used most of it.

I scooped the worms off the top part, dumped out the rest, put some fresh dirt and scraps back in the bottom, and then the worms back on top. It's about half full now and teeming with worms. I also have a ton of soldier fly maggots which freaked me out at first until I learned that they are just as good of composters as the worms and when they hatch they just fly away. They don't harm the worms in any way. I remember finding all of the leftover casings from the maggots when I collected the castings. They're probably good for the soil as well. Soldier flies are actually considered a beneficial insect. Gross but still an important part of the ecosystem. I'm going all natural with a hybrid style of growing using KNF and JADAM methods. Early results have been very successful. I'm currently culturing IMO "Indigenous Microorganisms" and fermenting FPJ "Fermented Plant Juice" to use as fertilizer.

My goal is to have a self sustaining grow operation for both my garden crops and cannabis without the need for any added commercial products. I'll make everything myself with what I have.

xtsho said:

I'm going all natural with a hybrid style of growing using KNF and JADAM methods.

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I've tried this in my sub irrigated planters with good success. I made JADAM solutions (JLS)in 55gal drums, I didn't really see anyone else talking about it so I never mentioned it here. I watched the KNF certification video and Drake mentioned that you should collect your invasive plant material at night while the hormones are still in the leaves. So, I collected these weeds at like 2-3am, the darkest part of the day. I collected 6 of these barrels and I read that they are better around the 1yr mark, but you can use them in a matter of months. I collected these in March and was using them in July and Aug.



Black Soldier Flies are nice and I actually paid for some early this year. They don't show up until late summer, so I got a head start on them. They eat fruit fly larvae and produce a hormone that will keep them away, so you don't have pesky fruit flies in your compost. I also read that BSF will eat 3x their body weight compared to a worm that will only do 1x. I thought that they were HUGE maggots the first time that I saw them, I didn't know that they are actually helpful. I got this trailer of produce and my worm bin started to stink, so I bought some BSF to solve the problem.

MustangStudFarm said:

I've tried this in my sub irrigated planters with good success. I made JADAM solutions (JLS)in 55gal drums, I didn't really see anyone else talking about it so I never mentioned it here. I watched the KNF certification video and Drake mentioned that you should collect your invasive plant material at night while the hormones are still in the leaves. So, I collected these weeds at like 2-3am, the darkest part of the day. I collected 6 of these barrels and I read that they are better around the 1yr mark, but you can use them in a matter of months. I collected these in March and was using them in July and Aug.

View attachment 4694492

Black Soldier Flies are nice and I actually paid for some early this year. They don't show up until late summer, so I got a head start on them. They eat fruit fly larvae and produce a hormone that will keep them away, so you don't have pesky fruit flies in your compost. I also read that BSF will eat 3x their body weight compared to a worm that will only do 1x. I thought that they were HUGE maggots the first time that I saw them, I didn't know that they are actually helpful. I got this trailer of produce and my worm bin started to stink, so I bought some BSF to solve the problem.
View attachment 4694494
View attachment 4694495View attachment 4694496

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Awesome! The Soldier Fly is a great composter.

I've been researching KNF and JADAM for awhile now. I'm kind of surprised that there isn't any threads on those methods. Guess it's time to get one started. The concepts make sense and are used all over the world for self sustainable gardening.

Nice thread! Funny how when you all said you were from Ok now when i read your notes i hear southern accents. Lots of interesting stuff especially for a city boy like me. i don't want to interrupt the thread so don't consider this an interruption, but i've all but given up on worms because i keep killing them.

Maybe i should modify the bin and try a very small batch of worms. I tried adjusting heat, less water, more water, nothing worked. they commit suicide starting from day 1 but continue to do so weeks later. I want to use used indoor soil and also do it inside the house/basement. Home made bins. I add aeration and newspaper but is it wrong to use too much soil? And I hope to seal things somehow so they cannot escape. one thing they do is drop through the drain holes and then climb up the sides and out the tiny space between the bins, dropping to their death on the floor. so i sure know they don't like it in there but of course any basement bin is going to be less preferable than the wonderful worm farm they came from. So my answer would be to firmly imprison them and not to let them escape. i spent way too much time picking them out of the lower bin and putting them back in the upper one. eventually they escape or i guess they die.

maybe i should try smaller bins that don't flex. what about clear bins? since they are light phobic wouldn't they then stay away from the clear walls of the bins? also i could see what's going on inside thru clear bins. shit i may just try this clear bin thing. and i think indoor bin is more picky than outdoor