Possible Worm Compost Mixtures Anyone?

GrowingMacGyver

Active Member
Have been hesitant to start up a worm bin after spending the last few weeks researching. Am trying to come up with a mixture that when the bin is nice and composted it could be added to soil mixture. I will eventually be able to use cannabis leaves, heard the stems are bad? Either way, had a worm farm in the past and it worked out great to put in my trial closet plants. I was using store bought produce waste, coffee grounds, and eggshells. I'm sure I threw a few other things in as well. Question, my worms died about 2 months after I used the compost for soil mix. Had it going for about 6 months total. Could salt build up from using store bought produce from the synthetics build up and kill the worms? I am using all organics in my next bin from my thought this could be the culprit. After all that though, Worm compost mix for cannabis and did synthetic salts kill my worms?!?! lol, any help would be AWSOME.
 

cindysid

Well-Known Member
I compost stems and all with no problems. I also use store bought produce in there at times. I've had a bin going for a couple of years now. Most failures are caused by too much wet material which causes the bin to go septic, or temperature issues.
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
For a couple years i raised a little over 100,000 wigglers all at once. Dozens of commercial worm bins, hours of back breaking work daily, changing out bottoms and tops. here's what I learned.

start with pro mix, thats it, moisten it, add some cardboard/newspaper on the top bin. Mine were all in my grow space full time.
Failures happened when I
1)fed any kitchen scraps
2) fed anything to any but the top tray
3) watered too much
4) didnt empty the bottom trays on time
5) didnt inspect for off smells, unwanted pests
6) freaked out when I saw unidentified organisms
7) over heated
8) fed anything that wasnt crispy composted/dry
9) over fed

I settled on 100% dried marijuana scraps on the top shelf as the best feed for my purpose.
My total consumption for my worm farms was five gallons of dried crushed marijuana leaves, swept/trimmed/harvested weekly, divided equally between the bins.

then they began breeding and laying eggs, this was the most exciting part of wormerying:eyesmoke:
 

green_machine_two9er

Well-Known Member
For a couple years i raised a little over 100,000 wigglers all at once. Dozens of commercial worm bins, hours of back breaking work daily, changing out bottoms and tops. here's what I learned.

start with pro mix, thats it, moisten it, add some cardboard/newspaper on the top bin. Mine were all in my grow space full time.
Failures happened when I
1)fed any kitchen scraps
2) fed anything to any but the top tray
3) watered too much
4) didnt empty the bottom trays on time
5) didnt inspect for off smells, unwanted pests
6) freaked out when I saw unidentified organisms
7) over heated
8) fed anything that wasnt crispy composted/dry
9) over fed

I settled on 100% dried marijuana scraps on the top shelf as the best feed for my purpose.
My total consumption for my worm farms was five gallons of dried crushed marijuana leaves, swept/trimmed/harvested weekly, divided equally between the bins.

then they began breeding and laying eggs, this was the most exciting part of wormerying:eyesmoke:
I'm in the process of trying a large scale commercial size worm farm. When you say fed any kitchen scraps was a failure so you mean you feed zero kitchen scraps? Or like specific items instead of all and anything that's available? I was already thinking just s few sources of food scraps with egg shell and coffee grounds.

Also. Do you add minerals to every new feeding tray? I have stacking tray systems now but want to have a flow through trough type setup and didn't know how to incorporate minerals in a system like a flow through bin. Or should I just invest in a few more 360 style stacking tray bins. Idk up in the air on specifics now. Just know I spend some serious cash on castings now. And I've started selling small batches of my soil and want to produce all or most of my own castings.
 

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
NO kitchen scraps at all. I fed nothing but old rootballs and dried marijuana scraps. no egg shells, no nothing but water added.The flourished and multiplied. I used red wigglers
 

Wetdog

Well-Known Member
OP

I'm confused and need to get straight before I can offer anything.

Ok, your worms died a couple months after adding to the soil mix.
The worms in the soil mix? Like, in the growing container with the plant?
In the worm bin itself?
Explain the circumstances a little clearer.

I have 3 main bins that are year round and three other bins that are more or less, just for the growing season outdoors. The main bins have been going for a bit over 7 years now.

I use a peat based bedding that is fairly neutral for the main bins and they are fed mostly fresh (frozen), comfrey leaves and coffee grounds with some top dressed dry amendments and chicken laying mash.

For the seasonal bins, I make a heavily amended bedding (must be cycled), with no further food added. This is used as is (worms and all), top dressed, both in containers and the raised bed gardens. The worms come from the main bins and they are very quickly replaced from breeding adults.

Anyway, I'd be happy to share either. At first, both are very similar to the Pro Mix mentioned by chemphlem, but made from scratch.

I have zero experience with tray type systems, so no help there.
 
Top