Show me your worm bins and compost

loco41 said:
looks awesome man. just checking this out is making me get my lazy ass out to my piles today. what size mesh are you sitting yours through?
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Thanks bro. Its this thing lol. 15582023613671703386543359688555.jpg

A shopping basket. I sifted two little piles and came out with like 5 cu feet so far. It doesnt let alot of big stuff through either.
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FresnoFarmer said:
Thanks bro. Its this thing lol. View attachment 4335391

A shopping basket. I sifted two little piles and came out with like 5 cu feet so far. It doesnt let alot of big stuff through either.
View attachment 4335396
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Haha that's perfect and those sandals are dope too. that compost looks so good as well too. are your piles solely leafy type inputs or is there grass clippings in there as well?
 
I've got these going for now, it's a mix of leaves and grass clippings mainly, but slowly adding small amounts of some biochar in as I burn them up. I've been starting to do small batches of burns when I'm turning the piles or doing other yardwork.

these have been going since November probably. just added a little alfalfa and kelp this turning since I have huge bags on hand. I added some rock dust, alfalfa and fish bone meal when I first built them.
 

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Thanks got the slides on clearance lol.

It's mainly just composted leafs, no grass. And soil from previous grows goes in the pile too. I dont throw food out there because it attracts too much pests. I use blood meal, chicken poop and alfalfa pellets as my nitrogen sources. The end product is super nutritious. Im not even buying soil for my outdoor grow this year besides starting the seeds in Kellogg's Patio Plus. Everything is growing in 50% compost, 35% perlite, and 15% peat moss.

Btw your piles look like they are gonna net you some rich compost. Nice work.

Do you get a lot of worms? I found about a handful so far
 
FresnoFarmer said:
Thanks got the slides on clearance lol.

It's mainly just composted leafs, no grass. And soil from previous grows goes in the pile too. I dont throw food out there because it attracts too much pests. I use blood meal, chicken poop and alfalfa pellets as my nitrogen sources. The end product is super nutritious. Im not even buying soil for my outdoor grow this year besides starting the seeds in Kellogg's Patio Plus. Everything is growing in 50% compost, 35% perlite, and 15% peat moss.

Btw your piles look like they are gonna net you some rich compost. Nice work.

Do you get a lot of worms? I found about a handful so far
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Haha nice score. your mix sounds awesome, hope the season goes well for you sir. do you plan on "feeding" them at all or is it pretty much just water throughout the cycle?

I am starting to see more worm activity, but it's nothing crazy. the worms I find are very large and fat so I like knowing there are at least some tunneling through it all. I'd say one every couple shovels or so. i have been seeing some sow bugs around more so too. I read a little on them and they seem to be just another decomposer.
 
Im just gonna run compost teas every 2 waterings or so and top dress with the contents. I thnk they may make it through tho with just compost teas. I use the "King of the Hill" recipes from spaceship farmer with great success.

Thats more worms than mine. But they may be hiding in the GOOD stuff in the center of the pile on the bottom.
 
MustangStudFarm said:
They show up in the summer time, I don't pay for them. They usually show up in my worm bin and take over, but they seem to do fine next to the worms too. BSF do chase off the other fly species, so you don't have to worry about flies in your compost.
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Come to think of it I think my local pet store sells the larvae for feeding reptiles. Maybe I'll go get some and see how it goes! Thanks!
 
Redwood Ninja said:
Come to think of it I think my local pet store sells the larvae for feeding reptiles. Maybe I'll go get some and see how it goes! Thanks!
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Is it living larvae? I think that they reproduce in the larvae stage and they only sprout wings when food runs out. I had an indoor worm bin in my garage and the BSF started to search for food. They were crawling all over the floor and the ones that had wings reminded me of the movie "Silence of the Lambs" with the moths. Anyways, BSF are some hungry fuckers and they will eat way more food than composting worms. Just keep them fed or they will turn into "Gremlins".
 
MustangStudFarm said:
Is it living larvae? I think that they reproduce in the larvae stage and they only sprout wings when food runs out. I had an indoor worm bin in my garage and the BSF started to search for food. They were crawling all over the floor and the ones that had wings reminded me of the movie "Silence of the Lambs" with the moths. Anyways, BSF are some hungry fuckers and they will eat way more food than composting worms. Just keep them fed or they will turn into "Gremlins".
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Ya its living larvae. From the video you posted it looks like they're some hungry suckers for sure!
 
Redwood Ninja said:
Ya its living larvae. From the video you posted it looks like they're some hungry suckers for sure!
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I just realized that you thought that was a video that I created, sorry. I have been working with BSF for about 3yrs though. The first time that I saw them, I thought that they were just HUGE maggots lol... If you have them next to red wigglers, they might get too hot if you have a small bin. My outdoor bin is about 3ft deep, so the worms have someplace to escape to.
 
MustangStudFarm said:
I just realized that you thought that was a video that I created, sorry. I have been working with BSF for about 3yrs though. The first time that I saw them, I thought that they were just HUGE maggots lol... If you have them next to red wigglers, they might get too hot if you have a small bin. My outdoor bin is about 3ft deep, so the worms have someplace to escape to.
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I figured that wasn't your actual video but it was cool. I'll do some research and see about setting up a separate bin. I just saw on amazon where you can buy an actual BSF compost bin just like were talking about. They want 185 bucks! Lol think I'll just make my own. I bought some Insect frass from Buildasoil and if I could make my own then why not. I got the room for it. My wife might kill me though ha ha
 
Hello peeps! New to the forum but got a ton of help in the past few years as guest. Hope im posting in the right space.

I started a worm bin, without a drainer, about 16 months ago mainly as a long term experiment like. My base was top compost and after each feeding i add a very little bit of compost on top to cover it along with some water spraying to wet the feed.

Been feeding it monthly a few bananas, other left over fruit and handfulls of dry hay but mostly malted barley.

What do you think? Will it be too rich for the plants after all this time? With all the liquids and everything still in there from 16 months ago.

Ps. It smells amazing like moist deep forest
 
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