Show me your worm bins and compost

gr865 said:

When I moved from CA., I had 50 OSCR Jr.'s which would equate to around 1500 lbs of composting worms. I gave everything but my original Can O Worms to the Boy and Girl Scouts. Went to a few of their meeting to teach them how to care for the bins then I gave them the bins.
Early on in my worm farming I got an infestation of BSF and it freaked me out. Then I began reading and studying them and then built separate BSF bins. I was not that successful with the BSF in those bins but kept a healthy population of BSF in the OSCR Jr's. I would have like to use the BSF to pre ingest the primary waste and then use that to feed the composting worms.
I have tried building a few bins but could not get them habituated.

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Bravo i like everything you just said. What was your primary bedding and food source for the worms? Predigesting with bsf would be great! Wonder how the chitin content of the frass/bsf compost feed worm poo would compare to straight bsf frass.

I had a commercial grinder, I would go to a grocery store, that I had an arrangement with, and pick up green waste every few days. Would grind, package and freeze, then feed as needed.
I used the vermicompost on the golf course I managed and sold both VC and VC tea. Would make a large batch of tea on Saturday morning, and go to the farmers market and sell both tea and VC.
Starting new beds I would add only shreadder paper, some unfinished VC and worms from a harvested bin.
I believe that pre-digestion of the waste by BSF and fed to the composting worms would be Tit's. The only problem I see would be the dampness of the BSF compost, would have to dry it some prior to adding it to the worm bins. I had always thought that having the BSF in the worm bins would work good but if the population of BSF overwhelms then the heat that the BSF produce would thwart the growth of the worm population. Never had the populations to test my theory.
I have lost two herds of composting worms in my Can O Worms since I moved back here due to freezes, now I have three large green waste, lawn and leaves, compost bins(sectional 4 feet across and 5 feet high, all three have red wigglers and each is staggered for harvest. They are kept on the SE side of the house for warmth. I harvest one in the spring and one in the late fall, each bin get approx a year to finish. I will be adding two more bins this fall. Out large bins have worked best for me, the worms can bundle and keep warm within the bin.

gr865, fantastic post! Appreciate the info from the trenches.

I've never intentionally started a BSF colony, they just showed up this year and have been incredibly easy to maintain. Any sweet and/or juicy food waste is gobbled up. The especially love watermelon rinds, squash/zucchini, apple cores, strawberry tops, etc.

Freezing would be a good step to add in any waste feeding program. Help break down cell walls/plant tissue so it's more readily fed on. I recently purchased a small coffee grinder to make better use of egg shells. I originally hand crushed them but I'm finding big fragments since their break down is much slower. I think an eggshell powder will be better received.

I gathered pumpkins in the fall from neighbors and the store, you would not believe how the worms went after the pumpkin. That is when I got a few BSF also.
I put my eggshells in a food processor, works great, tried putting them in the veggie mix first but they did not break down complete, using the food processor works like a charm.

i too freeze, thaw, food processor the "green" scrapes. my bin can get a little hot so i was thinking to try a small (5 gallon bucket) indoor compost to start the breakdown before going to the worms.

i have been just breaking my eggshell and tossing them in but i too may try grinding them up a little better. i am not overly concern as i use them not so much for the worms but for improving the soil over time. so maybe a mixture of powdered eggshells and broken egg shells so have best of both.

i will be garbage picking pumpkins, lol.

Do y’all add any water to your bins? I guess like dampen the soil any?

GuerillaGOAT said:

Do y’all add any water to your bins? I guess like dampen the soil any?

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It probably depends on where you keep it, what you feed and how often. You don't want it quite at field capacity from what I've seen aka - You don't want it so wet, water is dripping out. If you are feeding a lot of watery vegetables/scraps, you probably don't need to water but much of this is a "feel" thing.

Since my bin is outside, it routinely gets rained on and it keeps things wet enough. Couple that with the rotting vegetables and I have more leachate than most.

For an indoor bin, just poke around and see how wet it looks. It should be damp but not drenched. If you got it too wet, add some more cardboard on top and let it be, it'll even out over time. If it's not wet enough, it doesn't hurt to lightly mist/spray a bed. Just don't overdo it.

GuerillaGOAT said:

Do y’all add any water to your bins? I guess like dampen the soil any?

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I may mist the top here and there if needed, but i also prewet my bedding so it doesnt absorb all the moisture from the food.
I would suggest if you think its too dry, start slow, take how much water you think it needs dump half the water down the drain and the other half evenly in the bin. Easier to add then subtract.

Mine is indoor and it’s been going for about 2 weeks and still no leachate

I have been looking forward to this for a few days! Didn't have pics yet. So here goes.

The following are my three worm bins. They are 15, 20 and 51, I think. I'm sure of the 51; it's the 3 ft junior smart pot.

It's 50/50 mix of peat and coco, amended with compost tea left-overs; various other amendments, neem/karanja; and food scrapes and a homemade worm mix.

The surface layers are a mix of compost tea inoculated hay and rice hulls. The rice hulls are in a layer above the hay and compost tea mix; both of which are removed to add things to the soil.

Pumice and biochar are also added.

Sorry. I accidentally posted too early. Here's a few more.

How do I know when to harvest? One of them is almost 3 months old. Thoughts?

@ACitizenofColorado - sounds like a really nice mix. How many worms did you start with in each pot? Most people I've read suggest a minimum of 6 months and the longer the better. If you can wait a year+, you'll be very pleased.

If you need to harvest one now for a soil mix, no problem. Just let the others continue to break down and grow in riches. Everyone's circumstances are different but I have some castings that've been going for nearly 2-2.5 years. May harvest half before the end of fall but I'm in no hurry.

Your mix sounds like it's going to be great.

Has anyone gave their Worms Crab shell meal? I feel like that would be better than Egg Shells, which from what I read egg shells help worms reproduce?

Has anyone had experience of feeding the worms Alfalfa meal? I hear it can get pretty hot? I thought about doing a few tablespoons

Mary's Confidant said:

@ACitizenofColorado - sounds like a really nice mix. How many worms did you start with in each pot? Most people I've read suggest a minimum of 6 months and the longer the better. If you can wait a year+, you'll be very pleased.

If you need to harvest one now for a soil mix, no problem. Just let the others continue to break down and grow in riches. Everyone's circumstances are different but I have some castings that've been going for nearly 2-2.5 years. May harvest half before the end of fall but I'm in no hurry.

Your mix sounds like it's going to be great.

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Thank you for the reply!

I started with the smallest order of both Red Wigglers and (I think) european nightcrawlers from uncle Jims.

https://unclejimswormfarm.com/product/composting-worms/combo-compost-mix/

I started with a 15 or 20 gallon pot. After about a month, I added the next pot. To populate it, I simply scoped some worms on the surface of my first pot every day for a few weeks. I did the same thing after adding my 51 gallon pot. (pallets are free from home depot). For the first week or so, I scoped a handful from both smaller pot and put them in the larger one.

I'm harvesting in a week or two, so doubt I'll have time to let the first pot age. But's got to be nearly three months or more, and the top layer is quite dark and rich.

Using rice hulls is great because you can see how quickly the worms turn it darker. You can see in my picture where the worms operate.

So far, I've used the worm compost for some transplants and they look great.

DankTankerous said:

Has anyone gave their Worms Crab shell meal? I feel like that would be better than Egg Shells, which from what I read egg shells help worms reproduce?

Has anyone had experience of feeding the worms Alfalfa meal? I hear it can get pretty hot? I thought about doing a few tablespoons

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I've used crabshell meal and alfalfa both to no evident negative outcome. I used it liberally, throwing a few handfuls of the alfalfa into each pot. It's also include in any compost tea, much of which is given to the worms.

10/10 thread...... just posting so I can get new posts in the alert. Great tips, thanks for the info all who've contributed!!!

I decided to do a harvest a bit earlier than anticipated because the BSFs are so prolific. And my bins were so full they were becoming anoxic (stinky due to lack of oxygen).

2nd Shelf, very wet castings/frass:


3rd shelf mid harvest:

You can see how the runny castings/frass was beginning to pile up and it was so thick, it wasn't completely draining to the bottom:

4th shelf was surprisingly more aerated but still there were dead spots with too much liquid:


Some worms to verify they are still present:



After harvest, I reloaded every shelf with leaves in hopes of combating the wet conditions:
There has been rain in the last 48 hrs and I've been feeding continuously so I try to harvest the leachate at least every couple days or it overflows:




Moving forward, I'll be adding a lot more leaves to the shelves. I'll continually refill as they disappear. From what I've read/listened to, leaf litter/leaf mold makes very high quality compost so that'll be something I focus on this fall. I'll also be adding cardboard/egg crates to up the carbon source and help absorb some of the liquid.

The worms have not been in ideal conditions. Far too wet for them but they managed to persist.

Hit the 10 pic limit so I'll show the frass/castings in the next post

Here are the castings and leachate harvested. I probably only harvested a 1/3rd of what was available. By leaving a good amount of frass/castings in there with the leaf litter, I'm hoping it'll help speed up the break down. Time will tell.




Some of the harvested castings/frass was anoxic/foul odor so I immediately mixed it with some previous compost/sphagnum peat/soil. Mixed it around enough that it should dry out. Will let it continue to "cook" for 3-4 weeks before using it.

I'll dilute that leachate in the 5 gal bucket and use it on my plants and to help cook the soil.

This is all an experiment for me but it feels like it's starting to come together. Can't wait to grow something in the most recent soil mix, it looks primed for some quality plants.

This was a harvest of one of the OSCR Jr's. This bin had been fed last about 4 weeks prior to harvest, this way the worms have gone back through the compost and finished it.



The finished compost is screened to remove the worms and any unfinished compost.


After screening the worms are put into a holding container.


And then they go into the fresh bin with some finished compost, shredded paper and some feed stock.
About 15 pounds of worms were harvested and split between two new bins.


A 1/2" layer of coco is blended into the bin. Then they go back in line


Will post some pics of how to build an OSCR Jr. soon.

GR

gr865 said:

This was a harvest of one of the OSCR Jr's. This bin had been fed last about 4 weeks prior to harvest, this way the worms have gone back through the compost and finished it.

View attachment 4202075

The finished compost is screened to remove the worms and any unfinished compost.
View attachment 4202076

After screening the worms are put into a holding container.
View attachment 4202074

And then they go into the fresh bin with some finished compost, shredded paper and some feed stock.
About 15 pounds of worms were harvested and split between two new bins.
View attachment 4202073

A 1/2" layer of coco is blended into the bin. Then they go back in line
View attachment 4202102

Will post some pics of how to build an OSCR Jr. soon.

GR

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Great job! Should you not feed them close to the harvest date?