Show me your worm bins and compost

gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
I give them a 3 weeks or more without any feed stocks. Will dig through the bin at around 3 weeks and look for any unfinished feed stock, I can usually tell by the surface of the bin if it is finished.
When you let it finish they worms move through the bin again and again searching for feed, the bin will me less moist so it finishes well. Looking at this, notice how dry it looks, it is not real dry but not gooey at all, passes through the screen well. 100_1221.jpg
 
DankTankerous

DankTankerous

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
I give them a 3 weeks or more without any feed stocks. Will dig through the bin at around 3 weeks and look for any unfinished feed stock, I can usually tell by the surface of the bin if it is finished.
When you let it finish they worms move through the bin again and again searching for feed, the bin will me less moist so it finishes well. Looking at this, notice how dry it looks, it is not real dry but not gooey at all, passes through the screen well. View attachment 4202268
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Yeah, that definitely makes sense, thanks for the advice.

I gave my bin : 1tbsp Crab Meal, 2tbsp Alfalfa meal, a cup of freeze dryed cannabis leaves couple slices of cucumber and some sunflower seed sprouts. I’ll cut it off from there.
 
Mary's Confidant

Mary's Confidant

Well-Known Member
To anyone who has an outdoor bin, don't worry too much if your castings/frass looks like mine. It just needs a little time to dry out. It's not as beautiful as GR865s fluffy goodness but in another week, I'll show what it looks like after having been added to a soil mix.

I'll also be creating an indoor worm bin to keep the worms happy over winter and to hopefully give them a better place to proliferate. If it's not obvious, my outdoor bin is not ideal for both BSF and worms. The BSFs require too many runny vegetables and they turn it over so quick, the worms are incapable of maintaining an ideal environment.

I think it'd be ideal to take the wet frass build up, amend it to soak up the excess moisture and then add it to the worm bins. In my mind, that's an almost unbeatable compost. Add some kelp meal, etc and that's a supercharged compost.

From the papers I've read, leaf mold/leaf litter is considered one of the best bases/additions to any compost. Any one else care to share papers/suggestions on compost additions?
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Miyagismokes said:
Is old trim a green or a brown?
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You want about 60% brown and 40% green. At the end of the summer I mow and collect my clippings of grass, pecan and oak leaves. Mowing them breaks the up and mixes them well. I fill my compost bins and all remaining mix goes into 23 gallon sorghum tubs until I need them to refill the bins. I also have separate bins for holding grass clipping from the summers mowing's that I add to the compost bins as they begin to breakdown.
This is one of the bins, 5 panel 2 x 4 feet. This bin was emptied into the finish bin in the next pic a month ago. This one is now ready to start another bin.
20180921_103750 (2).jpg
Here is the finish bin, it is covered with a double layer of weed barrier, allows air and water movement and keep it dark inside the bin. Note the red arrow, it is pointed to the cover inside the bin. This bin was completely full a month ago, the rains, the worms and the microbes have cause this bin to settle about 20"
20180921_103754 (2)_LI.jpg

Here is a view of the compost. I will be harvesting it in about a month, screen it get the worms and any unfinished compost out of the bins and put the compost to finish into some of the 23 gallon sorghum tubs with a few worms to allow them to totally finish, which should take two to three months.
20180921_103243.jpg
This is the stage that he compost is in now, it needs about two months before it goes into the sorghum tubs.
20180921_105716 (2).jpg
This is the perfect stage to use a feed for worm bins.

I have two more bins that will go inline with the other bins and will be flipping these bins back and forth during the coming months.

GR
 
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Mary's Confidant

Mary's Confidant

Well-Known Member
gr865 said:
You want about 60% brown and 40% green. At the end of the summer I mow and collect my clippings of grass, pecan and oak leaves. Mowing them breaks the up and mixes them well. I fill my compost bins and all remaining mix goes into 23 gallon sorghum tubs until I need them to refill the bins. I also have separate bins for holding grass clipping from the summers mowing's that I add to the compost bins as they begin to breakdown.
This is one of the bins, 5 panel 2 x 4 feet. This bin was emptied into the finish bin in the next pic a month ago. This one is now ready to start another bin.
View attachment 4202773
Here is the finish bin, it is covered with a double layer of weed barrier, allows air and water movement and keep it dark inside the bin. Note the red arrow, it is pointed to the cover inside the bin. This bin was completely full a month ago, the rains, the worms and the microbes have cause this bin to settle about 20"
View attachment 4202774

Here is a view of the compost. I will be harvesting it in about a month, screen it get the worms and any unfinished compost out of the bins and put the compost to finish into some of the 23 gallon sorghum tubs with a few worms to allow them to totally finish, which should take two to three months.
View attachment 4202775
This is the stage that he compost is in now, it needs about two months before it goes into the sorghum tubs.
View attachment 4202787
This is the perfect stage to use a feed for worm bins.

I have two more bins that will go inline with the other bins and will be flipping these bins back and forth during the coming months.

GR
Click to expand...
I have a compost ring as well that I dump grass clippings/old garden waste into but In ever thought to put weed barrier around it. Great idea and something I'll be doing this weekend.
 
Mary's Confidant

Mary's Confidant

Well-Known Member
SSGrower said:
@gr865 , @Mary's Confidant or anyone else, do you bring your composr inside and do you treat with anything like bt?
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@SSGrower

I leave my compost outside. Where I live, it easily reaches freezing so you can expect most of your buggies to die or migrate out but the castings/frass will still be waiting for you in the spring.

This season, I'll be creating a rubbermaid worm bin to keep indoors and help the worms proliferate. Then I can "re-seed" my outdoor bin with plenty of wigglers.

I definitely wouldn't use BT on a bin. The idea is promote soil breakdown through life (microbial life but the critters are a healthy part of it). Maybe others will disagree?
 
SSGrower

SSGrower

Well-Known Member
Mary's Confidant said:
@SSGrower

I leave my compost outside. Where I live, it easily reaches freezing so you can expect most of your buggies to die or migrate out but the castings/frass will still be waiting for you in the spring.

This season, I'll be creating a rubbermaid worm bin to keep indoors and help the worms proliferate. Then I can "re-seed" my outdoor bin with plenty of wigglers.

I definitely wouldn't use BT on a bin. The idea is promote soil breakdown through life (microbial life but the critters are a healthy part of it). Maybe others will disagree?
Click to expand...
No, wouldnt use it on a bin, just finished compost. I have used animal manure ferments of my own experiment and learned not to use anything before snow stays on the ground for a bit and not after the last frost.
 
gr865

gr865

Well-Known Member
Today I began harvesting one of my compost bins.
Have a 22 x 22" 1/4" screen that I work the compost through.
20181010_183939.jpg

Here is this pre finished compost, what worms are in there will finish it completely within the next few months.
20181010_185516 (2).jpg

Hope to finish harvest tomorrow, may have some weather.

GR
 
G

giglewigle

Well-Known Member
E0E99667-1B3A-48AE-919B-73AB0778535E.jpeg C0C124FE-FEB0-4A57-929D-BA92548AA175.jpeg 2A5FE783-96A1-4FE6-92D6-BB53C29DA02F.jpeg Here’s my compost I have had old soil rock dust and I honestly can’t remember what exactly is in it veggie scraps rock dust I’m planing od getting it tested when I think it’s ready I have all sorts of lil bugs in there breaking things down idk shit I’m I put a worm in there but there two in there now plus I think they’ve had babies the worms are earth worms iv kinda topped it up with composted peelatized chicken manure and I topped it off a bit with wood chips I tgot from my garden that had white mycelium and some red flowers that had a tree dropped iv had it going for like a year it’s a 200 liter tumbler btw
 
Achillesactual

Achillesactual

Well-Known Member

My worm bin design. Top three bins are for worms, bottom bin is for air flow/ to allow leachate to drain off. Landscaping fabric prevents worms from getting into the bottom bin.
Threaded steel rod in all four corners to give additional structural stability and prevent the bins from nesting so as to create more room in each compartment.

Firm mesh allows vertical migration towards new food eventually leaving the bottom worm bins castings free of worms with enough time for all eggs to have hatched.

Bottom bin has two less holes in one corner to allow leachate to be poured off when necessary (not often with such a well ventilated system)

In my bin it's not just red wiggler worms going to work, I have potworms, springtails, mites, multiple species of isopods, and millipedes. I tried to introduce rove beetles from my garden but could only get my hands on 4 and it unfortunately appears that they didn't manage to perpetuate themselves.
 
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Achillesactual

Achillesactual

Well-Known Member
As for feeding we freeze scraps as they are created and then once a week we thaw them all and blend them up creating "worm gloup".

All egg shells are baked at 200 for 30 minutes to destroy any potential pathogens and then are ground down to a powder in a coffee grinder (careful not to breathe the dust!!) before being added to the blender that has the worm gloup along with two cups of uncooked rolled/quick oats. The oats are important because they need a source of protein to maintain optimal egg production rates.

The real beauty of worms is that they are cold composters. Preserving all the potential benefits from each source in their entirety!

I intend on getting some malted barley to use in conjunction with the rolled oats for some added enzymatic goodness .
 
Cali Cajun

Cali Cajun

Well-Known Member
Thanks for starting this thread! I just started my bin approximately two months ago, using a couple of large plastic totes. I purchased a pound of red worms and made bedding out of coco coir, leaves, cardboard and newspapers.

I initially placed screen on the top of one of the containers for increased air flow, but immediately got a lot of gnats and fruit flies in my bin so switched to drill holes and a solid top. I guess the damage was already done, though - I have a pretty significant bug population along with my worms. But the bin is outside so I haven't been worrying about it.

I'm still a bit confused about the optimum amount to feed them - I initially was only feeding half a pound of vegie compost twice a week, but read that they can eat that every two days so I upped my feeding schedule. Since then moisture is much more of an issue in the top bin, and I seem to have a lot more bugs. Not sure if I should cut back on the feedings again, but that's the direction I'm currently leaning. Things seemed really wet yesterday when I checked on the bin, so I added some additional shredded newspaper to keep the moisture in check.

I cull the best looking vegies / eggshells etc. from our indoor compost collector, pulse for about 30 seconds in the Cuisinart, and freeze in half gallon bags in the freezer.
 

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Achillesactual

Achillesactual

Well-Known Member
It's best to go slow to start with feeding. The worms are farmers of their own right. They farm microbes and bacteria that aid them in the processing of the food wastes you add to your bin.

The misconception is that the worms are eating the food. In fact they are consuming the wastes of the microbes and bacteria and in the process helping bolster the numbers of both! As your bin matures and develops a stronger colony of microbiology It will be capable of processing food faster!

Additionally, worry not about fungus gnats or any other pests. Within 3 or 4 months you will have a mite population move in that's main job is cleaning up worms after they pass away, they will eat their larvae and they will disappear for good!
 
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outliergenetix

outliergenetix

Well-Known Member
i figure this be the best place to ask. i was about to buy a worm bin or build one. don't feel like diy atm as i got other projects going, so are the amazon vermihuts and what not decent? it's for indoor two ppls organic whole food waste, which is how i eat.
 
outliergenetix

outliergenetix

Well-Known Member
projectinfo said:
Just google 5 gallon worm farm.

Two buckets have holes drilled in the bottom and some around the top rim for air.

And one more bucket below to catch any run off.

Google a bedding mix and your good .
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thanks man i think i will try that. seems like a good way to get my feet wet and work out amounts
 
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