turnip brain
Active Member
Bently warns of trouble above 86F: http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/importance-of-monitoring-temperature/
I'm home worms are still kickin. I'm making a ghetto bin. 30gal sterilite totes are $8 each at home deps. Left my drill at a homies. So using my crkt pazoda knife and a screw driver wooty woot.
was back in town for the day and picked up some bu's blend compost from oc farm supply. They recently started carrying all malibu products. Never tried the bu's blend. But cann loves it.
edit:
I think some of them died. They are not moving at all. They were in a breathable bag that held moisture and the bag was in Chinese food to go box. There was plenty of moisture in the bag. Plus a little castings. The date written on the box was 5 days ago. I don't think they were in that box for that long. I don't know. Maybe I should order vermipods next time. Or order worms from uncle jims.
A quick comment on pesticide use in the worm bin... Clearly the fungus gnats love the conditions you are providing them. If you don't change the conditions, they WILL come back. Not only that, the ones that survive the Spinosad assault will be the strong ones, which will then reproduce a pile of strong offspring.
Whether you chose to dose your bin with pesticides or not, you MUST address the conditions that are inviting pests in the first place.
Hyroot - Stop by your local fishing tackle shop. The "Red Worms" they sell as bait are the same eisenia fetida that you want in your worm bin. At about $2.00 for 50 worms, you can get a bin started for about $10. They reproduce QUICKLY when the conditions are right. I started mine up this way and now have two bins cranking out castings. Next harvest I'll split it to 3 bins.
Correct me if I'm wrong. But if your bin gets a little out of wack. Too much food or decaying matter... Won't there be an abundance of predatory mites. That happened with my first bin. There were millions of them. Eventually they died off. Didn't bothor the worms. The predatory mites will eat the gnats and larva given time. That's how I solved my gnat problem in my pots in the flower room years ago. Topdressed with compost that had predatory mites. Adult flyers only live for a week or so.
I amend the VC as I do the soil. So Crab, Nematodes, BTI and Neem. Along with Kelp, minerals, meals, etc. Worm bins are as free of pests as the soil is. Both have good guys helping to digest the compost.