Worm castings and generic dirt...

M

melaninTonic

Member
Friendly_Grower said:
So, HEY!

Back to Worms and Vermicomposting.

Anyone doing it?
I have a root cellar that stays about 58 F year round. 14.8 C was the temperature this morning when I checked.
I was thinking that now that I have some of those blue storage tubs free after moving that I might use two and make a vermicomposting system.

Anyone do this? How does it work for you?
Click to expand...
Yes, I'm doing this. Lucky you, having a cellar: sounds like ideal temps and should stay somewhat stable year round.
Our single tub is in our downstairs bathroom: there's just two of us so one bathroom really is enough, so the downstairs bathroom is becoming a bit of a utility space until we manage to build an extra storage/utility outbuilding.

It works great, but have had some issues with fungus gnats. Used Mosquito Bits and sticky traps, and that does a fair job of controlling the problem but I'd try to avoid having your vermicompost get invaded in the first place. I have to 'treat' all castings with a Mosquito Bits 'tea' before applying it to the plants: it's a bit of a pain but better than the alternative of having an infestation in the grow tents.

I think ideally we'd need at least three tubs to cover everything that we're growing now, but if it were just the ladies, one 10-12 gallon tub might be enough. I want to be feeding the entire vegetable garden eventually.

The worms are pretty easy to keep happy. Give them some compost, dirt, some un-dyed shredded cardboard (preferably without glue too), vegetable and fruit scraps, crushed egg shells, and keep the tub somewhat moist but never too wet... and they'll thrive. (You shouldn't really need to add water at all except perhaps when you first set up the bin). Make sure you put some breathing holes around the top of the walls if the tub, and some drainage holes in the bottom. You can glue some mesh over them to prevent material from leaking out, and bugs from getting in. I feed them once per week.

Avoid feeding them citrus, spicy things, meat. They can probably handle small amounts of citrus but the consensus is it isn't great for them. I've found they love some apple and banana peel thrown in the mix.

Make sure the food scraps are covered with a 1/4 inch of dirt/compost/castings when you feed them, to avoid odours. If you do this, you shouldn't have any smell emanating at all.

Harvesting the castings is something for another time, maybe once you've got started, hit me up.

Good luck!
 
Friendly_Grower

Friendly_Grower

Well-Known Member
melaninTonic said:
Yes, I'm doing this. Lucky you, having a cellar: sounds like ideal temps and should stay somewhat stable year round.
Our single tub is in our downstairs bathroom: there's just two of us so one bathroom really is enough, so the downstairs bathroom is becoming a bit of a utility space until we manage to build an extra storage/utility outbuilding.

It works great, but have had some issues with fungus gnats. Used Mosquito Bits and sticky traps, and that does a fair job of controlling the problem but I'd try to avoid having your vermicompost get invaded in the first place. I have to 'treat' all castings with a Mosquito Bits 'tea' before applying it to the plants: it's a bit of a pain but better than the alternative of having an infestation in the grow tents.

I think ideally we'd need at least three tubs to cover everything that we're growing now, but if it were just the ladies, one 10-12 gallon tub might be enough. I want to be feeding the entire vegetable garden eventually.

The worms are pretty easy to keep happy. Give them some compost, dirt, some un-dyed shredded cardboard (preferably without glue too), vegetable and fruit scraps, crushed egg shells, and keep the tub somewhat moist but never too wet... and they'll thrive. (You shouldn't really need to add water at all except perhaps when you first set up the bin). Make sure you put some breathing holes around the top of the walls if the tub, and some drainage holes in the bottom. You can glue some mesh over them to prevent material from leaking out, and bugs from getting in. I feed them once per week.

Avoid feeding them citrus, spicy things, meat. They can probably handle small amounts of citrus but the consensus is it isn't great for them. I've found they love some apple and banana peel thrown in the mix.

Make sure the food scraps are covered with a 1/4 inch of dirt/compost/castings when you feed them, to avoid odours. If you do this, you shouldn't have any smell emanating at all.

Harvesting the castings is something for another time, maybe once you've got started, hit me up.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Well the "Root Cellar" is cool like that because of hydrophilic pressure of ground water coming up. It was a n 8 foot by 18 foot cement pond down there but not now. It's not uncommon in these parts to have ground water come up i have found out. It's something to do with the end of Coal mining in these parts I understand. However, I spent the money to have a modern drainage system put in when I bought the place.
Other than running out of "fixer-upper money" with things still to do, it's rather a nice place to retire in. Plenty of "projects" to get to. That works for me. Adding Vermiculture composting sounds like one more fun thing while I am still young enough to enjoy it.

I was wondering if 60-ish F was cool enough. The ambient air will rise and fall but the cement floor will remain cool for the most part. I'm watching it closely or studying it now shall I say since I am storing seeds down there too.

I have access to all the kitchen scraps and with a little work the K-Cups provide coffee grounds. Also there is Guinea Pig manure that can be hand selected with gloves on. I thought I would never use all the Disposable Vinyl Gloves I ordered but I sure do use them all the time.

So, I have cardboard run through a mini chipper-shredder and I'll hand select the best of that, kitchen scraps go into a counter top compost collector mini-trashcan looking thing and the Guinea Pig product. That sounds like excellent food sources for composting worms.

Hey you can raise Guinea Pigs on your Island too! You can also eat them. Then you won't have to chase goats and rabbits with a bucket.

Alright! I like the Forums because one can have friends that are into the same things one is into without involving the neighbors. I found, living in a low income trailer park for twenty years that I did not want to let my neighbors know I was growing weed. I figure the less my new neighbors know here the better. I'm sure they have figured out I'm growing weed but...

I'll set up, order some "composting worms" and see how it goes.
There are also native worms in the yard. They do a wonderful job of making the top soil spongy in some parts of the yard.
It's possible I could make an outdoor thing and see if they get in there and do some work for me. If nothing else it would be easy picking to use for bait!

Live Life, Love Life and have fun because tomorrow is promised to no one.
 
M

melaninTonic

Member
Friendly_Grower said:
Well the "Root Cellar" is cool like that because of hydrophilic pressure of ground water coming up. It was a n 8 foot by 18 foot cement pond down there but not now. It's not uncommon in these parts to have ground water come up i have found out. It's something to do with the end of Coal mining in these parts I understand. However, I spent the money to have a modern drainage system put in when I bought the place.
Other than running out of "fixer-upper money" with things still to do, it's rather a nice place to retire in. Plenty of "projects" to get to. That works for me. Adding Vermiculture composting sounds like one more fun thing while I am still young enough to enjoy it.

I was wondering if 60-ish F was cool enough. The ambient air will rise and fall but the cement floor will remain cool for the most part. I'm watching it closely or studying it now shall I say since I am storing seeds down there too.

I have access to all the kitchen scraps and with a little work the K-Cups provide coffee grounds. Also there is Guinea Pig manure that can be hand selected with gloves on. I thought I would never use all the Disposable Vinyl Gloves I ordered but I sure do use them all the time.

So, I have cardboard run through a mini chipper-shredder and I'll hand select the best of that, kitchen scraps go into a counter top compost collector mini-trashcan looking thing and the Guinea Pig product. That sounds like excellent food sources for composting worms.

Hey you can raise Guinea Pigs on your Island too! You can also eat them. Then you won't have to chase goats and rabbits with a bucket.

Alright! I like the Forums because one can have friends that are into the same things one is into without involving the neighbors. I found, living in a low income trailer park for twenty years that I did not want to let my neighbors know I was growing weed. I figure the less my new neighbors know here the better. I'm sure they have figured out I'm growing weed but...

I'll set up, order some "composting worms" and see how it goes.
There are also native worms in the yard. They do a wonderful job of making the top soil spongy in some parts of the yard.
It's possible I could make an outdoor thing and see if they get in there and do some work for me. If nothing else it would be easy picking to use for bait!

Live Life, Love Life and have fun because tomorrow is promised to no one.
Click to expand...
Amen to forum appreciation.
From years of living in places where it wasn't tolerated, I adopted the wisdom that it's best if literally nobody knows about your grow. Not usually possible in practice, but an ideal to aspire to...

So I thought you might be kidding about guinea pigs and it turns out you're not. Good to know this guinea pig factoid.
If I raised them, I don't think I would eat them unless there was a period of food crisis... 'Do unto others' and so forth. I'd certainly not have any ethical pause with feeding their pellets to the worms though.

Your scraps plan sounds solid. I don't know: maybe I'm weird but I get a lot of satisfaction from the worm composting. A combination of maintaining a mini-ecosystem, keeping the worms happy, and being a conscious part of another aspect of the circle of life. My wife and I like the simple act of putting aside food for them: kind of cool that stuff we don't want to eat will make their day. The time and effort (very little really) that goes into them just adds to the 'made with love' effect on our organic produce. Life is good that way. Sucks in others of course which is why looking on the bright side isn't just a Monty Python song). I guess when we spend time with our gardens we're focusing wholeheartedly on the bounty of nature and the life-affirming pursuit of nourishing it, our loved ones and self: whatever else is wrong with the world can kiss a replica of my ass in those moments.

60-ish F is terrific. I think they can be comfortable in considerably warmer temps too. Our downstairs bathroom is a steady 75F pretty much year round, and they're not complaining... well, they might be and I wouldn't know, but they're not dying and they're reproducing and seem lively.
Good luck!
 
Friendly_Grower

Friendly_Grower

Well-Known Member
melaninTonic said:
Amen to forum appreciation.
From years of living in places where it wasn't tolerated, I adopted the wisdom that it's best if literally nobody knows about your grow. Not usually possible in practice, but an ideal to aspire to...

So I thought you might be kidding about guinea pigs and it turns out you're not. Good to know this guinea pig factoid.
If I raised them, I don't think I would eat them unless there was a period of food crisis... 'Do unto others' and so forth. I'd certainly not have any ethical pause with feeding their pellets to the worms though.

Your scraps plan sounds solid. I don't know: maybe I'm weird but I get a lot of satisfaction from the worm composting. A combination of maintaining a mini-ecosystem, keeping the worms happy, and being a conscious part of another aspect of the circle of life. My wife and I like the simple act of putting aside food for them: kind of cool that stuff we don't want to eat will make their day. The time and effort (very little really) that goes into them just adds to the 'made with love' effect on our organic produce. Life is good that way. Sucks in others of course which is why looking on the bright side isn't just a Monty Python song). I guess when we spend time with our gardens we're focusing wholeheartedly on the bounty of nature and the life-affirming pursuit of nourishing it, our loved ones and self: whatever else is wrong with the world can kiss a replica of my ass in those moments.

60-ish F is terrific. I think they can be comfortable in considerably warmer temps too. Our downstairs bathroom is a steady 75F pretty much year round, and they're not complaining... well, they might be and I wouldn't know, but they're not dying and they're reproducing and seem lively.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
On the Guinea Pigs, it's a second childhood for me. I say be happy now because tomorrow is promised to no one.
I have found Guinea Pig manure to be great for Cannabis. As far as the nutrients for plants, that isn't anything I'm sure of but I run air stones in a pot of manure (tea) water. I add other stuff to the mix too. Dilute that with water and water the plants. I don't think it could burn the plants but I follow protocol as if it could.

It's all a Mellow Pink Floyd. There is a joy in living.

I'll look at what bins I have today. I'll pick out two and set things up today.
All this so I can top dress at some point. LOL.
 
Friendly_Grower

Friendly_Grower

Well-Known Member
Got 1000 Eisenia fetida on the way.

I'm excellent on the Compost volume going so GP Pellets can all go to the Worms.
Time to craft a free standing sifter to make life a little easier.

It's all fun.
As to your Concern on the "don't tell" @melaninTonic around here I don't think folks really care about what I'm doing.
It wouldn't do much to call the police on me. I have my State Medical Card so I am a "Dues-Paying" Citizen.
In California they got rid of the Medical Permit industry and things went even better for the State. Here in Illinois and being surrounded by States that still put people in jail for weed there is a stronger business model for keeping it in-house. Why the taxes on out of State makes the cost of an ounce double that of a in-State medical customer.
Then again Illinois is famous for rackets in my opinion.

What people in California did was ignore the actual law and people just started growing their own. This cause lawmakers to yield and go for allowing every household to have six plants under local regulations.
That is something Illinois may not do but if one is willing to pay a fee then they can grow.

It's always about the Money. In California the sheer volume of sales generates the successful tax revenue. Here in Illinois it all started out on the wrong foot. In the beginning I believe there was a push by the soon to be industry to keep ALL criminal penalties for growing your own in place. No exceptions and one had to register with ONE dispensary and could not buy any place else.
That smacks of corruption and the uppers fighting over what slice of that pie they get.

But until Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri legalize Illinois is the King.
I just looked and surprise Missouri is trying to Legalize recreational and Kentucky is trying to legalize Medical.
I do think it's all about the Money. We shall see. For sure it's slow motion when it come to comparing to progressive California.

But back to the worms.

All that I need now is to find my roll of fabric window screen.
I'm not sure if tape is good or should I go hot glue to attach that to plastic bin.

Anyway since I love to post grow stuff I hope to post some worm pictures. I'm excited to try this.

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