Help please.

I just got all my casting out this weekend and have about 2.5 gallons of it, it is pretty wet stuff almost like clay, I am still trying to figure out how to get it a lot drier. I use the rubbermaid plastic tub to house my worms so I have heard that plastic tend to hold a lot of the moisture in. Any suggestions on how to get better consistency in my castings?

Also I added some grass clippings in the new bin and I can see they are not very happy with the smell, some of them are trying to run away and I am wondering what I should do to avoid it, I already mixed it all in the tub so it is hard for me to take the grass clippings out, any ideas? I saw somebody using grass clippings in one of the tutorials on how to start a worm bin on you tube so I thought it would be O.K.

Hi Carminator1; I have my worms in plastic tubs also, Mine are in my basement, When I see a few worms moving up the side of the Rubbermaid. I take the top off and turn on a light. they start to move back down real fast. I think that the fresh green grass might be heating up to hot for the worms. I did that once when I put too much carrot tops in my bin, so I moved as most of the new greens to one side of the bin and add new newspaper, when it cools down (week)? the worms moved over to the other side. I hope this helps you out.

Thank you so much Flip, actually just a few of my worms were trying to get out so I have been just placing them in the box again, still this is the first time I added a few grass clippings but will probably leave grass clipping out from now on. By the way how does your worm castings come out, are they wet?

Hi Carminator1; Most of the time my castings are damp, I take the top off a few days before I start taking the castings out. I can take a spoon and scape the top 1 or 2 inches off and I put it in another pan or jelly roll pan. I wait on hour, if it is too damp, before I go through the casting, that way if I have any worms or eggs that I find, I can put them in the second bin. When I am done sorting out the worms and eggs, I dump the jelly roll pan in a 5 gal. bucket. Its now ready to put on my planting holes. I have 5 bins so I just move from one bin to the next. One thing I learn the hard way, don't put any small seeds (like tomato) Worms don't eat tomato seeds? One year I dumped my casting in the 5 gal bucket, when I was ready to dump more casting in the bucket, I had a forest of green tomato plants growing 2 inches high, It took a lot of work to get rid of all the seeds. I hope this helped you out! Flip

Thanks Flip, yes I know about the tomato seedling ordeal, Actually I have a rogue tomato growing where my compost pile was, I am letting the plant grow because I am curious if this will do better than my tomatoes on my raise beds or not, been having problems with footed leaf loopers and stink bugs.

Right now I have all my castings in a 5 gallon bucket and I am letting it aerate and I mix it every day to try to get some of the water out, I will place it in my raise beds when I am ready to plant my broccoli and cabbages and other winter stuff. I am just wondering how in the world do people get the nice castings that are usually sold in bags that have the consistency more like earth than clay like mine. One thing I read is to give the worms veggies that are not packed with water, so I think I am going to try just to give them lettuces and greens but not feed them tomatoes and watermelon etc... as those pack a lot of water and just make the compost too wet.

carminator1...I have used plastic tubs for a number of years now with good results. My media is spagnum peat moss which is soaked overnight with hot water from the bottom of the hot water tank. I use a six-inch aquarium net to drain the excess water and store the damp peat moss in another five gallon bucket to be used periodically as make up media for the spent media which I remove at feeding time. I don't call this spent media worm castings but it has the same effect. I use it exclusively as my germination mix for all my seed starting. It is also used in potting up my pepper and tomato plants. My method of removal is to remove about one-half inch of dried spent media fromt the top of my bins when feeding the worms. Since I use a two bulb florscent light over each of the four bins the surface media is dry when removed. I have 50 or more gallons of this dried media to work with come seed starting time. The replacement media is added to the blended worm food in a trench about six to eight inches deep. The previously soaked and drained peat moss is actually like a sponge absorbing excess moisture, so I actually have to add water to maintain a moist media.

The reason I like this procedure is that the spent media which I remove is ready to use any time for seed starting without any additives. I use 3-inch peat pots for most of my seed starting and have never had any problems. A lot of people don't like peat pots for various reasons, but personally I think spent (vermiculture) peat moss and peat pots are the easiest means to starting new seed.

Hello mraider3. Good to see you. I am changing my worm bin tomorrow. I have a gazillion worms. I am making two bins. I have placed some in the garden with large bags of leaves from last winter buried in the soil. Hope they do not die.

I did get blueberries this spring, but on only one bush but they are growing so it will be interesting next spring. Every time I gave DH a blueberry, I asked him if he wanted a $64 blueberry. They were not large blueberries but very tasty.

Sharon, glad to here your blueberries did well. I didn't get a chance to plant mine, but I decided to go with a location hext to the house which get partial sun instead of the open garden. I have been using the acid water from the peat moss soakings to acidify the soil so I should be ready to plant about five dwarf plants next spring.

carminator1's thread here got me thinking about a new vermiculture project, 'Vermicompost/Seed Starting'. I was thinking about starting some tomato seed for an indoor potted plant when this thought occurred to me. Instead of going through the process of fermenting the seed and planting a few in a peat pot with some spent worm media, why not just blend a tomato in with some banana peels, egg shells, coffee grounds, the usual worm fodder. Work the blended materials into the top couple of inches of one of the worm bins and wait a few days.

You could even use a twist on Dr. C’s fermentation process for tomato seeds and leave the blended materials set in the blender a couple of days if you wanted lots of seedlings. And, how about freezing a whole tomato in a zip lock for your next season’s plantings.

I have had pepper seeds sprout in my worm bins as well. Simply toss into the blender a dried pepper from the previous season and instant seedlings…well almost.

This method is primarily for those of you who use plastic tubs for your worm bins and blend your worm food, since I use peat moss for my media and leave a florescent light on top of the row of bins. I don’t know if this would work for other media or in the tiered bins, but if you have seeds sprouting in your system then no reason not to work.

The trick is to make certain there are no other rogue seeds which could be mistaken for the seedlings you are attempting to propagate. In the past when I have tossed a rotten tomato into the blender, I have had seeds sprouting in the bin for several weeks at a time.

So, is this a crazy idea or what!?

morgan

Morgan that sounds like a good plan. Wow I have been busy the last couple of days so I was unable to see this posting, thank you guys for all your help and recommendations. The bin seems to be doing a lot better now, the worms seem to be happy in their bin and not running away anymore. The peat moss trick might work for me as well, plus I am sure the worms digest it quicker and therefore you get castings faster.

I have read on the net somewhere that I might get a better result if all I give the worms to eat is veggies that do not contain a lot of liquid, like green type stuff, not tomatoes or watermelons or grapes etc... I might try this for a while and see if I get better results if not either I have to rethink the bin.

Also morgan a question, you said you use peat moss as a medium, but do you also feed them scraps of veggie food, or just the peat moss?

WormsLovSharon, I planted about 5 blueberry bushes in the backyard and I have to say the ones that I planted in the shady part of my yard are a lot bigger than the ones in full sun, also I read on the net that the first year you plant your bushes you have to remove all the flowers to let the bush use all its energy in creating a bigger plant and not the fruit, this way the next year you get a lot more fruit from stronger plants.

When I purchased my bushes, I was told they were three years old so I did not have to do that.

Morgan, that sounds like a great idea. At the greenhouse, the worm bed is always full of seedlings.

carmenator1...I definitely feed my worms with peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds which has been blended in gravel syphoned aquarium water. If I plan to be gone for an extended period of time I just make sure the bins are well watered. My problem is usually letting them get too dry. I am constantly adding more aquarium water with a sprinkling can to make sure they are properly hydrated. I do have methods outer than freshly soaked and squeezed peat moss to soak up excess moisture, however I haven't had a problem of too much moisture in years. Worms can feed off the peat moss for a month or longer as long as you follow a recipe of replacing up to 10 percent of the media periodoically. And by periodically, I mean approximately every two weeks at the longest.

As for seed starting in a verimicomposting bin this can be taken one step further. I read recently in the pepper form (Smokeman I believe) that pepper seeds can be sown from 'fresh' peppers as well as dried. If this is the case, just blend a pepper into your worm food and instantly add to your worm bin. No fermentation period required for peppers!

What bugs me is this idea has been right there in front of me, and I haven't seen it until now. It eleminates half a dozen germination procedural steps and simplifies the whole process. No more leggy tomato plants because I didn't removed the black plastic cover over a particular peat pot or seed bed in time. The only down side I can see to this process is not being able to repeat it right away with the same type of seed. It may take a month or more for all the tomato seeds to germinate. However, with four bins I can certainly focus on up to four each of peppers and tomatoes durning the seed germinating period and this would work fine for me.

Two things I do as a mater of practice for my garage sheltered worm bins in the winter is to set the bins on top of a carpet which is lined underneat with a rubber mat. I have a 6 ft heating pad as well which can be set on a timer to maintain any desired temperature I choose. No different than a seed germination setup. I do however, leave the florscent light on constantly, but that has had no effect on producing healthy tomato seedlings. The light as well could be timered to operate up to 17 hours per day if desired. Tomato seeds srpout so quickly and form true leaves which makes transplanting fairly simple. Hot peppers on the other had could be a little more difficult. The peppers require more heat during the germination and growing process than tomatoes. Red wigglers are without question the most tollerant worms I have ever raised. Once I left town and forgot to turn the heating pad off. I wasn't using a timer then and in two weeks I had baked each of the four bins completely dry...and I mean completely. The media was a cake. I thought I had lost my over 40 year old culture, but I rehydrated each of the bins and when I checked them again several weeks later there were lots of worms. Don't ask me how they survived, but they did.

Carminator1...I plan to seed a worm bin with a 'Prairie Fire' tomato blended into the worm food in a couple of days. With your permission I will post a pic on your thread if the seeds. Or we can start another thread called Vermicomposting/Seed Starting. Either or both.

morgan

You guys are doing some cool stuff. Carminator, I do not understand why too wet is bad? No matter what the worm books say they like it quite wet. If your finished worm castings are wet make some Compost Tea. That will multiply the power of the castings but at least 100, if not 1000. Use an air pump.
MRaider--you have an air pump in your aquarium. Thats a great idea using aquarium water for the worms. They love to eat all of those protozoa and nematodes + bacteria. Thats their real food. The microbes start the process of breaking down all the veggies we add for them. I pulverize my eggshells in a kitchen blender with some water, then add it to the compost bucket. It then has time to integrate with acidic foods like coffee grounds.

Marc, I do have an aerator in the large 55 gallon fish tank. The water I actually use for blending the worm feed is from gravel syphoning from this tank, which I do about every other week. I save a five gallon bucket of this water for the blended peelings and some extra hydration as necessary. I left a bin of red wigglers outside during a rain storm this spring and filled the bin with water. I didn't get around to decanting the water from the bin for several days. I just dumped the excess water and moved the bin to my hoop house. Checked it again in a week and the worms were just fine. Pretty tuff to even drown these buggers. I have abused red wigglers every way possible and they managed to somehow survive.

Mark, I am not saying it is bad, but it does make it a little more difficult when I go and separate the castings from the worms when the final product looks like mud. As far as the castings go, I do use them to make compost tea all the time, my plants love it. The worms do like it moist but not too moist, everything I have read mentions moist like a wrung out sponge.

same here.. i tend to let my bedding go alittle dry.. lazy on my part.. LOL
but as morgan says.. my worms seem to take what i dish to them too..and they survive just fine..
i also try to use aquarium water on the bedding ... for me..i think of the chlorine in the water.. let it evap..
i also use the aquarium water when i make my aerated castings tea.. from what i understand the chlorine
kills the live microbes in the castings.. and thats the whole reason to make the "live" tea..
ive learned alot from this yr in keeping worms..
much thanks to all here.. u all have been great help!!
mark.. just dive in..and you'll make it work.. :)
and whatever your after.. the fishin worms.. castings... just the experience.. it will
be worth it...

Dave, didn’t know you had an aquarium. My 55 gallon tank provides 5 gallons every week or two as necessary for watering plants and blending worm food. This stuff is like a fine wine to the worms. They are fat and sassy. Like you I keep my bins slightly on the dried side as compared to most literature on the subject. “Damp as a wet sponge.” Seems a bit to tricky to me. I would prefer to error on the dry side since my method of removing castings is to take up to an inch of material off the surface of each bin when feeding. If I kept the media as moist as recommended by most of the authors I have read, I wouldn’t be able to dry enough of the surface to remove this material without taking lots of worms with it. And frankly I can’t see any difference in performance of the red wigglers.

I recall a discussing several years ago when this forum began with an interesting fellow who made a comment about increasing the numbers of worms by increasing the feed. I had always correlated the increase in worm casings (eggs) with moisture content of the media. I agree that worms will increase their numbers more quickly when the media is at its optimum moisture content, but I had not thought about the food aspect. Since I use a blender to feed my worms I had always assumed that it was the excess moisture which stimulated worm egg production. I do like to keep one of the four bins more moist than the others to encourage a larger number of smaller worms for smaller fishes. So point being, other than increasing the number of worms in a culture I see no need to go to the optimum on moisture content.

hey back at ya morgan !!!
yea at one time i was raising and selling freshwater angelfish.. wow..alot of work.. learned alot..but out of that now
but i have a 75 gal i just have sponge filters in..keep it for my worms..
i probably use you guys idea of worm castings harvesting.. i dump most of a bin..in bright sunlight.. let the worms go into center..
i go back to it every 20 min or so.. harvest worm free castings ..and just keep till mostly just worms.. then put the worms back in
a new bin with new bedding ..
not alot of work..again..im thinking im just lazy..LOL.. and i dont get to the castings as soon as i know i could..
but the worms seem happy..so must be doing something right.. :)
yea.. as for bedding i like how ive been keeping them..moisture .. its not as sloppy..or wet as im sure some have..
i need to go get myself a cheap blender..just for the worm food.. next step in doing better feeding of the worms..for sure...
i am so sore..i dug up.with help of teenagers.. all the EE..bananas,cannas.. that hot shower sure felt good.. i think the tylenol helped too
LOL
and all these plants are going in next yr.. and will be bigger.. sigh..LOL
had thought of adding a 5th bin.. but i think for my needs im doing pretty good with what i am getting in castings..
with gardening..vermiculture.. this stuff is addictive.. LOL
looks like halloween will be nice here.. little munchkins will have a good nite tomorrow.. no rain..and not to cold..
:)