Vermiponics, Continuous Worm Tea grow bed feeding.

I have just been reading on Google, articles about Vermiponics. This is an offshoot of Aquaponics, but instead of growing fish and using their poop water to feed plants in a grow bed, they circulate water through the worm bin and then circulate the water through grow beds.
The grow beds support various bacteria that feed on the worm tea, converting it to plant food. You can also add some worms to the grow bed to help aerate and further brake down old roots and other organic matter.
I had posted the question here on DG, asking about using worm tea for a hydroponic system. No one seemed to know anything. Well, here is the answer!! I am really excited to report what I found because this will open hydroponic systems up for 3rd world food production.
The great thing is, with a solar charger, you can operate circulation pumps without having to run electric wires everywhere.
Am I excited, You Bet. I am starting a system today!!
I will find the article with pictures and post it as soon as I find it.

Here is a link that shows pictures and a description of the Vermiponic system I just mentioned.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amymyou/4727997718/in/set-72157624215762979/

Tried the link lonejack but could not get the picture to come up. Must be my dial-up. Anyway when you get this project going I think I will come visit you. I enjoy hearing about new ides with vermiculturing and this is something which really intrigues me.

Not to take anything away from your thread here but I thought I would mention something which I have been working with my raised beds. Last year after having some discussions with friends here in DG I decided to purchase some European night crawlers. They didn't do well in the peat moss media and tubs which I use with red wigglers, so I removed them to a sunken raised bed which contained well aged cow manure and some straw. I add some garden refuse in the form of squash, tomatoes and cucumbers which didn't survive the early frost and left them alone for the winter in the covered raised bed. This spring I removed the glass window covers and lifted the plywood board laying on the surface of the cow manure. They Europeans apparently made it through the winter and there were a few Canadian night crawlers on the surface as well. I watered the bin well with warm water, added some corn meal to the surface and replaced the plywood board and the top glass window covers. In a couple of days I went back and checked the bed and there were dozens of worms of all sizes on the surface.

There have been some recent discussions about intensive gardening in raised beds which I have been closely following here in DG and I wanted to try and experiment in several adjoining raised beds which were dug down as well but not quite as deep as the worm bed. I started with a six inch layer of wood chips: then a foot of horse manure and wood chip fines; followed by a six inch, 50:50 mix of the aged cow manure and recycled raised bed soil. I placed a vertical 2" PVC pipe in one corner of the bed to enable bottom watering and I added warm water for some time before introducing some of the worms from the worm compost bed.

There are several objectives to this experiment which include French Intensive Gardening, Vermicomposting, as well as some concepts regarding drainage and aeration which in time should be enhanced by the worm population assuming they do well in these raised beds. I am looking forward to seeing how this experiment of yours works out lonejack and possibly use some of these concepts in my gardening practices as well.

Hi raider 3,
I just tried the link and it worked for me. It must be your dial-up.
I have ordered some African nightcrawlers and will see what they do. I am told that they are very aggressive and need to be screened into the bin to keep them home.
I am told that they are also very voracious eaters, and love hot weather.
I also ordered some more red wigglers to put in my vermiponics bed.
I am looking forward to the next summer. I hope it is better than last summer. Here in Oregon on my lot, I grew one tomato that was edible.

I'm hoping your right on the hot weather for the European night crawlers. I would really like to see them take off outside and I feel fortunate they actually survived the winter outdoors.

As for the tomato problem this was pretty much prevalent across the country last year and I would look for much better conditions this year the way weather patterns are already beginning to stack up. I cage my tomatoes and wrap the cages in 14ml clear plastic covers made from a painter's drop cloth. It does a great job of protecting the tomato plants from both the cold and high winds. When the plants are well developed and touching the sides of the 2ft diameter cages I can remove the covers until fall. That usually doesn't happen until around mid-June here. I am transplanting a few tomato plants up to 2.5 gallon pots this weekend along with some hot pepper plants which will more than likely stay in their pots. I have decided to make vermicompost tea this season and see how that works. Should be another interesting year!

By the way lonejack, you said African night crawlers. I knew a breeder years ago who kept them in a heated garage. Power went out one night and the lights went off, the next morning he awoke to a garage full of night crawlers. They had climbed the walls and some were even on the ceiling. Your right about aggressive too. Just try to hold on to one. They are like am unhappy snake.

Update on the African Nightcrawlers.... They all died. I guess it is too cold for them even here in Oregon.
I don't have a heated place to keep them so the cool nights must have done them in. Bumber, I was hoping to be able to grow some for the cocoons to sent to Haiti.
My red wigglers that I bought at the same time are doing fine.

Mraider, I know you have been working with worm bins for a long time, and experimenting with them in many different ways, so I thought perhaps you can answer my question:
I know that worms are supposed to be able to eat half their weight in food each day. So that means that if I have a 20 gallon tub, in theory I could have it 2/3 food, and 1/3 worms, depending on the weight of the food? Or in other words, visually, what is the 'saturation point' of worms and food in a container? Is it literally possible to dump in 1 lb of well rotted food into a bin of 2 lbs of worms, and have it gone the next day?

You got me Mountaindweller...I don't try to be analytical about my feeding process. I move from one bin to the next each day and add two blenders full of food to each bin in side by side trenches. Typically there is still some residual food from the previous feeding, but not enough to sour the media. I have on occasion over fed a bin and if I notice a fermented smell I simply skip the next feeding but I do add some new media to help absorb extra moisture which also contributes to the souring process.

I think to best answer your question, after so many years of doing the same thing it's rare to have too much food in a bin. I just go by what I feel is the right amount of food for the conditions. Meaning I feed less in the winter time when the bin temperatures are lower as well as worm activity. Although my attached, unheated garage maintains a minimum of about 50 degrees F during the winter I keep my bins on some old rugs to prevent the concrete from sapping heat away from the bins. I have also used a six foot heating pad from Grower's Supply with a timer to maintain temperatures around 60 degrees F in the winter, but that can get tricky and you have to keep a close eye on the bins to make sure you don't cook the worms, which I have done in the past.

For my outdoor sunken raised bed which contains two kinds of night crawlers I have a much different program. The night crawler bin gets chopped up garden scraps, ground corn cobs, and occasionally I sprinkle some corn meal on top to collect worms for transferring to my other raised beds or fishing. I feed the night crawlers in the sunken raised bed about once a month by digging a long trench, adding the food and chopping it with a sharp shovel. I cover the food and water the bin with well water. This bed remains covered throughout the cold winter months with old glass window panes which I will remove tomorrow until fall.

Thanks, Mraider, I'll keep experimenting. I want to have a kitchen bin, and try to keep the balance-food in, food gone, no waste of productivity. I didn't think about the mass area the bedding would take up, either. So it would be more like 4ths, not 3rds.
Thanks again.

As I stated in an associated thread here in vermicomposting the feel of the process is unique to each bin. I like to see some residual food at feeding time… it tends to keep the worms in place. I avoid placing food near the corners of the bins which is a favorite migrating point for worms when conditions are not perfect. If you see an accumulation of worms in the corners when you go to feed your worms, something is not right and the next thing you will see is worms trying to escape the bin.

i also agree with morgan.. sort of newbie to vermiculture..but ive learned alot ..especially from memebers here
my 4 bins (37 gal rubbermaid tubs) are pretty low tech.. but they work great for my castings harvesting..i know if i feed worms more
i could get more castings.. its the invollvement that works for me though..
great to hear your vegys are doing good up there morgan !!!!
my tomatoes are in bloom..some setting fruit.. they are in gal containers..and will go into my make-shift non heated
greenhouse this week.. to harden off.. im sure we'll have one last freeze.. so im holding off planting for another week..
the garden is all ready for them so..just have to get them in..
weve had a torrent of rain here.. the high mt snow pack hasnt even come down yet..so we will have flooding in some
areas in june.. sigh..

Rain, rain, and more rain. Very unusual for my part of the valley, but face it, the weather is getting stranger every year. May have something to do with the alignment of the planets. Next year they ALL get together of a line dance.

I read something in the paper about a disease called the late blight which in Ireland in the 1840s wiped out entire potato corps. Apparently it hit the Montana potato seed growers last season. Cool, wet weather helps contribute to the spread of the disease (oomycete pathogen) and there is no cure once it infects the plants. If the weather continues like it has this could wipe out a multi-million dollar business here in Montana. The disease also affects tomatoes, peppers, and egg plants and it can travel with the wind. I have held off planting my seed potatoes until around the first of June with the new moon if weather permits. Same with tomatoes in wrapped cages. Pepper plants will remain potted and placed in the sunken raised beds with covers for at least another three to four weeks.

My gut tells me not to rush things this season and to be prepared for the worst.

wow.. i hope it dries out.. but i checked poor richards almanac too.. for our region..mild but wet summer..
hope that doesnt really do major damange to crops up there..and idaho..
all we need is more trouble in the food supply.. sigh
im with u too on holding off planting my tender plants in the garden..
i overnited tomatoes in "greenhouse" last couple nites.. at 4 am it was 51 F so thats not to bad..
but im leaving them in pots ...see what 1st part of june looks like.. its not far off.. sigh
i grew up in rapid city,S.D. theyve had alot of rain up there too..
truely odd yr....

We have at least four more days of cold, wet weather here according to on-line forecast which I check daily. Typically weather forecasts here are not accurate beyond a four day period. It looks like I might get a dry, sunny day around the first which is when I planned to put in potatoes and possibly some caged tomatoes. Wind has been horrible as well. It rained yesterday evening and blew cold air this morning at better than 50 mph. I stayed inside the better part of the day potting up my cherry tomato plants which probably won't be planted by the 15th of June if this weather keeps up. I am teeter on caging some of them as well.

Hi all,
Here in the Portland, Oregon, area we have had ONE DAY in the 70s. The rest of the time has been in the high 50s and 60s. I have 2 tomato plants sitting outside that are going to get root rot because it is too cold for then to grow.
Needless to say, I have had to slow down on my worm food, the red wrigglers I purchased at the same time i bought my African Worms. I have moved some of the red wigglers to the African Worm bins so they can consume the food there and hopefully multiply into a healthy 2nd bin.
I am growing these worms so I can get my vermiponic system set up. I hope the weather improves soon.
Then Friday I learned that my bride and I are moving sometime later this summer. Putting the old shack up for sale and moving on. Been here 37 years, raised 2 great daughters. We are moving with our younger daughter to pool resources. Grandpa and Grandma will help schooling and nurturing grand kids. Another great adventure.
I went around the yard and pulled weeds with roots and dirt, steamed then for 25 minutes, to kill seeds and reproduction. Steaming also blanches the weeds to help them break down.
I then blended the weeds into a slurry, added some essential micro-nutrients and put it in a bucket with a tight top to sweeten.
I add the food to the worm bins in a trench down the canter. My temporary bins are 24 gallon storage bins I purchased from Lowes.

lonejack.. sorry to hear you are moving from your "old shack"
ive felt from the beginning of this "recession" as some people call it.. that we were
headed to a similar situation as portrayed on the WALTONS show on TV yrs ago..
i admire you and your wife stepping in.. as good families do to help their families
im not a religious person.. but i look to people like you and your wife do as you
said.."help schooling,nuturing grand kids"
i count my blessings for what i have in my life..
you know lonejack..once bitten by the gardening bug..whether its vegys,vermiculture,tropical plants
all the aspects of gardening..it just doesnt go away..
LOL
i wish you the best in your new lifes directions !!!!!!!!!!!!
yea..same here on weather.. enough of this chilly..wet spring...

Try this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amymyou/4727997718/in/set-72157

The problem with lonejack's original URL post is the ellipsis (3 periods) after the "72157" (http://www.flickr.com/photos/amymyou/4727997718/in/set-72157...)