Vermicomposting anyone?

Does anyone do the worm composting thing? If so, can you share a bit about how you do it, like the bin, type of worms, where you keep the worms in winter, and anything else?

I'm thinking about starting this but I'm not at all sure how.

Thanks,

Maureen

mlm01, I started worm composting about 5 years ago, I use the finished stuff in my compost tea also. I got my worms from calling the local Master gardeners in the local pages in the phone book. for free!!!! I don't know if they do this everywhere, but it's worth a try , they said the only payback is after I got my worm bed started I might get a call to pass on some worms to another newcomer to worm composting, I gladly obliged. good luck hostajim1

Thanks for the info, I will definately look into the free worms :)
M.

I have been composting with worms for about 6 months now. You may want to go to http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html
this site has a lot of good information, and is where I got my worms. The worm woman has a book called "Worms Eat My Garbage" that is supposed to be the best resourse for worm composting. I don't have the book, but you can get it on that website. Our local contact for worms was out of them when I started. He had just built a pond, and was feeding the fish. . .

Your area may also have a Master Composter class. This class is similar to the Master Composter program, but has less much less required hours. This program is where I learned about worm composting.

I keep my worms in a 2' wide by 1' tall opaque tupperware bin. The lid stays on, but it has a series of small holes I've drilled in it for ventilation. I also have drilled larger drainage holes in the bottom. I house this bin in a lid-less bin to collect the water/drainage. This stuff is great to water plants with. My worms are red wigglers. The bin stays in my garage; I've been told that red wigglers can't take intense heat, and usually don't do well in my zone outside. For bedding I cut/tear newspaper into about 2" wide strips, then wet the newspaper. The newspaper is then wrung out to wet sponge consistency. You need to add some grit (like sand) if you use this bedding (i used around an 1/8th cup sprinkled throughout). The grit helps them process the food.

I add all my kitchen scraps (except for meat) to the bin. The worms can eat meat, but I've been told it takes longer and can smell really bad. I put the scraps on one side of the bin, under some bedding, because I've been told that the worms do not like to live in what they eat. You need to monitor the bin so that the moisture content remains the same sponging texture. Too much or too little can be bad, and may kill you worms. It is a good idea to check the bin regularly (I check every day to every other day) to check the moisture level and level of decomposition. You want to make sure that the worms can eat the food you give them, otherwise the food waste can heat up and kill the worms if it decomposes on it's own (like a hot compost bin=bad for worms).

I'm in South Central Texas, so I'd don't have problems keeping the worms in my garage in the winter. Most people I know keep the bins in their garage or in the kitchen during the entire year.




This message was edited May 25, 2005 11:34 AM

Thanks for all the great info aggie!

I checked out www.wormwoman.com. I had been thinking of getting her book and I will for sure now.

BTW, how to you harvest the worm castings?

Thanks,

Maureen

It's about time for me to harvest my worm castings; this will be my first time. I've been told there are a few ways to do it, but all seem like they may be hard to do. One method you take the contents of the bin and make small hills in a well lit or sunny spot. Supposedly the worms will gravitate to the bottom, and you can harvest the casting from the top of the hill. I assume this only takes a short time, and that you should monitor the "activity" so no worms run off or get burnt by the sun. The worms at the bottom of the hills can be then put back in the bin with fresh bedding. Another method just uses a seive to filter out the castings (they're smaller than the worms), but I'm a little skeptical that this will work. The last method I've heard of is to make half of the bedding new, and only put the food on this side. The worms are supposed to gravitate towards the food, then you can take their old casting while they're munching.

I plan to try the "hill" method. I'll probably be attempting this next month.

Good luck!

Hi
I am about to buy a worm house too! I see that the tray methods save you all the above work,as the casings stay on the bottom and the worms migrate up to the new food. here is a bin review http://www.wormdigest.org/wormbins.html
I will let you know which way I am going..I saw a lot of worm talk in the veggie forum too..Annie

Thanks for that link Annie...very helpful...I have alot of reading to do! :)

M.

I've been meaning to post for a few days but a dog we adopted about a month ago just gave birth to six pups so we've been very busy. To get back to worms...I've had a Can O Worms since February and I love it. I know it can be done a lot cheaper by building it yourself, but to be honest this was the best way for us. It is much easier to have the worms travel up to the next level on their own. Mine are on the second level and from what I've been told, by the time you stop feeding the second level and they start migrating to the third you can just remove the first and use the castings. Already my first level looks wonderful, but there are still quite a few worms down there.

It's very low maintenance. I check moisture and smell a couple of times a week and drain and feed once a week. I was given a bag of zeolite when I purchased the can and I add some every time I add food. It provides the "grit" needed to help the worms digestion and controls the ph. I usually pour the liquid back over a time or two to increase potency and use it on my plants.

There have been other threads (one started by me), in the past few months. There might be other useful information on those. Sorry I don't have time to go back and find them for you but they've been since February. Good luck! Margaret

http://www.composters.com/main.shtml?k=compostingworm#vc
Hi Margaret and thanks !
Everyone seems to love the can o worms,so its going to be the can o worms for me!
http://www.groworganic.com/item_GCO201_CanOWorms.html

This message was edited May 26, 2005 3:31 PM

This message was edited May 26, 2005 3:32 PM

In my opinion I think you're making a good choice. Mine came complete with some sort of coconut shell bedding, worms and the zeolite I mentioned. The only other advice that I was given (that I can remember), is not to overfeed and the worms prefer not to eat citrus or onions. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Margaret

Margaret,

Thanks for your review on the can O worms, I had been looking at that one myself. It fascinates me that worms will travel up the levels, LOL. Something low maintenance and easy is something I definately need as well.

Congrats and good luck with your puppies!

Maureen

Oh YES!!!
congrats and good luck with your puppies indeed!
Life is good,worms and puppies!!!

Thanks Maureen and Annie - I just hope the mama and pups thrive as much as my worms. The mama has been on and off food for the whole week she's been nursing. The pups are growing and content so I'm not panicking, but I'd sure feel better if mama would eat more. This is one reason why I'm glad my worms are so low-maintenance. Life has a way of cranking up at times and it's tough to have a lot of high maintenance hobbies (responsibilities?? - whatever they are they're the things I love to do) Margaret

Hi Veggie mom,
"Pregnant and Nursing mothers can tell my smell if the food they are eating
has the requirements they need to sustain a healthy pregnancy and
contain enough nutrition to nurse their litter.
If you find your nursing mother refusing to eat her normal brand
it may be because she can tell it doesn't have what her body requires." Does she have special lactation food?
SEND PIX!!!! lol
A.

Annie - Here's a photo from today. Since most of the pups are dark brown or black it's hard to distinguish them. At the advice of our vet, we put her on puppy food as soon as we realized she was pregnant. She was on the dry Eukanuba and seemed to like it. When she stopped eating after the pups were born we tried a canned puppy food. The vet also wanted us to give her a calcium supplement and we think that might be what upset her, because we stopped the calcium and her appetite gradually increased, then yesterday we added back the calcium and she went off food again. We've since tried it without the calcium and she's eating a little. We're kind of assuming that it's the calcium that's upsetting her stomach so we're going off that for good, but we do have a concern about her getting enough calcium as the pups grow. We hear that's a major problem for moms in the second and third week. During the couple of days that she wouldn't eat anything, we did try the dry puppy food and puppy milk replacement, but she wouldn't touch either. If her appetite doesn't pick up we'll call our vet, but as I mentioned earlier, the pups are all content and growing so she must be healthy enough to produce enough milk. Margaret

OMGOSH Veggie mom!
That is too sweet

Just finished reading "worms eat my garbage"
I think this worm thing is harder than it looks ! I am supposed to weigh our daily veg waste daily for 3 weeks to see how many worms i need.. I am an intuitive..i don't read instructions...this is definitely going to be interesting....I am going to wing it !
Let you know if they thrive or.........
a.

Ps. veggiemom: How is the mama and babies?

Annie - Don't stress out about the worms. I think you can kill them with kindness, so to speak. Believe me mine are thriving on benign neglect. Don't get me wrong, I make sure the basics are covered, but otherwise I leave them alone. In fact I've been told that they don't like being messed with every day. They like to be left alone in the dark. If you buy the Can O Worms you're going to get a "starter" supply of worms (if your distributor is set up like mine). That will be sufficient to get started. I definitely don't put all of my veggie scraps with the worms because I'm not going to spend that much time chopping up big stuff, but I have a hot compost that I feed regularly with the bigger stuff. Keep to the basics with the worms and you should be fine.

Mom and pups are doing fine. Ever since we stopped the calcium supplement her appetite has improved. We go back to the vet on Friday for deworming so I guess I'll discuss it with him then. Margaret

veggiemom:

Can you explain what you mean by a hot compost that you feed each week? I'm with Annie, I'm more intutitive (and kinda lazy, me not Annie ;) and can't see myself weighing veggie waste each week, I know I'd forget or not have time on many occasions.

Your mamma doggie and her pups are adorable! I love puppies! Looks like they're off to a good start good luck with them all! ☺

Thanks Margaret,
I need all the worm support I can get. At least my eyes are a little more open as to what to expect. I admit I dove in blindly,looking for a solution to too much kitchen waste and not enough garden waste to make a balanced compost pile.(Berkeley has a weekly green recycle pick up program) I thought I could just dump daily veg waste into the worm bins and "voila'" I guess it is back to the ole compost pile for me..as well as worms!
I am REALLY good at benign neglect tho!
that part sounds great!
i am so happy for you and your pups..Glad mama is well !
A.
Hi mlm ! I am soooo Lazy!

This message was edited May 30, 2005 10:32 AM

A hot compost is just the standard compost pile that you would put leaves, clippings, veggie scraps, etc. in. This is where I put everything that is too big for my worms. You aerate it and let it get hot and cook the stuff. Some people turn them or move them from bin to bin, but again, I'm a low maintenance kind of person. Living in hot Florida, my pile pretty much cooks itself with out too much coaxing on my part.

You do have to be selective in the size of scraps you put in with your worms. I'm assuming that they'd eventually eat most anything down, but I don't think you want big chunks of scraps sitting around for too long. So I usually put the peelings in and just quickly chop up a bowlful of bigger or harder stuff and put it in weekly. I also keep a box of shredded paper by my worm bin and I add a thin layer of that when I add the food once a week. I also add our tea leaves from the pot of tea we make each week day morning and the coffee grinds on the weekend. I did add a whole banana peel one time and they ate that up fairly quickly, but I still think I'd cut it up to be on the safe side. Don't forget the zeolite, this helps keep the ph where it's supposed to be.

Hope this helps. The pups and mom are doing fine. Margaret