Vermicomposting anyone?

I 'think' there IS a vermicomposting forum...

Well, I went and looked for it, and don't see one! Someone should ASk for one!

garden_mermaid,
you could always make those posts a personal 'sticky' by clicking the small folder in the upper right hand and adding a 'tag' or label for easy reference. Then all you do to find it again is go to your My Info page and click on 'View Your Tagged Pages.'

Count me in.

There is not yet a forum. This is the thread to request a forum. So far, there has not been enough activity for Dave to create a separate forum.
For now, my suggestions for a Vermicomposting sticky to the Soil and Composting forum would be a link to the worm bin article and a link to the following excellent resources for starters.


http://www.happydranch.com/ see next link
http://www.happydranch.com/invertebrates.html
http://www.wormswrangler.com/worm_articles.html

Maggie

Thanks Calif_Sue. I will trying using the tagging feature. Is this a new feature on DG?

Yes the tagging is new, replacing the Favorites bookmarking feature and was announced on the Dave's Garden Forum which is where all new features and changes are posted.

Count me in. I need to expand our vermicomposting this year. I would love to participate in conversations about this.

I am very interested in vermicomposting. Count me in.
Dee

Since my time doesn't permit ANY new projects I had to go into Composting (simplified).Having a very rough area close to the house that had been neglected for MANY years and had severe erosion etc..My first move was to have the mower man put all clippings and leaves in this area and everyday I throw the house waste coffee grounds etc.etc.In fall when all the leaves are gathered here they are waist deep Perhaps 6-7 years back I started buying 2000 red wigglers once or twice a year and buy late spring you can't even tell the leaves had been put there.Since I have put in a shade garden to make the compost AREA attractive.Ferns,Rhodadendrons,Laurel,Witchhazel etc.Now it is a favorite area for me instead of an eyesore.When composted is needed just wheel my cart in and help myself.

gamekeeper,

I'd love to see pictures! Sounds like you got quite the garden there.

Kinda scary to see so many people find worms interesting enough to have their own forum. LOL

Nah....

I spoke with Dave this morning, and we both agree it looks like there's enough interest to launch a new forum. The question is: public or subscribers-only?

Let's do a quick vote here, and tomorrow I'll launch it as open or closed, depending on the yeas and nays here.

Terry, what are the advantages and disadvantages of making the Vermicomposting forum public vs "private"?

It's the same as with any forum: public means more potential activity if people can participate without paying.

Subscribers-only means that there is a little more privacy between your posts and the entire world (but it's still a really big audience that can read anything you post.)

Public

I'm fine with public.

Not sure there is really much privacy with the subscribers only forums. Google will bring up threads on those as well as the public ones. Same thing happens with YahooGroups that are "private". If something in a post matches a Google search, the post will appear for all to see.

But can they read past the first post and/reply on the thread??

Makes no difference to me.

I didn't think any of the forums were open to non subscribers past the first post or is it just the trading forums that are restricted. I thought it was one of the "perks" of subscribing.

I think at this stage, we need outsiders. Many on the vermi thread are newbies, looking for information. So far we are a very small group of people. We need a critical mass of folks to spark even more interest and mentors with both formal knowledge and personal experience. I think folks investigating a vermi forum will also be very interested in the "mother" compost forum and be enticed to join DG. Especially since we have so many multifaceted people on this thread referring to other threads on the Compost forum.


IMHO,

Maggie

I need worms!

I need worms!!

ezgroonly I hope you get your worms!! LOL

I'm okay with public. Then later on if there is an issue, Terry, can you make it subscribers only?

Yes, we can change any forum from open to closed. (And yes, we have made some public forums private, and vice-versa ;o)

garden_mermaid, private forums are actually private, but if you're logged into DG, Google will bring them up in your search results.

However, if you log out of DG and run the same Google search, you will get the same results only if the title or first post contain the words you're looking for - but you won't be able to read past the title and first post.

budgielover, about 75% (150 or so) of the forums are private, and about 50 of them are open to the public. It's a good compromise as it gives non-subscribers a "taste" of our forums, and lets casual users get help with plant IDs and basic questions. But the quality and quantity of subscribers-only perks still make it worth their while to subscribe.

Public

Last Summer I gave up on growing worms in a bin and put them all in one of my compost bins (I have learned what my problem was, so I'll try again this year) I now have Thousands of worms and they are surviving very well, even with the severe weather we're having.During a wind storm the top blew off of the bin and everything inside seemed to be frozen, and they are still fine! What amazing little creatures! I love my worms. My only problem is going to be separating the castings from the worms next Spring. I have a screen that I use for sifting my compost and I can use that--- it's going to take forever, I don't want to hurt the worms.I have continued feeding them with my compost material this Winter and they are still devouring it!

I have mine in my compost tumbler too - I don't worry about separating the castings, just leave it all mixed up, makes great compost.

You can try throwing a bunch of bananas/apples in several onion (mesh) bags and when theyy're good and full of worms, move them to their new home. Using this method, you should be able to get most of them out over about a month.

Maggie

Pssst: the new forum is here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/wrigglers/all/

Thanks Margaran, the reason I try to separate is to use the compost and castings and not put the worms in my soil-- is it true that red worms will most likely not live in soil?

I agree with Margaran we need the public

Thanks Terry!

You're very welcome - I did the easy part, now I can watch y'all do the "heavy lifting" - creating interesting new threads and posts!!!

Thanks, Terry. And, not that it matters anymore -- PUBLIC!