Vermiposting

I'm hoping to start Vermiposting soon, the local news just showed a local guy who's whole gargage is full of plastic tubs full of scraps and red worms, he recieves enough castings to sell to locals and people in other states as well. Due to the family waste going into the bins he said they only need to go to the garbage dump about every 6 months.

So - since he was local to my area I'm thiking I could start some in my garage as well even tho it can get quite cold here.

Do you Vernipost in a colder climate? I'd love to hear how you do it, I've down loaded info from the net tonight so I have a good idea how I would do it but I'd like to hear from others especially if you live in a colder climate.

Thanks, Jill

Jill,

I know that lots of people vermicompost in colder climes. There are a few on this site who use redworms but it's not the most active for vermicomposting. Considering that you are just starting, can you start inside this winter and move them outside in the spring summer? That will give you a whole season to get up to speed nd you'll have the worms already at critical mass.

DG is my favorite site but for a more active site with the most resident experts on vermicomposting, look here
http://www.thegardenforums.org/ the main site
http://www.thegardenforums.org/viewforum.php?f=42 vermicomposting forum

I had asked about starting a VC forum here but there wasn't much interest. When GW changed its' format, the most active people went here. There are other sites but this has the best concentration of knowledgeable vermicomposters- funny too.

Hope this helps,

Maggie

Thanks Maggie, good suggestion (to start indoors & move outdoors in spring) - I definetly want to start real bad , it will be good for my yard & more importantly "the planet" , it will make me feel really good to be doing some of what alot of us should do. the more people who go green - the safer our planet will someday be. Of course at the moment I drive a gas hog but I do plan on changing that as soon as I pay off my daughters Wedding.

Jill, I had the same "dream" to come up with the perfect compost idea.I knew,from reading every thing on worms, from the latest, and greatest, that the old "the complete book of composting", by J.I. Rodale, copyright 1960, was as up to date,as anything you can find.So I took some ideas from all my sourses, and made what I call "the perfect vericompost shed".For me anyway.I have been working on this for four years now,and I have large healthy worms to share, and the shed is needing an expansion.I built bins, double wall thick, out of scrap & salvaged bld materials, suffered being laughed at from things I drug home from work,because the good had been gotton out of the ply wood,etc., but my worms feed on the old wood too.I live in z7, and to keep the temp even, I fill old inter tubes with H2O, and allow the sun to warm them in the day, and they heat the ground below during the night temps, and so good so far.My bins are 8' long, x 42" deep. there are 4 bins under the shed, and 2 of them I do hot pile, whitch warms too, and I alternate the decomposed hot pile, to the worms.I try to line the walls with coragated cardboard, but the worms eat that pretty quick.Friends and neighbors have become interested, and are doing the same.Its catching!! Wish you luck. Mike

This message was edited Jan 21, 2007 6:20 PM

Thanks Mike, that's incouraging --- I recently saw on TV that you can start one in my Z5 climate outdoors as long as it is protected on all four side's by bales of hay ... so -- I may try that or I may work on a spot in the garage to make the compost but I think it would be better out doors in the sun. I'm still investigating, I apprecite the encouragement! I know my gardens could sure use the final product!
Jill

Google "cheap and easy worm bin" for really good instructions. I had one in the pantry until the weather cooled down, and will put it up again as soon as summer hits us again (probably late March...)