Addicted to digging around in my (stinky) bin
wonderpets
15 years ago
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sbryce_gw
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agofolly_grows
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
A cure for my Plumeria addiction!!
Comments (18)Wow how big is your yard Bubba? I don't think my entire yard is 30x40 LOL... out here in the West Coast our yard is like 10x12 or something crazy. I guess in a way it's good because it helps keep my addiction somewhat under control. In my mind I can always weed out the ones I don't love or grew too big so I can make room for new plants. But who knows how attached I will get to them and then I will be like those hoarders you see on TV except mine will be plumerias instead of cats, dogs or birds! I just now realized with this many plants I can't really take a vacation and leave my babies unattended can I?? Oh-oh... I guess I will have to take a vacation during the winter when they go dormant. Which means I can only go to FL or HI where I can buy more plumerias. Fantastic!...See MoreNewbie questions - Can I dig my own worms?
Comments (3)Ouch, by that shipping method I'm suprised any survived. Hard to say on a text description, do they look anything like this? http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-farming/5-lbs-of-red-worms-wow/ Main features are (in the pick you can see the varience) - red to pinkish - striped (shows up more when they stretch out) - yellow tips at one end (sometimes very distinct, sometimes not) If they are, you'll still be waiting a long time for the population to build. If you're in no rush sure, it's kinda fun building up from low populations. You'll just have to keep an eye on overfeeding etc. Also look around here for some DIY ideas as I see you're doing one with the drawer ;)....See MoreSTINKY!!! bin question
Comments (5)On the weekend I sucked up some liquid at the very bottom of my bin using a turkey baster. My bin is set up so that I have broken styrofoam pieces, then landscape cloth sandwiched in between 2 pieces of hardware cloth. My bedding and vermicompost sit on top of the wire mesh. I have holes around the sides of my bin about 1" from the bottom. I don't have drainage holes. I had liquid accumulate at the bottom amongst the styrofoam pieces which I sucked up. My bedding itself is moist, not wet and mucky. When I squeeze it, it holds together, so I didn't consider it too wet. I've never gotten drops of water out of my shredded newspaper bedding or the vermicompost (when squeezed), yet I have liquid at the bottom. I think it's from freezing my food but I'd rather freeze than risk fruit flies and fungas gnats. Sherry...See MoreMy first worm bin
Comments (17)I don't know the average basement temperature, but I believe it stays within the acceptable range for worms; my guess would be > 50F and E. fetida will do fine in that range, but they will be more productive (eat more & make more babies) if temps are above 70F. That's the temperature in the bin, not the air temp. E. hortensis may do better if your basement is consistently on the cool side. However, it MAY take them a bit longer to get up to speed because they grow and reproduce at a slower rate compared to E. fetida. I'd like to do as little food prep as possible; optimally keep chopped material in a small composting container in my kitchen and empty it every day or two. From what I've read, worm prefer to be feed less frequently, and do best with some pre-processing. I'm open to recommendations for the the least fussy method that works. There are many food prep routines, so take this as just a random sample. Since your husband is concerned about smells, I'm going to assume he also wouldn't be happy with fruit flies. (most of us aren't, so it's no knock on him for either aversion.) I recently started my first indoor bin and this seems to be working well so far. I have a few 1 gal. ziploc bags (Hefty brand with an actual zipper "handle"). I put one on the kitchen counter and put scraps into it until it's full. I then take kitchen shears and carefully (don't puncture the bag) cut the larger pieces. You can skip this part by chopping things up before you put them in the bag or just skip it altogether. The full bag then goes in the freezer for 2-3 days and an empty bag goes on the counter. Defrost the bag for a day, drain excess liquid (maybe for an outdoor plant?) and spread over half your bin. Rinse & air dry the bag so it's ready for it's next turn in the cycle. I guess I haven't done my homework on the quantity of scraps -- but it can be a fair amount -- although it's cyclical. I definitely have more in the summer when my CSA is active. I assumed that the worm population would adjust to my quantity. The worm population will grow according to the conditions provided for the worms. A given amount of worms can adjust easily if there is less food, but they can't really adjust if you suddenly provide more food than they are able to process in a few days. I know the amount will vary, but collect scraps for 2 days and see how much it weighs. At least it gives you a rough idea. I was thinking of using red wrigglers, and starting with a couple pounds. I would feed smaller quantities in the beginning and increase the feedings as they multiplied....Is a 55 gallon drum considered a big flow through bin? 2 lbs. of E. fetida would be a good start for a standard 55 gal. drum FT. I consider it to be medium-sized, but on the large size for most indoor systems. If you read Jason's long thread about his 55 gal. FT, you know he ramped that up to the point it was able to process a lot of scraps. I don't know if he ever harvested all the worms to see what he had in there, but I'm guessing it could easily hold 10-15 lbs. of worms. Once that system is mature, it could probably take 10 lbs. of scraps every other day. In your original post you asked "Should I be looking to go smaller?". It will mean a little more work later to "upgrade" your system, but considering some of the unknown variables, it might be best to start smaller. Although a flow-through system has definite advantages, a simple tote worm bin can also work quite well. Stock it with 1 lb. of E. fetida and start feeding 1 lb. of frozen scraps once a week. You can slowly decrease the time between feedings to 6, 5, 4, etc. days as the worm population increases and your bin ecosystem matures. If all goes well, you will have 2 lbs. of worms after 3 months of no-stink, no-fly vermicomposting. We can go over details if you choose to go this route. Cheers, Andrew...See Morewonderpets
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoleearnold
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agowonderpets
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agosbryce_gw
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agowonderpets
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agowonderpets
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agojeff-npr
15 years agolast modified: 9 years ago11otis
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoAnisten
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoudargin
15 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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