Do you like Can-O-Worms?
mkirkwag
18 years ago
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Comments (22)
colleen_mi
18 years agomkirkwag
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Jorge Garcia of LOST has a Can O' Worms.
Comments (1)I always knew he was my favorite character...See MoreHomemade Can-o-Worms like thingy
Comments (23)Thanks for all the great feedback. I actually built mine a couple of weeks ago using 14 gallon Rubbermaid bins -- three with holes drilled in their bottoms and one solid for the bottom of the stack. The only ventilation holes I drilled are in the lid for the top of the stack. I started with a pound of worms about 10 days ago, and so far I really can't tell how it's working. I put coconut fiber and organic soil in the bottom, then added the worms, then some food waste I had been saving in the fridge -- mainly carrot pulp from juicing, but also some greens, coffee grounds, rice, tomatoes, egg shells, etc. How long should it take for the worms to process this and reproduce? So far I can't see a measurable decrease in the amount of waste I put in the bin. The worms seem active but not overly so, and some of the food is beginning to mold. Also, several of the worms always seem to want to climb the walls and escape the bins. Is this normal? Or do I need to adjust my bins in some way? TIA, ktool...See MoreStarting Can o' Worms and...
Comments (22)**How many worms do you think you have? Did you grow most of them or start with lots?*** I bought them from redwormcomposting.com. I started the first bin with 2.5 lbs. Within a month or so I knew I could handle so much more, so I got inspired and built a flow-through out of a 45 gal garbage can and stocked it with 5000 more (5 lbs) ordered from the same place. Unfortunately the flow-through didn't work out--it was heating up in the middle and with the weight after another month or two, it was on the verge of collapse. Plus, I was being raided by rats or raccoons at night. To save my worms, I ordered two more COWs and transferred it all, doing my best to divide the worms evenly. So now I had 3. As for how many worms I have now, well all 3 bins have all trays in use, and worms are absolutely teaming in there. Last week I laid an entire medium watermelon rind across the top of one bin. A few days later when I took the lid off, what was left of it was MOVING as the worms reacted to the sudden light and dove for cover. Freaky! ** And how often do you turn over a tray? And you layer your scraps on your bedding and sort of just alternate layers? ** Yeah, pretty much. I never stir or dig. Sometimes I'll lift what's on the surface just to check on the worms, but I replace it as it was. As for how often I turn a tray, well gosh these worms eat everything so fast, I swear these things are bottomless. All bins have the max number of trays now, and the systems are a year old, but here's the kicker--I have never harvested a tray. It boggles my mind. I throw so much in there. Where the heck is it going? I have been watching the original bin for a while, thinking it was time to finally take the bottom tray out, but I'm waiting for the surface of the top one to come up to the mark. Every time I think it's there and I hold off on feeding for a while to try and make sure all the worms come up out of the bottom-most tray, the level at the top sinks below the marks again. I can't imagine how dense the bottom tray must be by now. **And would you recommend that I start a second, or second and third, bin if I have lots of excess food scraps?** Once I got the COW, I hated having too much stuff and not enough worms to eat it. I'm cooking for a family of 6, but when you get down to it I'm eating most of the fruits and vegetables. I manage to fill a very large pyrex bowl every 1-2 days with my scraps. I like big things like pineapples and melons. Oh, and just an aside, I eat a lot of eggs and throw in all my shells (crushed loosely in my hand or in a paper towel); I don't know how much that helps buffer the environment, but I have to think it helps. If you have room and your first bin is working well, and you have more scraps, I'd get more bins. I could probably be making due with fewer bins if I wanted to put time into freezing or chopping things for faster turnover. But I don't. I throw it in my bowl just as it comes off the cutting board. Right now all three bins are right up at the very top with the latest layer of paper shreds and uncut never frozen stuff. But somehow, there is always room for more and the actual level of castings is low. ** And would you recommend another Can o Worms or should I...build my own??? I'm not very handy, although my husband is, but he is VERY busy and not fully on board with my "crazy worm experiment" just yet. ;)*** Like I mentioned, building my own didn't work out. I have had very good experiences with the COWs....See Moretell me: do you like overlays with or w/o filler?
Comments (7)breezy- Well it started by just wanting to keep costs down & avoiding wasted cab/drawer space, but I do like inset so the cab guy said he often does his overlay to "look" kind of like inset (by using filler) if we like that look. It certainly doesn't have to be that way and to be honest I had no idea of the differences til very recently. SO, maybe we'll just do standard overlay and inset tops. I like overlay too so it's not that I'm trying to get around it. The yellow kitchens, to me, had a vibe that perhaps went better with inset. I may be mistaken. (won't be the first time) lol We decided on yellow in the link below : ) It was always something I wanted to do but didn't know what DH would think. Turns out he's totally on board with whatever I want to do so THAT works out! Here is a link that might be useful: My Yellow Thread...See Morevleachman
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