Pot worms and over feeding
Drewet88
10 years ago
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petrock1963
10 years ago11otis
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Escaping worms and feeding question
Comments (6)You can put the worms back in the bin, but keep in mind that escapees will dry out and die rather quickly. If they are just crawling up the sides of the bin, they are probably OK. When to feed again depends a lot on how much you are feeding them. I generally feed when the last food I gave them is pretty much unidentifiable. If you are feeding small amounts, or you are feeding foods that decompose slowly, you can feed more often. Timing your feedings really is as much an art as it is a science. You will get a good feel for it soon enough. I feed large amounts of mostly ground up kitchen scraps about once a week. When they are mostly black, and the bedding they are in is decomposing, I feed again....See MoreIs there anything in this list you wouldn't feed your worms?
Comments (17)pjames might be on to something. I have collected manure from different piles. I always do a test of the manure before I feed it to the worms, but I only do one test, then assume the whole batch is good, even if the manure may have come from different horses.. OTOH, the die off seems to continue until long after I have fed horse manure. There is no clear consensus on whether dewormer is actually harmful to the worms. That is something I might experiment with when I have a healthy worm population. I would like to get a definitive answer on the dewormer question. I was reading an article yesterday (I can't find it now) that says that dewormer is 95% broken down in the horse's system, and degrades completely with exposure to sunlight. If the problem is dewormer, that would explain why I am only having a partial die off....See MoreHow Much to Feed Worms? (Red Wigglers)
Comments (15)There is no solid answer to these questions. So here's what I have had in the past year: About 11 months ago I started with a pound of worms in a worm inn. By late spring (about 5 months later) I harvested a full 5 gallon bucket worth of 1/4" sifted compost from the bin. Some weeks I fed the bin heavily and others I didn't feed it at all. For a few weeks the bin really dried out and slowed down greatly. By late summer I had another nearly full 5 gallon bucket worth of sifted compost following the same feeding pattern. I would estimate - a SWAG at best - I was feeding the bin a little more than 5 pounds a week worth of cores, fruit peels, failed bread, veg trimmings, and the like. It was only when summer fruit flies started swarming my kitchen that the scraps were getting frozen before I got around to putting them in the bin. I have since added another flow through bin and have been feeding both bins really heavily - garden veg waste plus kitchen scraps from a family of 4 with regular guests. I would guess that if I were to harvest now I would have more than another 5 gallon bucket worth since I divided the bins 2 months ago. Again I am running a worn inn and a box type flow though system....See MoreAny of you tried feeding finished bokashi to your worm herd?
Comments (61)Hi Robert; I had a similar experience with epoxy and caulk. I was trying to recreate a $50- Bokashi bucket (wherein all the liquid drains out and none is left at the bottom). After 3 days the epoxy (specifically for gluing plastics) and the silicon caulk (which was rated as waterproof and resistant to most chemicals) became useless. I guess they tested it on everything else except Bokashi juice. The picture I posted is the inside of a Bokashi bucket which can be purchased online (usually around $30 to $50). The strainer (at the left) sits on that lip around the inside. At one end is a small square indentation where the liquid flows out. The round, white, piece is obviously the plastic nut which secures the spigot in place. The small square space under it seems to be; that just in case you would need to change the spigot, there would be enough room to turn the nut and remove it (and then replace it again). In the end, the only liquid remaining in the bucket, at any one time, seems to be about: 1/4"-1/2" (D) X 1"-1.5" (square). That's not very much liquid at all. Now, I have no problem installing a spigot at the very bottom of the 5 Gal buckets I use. The problem is that there needs to be room for the rubber washers and the nut to hold the spigot in place. In general, the bottom of the tube (where the liquid flows out through the spigot) is at least 1/2" off the floor. This means that the whole bottom of the bucket up to at least 1/2" is covered with liquid and then anything above that level is what flows out. This is far more than what there should be. One solution I've thought of (though I haven't yet been able to accomplish it) is to somehow raise the level of the floor to the level of the outlet tube. If anyone has any thoughts on this idea or any others, I'd appreciate it. Shaul...See Morepetrock1963
10 years agoDrewet88
10 years ago11otis
10 years agoDrewet88
10 years ago11otis
10 years agoDrewet88
10 years ago11otis
10 years agoequinoxequinox
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10 years agoDrewet88
10 years ago11otis
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10 years agoMooshy
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10 years agoJasdip
10 years ago11otis
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9 years ago
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Drewet88Original Author