Moved to Houton- will I be attracting roaches??

15 years ago

I had the best garden and beautiful fruit growing but unexpectedly I became very sick and had to move closer to family here in Houston. My question is if I start my worm bin I think I'd have to keep it indoors because it's so hot here, I wont be attracting any unwanted pests, like roaches would I? I've never seen roaches in person until I moved here and I want to do all I can to prevent having them near me because I live in an apartment. I've become blind and I'm still adjusting to that and I'm scared to death to have something crawl out at me if I go to add food or harvest my castings. If it'll be ok does anyone know where I would be able to get a small amount of wigglers for a small price. Money is very tight right now. Thanks so much for your time.

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Comments (6)

vermiman
15 years ago
How many do you mean, by a small amount? I'll help if I can.
leearnold
15 years ago
I used to live in Dallas so I know first hand about roaches. Those things will eat almost ANYTHING! Even cardboard! So I would be VERY careful about keeping bins in my house there. Especially in an apartment. In an apartment, you never completly get rid of the roaches - when you spray your place, they just move over to your neighbors! Then when your neighbors spray - you get them back! You state that you are blind. Do you have someone who is willing to help you with the bins?
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You did not specify where you're located, so I'll throw out an alternative suggestion that works for a lot of gardeners in Texas. Your mileage may vary. Most regions are home to at least one species of nonvenemous snake that eats rodents. Since your packrat neighbor provides the snakes' food source, all you would need to provide is (1) a place for them to live, usually some type of brush pile, and (2) a source of clean water; a terra cotta saucer at ground level works fine (a BT dunk controls mosquitoes). If you build it, they will come. In this neck of the woods, snakes do an excellent job of keeping rodents out of vegetable patches. Rat snakes aren't interested in biting people, not even your toddler. Every time I see a rat snake in my garden, all I see is its tail moving in the opposite direction. Let me point out that I'm not crazy about snakes. I have no desire to caress any kind of snake while it wraps its body around my neck. But consider the fact that rodents plunder human food stores and carry diseases. Can you say the same for snakes? If you provide the habitat, lizards, toads et al. will gladly volunteer their pest control services. Of course, if you decide to go with natural pest control, you cannot use poisons of any kind.
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dbeautybug
Original Author
15 years ago
I am about 70% blind. I've been Diabetic for 30 yrs and started to lose my sight. I'm 35 so I don't want to feel like my life is over yet but because of a few health issues I can't work outside of my home. Living on the east coast was just getting too expensive so I have a cousin here in Houston so here I am! I have a 6 tray worm factory I bought online that I really enjoyed having and taking care of but really now I'm not so sure I want to get it started again. Moving from Zone 6 to 8 is alot different and I had to leave all my gorgeous plants behind and my zillion worms went on Freecycle as well. I only have one prickly pear I picked by the side of the highway now anyway. I do it more to fill my day with something to do. If I thought about putting it on my patio outside, how do you think it would do? Thanks so much for your help as well, it's nice to have somewhere to go and have people with the same interest. When I mentioned composting everyone thought I was crazy!! Let alone with worms!! It's amazing how different the mindset cab be from one part of the country to another, it saddens me that people don't recycle here. It kils me everytime I see milk jugs, newspaper ect. going in regular garbage. Anyway, I'm rambling now... Thanks
vermiman
15 years ago
Is the patio shaded? If it's shaded and doesn't get too hot there, then the patio may be a good place to start a worm bin.
leearnold
15 years ago
I know what you mean when you say that people don't understand. I can't believe the amount of "trash" that my extended family tosses! When I'm at one of their houses, I just want to scream "Hey, that could be recycled, you know?" But I've gotten to where I don't say to much because they ALL think I'm kinda wierd, you know, worm bin and all. But I recycle EVERYTHING I possibly can. If there's a way to recycle it, it is recycled.
I may have one "convert" though. Just recently one of my sisters has started asking a lot of questions about the bins. She even dug into one with one of her kids to show them the worms! Seems that the schools are teaching the kids about worm composting! Yeah, schools! So, we'll see... Anyway, I think that starting the bin on the patio may be the way to go. Then try just a tote (or even an ice cream bucket) indoors to see how that goes. I didn't mean to be overly dramatic about the roaches, but that was my experience with them. Man, I was soooo glad to move away from that!
tclynx
15 years ago
I'm in Central Florida. Our worm bins are outdoors and here in Florida, the roaches can be quite big. There is no way I know of to keep roaches out of a worm bin here (any way that would work would probably kill the worms.)

Anyway, I'm in zone 9 and our worm bins do fine outdoors in the shade. If I were in your position, I would probably put the worm bin on the patio (provided it is shady.) If it has legs, I would place those legs in little containers of mineral oil (to keep ants out!) If the bin doesn't have legs, I would place it on a stand or table that I could place the legs in small containers of mineral oil. I find I can cope with roaches but I can't stand sticking my hand into the worm castings and being bitten by ants!!!!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx

Moved to Houton- will I be attracting roaches??

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vermiman

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Moved to Houton- will I be attracting roaches??

Comments (6)

vermiman

leearnold

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dbeautybugOriginal Author

vermiman

leearnold

tclynx

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dbeautybug
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