Chuckie;
Welcome back, Again. Perhaps you could lure some of the other Ghost Survivors of the days of yore, that are hanging out on 'The Garden Forums' . I was there but found it to be far too quiet for my tastes.

Shaul

Hey Chuckiebtoo. I do not think we have posted at similar times with each other but my posting style, on multiple forums, only one to do with worms or gardening, for better or worse, is modeled after yours. Sort of like an injection of life.

Not sure where 'The Garden Forums' is because worm wise I am mostly here. Once upon a time there was another place I wanted to post but registering never seemed to work and nobody new joined the group for a long time. I think it was a system error that with a lack of new blood eventually ate that forum.

Interested to hear about the tweaking. Maybe give us a rundown, for those who have not read all of the old threads, of your systems and interests.

~ Chuckiebtoo fan, although I usually had zero idea what you were talking about ever, but eventually figured it out.

This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Sat, Mar 30, 13 at 22:51

Hi Chuckiebtoo, good to see you're back and in better health.

OK....I got a pretty good little tidbit to share: My worms love to eat pumpkin (and similar soft foodstuffs). I always gather up some Halloween pumpkins around the neighborhood, freeze them, and keep my worms blissfully happy.

But.....when I put pumpkin on one end of the bin, and tea bags on the olther...the worms go nuts over the tea bags.

Chuckiebtoo

Sure. There's nothing like a nice cuppa tea to wash down all that pumpkin. I also feed pumpkin when I can find it cheap enough. I freeze it first and when it defrosts, it's the perfect consistency for the worms to work on. Also, I almost always find a quantity of baby worms around the pumpkin mash.
As far as tea bags, I've stopped adding them only because; whenever I'd harvest the castings I'd find a bunch of worms curled up inside every single bag (and if they're relaxing in the tea bags, then they're not out there eating anything else). But I could see cutting or ripping open the bags and adding the contents to a Bokashi bin.

Shaul

I keep a container for tea and coffee leavings. I cut open the tea bags and dump the used coffee grounds in sans the filter. This makes for crumbly, almost fluffy additions, and makes it easy to turn the bins, if I want/need to.

The paper things can go into what I call "The Clunky Bin", a secondary bin that funny odds and ends go. I also use this bin to compost my pine needles. They're inconvenient to compost and they take about 3 years to break down, so, they have their own bin.

I believe pumpkin is the favorite food of my worms. I still have some chunks left from Halloween JOL's in the deep freeze. If you want to give some worms away, just put a thawed pumpkin slab skin side up in your bin. About 4-5 days later, roll it over and scoop out the worm ball...

Happy wormin', Pete

What zone system do you all use ? I'm in Oly Wa which is on an edge of zone 4 in the Sunset Western Garden Book.

I want to chime in on those who say we are busy gardening and tending worms: Reading long posts is not a preferred pastime when seeking solid guidance.

It's Oct 29 2013: we had our first freeze last night. I separated the worms from a (2 bin ) bin yesterday.
I clumsily combined light, a paint brush, a screen, gloved fingers, with no plan or design & I had to hurry to be somewhere. It was overdue. I hadn't found the time to do it in the quiet, organized, meditation I had hoped for.

The worms are back in the bin. There is a mosquito net liner that comes up the sides and closes over. The bin was half full of shredded newspaper. I put the shredded paper in a woven plastic bag that sand comes in. I dampened it in the neighbor's pond because my rainbarrels were dry, The excess water flows out, I added an equal layer of horse manure . It had been dampened the same way. I don't know whether it was aged, but I've been using it & the worms go for it if it is damp enough. If I want the worms to aggregate, overripe fruit seems the quickest. A pear, sliced, gathered crowds in a day.

I have also a Worm Inn.

I started in April with half a pound of wigglers. When the Worm Inn arrived, I put about half of the population in it.
(About 2 months ago ?)

During the harvesting yesterday I saw the eggs, put them with the new bed as best I could. Same with threddy youngsters.
Probably most are still in the casting/bedding mix separated out. That mix is now in the woven plastic bag that sand comes in. It's in a bucket with a little leachate in the bottom of the bucket,

I am thinking what to do next. I have an aereator. I bubbled some leachate for 24 hours . Have no way of knowing what is in it, Put some on some plants. No obvious result (not growing season).

The horse manure keeps the worms from starving if I fail to feed them better stuff.. I keep a worm jar in the kitchen that fits the blender.. When there are enough scraps to liquify, I puree it (usually add apple juice instead of tap water ) & feed the worms,

I am interested in your experience with coffee grounds, The posters seem to advise caution. In the seventies I had garden worms in pure coffee grounds in a 5 gal glass carboy: no air except the top. They seemed happy and multiplied, I don't remember the finale.

Other than that, what to do next with the bedding/castings mix in winter. Tea ? Store til Spring ? Divvy into small batches to make tea ? Is there any standard ratio of bedding/castings (B/C) to water to aereate ? Any standard ratio of the resuting "tea" to water to use on plants ?

Most desired result: Protect roses from diseases without poisons, (I have mason bees in their own refrigerator.)

Is there a way to start with most recent posts ?
Is there a way to search by poster ?

Yes,

Type chuckiebtoo for example in the Search button (the button at the BOTTOM of the page. Search This Forum Only, and you'll get his posts.

Is there a way to start with most recent posts ?

Yes. Go to:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/verm/

and read all of the ones on the first page.
When you get to the bottom click on page 2
Rinse and Repeat.

Or keep clicking on the choice of
"next 30 messages"

To read them in order start at the bottom of page 67.

I have been on the Florida gardening forum for quite a while. About 7months ago, I added rabbits to my homesteading efforts. 5 months ago, I purchased a breeder doe from an impressive commercial Rabbit farm/CSA in South-western Florida. They raise worms under their rabbits. I ended up buying a pound of worms and not really set up at home for them. I moistened up some pete moss, added shredded paper, and rabbit poop and stuck all that plus worms in a Rubbermaid tub. Days later, I had mass exodus. I didn't mess with it much after that except for occasionally throwing some rabbit poop and a glass of water in it. Yesterday, I found a small ball of worms in a corner of the bin. The spot they were in was moister than the rest of the bin, so I added a few cups of rabbit poo and water. With my new found interest in these wiggly redworms, I have found all of you quite helpful. . .even the newbs. I am going to start sprinkling a little of the oatmeal/cornmeal/eggshell mix to see if I can get the population up. Thanks everyone!

Most of us do not use the Waterford for the worms just an old plastic jug :-) If the bin had sat for a bit before the worms were added they may have stayed. If the bin was near your rabbit cages the worms no doubt found the rabbit poo and are living happily ever after. As for the ones left behind they might enjoy some scraps from the kitchen cutting board. What do you have around that is free to use as bedding? Think shredded cardboard, spoiled hay, peanut shells. Are the bins in a shaded area?

HELP !!!!! I just started a SFG and want to compost. I saw something on vermicomposting and would like to try that. I will have to keep my bins outside away from the house and elevated due to being near wetlands. I live in zone 9 HOT but I do have some shade. I want to make my own composting bins. I have found single,two tiered and three tiered ones. but I haven't seen a place that tells me what goes where! (worms, NP, compost, food scraps) a real newbie. Can someone help me ? MA

MaryAnne,
Why don't you do what most of us did when we first started, and that is by reading thru the wealth of information offered here.

Go to the bottom and read from the last number to the front. These are your history and every conceivable question has been asked, and answered.

You can even use the Search button.

Really, read everything you can get your hands on, and this site is fantastic. Instead of just saying "Help, how do I get started?"

MaryAnne: Sometimes when starting out, this stuff seems way more complicated than what it really is.

It often proves best to start off simple...like with a one-bin plastic tote....and grow with the herd.

And reading the archives will really help out.

Chuckiebtoo

MaryAnn1950 some items you will want to vermicompost and other items you will want to regular compost. Browns are the bedding. They are things like fallen leaves, egg cartons, paper towel tubes, straw. Greens are the food. They are things like strawberry hulls, bunny poop, watermelon rind. Other additions are crushed eggs shells and apparently toe nail clippings. Any plastic that is not removed prior to feeding will be there when you harvest such as stickers stuck to fruit, plastic silverware, shredded plastic envelope windows.

thanks and I have been reading posts on almost every site and I fear there is just so MUCH out there that my brain is on overload. If I start can someone tell me how to make the bin .Or send me to a site that deals with this IN DETAIL. I know there has to be bedding on the bottom. I have questions like when and how do I get the compost out? Equinoxequinox IS this the way you layer brown then green. When I get my worms do I put them in first and then start layering. . I do want to start as my garden is in and I want to start getting some compost going.I also have a husband who is a likes FORMAL yard so I have to deal with where to put my compost and vermicomposting bins .thanks for all the help

Some people layer. Some people bury the food in little piles in the bedding. Some Shake N Bake it all together. Many people let the bin sit for a bit before adding the little guys.

Ok I found instructions for a flow thru bin. so I have made that. now for the NP and I have already been saving veggie scraps and coffee and tea grinds so I will put them in along with come black kow and order my worms from Uncle Jims ! Red wigglers??? or is there a better choice.?My husband may sneek a few out to fish with when the grands are here ! I am biting the bullet !

Is colored glossy NP ok for worms? I know I have read it should not be used in reg. compost

Everything you ask is pretty "up to you". Almost all methods will work. Some people say one thing, some say something else.

Here's what I do:

1. Use red wigglers. They're smaller, do everything faster, and will not be a favorite fish bait for your husband unless he's bream fishing. So you'll have less bin "shrinkage".
2. Place the food in a little spot on top of the bedding and cover it with shredded newspaper. FEED THE WORMIES AGAIN WHEN THAT LITTLE PILE OF FOOD HAS DISAPPEARED. And place it in a different place (all the way across the bin is good).

The main reason for top-feeding is because.....well, they are by definition "top feeders". Plus, it'll keep them from laying around down in the bottom getting less active.

3. And when you receive the wormies, place them into the readied bin along with a little, or all, of the shipping materials they are accustomed to. That will save you the disaster of a mass evacuation that can cause lots of problems for the worms, your worming ambitions, family "togetherness", and confidence in anything we try to tell you about anything "worm" ever again.

Chuckiebtoo

Just saw the "glossy, colored NP" post: No. The colored ink is ok now, but the glossy stuff causes the wormies to go all Hollywood on you.

This post was edited by chuckiebtoo on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 17:45

thanks, My red wigglers should be here next week !
when the grandkids are here we all fish for bream but he like to bass fish mostly. I'll have him stock up on fishing worms. Can different types of worms be mixed?

Scroll down a bit here for pictures of how to set up simple worm bin MaryAnn. Another Poster here linked this, and I found it invaluable for a beginner.
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/vermiculture-worm-composting-diy/64455

Here is a link that might be useful: First Worm Bin w/Pictures & Tutorial

thanks, msmorningsong. this is great. It is somewhat like the one I built. I will put in some more holes before my worms come. It suggests 1000 to 2000 worms but I only ordered 500. guess I should order more. I am feeling better about this ! My biggest concern is that I live in Florida and moving my bin indoors is not an option. I saw where frozen water bottles were used. might have to do that. cold weather is not going to be a problem.

MaryAnn1950: Another option instead of buying more worms, you could put a divider of several layers of corrugated cardboard to "make" the bin "smaller". Move it according to increase of population/contents to make it "bigger".
Use the other half to store bedding or extra food.

sounds good with the cardboard.. Is it really obvious when the population starts to increase?

Im new to raising worms and even newer to GardenWeb. I was really excited to see that there was a designated section for vermicomposting. Im glad that if questions do come up there is a community here for me to have address my concerns (or joys). Long live this forum!

Im starting small (real small) with my setup. I've added a photo for all of you. I used to feed storage buckets. I cute long trips out of the bottom one to help keep the two buckets from sticking together, a tough job to separate once the whole setup was up and running. The screen is hot glued all the way around leaving all my little guys hopelessly trapped to fulfill my vermicomposting needs. Its been up and running for jut over a month now and I'm having pretty good results with it. There is around 250 red wigglers in there.

So happy I found this forum.

I was out of town for two days zone 9 . I put an frozen blue ice container in the worm bin. when I got home the first thing I cked were MY worms. My husband laughed. they had hidden deeper in the bed. this morning they were attacking the watermelon rind!. My question is how often should I be feeding them ? should I wait until all the rind and other veg scraps are gone or just add food daily. I have a good bit stored up already. Have been Just waiting for the worms to arrive. I am having problems posting photos. I did put a cardboard divider in the bin since I only ordered 500 worms.

"How often should I feed them?"

I'm a novice wormer, (about 4 months at it) but I'm "old" and I have grown a lotta things in my day. It is my opinion that people do more "harm" to their "wards" - be they plants or animals - by OVER feeding than they do by "starvation". As a general rule, I lean toward "starving" my plants and animals as opposed to over-feeding them. With regard to my worms in indoor bins: They are gonna get fed when there is no visible "food" in the bin. That said, MY interest in the worms is NOT "making soil". Neither is it finding a place for my kitchen scraps. My interest is making WORMS. Therefore, "you" may want to feed more frequently than I would.

Paul

"How often should I feed them?"

I'm a novice wormer, (about 4 months at it) but I'm "old" and I have grown a lotta things in my day. It is my opinion that people do more "harm" to their "wards" - be they plants or animals - by OVER feeding than they do by "starvation". As a general rule, I lean toward "starving" my plants and animals as opposed to over-feeding them. With regard to my worms in indoor bins: They are gonna get fed when there is no visible "food" in the bin. That said, MY interest in the worms is NOT "making soil". Neither is it finding a place for my kitchen scraps. My interest is making WORMS. Therefore, "you" may want to feed more frequently than I would.

Paul

As Paul says, they should be fed when no visible previous feeding is evident. A feeding is better placed ON TOP of a small area of the bin. When that disappears, repeat in another place.

Always remember that just because you can't see a piece of the food doesn't mean that edible stuff isn't still there. Worms are a lot like us....they splurge on the new stuff and only go to the leftovers when no new stuff is handy.

Chuckiebtoo

thanks, I appreciate the help.
I may have too much food in there should I just let it be or try to get some out?

Mary Ann

These are in my worm bin. What are they and should I be concerned?

Current participation lately is making this 9 year old warning more ominous than ever.

Chuckiebtoo was expressing a fear that the viability of the Vermicomposting blog was waning. That seems more true now than then.

CarlosDanger

MaryAnn, read this about your maggots in with worms:
https://insects.tamu.edu/extension/publications/epubs/eee_00001.cfm

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Soldier Fly

Carlos, I think it is a lull in the action. Summertime gets me busy outside. I post more in the winter due to weather and short days. When my squirm gets active again in the spring, I get excited and develop "worm-brain". When summer comes I get "fish-brain", and post on other forums. I still check here often, but it has been a little slow.
I miss CB2 posts! AWOL..... We need a little humor sometimes, and Chuckiebtoo delivers. I have learned my sarcasm does not translate well.

Good luck everyone and happy wormin'

Pete

I'll second what Pete said about "seasonal" malaise of the forum. I see it on many forums at this time of year. Things will likely pick up when school starts. Remember that the original post was made NINE years ago and the forum is still alive and kicking.

Paul

I reviewed the original post to see what cb2 was looking for.
He wants new wormers.
I have a hunch he lurks.
One way to get his attention is provocation.
Let's see . . .
I think I know how to do that . . .

I also believe that cb2 is lurking...I mean, he's been posting here for all these years..., and I also must say that Paul, being a relatively new poster here, has little experience on THIS site to know that this lull is just seasonal.

I've never noticed slow-downs just because of a summer malaise or shopping for school supplies.

All that said, I would expect chuckiebtoo to show up sometime out of the blue. After all, he's retired before only to rear up again.

CarlosDanger

I'm a bit confused. Why does a thread started NINE YEARS AGO about the "demise" of this site STILL HAVE LEGS?

Oy!

Paul

I don't know about legs. It's just real good at crawling.

Because people care about the forum and the health of the forum.

Now that many more people are worm farming, all the new stuff/problems from way back then are old now and many posters just don't feel like keep writing/answering the same over and over again. It's only sooo much/little one can take.
I'm waiting for a "unique" new thread. Don't have one myself, haven't tried anything new.

"a "unique" new thread" agreed that an enticing first post or 87th post will always get a bevy of replies.

Note: This forum has censored two prominent posters and deleted their posts. Each poster has a side. I protest due to censorship and lack or each side. Note this site is a money making proposition and we are but slaves working to earn them money. To think differently would be

Readers should know that two, three, four or five posters with various opinions had massive posts deleted. This is unprecedented. I have seen empires turn to dust for much less. Yo guy from Alaska who claims to have two sites already. Do you want a vermicompost site too? Advertising revenue will follow. For a bit extra nemesis will follow. Cause that is who people really want to read.

When I start to see posts, good posts, long posts, vanish with no explanation, like don't you have an explanation button? then that lets me know I NEED A NEW SITE TO POST AT. Because this site committed the ultimate insult to its posters. This is probably my 10,000 post on vermicomposting sites. Perhaps your next post will be my 10,001 post elsewhere. Cause they are going to have to pay me if they want me to post here anymore because currently this site is a bit like Europe and their new laws for vacuums.

Decisions, Decisions.
Do I write that possibly L-o-n-g-i-s-h post that I want to write (and take a chance on it being deleted), or do I just let you read my mind?
I think I'll take the Easy Way Out.
Now Remember, if you Concentrate Real Hard and Focus, you'll know Exactly what I want to say.

Shaul

Let's clear the air a bit if possible.

equinoxequinox, feel free to use my name. I'm not sure why you chose not to. Maybe for fear of censorship. I think you hit the nail on the head with the commercial nature of this website. For what it's worth, neither of my other forums derive financial support from advertising. And THAT is neither advertising "for" those sites, nor an attempt to get people "here" to go "there". Simply comment.

Since it was one of my posts that was deleted, I suppose I could be offended, but I'm not really. This site, like many others, is a COMMERCIAL site. They do not offer this site in order to "make a better world" nor to be "friendly". They operate this site to MAKE MONEY. I understand that. ANY activity that they PERCEIVE will diminish their revenue stream will be "dealt with accordingly". As I said, I understand. One should not expect a koala to behave like a snake and vice versa.

About the only things that I would like to see changed here at Garden Web is the addition of 1) A better editor that allows the use of more editing options so that the only option for emphasis is NOT capital letters, 2) "Stickies" - a means of permanently placing significant threads at a location where they can be easily found and referenced.

This site - Garden Web - especially for a commercial site, is the most "primitive" site I know of on the web. It would be easy to say "It's all about the money", but it isn't. It's about having the business acumen to recognize what increases "flow" in a revenue "stream". Being "primitive" does not increase "flow", and in fact can actually impede the "flow".

Garden Web is an interesting place. I've met some nice people here, as I do on every website I venture on to. There are a few sites in which the thugs that run the site have actually succeeded in driving me away permanently, but those are very few. Garden Web appears to have enough internet savvy to choose their words carefully when admonishing those that they perceive are threatening "harmony" AND thereby the revenue stream. Their actions in this particular matter seemed neither necessary nor "wise", but they weren't particularly heavy-handed other than the deletes.

So here's my take on the WHOLE matter:

1) Garden Web has NOT bent MY nose out of shape by deleting my post.

2) I hold no "grudges" against ANYONE here at the vermicomposting site. Based on first-hand experience, I strongly suspect that there isn't a poster on this site with whom I wouldn't enjoy spending an evening.

Let's move on to new and better WORMY stuff.

Paul

This post was edited by pskvorc on Sat, Aug 23, 14 at 11:19

No posts of mine were deleted that I know of. We do not know what posts are missing. I know some are missing.

It was a light hand. The posts did not mention worms much.

That I know of at least three posters had their posts deleted.

"The posts did not mention worms much" is a salient point, that should not be overlooked.

For those that want to see what I posted, you can send me an email.

Paul