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plllog
5 months ago
last modified: 5 months ago
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floraluk2
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agolaceyvail 6A, WV
5 months agoRelated Discussions
Plants in narrow containers
Comments (3)From your picture it looks like you are using the pipes for retaining walls for a sloped area. I think I would plant on the terraces and the larger pipes and leave the smaller ones as a colorful retaining wall. Al...See Morehot composting... when do you turn?
Comments (15)I did some more research on the Portage, Wisconsin, municipal composting operation. They are using a steel drum that is 11 feet diameter by 120 feet long, almost horizontal, with a three degree tilt. It rotates at 1 rpm, or 60 turns per hour. The inputs are solid municipal waste that has been sorted to some degree, plus a controlled amount of sewage effluent. The process takes two weeks to be completed. Temperature of 140 degrees F is achieved. They call the product compost, but they don't sell it or give it away, because it can contain broken glass. The compost they produce goes on a local landfill. The main purpose of this operation is to reduce the volume of waste going into the landfill, so the landfill can be used for a longer period of time. Since the product of this operation is not considered to be fit for use in a garden or on a farmer's field, I'm not sure if it should be called compost....See MoreAbout VFT dormancy
Comments (9)Hello Don555, Refrigerator dormancy has never really been considered the best wy to overwinter dormant plants, but it is an alternative if weather does not permit. A cold window is actually the better way to go as the plants receive a bit of cold weather, some light, and more open conditions than they would receive in the fridge. Trying to feed dormant Flytraps generally results in no reaction at all. They do not possess the energy to rapidly grow since they have shut down most of their growth for the winter, so growing their traps shut is also halted. If it does occur at all, it would be extremely slow and likely result in the death of the trap as it also would not have the energy to preserve and digest what was trapped....See MoreNeed some expert advice from experienced breeders
Comments (6)“LONG post. Looking for advice from folks who have lots of experience with medium scale worm breeding and casting production” Most of us here do smaller scale. “I can already tell that much of the advice out there is like the advice on regular composting - easiest case advice that has been reprinted enough times that certain things become 'consensus' thus must be true.” The same thing happens here. Since you are asking questions about things we may not have experience with, expect more of that kind of advice. “the advice out there that says a worm population will double in 90 days is silly - under ideal conditions they could increase 100 fold in that time period.” The WEIGHT of the worm population can double every 90 days. The numbers will more than double, but many of the new worms will be babies. “My assumption is that the fastest way to get a large population going is to master the right conditions and then to have very low density. IE, a pound of worms in one bin is not going to yield the same population in three months as will the same pound of worms spread across 2,4, or 8 bins.” I have no idea how you come to that conclusion. Worms only breed so fast. Separating them from potential partners does not speed up the process. You want to avoid overcrowding the worms, but one pound in the kind of bin you describe is far from overcrowding. “Is there a minimum number you experienced breeders have found to be the minimum effective dose to ensure worms are finding one another and doing the horizontal worm mambo” Two. “or have these suckers been around a few million years because if there are two they will track one another down and ensure the survival of the species?” I don’t know if anyone here has really researched that, but conventional wisdom says that if your population is not dense enough, you will have less breeding. “For Bins, I am building continuous flow through bins using plastic garbage pails since they are cheap and large.” But are not strong enough to hold the weight of the VC, especially if you have cut a hole in the bottom large enough to facilitate harvesting. Bins made the way you describe tend to collapse under the weight of the VC “I figured the cranked spinning bar would likely just dig a groove above the grate and require some hand loosening anyway” That has been my experience. “I was thinking I'd use 'unfinished' hot compost. By unfinished, I mean it has been turned a couple times and there are still identifiable chunks like leaves that are blackened but largely whole.” This would make great bedding. If your hot compost has a balance of C to N, it would also be great food, and would require no additional food. “Am I right that unfinished compost, so long as it doesn't heat up is more or less perfect and would spur breeding since it would represent a mountain of perfect food source and stay pretty constant in terms of temp and moisture level with minimal effort?” Probably. “Food: I will quickly have more worms than I will have food scraps suitable for feeding them,” You are being optimistic. You may be right, but there can be a lot of surprises when you are raising live animals. “One of my favorite composting ingredients is to get coffee grounds in mass quantity from the coffee shops” This is not ideal worm food. Perhaps you would do better to put it in your hot bins and precompost it. “I have read that too many coffee grounds are bad for worms due to acidity.” A lot of people say that. I don’t buy it. “Is there another reason they would be bad?” Besides that worms don’t like to eat them until they have decomposed a bit? “I don't want to make feeding the worms a full time job so if I get sufficient numbers I know a nursery that will sell a truckload of horse stall compost cheap.” That may be the answer to getting them to breed faster as well. “It's a tad warm usually but I'm thinking that spreading an inch on top of the bins and lightly watering it would prevent heating and I've read that there is no better food for feeding compost worms and getting them to breed/mature quickly?” Correct, and correct....See Moreplllog
5 months agofloraluk2
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5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoIslay Corbel
5 months agofloraluk2
5 months agoplllog
5 months agofloraluk2
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoOlychick
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoparty_music50
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoplllog
5 months agolast modified: 5 months agoOlychick
5 months agoplllog
5 months ago
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