Food and sex what a great combo!
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Just started an indoor composting bin hoping to help improve my soil along with some free worm castingsā¦ threw in some veggies (cilantro & asparagus) that are starting to rot in my fridge, woke up and found a couple on the floor trying to leave (dead). Not sure why, but am currently looking for a remedy to this madnessā¦ anyway, happy composting yāall!
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Totally new to worm binning and have no experience but Iāve read you have to keep a small light over your bin 24/7 or at least during night time if it gets sun.
They shun the light, like vampires.
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I saw thatā¦ decided to move them from garage to my grow roomā¦ worst case scenario I have a bunch of worms running around my house. Lol I might be sleeping outside with the worms at that point. (The wife) haha
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If I was going to use wire mesh for the bottom of my trays, what size mesh should I go with, is 1/4" too small or should I go up to 3/8" or 1/2"?
Also, I am thinking of doing a series of stackable trays, and want to collect the liquid in a tray on the bottom. What is the best way to keep the solids from dropping down, something like landscape fabric?
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Iād lay newspaper right over the top of the bottom overtime the casting pack and thereās no to worry about stuff falling through
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I think you would be good with 1/4 inch. I think that is what I use on my castings sifter bucket. Another idea Iāve seen used was plastic PVC pipe set like jail bars close together.
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Does anyone know of any basins, bins or trays (preferably plastic) that are sloped at the bottom, either to one side, or the center? Want to use something like that to collect, and drain liquid. Saw a 15"x15"x7" fiberglass sink that would work, but $60 was a bit steep.
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Does anyone know if the organic amendments (kelp meal, shrimp meal, neem seed meal, etc) can kill worms?
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Not if used within reason. And iirc worms breed at lower temps and process more material at higher temps. Vermiculture technologies is the book to have. Also a lot of great info on redwormcomposting.com.
I need to dig more, but this is what I got for now. From Vermiculture Technologies:
Earthworms have fairly complex responses to changes in temperature. Neuhauser et al. (1988) studied the potential of several earthworm species to grow in sewage sludge, and they concluded that all these species have a range of pre- ferred temperatures for growth, ranging between 15Ā°C (59Ā°F) and 25Ā°C (77Ā°F). In their studies, cocoon production was more restricted by temperature than growth, and most of the cocoons were laid at 25Ā°C (77Ā°F). Edwards (1988) studied the life cycle and optimal conditions for survival and growth of E. fetida, D. veneta, E. eugeniae, and P. excavatus. Each of these four species differed considerably in terms of response and tolerance to different temperatures. The optimum tem- perature for E. fetida was 25Ā°C (77Ā°F), and its temperature tolerance was between 0Ā°C (32Ā°F) and 35Ā°C (95Ā°F). Dendrobaena veneta had a rather low-temperature optimum and rather less tolerance to extreme temperatures. The optimum tem- peratures for E. eugeniae and P. excavatus were around 25Ā°C (77Ā°F), but they died at temperatures below 9Ā°C (48.2Ā°F) and above 30Ā°C (86Ā°F). Optimal temperatures for cocoon production were much lower than those more suitable for growth for these species.
Temperatures below 10Ā°C (50Ā°F) generally result in reduced or little feeding activity; and below 4Ā°C (39.2Ā°F), cocoon production and development of young earthworms ceases completely. In extreme temperature conditions earthworms tend to hibernate and migrate to deeper layers of the windrow for protection. Earthworms can also acclimate to temperature in autumn and survive the winter, but they cannot survive long periods under freezing conditions unless they are in protective cells. The unfavorable effect of high temperatures (above 30Ā°C (86Ā°F)) on most species of earthworms is not entirely a direct effect because these warm temperatures also pro- mote chemical and microbial activities in the substrate, and the increased microbial activity tends to consume the available oxygen, with negative effects on the survival of earthworms.
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Some worm porn. When the snow melted a little I gathered up all the old comfrey leaves that didnāt get harvested last year and mixed them with a little peat. The worms are really digging it.
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I had a worm bin when I was a teenager for free fish bait. I mixed the giant Canadian night crawlers with tiny native red worms and at some point I think they crossed. I ended up with these red striped medium sized worms that are super fast movers like the red worms but much larger and have a slightly flat look to them. There still in my parents yard on the side of the house my worm bin was on. I have sense dug some up and placed in my current compost and worm bin. Iāll post some pics as soon as this rain stops and I can go out to play again.
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Iām not sure what Iāve done wrongā¦ Iāve looked up any possibilities on the net and canāt find anything Iāve done wrongā¦ but I added some night crawlers and red wrigglers to a soil bin I had amended a couple of weeks ago I was gonna use it as a compost binā¦ Iāve got at least 20 dead worms that have all migrated to the top of the soil, I have never added water to the soil, I did add some Malibu compost to the soil a couple of days ago to help moisten up the soil as it was pretty dryā¦ anyone have any experience with this? Please helpā¦
P.s.- I did read that the worms are super sensitive to the weather, we did get a couple of storms over the past couple of days, but the temp has been in the high 60ās to mid 70ās Fahrenheit. I also added some rotting veggies today to help feed them hoping there are any still alive.
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What does your bedding material consist of other than Malibu compost?
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I put a wooden dowel under one end.
The soil is a super soil recipe that contains about 30-40 different amendments. I also amended the soil with some shrimp meal, crab meal, bio fish, kelp meal, neem seed meal, green sand, basically a bunch of down to earth products, and some dead roots because I added the bag soil to some old soil I had and kelps the roots in there to decomposeā¦ tbh the soil probably has at least 30-40 different amendments in it. Too many to name them allā¦ I wonder if the soil has a high concentration of amendments in it? Too much for the worms to handle idkā¦ today I decide to water down the soil to get it some moister. I watched a couple of videos regarding compost bins and worm farms and the soil those worms were in looked a lot more āwetā then what Iām using.
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Donāt go too wet. Sounds like things are a little āHotā for the worms. I would take some old soil with almost no amendments or some old peat and add it. Donāt mix it upā¦add it to only one side of the worm bin. Push all the hot stuff to one side and give the worms a place to escape.
I find it is better to make a ābeddingā and then sprinkle the amendments on top. Like āfeedingā the worms.
Always give your worms a place to escape your mistakes.
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If thereās things like higher portions of like blood meal or alfalfa meal things could be compositing and literally āheating ā up just bury your hand down in the bin and give it a quick test
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Iād say 50% is probably ideal give a squeeze test and see if it drips a few drips between the fingers
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