I don't have any room problem.It is a waste of real estate...unless you have the room.
Feed the worms like you're feeding your soil.
Begs the question.
Why does nobody want to feed their soil?
I want to do all this guess work up front and just water afterwards.
Why?
What i'm trying to do is not only to feed the worms(there are 3 species of worms in the bin)but at the same time i'd like to create an almost suitable growing media for the plants without the need to add amendments during the grow.While the red wigglers love manure,cardboard and vegetables the nightcrawlers mostly eat rotting leaves and dirt.
I want to keep the things in balance so each amendment that i would use to fertilize the plants is added slowly over time to not bother or kill the worms,let me clarify that it is not just about feeding the worms,something goes in for worms and something else for the plants and texture.I appreciate any input though.
post #11Which suggestion was that?
post #11
Anyway in a couple of months i'm starting my next grow,plants health will give me a more accurate idea of what is going on.
Even nature has yet to come up with a perfect no feed soil.there is a difference between feeding soil and building soil
Ah man,is this a riddle?Even nature has yet to come up with a perfect no feed soil.
Why do we stress ourselves over such a task?~~
Hand grenades, horseshoes and humus.
Close is good enough.
If I was a golfer, I'd kick the ball when I missed.
Virtually anything under 15 gallon is going to leave deficiencies.
Living soil needs food, water, and oxygen.
Another thought on adding amendments to a worm bed...you just end up with a soil bed with worms.
Build soil, not walls.
The bedding is 60% used soil from my last grow,I'd like to try a mix of char,sand and lava rock for oxygenation instead of perlite,last time i turned the bin(yesterday)worms were doing great.The smell was fine,earthy musky almost sweet,this "compost" is way lighter then the starting soil itself,the moisture content seems good to me.I also added some ash mainly made of olive tree.What kind of problem can't I see?
Btw MicrobeMan i took your suggestion and with the leftover of moss i made a moss-loaf and cooked it in the firplace,maybe i can charge it with the horsetail-nettle tea?
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-Hi Gdoggg,think of this compost like a all-in-one pre-amended growing medium so rather than try to guess the quantity of each amendment i'm trying to figure out the quantity of the compost in the final mix ranging from 80/20 compost-soil to 20/80,bear in mind that the aeration is already there and i'll add more if i'm not convinced.I was thinking of doing this exact same idea. Last year i had a slight nitrogen deficiency that i am confident was caused/made worse by only using a 3 gallon container and not having enough organic matter in my soil mix.
Same as your idea, this year i want to vermi-compost the organic matter component of my soil mix with the amendments already added in.
I'm currently trying to figure out the quantity of amendments to add.
It is a waste of real estate adding things like sand, rock dust and lava rock to a worm bin. They live on organic matter and I highly doubt their transformative influence over rock particles. I'm not sure on biochar. Perhaps very small particles may be of benefit.
When growing with living soil some of our initial mixes consisted of almost 50% vermicompost. You are correct that vermicompost consisting of a fairly diverse source input is just about the only amendment needed in your initial mix. We did have free horse manure. You don't have a source of free manure?
I think you will really regret mixing moss into your soil.