Worming 101

[organic_fanatic]

Those mites are a good thing man, part of the soil web. Their poop and dead bodies eventually become nutrients. My worm bin is completely loaded with mites and all sorts things that can be seen with the naked eye.

Anything bad in there should quickly be wiped out by all the good.

 

[W89]

Hmmn maybe I should just put my bin outside then as I don't like the mites in my room the worm bin is inside my wardrobe that I don't use for clothes anymore, I wanted to grow in it and have the worm bin in the tom shelf of the wardrobe but I know once I put my plants in there they gonna get eaten by mites

 

[ClackamasCootz]

Soil mites are not Spider mites. Soil mites breakdown organic material.

Just like the mites on your skin will not affect your plants. Mites is a term for a broad spectrum of organisms.

 

[W89]

OH right that changes things, but how come they are eating all the food scraps I put in the worm bin? they are caked in white and brown mites..I thin the white ones are eggs or larvae? is that just because the /fruit/veg is decomposing? and your saying because the plants will be alive they wont eat them? cheers for the posts really appreciate it

 

[ClackamasCootz]

That's what they do - breakdown material in compost piles, worm bins, etc. They do not eat living plants because if they did then we'd all be growing in Rockwool cubes with the latest and bestest 'nute program' as promoted by Duh Dude at the hydro store.

 

[W89]

lol

 

[W89]

just sitting here in my room, worm bin is in the wardrobe... a fucking mite just crawled across the screen! this is why I want em dead.... thing is where I'm living I haven't got a garden to put my worms...Maybe I should just take em' to my parents and bung them in the shed

 

[SeaMaiden]

W, if you can't take tiny unidentified living things in your presence, you're going to have difficulties dealing with going the full on organic route. Perhaps some mental exercises to help you get over what I'm interpreting as disgust would be helpful if you really want to go this route.

Thing is, if you set off on a task of killing the mites, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think you'd be killing other invertebrates. Which group would include those worms.

 

[W89]

Hi SM, hows it going? I totally understand what ya saying only problem with these mites are they are in my bedroom lol, I wouldn't have a problem with the mites if they would stay in the tub but they aren't doing as there told! I'm just gonna go ahead and move them to my mums shed and get them out my room and just use the Neem and Kelp for my amendments in my pots, I liked the thought of having those worms in my wardrobe to start with but now I'm not happy sharing my room with the creepy crawlies that come with it! Before all my grows have been hydroponic and been lab like clean so I guess I just need to stop thinking how I have always had too and chill out and let them do their thing. Thanks for opening my mind to this and no seeing it as a problem now just have to make a few changes and things will be cool. ty

 

[Rednick]

Yeah, it's hard in our white-walled, sterile modern culture to get used to living with insects. We're more accustomed to living with pesticide residues than nature.

 

[W89]

yeah that's true mate, I'm just blocking them out atm if it gets too bad i'l chuck them in the shed at my mums house

 

[W89]

I added some sieved forest duff to my worm bin and the worms fuckin love it, must have been full of bacteria/fungi as the worms were always right at the bottom of the tub now they are everywhere in the forest duff What went though a 1/8inch seive went into my soil mix and what didn't went into my worm bin

 

[W89]

I emailed a guy off ebay selling worm castings this is the convo hat do you think ?

Dear iansfishingtackle,

Hi there just wondering what your worms are fed on? you say they live in sedge peat but is that all they eat too? sorry to be nosey just curious before I buy an item I like to know exactly what it is

Dear wedwards89,

Hi, The worms are fed on a wheat based product but there is none in the worm cast. Hope this helps

Do you think the worm castings fed on this food will be of a high microbial count?

 

[Greenheart]

Eggshell dust is potentially harmful people should wear a respirator when grinding them up!
Points of reference (http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum/topics/newbie-question-about-egg-shells?id=2094123%3ATopic%3A177137&page=1#comments) and(http://www.docstoc.com/docs/35248200/THE-DANGERS-OF-EGG-DUST)

Having spent a couple weeks reading up on the subject of worm wrangling some questions are starting to bubble up.

Nutrients:

Good bad how much well that is the question. Aside from fresh organic scraps from a juicer what do we give the wormfriends? How much? How often? I was hoping the gurus here could help me with that. What I would like to do is come up with a premix or three that just requires a preportioned measured amount to add to my bedding mix of coir, rice hulls, peat, and perlite. Which will then be sprinkled on top of the juicer scraps coffee grounds, and egg shell powder. The list so far from Down To Earth company is Oyster Shell, Crab Meal, Neem Meal, Kelp Meal, and Azomite. Next is Powdered Gypsum, Triplesuperphosphate Granules, Greensand, Ground Comphrey, Cornmeal, and Colloidal Oatmeal 100% oatmeal fine ground to a powder used in bathing.

I will check on the Glacial rock dust and pick up Alfalfa next trip into town. I know it may be overcomplicating things and worms are worms but all poo is not the same and we are going after a certain nutrient and microbe profile for the end result. I have progressed from the MG bottle to the premade organics and now I want the real thing. I want the knowledge to build my own dirt from scratch. I want to know how to make supersoil from available ammendments thru vermicomposting. Knowledge and wisdom shared is multiplied for all thank-you for contributing.

The Bins:

I would like to keep two 45 gallon cans of recycled soil that I ammend the castings into in an alternating order. Every week one gets filled with new material to be ammended along with the castings made from my ammendments until it is filled and the other emptied of previous soil ammended with castings. I will be using 10 gallon rubbermaid tubs (with 2" casting depth the harvest volume is approximately 560 cubic inches = 2.4242 U.S. gallons = 9.1768 liters). How many bins will I need to keep up with 10-15 gallons of soil ammending per week?

I plan on making the bins stackable which is why the depth will be so shallow. It will help avoid compaction of the bottom tubs when I get 6 or more tubs high as the handles will support the upper tubs. How many pounds of worms will be needed to operate this system? What micron mesh should I use to keep the fruit flies or gnats from trying to make a home in my bin? Do you think the bin environment would benefit with a 50 gallon aquarium pump putting fresh air into the system via the leachate tray? It seems as if fresh air could travel up the sidewalls nicely. It sounds like overcomplicating things but I would like to keep the lower bin environments from stagnating into an anaerobic system if say I have two systems 12 bins high. I know the leachate is good stuff but I hear optimal systems don't even produce it. I'm not worried about it so much as it just means all the goodies stayed in the castings. As with most things here opinions welcome and experience preferred.

 

[W89]

I just spoken to a friend of mine who used to keep worms but not anymore and he has these 2 worm bins and he said I can have them both for free so thats cool gonna pick them up sometime this next week when the weather is better

 

[W89]

Gonna order these aswell..http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3000-Dend...rden_Plants_Fertiliser_CV&hash=item43b78b8b68

I've already got about 1.25kg so those aswell will make for some speedy castings

 

[ClackamasCootz]

That's a mix of Red Wigglers & European Nightcrawlers which is a popular mix for worm bins.

 

[think_fast]

For those of you in Canada looking for a really affordable way of infusing your worm bins with a (not-so) instantaneous supply of 3,000+ worms, I highly recommend CC's recommendation @ blueridgevermiculture.com. They DO ship to Canada, despite their webpage indicating otherwise, and very affordably too.

Here is an email by them, followed by an email by a Canadian vendor.

Blueridge -

"Good Morning,

I do ship cocoons to Canada and I use USPS Priority Mail - flat rate box. The shipping price for 1000 to 6000 cocoons is $32.95."

3,000 cocoons from blueridge - $55.00 + shipping. That's over 9,000 worms!!! They also come with a small mix of European Nightcrawlers for diversity's sake.

Other vendor -

"Good morning,

Thank you for your interest in our red wigglers cocoons. The cost for
1000 cocoons is $500 and 2000 cocoons is $1000. Discount 10% is
available for order more than 5000 cocoons.

Cheers"

Looks like somebody's decimal button was 'out of service' LOL.

Thanks CC!

 

[Azeotrope]

Hey, just wanted to say thanks to all for the great info in this thread. I read a ton and learned a lot! Started an 18gallon about a month ago with 12 packs of 16each 'red tiger worms' from the local Cabela's (had a gift card). Been feeding them cannabis, leaf litter from the yard (have lots), compost, horse compost, old potting mix and some kitchen scraps. Now have cocoons and little 1/4" babies everywhere and castings really starting to build.

Thanks again!

 

[MrSterling]

Worms love the neglect it seems. Left a worm bin for a good two months without fucking with it other than moisture. Absolutely packed with worm cocoons.