Worming 101

[Greenheart]

I made a booboo

So this aquatience had to leave town and asked if I wanted to finish out his crop. I brought the black bag of grodon cubed chem smelling things home. I no longer have a plant alive.

How safe is a wormbin from powdery mildew? I would really hate to lose the 5 months I have invested in them. I have read that thermal composting methods are not enough to kill it in most cases. I was hoping that since the stuff in the bin feeds on fungi and bacteria that maybe if by chance some spores got in there it would not cause issues. I did remove the top 2 inches of material as a precaution. Total exposure time was 2 weeks. I have tossed all my plants and soil but I wonder about the bin. Anyone have any experience there?

 

[Biosynthesis]

great info!

 

[bigshrimp]

There are spores in you bin no doubt. No point in trying to get rid of them, fungal spores are everywhere.

PM, botrytis, and other fungal pathogens always present. They only cause damage when conditions ar right though.

 

[MrSterling]

Came back home from Europe to find my worm bins still standing. I lifted the edges off the pallet to discover red wigglers sneaking out the bottom through the smartpot material! Bastards.

 

[BlueJayWay]

sneaking out the bottom through the smartpot material! Bastards.

Damn them! I have worms in three smart pots, none escaped yet and I was wondering if this ever occured - keeping my eyes peeled now!

 

[Granger2]

I have a Worm Chalet. It's plastic masquerading as brick and doing an amusingly cheesy job of it.
http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Chalet-Odorless-Composter-Kit/dp/B003AA7AAU

I'm starting to fear that I have the worm equivalent of a black thumb. My 3rd batch of worms has disappeared. The only thing I can figure is pH. How much Dolomitic Limestone should I add to a bin that's mostly full, and how often? Just sprinkle or should I try to stir it some? They started working right away, and processed a lot of the paper, then declined.

I started with shredded newsprint, a light sprinkling of Azomite and Volcanite [volcanic sands-granite, greensand, red lava, zeolite] for grit. Been feeding just a little coffee grounds, cannabis fodder, green powder food supplement. I think the moisture level has been good, not soaked, but always maintained so that there are different levels of moisture for them to stay where they like it.

Need instruction from successful worm wranglers before I shell out for 2 lbs more. Please help. I just hate killing my little allies. Thanks. -granger

 

[BlueJayWay]

I would never consider putting dolomite lime in the worm bin, rock dusts yes, lime no.

I find its good to have a "base" for the worms to live in. If things are getting too messy, too hot, too wet, too anaerobic, too much 'fresh' inputs - then I will lasagna layer with any one of the following:

1. Old soil / excess soil
2. Peat/compost
3. Rice hulls

I have a small 15gal smart pot with 1000 euros in there or so and it was too dense and wet and started to smell (worms were diggin it though it seemed). Anyways I got a second smart pot that was empty and started to slowly empty the other full bin into it, every couple inches I would break it up with my fingers if needed and put a layer of rice hulls, maybe a sprinkling of neem or kelp or rock dusts as I worked my way up....the dryness of the rice hulls mixed with the overly wet 'vermicompost' mixed wonderfully. This morning worms were cruising all through it...

The rice hulls will aid in making a finished product that is more loamy/light, rather than dense mushy castings that tend to see too much of...

 

[Harry Hoosier]

I have a Worm Chalet. It's plastic masquerading as brick and doing an amusingly cheesy job of it.
http://www.amazon.com/Worm-Chalet-Odorless-Composter-Kit/dp/B003AA7AAU

I'm starting to fear that I have the worm equivalent of a black thumb. My 3rd batch of worms has disappeared. The only thing I can figure is pH. How much Dolomitic Limestone should I add to a bin that's mostly full, and how often? Just sprinkle or should I try to stir it some? They started working right away, and processed a lot of the paper, then declined.

I started with shredded newsprint, a light sprinkling of Azomite and Volcanite [volcanic sands-granite, greensand, red lava, zeolite] for grit. Been feeding just a little coffee grounds, cannabis fodder, green powder food supplement. I think the moisture level has been good, not soaked, but always maintained so that there are different levels of moisture for them to stay where they like it.

Need instruction from successful worm wranglers before I shell out for 2 lbs more. Please help. I just hate killing my little allies. Thanks. -granger

I have to second the idea of NOT using lime in the worm bin. Go easy on the dusts. The bin should get established.

If you are concerned about grit then toss a handful of dirt from your garden or lawn in the bin.

For bedding I have always had much better results with corrugated as opposed to shredded newsprint.

I can't stress enough that a worm bin needs to become friendly(microbial activity, temp., aeration) to the worms. They need to adjust before one begins piling in the food and other things.

This is important in regard to the overall health and maintenance of your bin, age your foodstock, as you are using a small plastic bin and this will help in keeping it from becoming anaerobic.

If you have a compost heap then you can't ask for better foodstock.

Mix your foodstock with well moistened bedding.

You might want to check this out http://www.redwormcomposting.com/getting-started/

I would also like to add that I do not have a bin like yours. I do have 3-4 Rubbermaid totes running at any one time and a large wooden flow-through.

Hope this helped.

 

[John Deere]

For those of you using smartpots, what are you using for a cover? And what are you setting it on? I've got a couple 20G sitting around and want to start one up. Pix are always welcome. Thanks.

 

[Harry Hoosier]

For those of you using smartpots, what are you using for a cover? And what are you setting it on? I've got a couple 20G sitting around and want to start one up. Pix are always welcome. Thanks.

I set mine on a mini plastic pallet - approx. 12" x 24" x 2"- and cover with a garbage can lid. You may have noticed these mini-pallets in your local feed or garden store. They use them to keep their bagged products off the floor.

For the larger smarties you can use a hardwood pallet or concrete blocks - the 3 hole kind. I was lucky and found some vinyl covered cardboard that I cut to fit as a cover.

 

[greenmatter]

i'm not so sure that the worms know that lime is bad for them.

the brown dot you see is pelletized lime that i took out of the bag and put in the bin. the other mass of worms you see is all over a small handful of pelletized lime that i wet down before it went in the bin

Granger 2 ...... you should go find some leaf litter or something natural to get the bin started. what you have going does not sound real worm friendly to me, but if you give then a good start in stuff they like to live in and let them get established then my guess is that they will do much better

 

[RanchoDeluxe]

I've got a 30gal smartie goin and I use 4 or 5 inches of halfway decomposed leaves as a mulch on top. No signs of escapees in 4 or 5 months since I started this particular bin.

 

[John Deere]

Great. Thanks for the ideas.

A friend has a couple horses and told me I could stop over and grab as much manure as I want anytime. I'm thinking mix that with some compost and toss in a few other items like kelp, neem, char and whatever else I come up with. Sound like a plan?

 

[Granger2]

Thanks for the suggestions all. I have dry oak and hackberry leaves, and some 30 year old compost. I'll fix it up for the next herd of red wigglers, and I hope what looks nice to me, will suit them. I'll report back. -granger

 

[Greenheart]

There are spores in you bin no doubt. No point in trying to get rid of them, fungal spores are everywhere.

PM, botrytis, and other fungal pathogens always present. They only cause damage when conditions ar right though.

So it seems it is time to use the cast for starting that 45 gallon worm tower I just buried in one corner of my sunken hugelkulture pit. I was in denial about 5 months of work lost. Thank you for posting.

As far as trying to get rid of them a body has to do what it must to survive this war on life. I spent years indoors already without an issue and this cat was only a mile from me so hosing it all down and starting scratch is probably the best bet.

 

[OlderNow]

Great. Thanks for the ideas.

A friend has a couple horses and told me I could stop over and grab as much manure as I want anytime. I'm thinking mix that with some compost and toss in a few other items like kelp, neem, char and whatever else I come up with. Sound like a plan?

Make sure the Horse manure is completely finished with decomposition, it makes enough heat to actually kill your worms, if not done properly

 

[John Deere]

Yep, thanks ON. I'm planning on having them show me where the oldest piles are. His wife has been using it on her outdoor garden for a couple years now.

 

[W89]

Ive started using my thermo compost for my worms they seem so much more happy in that that anything else ive used in the past.. Just thought id share that

 

[Harry Hoosier]

Ive started using my thermo compost for my worms they seem so much more happy in that that anything else ive used in the past.. Just thought id share that

And you don't have to worry as to whether your compost is finished as the worms will complete the job.

Compost has been my main worm food stock for more than a few years now.

The finished product is superb!

 

[MrSterling]

Going to do some material turning in my 100gal bins today. I've found some smaller worms leaving through the bottom of the bin smartpot material, but hopefully the bulk are still there.

Tons of worms happily wiggling through decomposing leafmold and kitchen scraps.