Worming 101

[socaldodger]

why the spigot?

Hi. They used one on all the DIY worm bins that I was looking at on Youtube. To drain out the Leachate. I figured it be easier like that? Any better suggestions xmobotx? Any help would be appreciated as this is my first time doing this. Thanks

 

[stoned-trout]

rollie pollies are taking over my bin..you know them gray pill like bugs. grey with an armadillo type shell...any way to kill em..I think they are eating all the worms food..i now have more of em than worms probably..maybe they can coexist as they seem to be able to break down the food real fast, even bigger chunks...I always have had a few but man they have taken off...gonna try using em for fish bait too...maybe the worms will survive on their waste,shit...any input ??????

 

[xmobotx]

socaldodger leachate is going to be a random suspension of your various inputs ~meaning it may not be desirable as fertilizer. it's GIGO so, if your worm bin inputs are all suitable in the 1st place, you may have success w/ it. it can be a chaotic input though. FTMP the "tea" gurus suggest brewing from finished castings & that brew is far less concentrated than leachate. that input is intended to bolster microbial activity & not so much as a fertilizer ~hence the high requirement for oxygen & sugars as feed stock

stoned-trout i have the same thing happening in my bin w/ the pill bugs {Armadillidiidae} & i dont consider it an issue. they are higher in the order & spend a lot of time breaking down more carbon which is hard and undesirable to the worms. CC & MM have both assured me they are OK

you can see how they are working on this twig here

 

[rhino420]

great post... very informative thank you .

 

[stoned-trout]

thanks xmobotx...I have noticed they have ability to break down big stuff real fast. so I was hoping they were like little juicers for the worms.pre grinding the stuff up..but damn their numbers have taken off and I was getting worried.. thanks again ...peace

 

[xmobotx]

i was also surprised by the sheer #s & got to researching it as they seemed to be taking off. it seems now like they reached a peak & have moderated a bit. i did take the pic for the post so that's today/right now & they are everywhere but that shows them munching

 

[bigshrimp]

I had millipedes in my worm bin that were getting kinda out of control, they serve a similar function as the pill bugs - that is they are detrivores, shredding woody type material. They were also reproducing pretty fast in my pots, adding a mulch layer seems to keep them busy and not over processing my soil. Populations seem to have hit a plateau.

Makes sense - a new organism will rapidly reproduce and likely over populate their niche before reaching equilibrium. Especially if they have no predators.

 

[xmobotx]

i've seen the occasional millipede over the years, never had a population boom till these pill-bugs

the pill bugs are actually a pretty interesting critter

 

[ponobegone]

every time I have found large populations of rolly pollies in my compost piles the soil was spectacular.

 

[Granger2]

Never thought about it before, but basically you're feeding your worms insect frass. I wouldn't want the population of rolly pollies [Sowbugs, Pillbugs] to get too high though. Also, insect frass is supposed to mobilize the plant's immune system. There's a thread about frass. Good luck. -granger

 

[stoned-trout]

ya I am gonna manually remove some and feed the fishies...theres a shitload of em...I actually like them little tanks...lol

 

[thatonedude]

can fresh castings be frozen for later use without destroying all the microbiology in them.

 

[stoned-trout]

with the super high amounts of the rollie pollies... lol ...seems to be a positive one...I can pretty much just toss anything in and it gets broken down faster than ever....being as this bin is indoors I was worried about escapers...only found a few ..they seem to die fast apon leaving...I sort of like them little guys ..they always fascinated me as a kid when I seen em..prehistoric looking.......yeehaw

 

[xmobotx]

they are super-fascinating. i also notice the breakdown process is massively accelerated by their presence. things like melon rinds are short lived.

BTW, yes, freezing the EWC will stunt the microbiology. much of which will go dormant. given time, the biology will return in accord w/ it's boom-bust cycles & depending upon conditions ~kinda deviates from our strategy utilizing EWC to reinforce the biology

 

[Nes]

Hey, sorry ahead of time if this has already been adressed. I could use some help troubleshooting my bin.
I'm using my bin primarily to dispose of bottom branches and clippings from prunning plants in veg. They've gone through a lot of material so far, I'm near maxed out in that bin and its probably time to harvest the castings after they go through the last bunch of leaves I added.
The problem I'm having is my worm populations seem to be going down, and I'm getting thick grey mold across the surfase of the fresh material . The lid is thin cardboard and there is no leachate collecting in the drip pan, so I assumed it wasn't too wet, but i could be wrong. any Ideas?
or should i make a different thread for this? - don't want to hijack.

 

[HERBaceous]

Great Thread!! I just started my worm bin a few days ago, just a simple 10 gallon rubber maid tote with some holes drilled in it. Started out with a pound of African night crawlers. I wanted to get some reds as well but the night crawlers were all i could find. The bedding is Coco coir so far i have thrown in some banana peels, Coffee grounds, and some aloe vera clippings from my house plants. Going to make some stuffed mushrooms tonight and figured i would feed the stems to my worms. Anyone else use alot of mushroom foods for there bins? I know someone on this thread populated the bin with oyster mushroom spores. I figure mushroom compost is real good why not feed with alot of mushrooms?

 

[maulwurst]

Great Thread!! I just started my worm bin a few days ago, just a simple 10 gallon rubber maid tote with some holes drilled in it. Started out with a pound of African night crawlers. I wanted to get some reds as well but the night crawlers were all i could find. The bedding is Coco coir so far i have thrown in some banana peels, Coffee grounds, and some aloe vera clippings from my house plants. Going to make some stuffed mushrooms tonight and figured i would feed the stems to my worms. Anyone else use alot of mushroom foods for there bins? I know someone on this thread populated the bin with oyster mushroom spores. I figure mushroom compost is real good why not feed with alot of mushrooms?

my worms like mushrooms .

 

[rik78]

one question for the worm expert, I been feeding my worms with lots of banana peels, and yesterday I was thinking if I couldbe adding too much of it.

could I be over saturating the wormcasting with too much Potasium, and later on be detrimental for the plants?

I do feed them more stuff, but not as much...

 

[Jbomber79]

It's best to stay light on the fruits. I like to keep my bins diversified.

 

[HERBaceous]

So what about vermiculite? Does anyone use that as a bedding? Would vermiculite have any nutritional value for the castings?
I have a bag of it and figure i could mix it with some bedding for another bin.