Worming 101

[rik78]

Jbomber, why is better stay light on the fruits, could you elaborate a bit more, please??

 

[Skinny Leaf]

Rollie Pollies are best left in the bin. If they end up in the pots with your plants they will munch leaves like a caterpillar. They destroyed a couple of seedlings I had.

Melons seem to be a favorite among the worm population. They don't seem to like tuber vegetables. Potatoes, carrots those type of things will not get broke down in the bin by the worms.

 

[thatonedude]

can a worm bin be a source of viral plant infections if they inadvertently feed diseased plant material? I have a feeling I may need to start over and only use known sources of food for my wigglers

 

[420247]

I just started a worm bin 2 days ago

Some friends showed me their worm farm and I decided to try it! They use composted horse manure and let the worms eat through it... I am doing the same but with a few additions.

I am using horse manure mixed 50/50 with some sun dried yard weeds in my compost tumbler turned daily for 15 days.

The above composted.

This is for the worm bedding.

 

[420247]

1000 red wiggler worms came on the 27th

Worm bin I bought used (It has more levels... But I just started)

50/50 composted manure/weeds with chopped up Dapple Dandy Pluot, 2tbls used day old coffee grounds, kelp meal, and ripped up pot leaves... If you look close you can see worms everywhere in the picture below.

Worms! Not sure why some are bunching up by the side?

 

[magiccannabus]

Can you feed lama poop to redworms?

 

[420247]

I made a worm treat mix to start fermenting today, I should be able to start giving them little bits in about a week

It's a mix of chopped up apples, peaches, kiwis, moldy bread, and coffee grounds. YUM!!!

Edit 8-31: I added chopped spinach, cucumber, bananas, blueberries, and strawberries to the mix today.

 

[420247]

I think I found out why my worms were bunching up, it's getting to hot in my bin during the late afternoon.

Now I am going to leave the lid off during the day.

I dumped out and fluffed up their bedding this morning and they really seemed to like it (till it got hot), more mixed I guess...

I hope you all dont mind me clogging this thread as I learn

 

[420247]

Odd question... Because my bin is getting to warm with just the lid on, how do I add another level without cooking the worms or eggs in the first level?

I plan on trying to keep them in the first level for about 6 to 8 weeks before adding another level. Maybe in that time the weather will change and I wont have to worry, till next summer

 

[420247]

I added some of the worm treat to the worm bin last night and this morning this is how it looked before I covered it with a little of the bedding. Nice and moldy

 

[HERBaceous]

Nice 420247!
So a couple days ago i got a bunch of beneficial insects; green lacewings, nematodes, and a shit ton of lady bugs. I started wondering if anyone has ever tried watering the worm bin with nematodes for some more benefits in the castings? Not sure if it would really work like that?
anyways i was going to feed the ladybugs to my worms whenever they start dying off in my tent and around the house. The lacewings came in a bag with rice hulls so ill feed those as well!
wish i would have started a worm bin sooner cant wait to harvest these castings!

 

[HatchBrew]

Nice 420247!
So a couple days ago i got a bunch of beneficial insects; green lacewings, nematodes, and a shit ton of lady bugs. I started wondering if anyone has ever tried watering the worm bin with nematodes for some more benefits in the castings? Not sure if it would really work like that?
anyways i was going to feed the ladybugs to my worms whenever they start dying off in my tent and around the house. The lacewings came in a bag with rice hulls so ill feed those as well!
wish i would have started a worm bin sooner cant wait to harvest these castings!

best thing about one worm bin...you can split it up into multiple bins to ensure a consistent harvest.

 

[420247]

Is this a worm egg?

 

[420247]

Worm feeding...

Worm feeding...

This is what the worm food looks like when I add it at night.

 

[420247]

Worm feeding...

Worm feeding...

This is what the food looks like the next day. I am assuming the white stuff is mycelium.

Then I cover it up.

 

[bigshrimp]

Horse manure is great worm feed in my experience, and red wigglers are also called manure worms for a reason. If possible its good to break up those clods of manure as fine as possible to aid in its breakdown, otherwise when time comes to harvest your vermicompost you may have some unevenly decomposed poo.

I have moved away from feeding any sort of kitchen waste and now focus on materials that have good microbiology already and breakdown in an even and consistent manner.

My main inputs are screened compost, local topsoil, and a bit of peat. I mix in powdered biochar, rock dusts and powdered local clay. I do feed them some coffee grounds with some neem, kelp, crab sprinkled on top.

 

[420247]

When you say you sprinkle crab do you mean neptune's harvest crab shell? Do you grind it into powder?

My worms are looking healthier now than when I got them I'm curious about the yellow head/butt?

 

[Bueno Time]

Ive been waiting for the temps to cool down here so I can get some worms mailed to me and not have them die in the mail.

Today I finally ordered 2000 or 2lbs of uncle jims red wigglers today. Being really excited about buying $40 worth of friggin worms is kind of funny. I was only going to get 1 lb but the fall sale was $10 more for a second lb so I couldnt pass that up and with a 3% off coupon code too.

I have two 13"Wx9"D 3 gallon rubbermaids that I had bought to start bins but now I think I will need to get 2 more to start with. 2lbs of worms, 1/2lb per tub probably only put 4-5" of bedding depth per container and Im fairly confident at my house we go through enough veggie/fruit/coffee/etc scraps to feed these guys well.

Going to get two more identical 3 gal rubbermaids tomorrow or in next couple days so I can get some bedding started and ready for their arrival.

edit: I got the other 2 bins I needed, so 4 total bins to start.

 

[StrongBeef]

Great thread, thanks guys!

 

[Cobra420]

Ive been waiting for the temps to cool down here so I can get some worms mailed to me and not have them die in the mail.

Today I finally ordered 2000 or 2lbs of uncle jims red wigglers today. Being really excited about buying $40 worth of friggin worms is kind of funny. I was only going to get 1 lb but the fall sale was $10 more for a second lb so I couldnt pass that up and with a 3% off coupon code too.

I have two 13"Wx9"D 3 gallon rubbermaids that I had bought to start bins but now I think I will need to get 2 more to start with. 2lbs of worms, 1/2lb per tub probably only put 4-5" of bedding depth per container and Im fairly confident at my house we go through enough veggie/fruit/coffee/etc scraps to feed these guys well.

Going to get two more identical 3 gal rubbermaids tomorrow or in next couple days so I can get some bedding started and ready for their arrival.

edit: I got the other 2 bins I needed, so 4 total bins to start.

Bueno, is there any way you could get a picture of what two pounds of worms looks like when you get them? I ordered from uncle jims 5 years ago and vaguely remember what it looked like. I'm going to be ordering from a new place soon for a large vermicompost op so I'd like to be able to compare the two. The place I'm going to use has pics/videos of their pound of worms and from what I do remember, I feel theirs looks like quite a bit more than uncle jims. Would love to make a comparison of the two companies. Thank you.

Also just made an order to the bou and requested your Pineapple Express x Cheese N Chaze and your Blackberry Jones x SWT #4 IBL. Excited to try them out!! Thank you for sending them in!!

I'll have to get some pics of the bins I have going at the moment. Soon, I'll have some fairly large outdoor bins that I'm excited to get started.