My Vermicomposting Project

[mtn_penny]

No worries cause I was thinking along those same lines kinda tramatic for the poor little guys haveing their whole world turned upside down. LOL

Actually though if you had an extra bin you could prepare the new bin then turn them into it wait and then get the castings dont ya think?

I am super interested in trying this soon but still have a couple of questions if you dont mind?

How many worms do you have? How much do they consume? I am concerned that I might not have enough kitchen compost stuff for them.

 

[desertgirl]

I started with two pounds of red wigglers. I think there may be slightly more than that in there now...hard to tell. As for food, I give them about a half a pound every other day. They say I could do more (that they can eat half their weight everyday), but the dangers of overfeeding are too great, so I don't push them. It seems to work out well for my DH and I-about everyother day we chop up what we've put in our little bucket we use for compostables in our kitchen and put it into the worm bin. By the time I have another batch, the previous food is just about gone.

If my family was bigger, I'd probably build a bigger bin and get more worms. I think averaging half of the weight of the worms every other day is a pretty safe rule, and maybe a pound of worms for each person. It is kind of hard for me to estimate, as I am a vegetarian so I turn out more produce than a lot of other folks!

 

[valmom]

Well, reading these threads about worms made me kick myself and get started! My worms arrived today My SO thinks I'm crazy, but they are now nicely at home in their bin- they burrowed right in and I covered them with leaves and mulch. I keep wanting to open the lid and look for them even though I know I won't see any, and they don't really DO anything New pets!

 

[desertgirl]

I know that feeling! I told my niece that they all have names-and now she's trying to memorize the two hundred names I'm telling her.;

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

I suspect your a pro wormer by now?

How about an update?

 

[karanleaf]

Yes Please an Update

I haven't gotten my worm farm together yet oh dear...

But DH did get a insulated cooler at an auction that was thrown in with the sprayers he got. It seems to have a problem with it so I may just convince him to drill some drain holes in it for me. So with that and the large tote I maybe able to get started soon

:happy_flower Karan

 

[desertgirl]

Sorry! Been kind of crazy around here lately...

I changed out the bedding material (added new shredded newspaper). I put food on the "new" side and waited a couple of days, and sure enough, the smart little critters moved right on over leaving all of that wonderful casting soil on the other side. Easy as pie!

The worms are all happy. I took the castings and made a tea, and used it on two identical cherry tomato plants. The one that I have applied the casting tea to is easily three times the size of the other and already has fruit on it. Absolutely amazing!

For the tea-I steeped approx. 2 cups of castings in cheescloth in a gallon of filtered water (don't ask me why, I just really wanted to use filtered water !). I let it steep for about three days-until it was a nice deep amber color. Then I took a 30cc syringe (I'm an RN so I used this-I turkey baster would do just as well) and "injected" some tea down around the roots of all of the plants.

All of the garden has really reacted to the tea-just amazing results!!!! And my gardenias, which I've never had much luck with- are going crazy. For a final test I took some morning glory seeds and planted an equal amount in identical pots. In the saucer under one I out the casting tea, and plain water in the other.

The tea seeds sprouted in about 2 days! The others took more like 6...

Anyway, that's the latest. THanks for checking in on me! Anyone else playing with worms?!

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Wow.

Thats intense!

Right now I'm really craving worms. I already designed my worm bin. Hope to have it runing in a couple of months.

 

[Southern Gardener]

Anyone else playing with worms?!

Yup. I bought mine in February. I haven't harvested the casting yet - I've added the second bin and will add the third next month.

 

[ninny]

could you use rabbit and chicken poo in the tub? What about pine shavings? Could we see picks of your setup to get them to move to the new tub?


You have happy worms!!