vermiculture...Worm Garden

[droid_ca]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
so does anyone do this and do you have any advice for a newbie

[halfdome, Danny]

I've been composting in a commercially built bin for years and it yields great soil for our flower beds.
Don't know the name of the worms as they were given to me and we weren't properly introduced.
Just make sure you turn the pile regularly and mix in some grass clipping to raise the nitrogen.
No meat, bones or anything else that would attract rodent populations.
Have fun, Danny

[droid_ca]

any idea how fast they compost say I was generating a 5 gallon bucket a week could the eat it all or is it too much

[halfdome, Danny]

any idea how fast they compost say I was generating a 5 gallon bucket a week could the eat it all or is it too much

Would you please re-phrase that again ? Danny

[droid_ca]

I'm guessing that if I produced enough vegitation waste that I could fill a 5 gallon bucket in a week would the worms eat it in a week or is that to much to expect out of them

[halfdome, Danny]

I'm guessing that if I produced enough vegitation waste that I could fill a 5 gallon bucket in a week would the worms eat it in a week or is that to much to expect out of them

That would depend on how many worms you have and how readily the vegetation would be consumed by the worms.
I think the process will take a lot longer than a week.
To produce 5 gallons of vegetation waste a week says you don't eat what you buy but let it go bad.
It would be more economical to just buy compost than to waste vegetation for the sake of worm castings.
My compost is worm and natural composting by the heat produced.
I harvest compost in the spring & summer with a yield of maybe 4-5 shovels full.
Good luck with your worm farm. Danny

[S. Heisley]

You can also feed them strips of newspaper. Rip it up into ribbons. They love that stuff. Don't feed them computer printed paper as that ink may not be safe; but, the newsprinted paper is okay.

I don't compost with worms but I've been to several talks on it. I'll look around and see if I can find my notes and get back to you later on that.

[droid_ca]

My compost would also contain the deposits of a composting toilet so that is why I was guessing at 5 gallons a week

[S. Heisley]

I found two documents. One is on an Internet site and you can look at it here:

http://www.mastercomposter.com/worm/wormcomp.html

Also, there was a lady, a dear friend who passed this winter, who used to give talks on worm composting. She used to do worm composting under her kitchen sink. The following is from her hand-out plus the notes I took from one of her talks:

Type of Worms to Use:

Use “Red worms” for vermicomposting because they will reproduce more worms quickly in a confined container. These worms are also known by the names, “Red Worms”, or “Red Wiggler”. The scientific name is “Eisenia foetida”, pronounced:
I SEE NEE A, FET ID A. You can usually find these at a worm farm or bait shop.

Providing a Worm Home:

You can build a wooden box or simply use a convenient sized plastic container which has a lid.

Worms need a nice damp bed of paper under them. Use strips of newspaper. Newspaper breaks down easier and the ink is made from vegetable dye, which is safer. Make that bed 2” thick. Put a rack in the bottom of your box so the excess liquid can drain off so the worms won’t drown. Drain the excess water out occasionally. Worms also need a blanket of damp shredded newspaper bedding or shredded lettuce over top. Fluff up their shredded newspaper bed occasionally to insure air can circulate.

You will need to drill holes in the container lid to provide air. Be certain that the holes are not so big that the worms can escape and wander away. It’s a good idea to use a screen under the lid because the worms do like to browse around at night. (My friend began adding a screen after she accidentally left the lid ajar. The next morning, the worms were all over her kitchen floor!)

What to Feed Your Worms:

DO NOT FEED YOUR WORMS MEAT OR DAIRY PRODUCTS. NO MILK, CHEESE, YOGURT, ETC. Rotted meat and spoiled dairy products will produce a bad or unpleasant odor. Your worm bin should never have a bad odor. If it does, you are doing something wrong. You may be feeding more than the worms can eat; or, you may have added food that should not be there.

< As an aside, I don't know about feeding worms the material from a toilet. It may make them sick or they may not eat it or it may simply make the mixture too "hot". It may give your bin a foul odor, also. I've never heard of anyone feeding manure to worms. We were told not to add in animal feces or anything like that to a regular compost pile because it takes too long to break down. It's my understanding that manure may elevate the temperature too high, also. With cow and horse manure, it must sit and compost by itself for about a year before it can be used on a garden or it will kill/burn the vegetables that you are trying to grow. You may be better off composting it separately or simply burying such material. Please keep in mind that the worm soil should have a ph range of between 4.2 (low) to 8.0 (high). Feces and urine can be highly acidic. >

Worms like nice soft foods, bananas, peels, and such are favorites. Apples, lettuce, coffee grounds, tea bags or any soft food will do nicely. They will eat newspaper, too.

If you want to give them food which may be too hard, such as broccoli or cauliflower stems, you can cut them into small cubes and sprinkle with a little water and cook the cut pieces in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes. The secret to food preparation for worms is to cut the food in small pieces and serve it as soft as possible.

- A pound of worms (about 1000 worms), can eat a pound of food a day.

Helping Your Worms’ digestion:

Worms need a little help with their digestive process. Every month or so, sprinkle a bit of fine sand, soil, or very finely crushed egg shells (put in blender to crush) over their food to improve their digestion. This coarse addition will be used in the worms’ gizzard to grind their food and move it along to becoming a wonderful plant supplement. You can use ½ cup builders’ sand to start. Sprinkle it in lines so the worms can get at it but it won’t heat up the whole compost pile.

When/How to Harvest the Fertilizer:

When you observe that your worm bin is getting too full, it may be time to begin harvesting the castings.

Three or four weeks before you might want to harvest, begin feeding on one side of your worm bin only. This is so that the worms will move over to where the food is being provided.

When you feel the worms have moved over, put on some plastic gloves and reach in and take out the castings on the side where you are not feeding. You may still have a few worms left on the side where you are harvesting; but, you may either manually take them out or leave them in. They can go right into your garden and become part of the outdoor eco-system.

[droid_ca]

Thank you Sharon That is an interesting link but tthe best part of that was

- A pound of worms (about 1000 worms), can eat a pound of food a day.

I have been looking all over the internet and could not come up with the magic number for what they eat...I did find out it was ok to use manure human or animal but it has to be urine free or else you make a hot soup...urine can be used directly on plants and in soils or even mixed in with the worm tea ..I'm not going to drink it ....Eww
but in order to mix in manure you have to have other things in it that they will eat not cedar as it can kill them and they wont eat it but pine shavings would do just fine
As for a composting toilet from some of what I read the older the shavings the better so if it has started to slightly decompose it will be better at breaking down what is deposited to it...and still no smell ...My idea is to use 5 gallon buckets and to have about ten of them so they can be switched out weekly but still be given a chance to dry out and do their own breaking down of the matter ..as to cool down the hot mix there are some additives that can be added in order to make the compost more viable for use on edible plants..as I'd like to be able to go full circle with the waste material and have it turn into something usable I might not be using it but if the final product can just be dumped safely in the woods that would be my goal..just anther way to help reduce my carbon foot print and all that jazz...thank you to all for your input I'm always looking for more so if you know more or just have questions I'd like to hear them

[cuyeda]

Newspaper strips are free, but I like to use coconut coir (coconut husk fiber). It makes a much better bedding for the wrigglers to work through. You should be able to find it in the garden supplies of any big box store, and pet stores.

[halfdome, Danny]

The use of human feces as fertilizer is a risky practice as it may contain disease-causing pathogens.

the final product can just be dumped safely in the woods that would be my goal..just anther way to help reduce my carbon foot print

Danny

[dmb90260]

l have had my worm ranch for 5 yrs or so. I feed them shredded newspapers but they really love it when I add melon rinds all summer long. They are separate from my composter where I put most of the veggie scraps. That way I do not have to separate out the acidic food parts like tomatoes, since that is my main crop I have a lot of those scraps. I got the worms to help the tomatoes but they do not like the acid. (same with citrus scraps) I collect the "worm juice" to use as a fertilizer too. It has to be cut. Full strength it will kill plants, 6-1 is a fertilizer and about 10-1 is an insecticide (i will double check those numbers later). Like Danny, I usually pull off a few shovels full of casting and mix it when planting in the Spring. The worm juice is a good way to share with friends too. I give my brother a gallon or so at Christmas
The worm ranch is a stack of boxes with the worms can move between as the bottom ones fill up. The lowest box has a solid bottom to hold liquid and a spigot They work best with only two boxes. When you have three or four boxes it is possible to create a problem. The material has to fill each box, if there is an air gap between the boxes it is possible to create a layer of stagnant air with little oxygen and kill off the worms in the lower level. It takes a while for that to happen but it does according to the county people who sell the ranches, composters and worms,

AS Sharon mentioned choice of worm type is important. The red wigglers are the preferred worm since they work close to the surface and look for food there. Earthworms and others have other diet preferences and will not be of much help. Those are the same red wigglers sold everywhere for fishing bait so you have a side business if you work at it.
To collect the worms, put their favorite food on one end of the box for a day or so and they will all move over there.
My worm ranch came with a block of the coconut fiber Cliff mentioned. It is the best food to work with but not easy to find.

Some of the worm ranches are expensive, check with your city and county resources. LA County has a good program that offers traveling workshops http://ladpw.org/epd/sg/wk_scheds.cfm where they have an informative class and also offer the equipment at good prices. I went looking for a composter and ended up with worms too.

Worms led to bees and that is a whole other story and wardrobe

[S. Heisley]

The use of human feces as fertilizer is a risky practice as it may contain disease-causing pathogens.

the final product can just be dumped safely in the woods that would be my goal..just anther way to help reduce my carbon foot print

Danny

Amen! I think that's probably why people for decades plus used outhouses to bury feces deep, where it would have time to work at decomposing and becoming part of the soil. I don't know what the laws are everywhere in the US or in Canada; but, I believe that most places have a rule that outhouses or septic drain fields must be at least 200 feet from any stream, creek, river, lake, water well, etc. I would think that a similar rule would apply to dumping in the woods, if it was even allowed. This is because of possible contamination. It would be best to check ones local laws before embarking on a dung decomposition program.

Speaking of outhouses, in Maine, where the winter weather can be very bad with nor’ easterners and such, they actually used to attach the barn and even the outhouse to the house so they wouldn't have to go outside to tend the livestock or even for a middle-of-the-night "escapade". I think that I would build an outhouse, oh, say 20 feet from the house. Then, I would build an enclosed walkway to it, with a few Plexiglas or fiberglass windows for day-time lighting. I would use some of these new solar lights with motion detectors on them and long cords to the collectors so that the collector can be put outside and the wire, inside, plugged into the solar fixture for night-time lighting.

...Here I go, giving my 4 cents again!

[Ron Dickey]

be careful what you feed them I was doing that for a while had a small box I put veg's into and it worked fine .... until I put all lettuce in and it decomposed into liquid and they all drowned. So make sure it has holes to let it out.
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/easywormbin.htm
google this "worm box construction"
the liquid that comes out the bottom is called Compost tea you poor it on plants too. you need to research this more to under stand it. Lost of sites out there.
Red worms are the best and you should be able to buy locally.