Vermicomposting - The WHAT and HOW?

Reap911

Reap911

Well-Known Member
Hi Guys,

I hope everyone is doing well.

Thought I would just start this as a way to get some info going on this topic.

Personally, for anyone using Vermicomposting as a part of your soils, I think that this is a big part of your success when growing in a Living Soil system. This, alongside your compost of course but I really just wanted to focus on the black gold we get from our worms.

I would like to share my findings with you guys as a base and really would just invite everyone to chip in because I am in the learning phase and I know so many of us that are getting into the cultivation approach would really benefit from gaining some insights into what has worked and what has not. I know that this soil cultivation is quite tricky and I know that the tried and tested tribal knowledge out there can save a newbie quite a bit of time and money by getting some views from the more experienced cultivators.

So far what I have done for my bins is use the same materials that go into my soils as food for my worms. I have come to believe that the best food source is from dynamic accumulators (stinging nettle, dandelions, horsetail etc) is a good food source to get a more diverse & abundant nutritional range. I am using dandelions and alfalfa at the moment simply because I have to grow the others because they are hella expensive. I also add banana peels because I am big on my smoothies and horse manure that I get from an organic farmer down the road from me.

I spray beneficial microbes onto my composting bins every now and again. This is something I feel I will do more regularly going forward. I also add in some of the raw materials that I use to top dress such as Kelp, Bone Meal and Insect Frass but not in large amounts.

That's about it.

So I would like to just pose some questions;

1. Anything I could be adding in there to improve the worm's life and the microbiology that I am creating?
2. Any hints and tips?
3. What are you guys throwing in there that is helping you achieve good results?
4. Anything relevant that you could throw into the mix that you think is helpful?

Thanks in advance.
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
i let my worm bin die out from time to time just because i dont need constant source of ewc. i usually do 2-3 feeds and just dont feed for a couple of months. some worms always stay alive in there though and all the other bennies like hypoaspis too. so when i start feeding it takes like a month to get it back on track like nothing happened. i still have about 60-70L unused aged ewc in my tub.

as for feeding the bin, i freeze everything out and the thaw it out to avoid getting pest eggs and stuff.

what i feed them is i keep all my trim and fan leaves and some larf. those go into the bin after being shredded.

i add a little bit of oat flour and some oat meal and wheat bran sometimes.

they love coffee and tea and it makes them multiply so fast ime.

i add some aloe too. stinging nettles and banana and other fruit peels are a definite yes.

i also add stems from my harvested plants after breaking them up into little pieces. they need to be super dry btw. this takes time to breakdown.

i also keep my tub covered with plastic so i only water like every 2 months haha. they enjoy it for sure though.

and i also add some pulverized eggshells and sometimes water with a little bit of spirulina too.

one more thing i add is old activated carbon from my filters, not much but like a couple of cups for this big tub so they get charged with all the nutrients and microbes in the bin.

i just dig a trench in the middle of this 100x50cm tub and put all this stuff and mix them together and mix in some ewc from the tub and cover it with ewc and then the plastic and let the worms do their thing.

this is an inside worm bin by the way. outdoors you dont need to freeze anything imo.
 
Reap911

Reap911

Well-Known Member
crimsonecho said:
i let my worm bin die out from time to time just because i dont need constant source of ewc. i usually do 2-3 feeds and just dont feed for a couple of months. some worms always stay alive in there though and all the other bennies like hypoaspis too. so when i start feeding it takes like a month to get it back on track like nothing happened. i still have about 60-70L unused aged ewc in my tub.

as for feeding the bin, i freeze everything out and the thaw it out to avoid getting pest eggs and stuff.

what i feed them is i keep all my trim and fan leaves and some larf. those go into the bin after being shredded.

i add a little bit of oat flour and some oat meal and wheat bran sometimes.

they love coffee and tea and it makes them multiply so fast ime.

i add some aloe too. stinging nettles and banana and other fruit peels are a definite yes.

i also add stems from my harvested plants after breaking them up into little pieces. they need to be super dry btw. this takes time to breakdown.

i also keep my tub covered with plastic so i only water like every 2 months haha. they enjoy it for sure though.

and i also add some pulverized eggshells and sometimes water with a little bit of spirulina too.

one more thing i add is old activated carbon from my filters, not much but like a couple of cups for this big tub so they get charged with all the nutrients and microbes in the bin.

i just dig a trench in the middle of this 100x50cm tub and put all this stuff and mix them together and mix in some ewc from the tub and cover it with ewc and then the plastic and let the worms do their thing.

this is an inside worm bin by the way. outdoors you dont need to freeze anything imo.
Click to expand...
This is golden bro. Thank you so much.

I will start keeping my coffee grinds cause caffeine is a currency in my house. I never thought of using the plant stems, they just get chucked into the bin, which I really dont like cause of the beggars that come dig in our trash when the bins go out. That is a solid.

The point with the carbon, would biochar do the same thing? I haven't though about that either, I would love to get some biochar charged with all the activity going on in my bin.

Two solid improvements bru, thanks.
 
Nizza

Nizza

Well-Known Member
Great thread I'm following this and actually getting my worm tower bin today in the mail then the wrigglers arrive Monday

I was wondering if I have my bin outside and the wrigglers are decomposing do I need to heat the bins? The area I plan to do this is in an unheated breezeway attached to my house.

I could insulate it and add a heat mat which was my first plan. Any advice? Thanks for all the info here I'm very excited to set the worm bin up!

I'll insulate the breezeway if I have to it is very small
 
crimsonecho

crimsonecho

Well-Known Member
Reap911 said:
This is golden bro. Thank you so much.

I will start keeping my coffee grinds cause caffeine is a currency in my house. I never thought of using the plant stems, they just get chucked into the bin, which I really dont like cause of the beggars that come dig in our trash when the bins go out. That is a solid.

The point with the carbon, would biochar do the same thing? I haven't though about that either, I would love to get some biochar charged with all the activity going on in my bin.

Two solid improvements bru, thanks.
Click to expand...
glad if i could help out. yeah biochar is the same stuff basically but i have activated carbon at my disposal because of filters and stuff. and thats why i compost stems too. but it takes a while so shred it cut it brake it into as small as possible pieces.

Nizza said:
Great thread I'm following this and actually getting my worm tower bin today in the mail then the wrigglers arrive Monday

I was wondering if I have my bin outside and the wrigglers are decomposing do I need to heat the bins? The area I plan to do this is in an unheated breezeway attached to my house.

I could insulate it and add a heat mat which was my first plan. Any advice? Thanks for all the info here I'm very excited to set the worm bin up!

I'll insulate the breezeway if I have to it is very small
Click to expand...
worms like comfortable temps afaik, if the temps go below 15°C they stop working and below 5°C they start dying off. so you can do heat mat or insulate and get some hot composting going with the right carbon nitrogen ratio which again coffee helps a lot.

when i add coffee to my feed the middle of the tub where the feeding trench is gets at least 5°C warmer than the rest of the bin and that warmth heats the whole bin.

this will not be true hot composting as it will not get as hot as some other composts i see with 30:1 C:N ratio, which would actually harm and kill the worms, but it really just warms up the bin and if well insulated and not going below 5-10°C outside it can keep them going imo. worth a try. warm composting maybe :)
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Reap911 said:
Hi Guys,

I hope everyone is doing well.

Thought I would just start this as a way to get some info going on this topic.

Personally, for anyone using Vermicomposting as a part of your soils, I think that this is a big part of your success when growing in a Living Soil system. This, alongside your compost of course but I really just wanted to focus on the black gold we get from our worms.

I would like to share my findings with you guys as a base and really would just invite everyone to chip in because I am in the learning phase and I know so many of us that are getting into the cultivation approach would really benefit from gaining some insights into what has worked and what has not. I know that this soil cultivation is quite tricky and I know that the tried and tested tribal knowledge out there can save a newbie quite a bit of time and money by getting some views from the more experienced cultivators.

So far what I have done for my bins is use the same materials that go into my soils as food for my worms. I have come to believe that the best food source is from dynamic accumulators (stinging nettle, dandelions, horsetail etc) is a good food source to get a more diverse & abundant nutritional range. I am using dandelions and alfalfa at the moment simply because I have to grow the others because they are hella expensive. I also add banana peels because I am big on my smoothies and horse manure that I get from an organic farmer down the road from me.

I spray beneficial microbes onto my composting bins every now and again. This is something I feel I will do more regularly going forward. I also add in some of the raw materials that I use to top dress such as Kelp, Bone Meal and Insect Frass but not in large amounts.

That's about it.

So I would like to just pose some questions;

1. Anything I could be adding in there to improve the worm's life and the microbiology that I am creating?
2. Any hints and tips?
3. What are you guys throwing in there that is helping you achieve good results?
4. Anything relevant that you could throw into the mix that you think is helpful?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
1. You want a good balance of browns to greens: try to give about 50% shredded paper and/or canna leaves as you do veggies & fruit and whatnot.
2. Get yourself a tray style worm bin so changing out trays is a snap; you can keep worms in anything of course but designs like the worm factory 360 are popular for their ease of use.
3. Veggie/fruit scraps that are beyond their expiration date, coffee grounds, eggshells, and greensand.
4. Composted chicken manure; it’s slow release but a fast source of NPK. I add it in the bottom layer along with crushed oyster shell flour to help maintain ph and granular mycorrhizae to help with absorption in all my final size bloom containers. Keeps em green through to harvest time…
 
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Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Got a weird question and it’s probably not worth starting a whole new thread so thought I would ask the worm bin experts here. So last weekend we got super stoned and made some delicious deep fried jalapeño poppers. Chopped and scooped out all of the seeds and inner green stuff to make room for the filling. Seemed wasteful to toss perfectly good organic matter into the trash where it will go to a landfill so I put them in a bag in the freezer along with coffee grounds, eggshells, and various other food scraps.
The recipe says to wear gloves to avoid skin irritation from the hot peppers; the innards being the most peppery part of the jalapeño peppers. I have heard of people making a hot pepper slurry or whatever it is to deter pests…
Is it safe to feed hot peppers to worms?
Will they enjoy munching on the peppers as if they were flamin hot Cheetos or will they writhe in pain from the heat?
Need answers people…
 
D

DinGrogu

Well-Known Member
Richard Drysift said:
Got a weird question and it’s probably not worth starting a whole new thread so thought I would ask the worm bin experts here. So last weekend we got super stoned and made some delicious deep fried jalapeño poppers. Chopped and scooped out all of the seeds and inner green stuff to make room for the filling. Seemed wasteful to toss perfectly good organic matter into the trash where it will go to a landfill so I put them in a bag in the freezer along with coffee grounds, eggshells, and various other food scraps.
The recipe says to wear gloves to avoid skin irritation from the hot peppers; the innards being the most peppery part of the jalapeño peppers. I have heard of people making a hot pepper slurry or whatever it is to deter pests…
Is it safe to feed hot peppers to worms?
Will they enjoy munching on the peppers as if they were flamin hot Cheetos or will they writhe in pain from the heat?
Need answers people…
Click to expand...
Sounds like a bad idea.
unclejimswormfarm.com

Foods That Can Hurt Composting Worms

Composting worms make food scraps break down quickly, but some foods can hurt them. Vermicomposting with worms is increasingly popular with people who want to reduce trash, produce free fertilizer, and save resources. Therefore, vermicomposting fans have a vested interest in keeping their Red...
unclejimswormfarm.com unclejimswormfarm.com
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Very helpful link. Thank you Din. I’ve been breaking a few rules it seems giving them lots of pineapple skins, bleached paper, and tomato scraps. They didn’t seem affected in such small quantities but so glad I asked; Capsaicin is not good for worms. Good to know…
 
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