Worm Bin - Page 6

pfrtheotherside · 03-25-2004, 04:38 PM

Hi Cecil

Thanks for getting back to me. You confirmed my thinking about the mold, but being this is all new to me I thought I would ask.

Now my bins are only 10 gal. and I am getting a pound of red worms. When I do put it together, I was looking at about filling it half full with fairly damp shredded paper (not dripping) then adding the coffee, etc. and mixing it then adding the worms. Does that sound about right to you.

If I remember right you said about 1 pound of worms per 5 gal.

Thanks for your help.

TOS

cecil_b · 03-25-2004, 07:46 PM

Yep - that sounds right. Even less paper to start would be fine. Too much wet paper will be heavy on top of the little wrigglers and could suffocate them. Just a light misting every now and then is fine and make sure it doesn't all mat down. Light and fluffy... If I had it lying around, I sometimes throw in a pound or so of peat or sphagnum for variety.

-cb

pfrtheotherside · 04-02-2004, 04:07 PM

Hi brindie, cecil

Got worms yesterday. Set up the bin with very lightly damp shredded paper. A few handfuls of coffee grounds, some old stems & leaves, and some old celery. Mixed that up a bit then added the worms.

The worms were a bit sluggish but I think that had to do with the fact they hung on the mailbox for a couple of hours in about 40 degree weather.

Went down and checked today and a bunch decided that they were going to try and escape through the air holes at the top. Needless to say I spent about 10/15 min. putting them back in.

I am wondering if I need to wet it down some more as it is just barley damp and some even feels dry, maybe too light and fluffy. What can I do to encourage them to stay in the bin?

What about moldy leaf or bread that is starting to go moldy, can I add that - the mold worries me.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks - TOS

mr_chow · 04-02-2004, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cecil_b

pfr: Sawdust would be fine so long as it was truly dust and very small chips and was really moist (and kept moist). It might take the little guys a while to work on unprocessed wood, and if you used a lot of sawdust (and not much else) the culture would not be organically diverse.

make sure it's untreated wood. i've had a couple o' splinters from treated wood...really nasty stuff.

peace,

mr_chow

*outdoors* · 04-02-2004, 06:42 PM

Hi All -
Using worm bins is not rocket science... you can hardly go wrong. Composting is another story.
Yes, you can put moldy bread and spoiled food in the worm bin.
Yes TOL, make the paper damp, the worms, if you bought a pound will need to be fed... go ahead and put some lettuce in the box or something like that so it will break down easily. Generally it takes a few days to a week for the worms to settle in but go ahead, give 'em something to rummage around in.
Personally, I've never gotten any liquid off my bin. Not sure what people are putting in their boxes that creates enough liquid to create a tea that can be drawn off.
Sawdust is bulk but not really used by the worms. If you had a big compost heap in your back yard it would be fine to throw sawdust in there but a worm box?? Mostly kitchen scraps, no oil, no fat, no meat of any kind.
Go for it, nothing to be scared about.
I got my worm bin from the city! They were encouraging composting to reduce the amount of garbage the city had to deal with.
Hope this helps. Peace,
Outdoors

pfrtheotherside · 04-02-2004, 06:52 PM

chow, outdoors;

Thanks for stopping in. Didn't realize this was being followed so much.

As a kid, I collected and sold night crawlers but it was mainly a styrofoam cooler with wet layers of newspapers - they did great. Never did feed them anything. Made money off of it also.

So plan of action, need to wet down the paper more. Start eating better - lol, more scrapes for the worms. Get rid of some mold junk around here. Humm - wonder how much caffine (sp) they can handle - coffee grounds.

Ok my night crawlers survived, I am sure these will too.

Thanks all - TOS

cecil_b · 04-02-2004, 11:20 PM

TOS - Your mix sounds great. The mold is no sweat. They don't care if the food is rotting (hence the fetida in their name.) You might need some screen on the air vents to prevent elopement - even on the top. When you dump them in, the worms will roam around to get away from the sqirming mass because they sense that they're overpopulated and competing for resources (even though they're not).

They will be hungry - give them a treat like some orange rinds, an apple cut in half, or some other fruit. This will give them a little sugar boost and help recover from the trip.

I save my coffee grounds every day in a tub in the freezer and add them in bulk (defrosted, of course). I mix the grounds in like it's dirt, and wormies love it. After a couple of months they render the entire bin down to a fine humus.

Remember, no liquids, meat, or dairy. An occasional bone is OK to add some bio-diversity to the culture, but very infrequently. Egg shells are OK, whole eggs are not. If you keep a stick or old spatula near your bin, you can lift up a few layers of shredded paper and bury your scraps so the worms don't have to venture out into the open to fid them.

Sounds like you're off to a great start.

~cb

*outdoors* · 04-03-2004, 03:45 PM

Thanks Chow!

I've been a worm bin gal for many many years. (more than I care to admit if truth be told). You'll see if you go back a few pages that I've been here all along. The newspaper is just a settle in kind of measure.
I kept a small garden shovel/spade near my box and from time to time, stir it up but I must admit to just throwing the stuff in there most of the time.
You'll also see, if you read back, that for several years I never took a thing out of that box and the "compost" never got more than about 6 inches deep in a box that was about 3 feet x 1.5 feet. It was more of a way to deal with kitchen scraps than it was to produce usable compost.... (at least in my garden - which was not small)
If I'd been growing mj then, I would surely have used it in my pots.

Keep at it! Great learning exp. - did you see my post about the underpants?
Peace-
Outdoors

pfrtheotherside · 04-08-2004, 05:54 PM

April 8

Well this seems like it is becoming a "grow" journal in it self.

I hope this helps anybody else that decides to do a worm bin. And a big thanks for all that is helping me understand these little worms.

Ok, on with the info and questions.

Received the worms on April 2 - Little sluggish due to cold weather.

Monday April 5 - Checked the little buggers. Seems they want to try and escape, but - not through the air holes. They are bunching up in the corners of the tub. So picked them up and put them back down in the bedding.

Then mixed up a salad into their bedding. Lettuce, a few tomatoes, gr. peppers, and a few croutons.

Didn't check on Tues. - a little under the weather.

Wed. April 7 - A few trying to escape but not many. Turned the bedding to see how much salad is left. Not much, did see a slice of tomatoe, one or two croutons, and very little lettuce.

Thur. April 8 - Went down tonight and it seems like a bunch have decided to try and escape. All bunched up in the corners. Found maybe 4/5 outside of the container.

Once I put the buggers back into the bed, added coffee grounds, KFC biscits, celery and 1/2 of a potatoe. All mixed in. Only thing I noticed left over from the Mondays salad was a crouton.

Sorry for the book everyone but what I am trying to figure out - are they trying to escape because I am not feeding them enough?

Thanks for any and all input - TOS

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