Worm *Batching* trial, take 2

[Wetdog]

I heard the term *batching* some years ago, then pretty much never again. The technique is fairly common if not the term. Basically, the original was 3 gallons of peat based bedding brought to ~75-80% moisture level and a heavy charge of 'food' in a 5 gal bucket. No drainage, but a few holes in the lid for air. Worms were added, the lid snapped on and then it was left alone for 3 months, then harvested.

I tried it and it worked great till I got stupid and added some melon rinds about 2 months in. No drainage, they put the moisture content way too high and killed most of the worms. Ended up dumping the whole mess into one of my bins (with drainage), where the worms in there loved it once the excess moisture drained away.

Fast forward a few years. I found a 5gal bucket full of coffee grounds that had been forgotten in the garage for a year or so. Also had 10 gallons of bedding mixed up last Oct and 2 small soil heating cables still in the packages. Time to try again!

Mixed the coffee grounds with the bedding to give me ~40% grounds/bedding, wet it good and set it aside to drain and age. Then bought 2-10 gal Rubbermaid totes from HD along with a length of 1/2" PVC to make a frame for the heating cables. Used 1/2" mesh that I had and glad I got the 100 pack of cable ties. Took WAY more than I thought it would.

Anyway, one is completed and plugged in. It's been a couple of days and I guess long enough for a temp check. No experience with heating cables though. When everything is right I'll trap some worms from one of the other bins and let them get to work.

This time though I'll actually LITFA for the entire 3 months or so.

Wet

 

[greasemonkeymann]

I heard the term *batching* some years ago, then pretty much never again. The technique is fairly common if not the term. Basically, the original was 3 gallons of peat based bedding brought to ~75-80% moisture level and a heavy charge of 'food' in a 5 gal bucket. No drainage, but a few holes in the lid for air. Worms were added, the lid snapped on and then it was left alone for 3 months, then harvested.

I tried it and it worked great till I got stupid and added some melon rinds about 2 months in. No drainage, they put the moisture content way too high and killed most of the worms. Ended up dumping the whole mess into one of my bins (with drainage), where the worms in there loved it once the excess moisture drained away.

Fast forward a few years. I found a 5gal bucket full of coffee grounds that had been forgotten in the garage for a year or so. Also had 10 gallons of bedding mixed up last Oct and 2 small soil heating cables still in the packages. Time to try again!

Mixed the coffee grounds with the bedding to give me ~40% grounds/bedding, wet it good and set it aside to drain and age. Then bought 2-10 gal Rubbermaid totes from HD along with a length of 1/2" PVC to make a frame for the heating cables. Used 1/2" mesh that I had and glad I got the 100 pack of cable ties. Took WAY more than I thought it would.

Anyway, one is completed and plugged in. It's been a couple of days and I guess long enough for a temp check. No experience with heating cables though. When everything is right I'll trap some worms from one of the other bins and let them get to work.

This time though I'll actually LITFA for the entire 3 months or so.

Wet

Ah thats cool, i haven't heard of this before.
So you don't weekly feed them? Just plop a bunch of food in there and LITFA?
SO this way you get like a perpetual harvest of your EWC?
like three bins or so? A damn good idea... so they'd coincide with your harvesting of your plants.. Very clever.

I just have mine in a big-ass smartpot, filled with old soil and rootballs, then I plop in food every sunday.
Warmer months more food, colder months, less.
Cool thing is, since it's old soil, it has the aeration still in it, so it helps keeping it too anaerobic.
Weird about your worms dying though man, you sure it was JUST to wet?

Reason i'm asking is my bin gets pretty moist, very dense and very moist. Are you sure something else didn't happen?
I've read about worm cataclysms before.. just whole colonies dying for no apparent reason...
Like maybe some weird pesticide they had on those melon rinds.. I know worms aren't the most hardy in regards to certain toxins..
weird though, I just don't think unless your bin was SOAKED that it'd kill them off..
My brother has a bin that is the wettest, sludgiest bin I've ever seen, and his worms are totally good, like the castings are so wet they glisten, VERY moist environment.
Just would hate to see it happen to you again

 

[Wetdog]

Pretty sure it was too much moisture from the melons and no drainage. One, it was doing fine before the melons @~80% moisture. Second, when it was dumped in another bin and allowed to drain the worms in there flat tore into it. So the pesticide residue is doubtful. But it was also 5 or so years ago and the memory is foggy. But a noob mistake seems most likely.

Yeah, what you're doing with your old soil is pretty much the same thing. In fact, what got me thinking about it again was another grower who brought his compost inside + heating cables to keep from freezing and ended up with mostly VC when he checked on it the following spring.

It was just a mention on a worm farmers blog about another worm farmer and very little information. But the small amounts involved (3 gallons), leads me to believe that the entire amount was used, worms and all, with no attempt to harvest the worms. IDK, that was just the impression I got.

Wet

 

[Wetdog]

Well, was finally able to sneak the wife's digi meat thermometer down to the basement to do some checking.

The two unheated bins were both 57*. The heated bin registered 68*. The temp in the basement was also 57*. So, cool. What I was looking for was a bin temp ~10* or so over the air temp and it looks like I got that.

What I need to do now is put the second frame/cables in the second bin and drill some 1/8" holes in both lids for ventilation. Then, get it plugged in to start warming up.

Just cleaned a ripe cantalope yesterday, so I'll use the rinds to capture some worms from the two working bins and move them to the new ones and get everything going.

Hope this works well. Being able to produce small amounts of VC (3-5 gallons), and using it without the hassle of harvesting/removing the worms is a lazy guys dream. My two working bins produce so many worms supply is never really an issue.

We'll see.

Wet