Jaybodankly
Well-Known Member
I stop by the bakery and get a 5 gal pail full of eggshells. Goes into the compost, time will take care of them.
Vermicomposters Unite! Official Worm Farmers Thread
- Thread starter Rising Moon
- Start date
I quit using eggshells some years ago when the wife complained, plus found 'crunched' shell bits 3 years later in the bins. I always add some active bedding back to a fresh bin when I harvest. Put some in a bucket to put the seperated out worms in till the fresh bedding is in the harvested bin.
Now, I just add pulverized dolo or calcitic lime to the bedding, a peat/perlite/lime mix made in advance. It's cheap, easy, and keeps the wife happy. YMMV
Worms LOVE neem cake! The once/month mentioned is excellent advice. I keep some by the bins to add every now and then.
The main food is coffee grounds and fresh frozen comfrey, probably 85% of the total. Chicken "laying mash" is a light top dress that both fattens the worms up and spurs reproduction. Just don't bury it as it will sour. Very cheap @~$12 for a 50lb bag, the problem being storage as it's hard to find in smaller amounts. The worms love it and it's usually gone in a couple of days. It's like fast food for them.
Wet
Now, I just add pulverized dolo or calcitic lime to the bedding, a peat/perlite/lime mix made in advance. It's cheap, easy, and keeps the wife happy. YMMV
Worms LOVE neem cake! The once/month mentioned is excellent advice. I keep some by the bins to add every now and then.
The main food is coffee grounds and fresh frozen comfrey, probably 85% of the total. Chicken "laying mash" is a light top dress that both fattens the worms up and spurs reproduction. Just don't bury it as it will sour. Very cheap @~$12 for a 50lb bag, the problem being storage as it's hard to find in smaller amounts. The worms love it and it's usually gone in a couple of days. It's like fast food for them.
Wet
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
YES! when i first got my worm bin i think it was 2/3s egg shells, i hated sorting those big bits of shell out and vowed never again (hence all the grinding) (-;
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Hm well that's a bit of a damper, I was hoping with eggshells I could become self-sufficient in the calcium corner.
OTOH the eggshells I leave unpulverized are meant to stay around for longer as aeration in my soils, so having those still around in 3 years wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing... plus, I don't have a complaining wife
So do you think I could run into trouble from any other perspective if I just continue on my chosen eggshell path?
It all depends on "mesh size", that is, how finely they are ground. Same deal with limestone or oyster shells. You can make buildings and stuff out of limestone. There are oyster shell mounds in Fl that are estimated to be thousands of years old, etc., etc.
But grind it up to the consistancy of flour (mesh size = surface area), and you have stuff that can react with the soil/microbes/roots and get utilized. Same with eggshells. In larger chunks, like just crunching with your hand, they won't break down for years. Grind them to dust and they will break down in fairly short order, like weeks or months.
For me (I'm 6
, it just wasn't worth the effort, or, listening to the wife, since she did most of the saving part, when I could snag a 40lb bag of dolo for $4.50. Not that it wouldn't work, it was just far easier and less ya ya to buy the lime.
I'm just happy she saves the grounds when she makes coffee and learned long ago when she says a can is full, to get it out of her kitchen RIGHT THEN and bring her a fresh empty.
Wet
But grind it up to the consistancy of flour (mesh size = surface area), and you have stuff that can react with the soil/microbes/roots and get utilized. Same with eggshells. In larger chunks, like just crunching with your hand, they won't break down for years. Grind them to dust and they will break down in fairly short order, like weeks or months.
For me (I'm 6
, it just wasn't worth the effort, or, listening to the wife, since she did most of the saving part, when I could snag a 40lb bag of dolo for $4.50. Not that it wouldn't work, it was just far easier and less ya ya to buy the lime.I'm just happy she saves the grounds when she makes coffee and learned long ago when she says a can is full, to get it out of her kitchen RIGHT THEN and bring her a fresh empty.
Wet
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
My wife loooooooves my piles of egg shells being left in the kitchen..... hahahaha
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
you're a good man Wet. all about picking battles right?It all depends on "mesh size", that is, how finely they are ground. Same deal with limestone or oyster shells. You can make buildings and stuff out of limestone. There are oyster shell mounds in Fl that are estimated to be thousands of years old, etc., etc.
But grind it up to the consistancy of flour (mesh size = surface area), and you have stuff that can react with the soil/microbes/roots and get utilized. Same with eggshells. In larger chunks, like just crunching with your hand, they won't break down for years. Grind them to dust and they will break down in fairly short order, like weeks or months.
For me (I'm 6
I'm just happy she saves the grounds when she makes coffee and learned long ago when she says a can is full, to get it out of her kitchen RIGHT THEN and bring her a fresh empty.
Wet
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Ah thank you for the insight! Then I'll just be a tad more exacting in future regarding the grinding (nods to @meangreengrowinmachineIt all depends on "mesh size", that is, how finely they are ground. Same deal with limestone or oyster shells. You can make buildings and stuff out of limestone. There are oyster shell mounds in Fl that are estimated to be thousands of years old, etc., etc.
But grind it up to the consistancy of flour (mesh size = surface area), and you have stuff that can react with the soil/microbes/roots and get utilized. Same with eggshells. In larger chunks, like just crunching with your hand, they won't break down for years. Grind them to dust and they will break down in fairly short order, like weeks or months.
For me (I'm 6
I'm just happy she saves the grounds when she makes coffee and learned long ago when she says a can is full, to get it out of her kitchen RIGHT THEN and bring her a fresh empty.
Wet
) ... and add less at a time too, just a sprinkling, I don't know what happens when a soil is overladen with calcium but figuring it's wiser to strive for balance and never find out haha 
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
Too much calcium can make your soil pH too high (but if using peat moss i would bet this would be hard to do for how slow egg shells seem to break down). too high of a pH can lead to unavailability of phosphates (into the 8.0-8.5ph range) and can also contribute to certain trace minerals to become unavailable for uptake as well (boron, copper, zinc, Mg and some others).
if you want to grow potatoes and berries then too much Ca is definitely bad as these plants prefer a sour soil (fairly acidic 6.0>)
but like you said, a sprinkle here and there aint gonna hurt a thing imo. i just added some to my compost bin, and my worm bin last week. the worms are going nuts. i can't believe how much casting is in there already.....
if you want to grow potatoes and berries then too much Ca is definitely bad as these plants prefer a sour soil (fairly acidic 6.0>)
but like you said, a sprinkle here and there aint gonna hurt a thing imo. i just added some to my compost bin, and my worm bin last week. the worms are going nuts. i can't believe how much casting is in there already.....
calliandra
Well-Known Member
I think my wornbin is getting close to harvest, so I threw a handful of neem onto the surface to hopefully disgust the fungus gnats and maybe have less of them in my wormcasts.
Two days later, it looks like instead, the neem caused an explosion in the population of those little white worms some people call nematodes... it's a bit warm there too (which is what got me looking under the surface).
I already had these in my bin previously, but haven't seen such direct population growth after the addition of anything to now.
Amazing enough to share here, and ask if you guys have also noticed this, and whether there is anything to watchout for in this situation.
Also, now I'm not sure whether to just give them another feed and forget harvesting, or whether I can still go ahead and start the new bin tier, perhaps adding this very active layer in as a starter so only the riper stuff stays in the bottom tier for harvest when the worms have moved out?
I will be needing the wormcasts in a week, to get my veggie seedlings started, so any ideas on how to best proceed from here is welcome!
I've been wanting to check on the microherd in there too but alas..
Two days later, it looks like instead, the neem caused an explosion in the population of those little white worms some people call nematodes... it's a bit warm there too (which is what got me looking under the surface).
I already had these in my bin previously, but haven't seen such direct population growth after the addition of anything to now.
Amazing enough to share here, and ask if you guys have also noticed this, and whether there is anything to watchout for in this situation.
Also, now I'm not sure whether to just give them another feed and forget harvesting, or whether I can still go ahead and start the new bin tier, perhaps adding this very active layer in as a starter so only the riper stuff stays in the bottom tier for harvest when the worms have moved out?
I will be needing the wormcasts in a week, to get my veggie seedlings started, so any ideas on how to best proceed from here is welcome!
I've been wanting to check on the microherd in there too but alas..
meangreengrowinmachine
Well-Known Member
I don't think those white worms.are nemotoads...they are microscopic... what you are seeing are your worms reproducing! That means they are doing great! As far as harvesting castings.. I take my whole bin and divide it between each of those bin layers you are talking about...I then take plastic or something and lay it down and add a banana peal or two... set the divider with holess on top and that add a light to the very top to push the worms down... keeping taking castingso from the top as the worms move down... take out the big pieces that worms haven't ate yet.. it takes a bit but it works great!
DonBrennon
Well-Known Member
I think my wornbin is getting close to harvest, so I threw a handful of neem onto the surface to hopefully disgust the fungus gnats and maybe have less of them in my wormcasts.
Two days later, it looks like instead, the neem caused an explosion in the population of those little white worms some people call nematodes... it's a bit warm there too (which is what got me looking under the surface).
View attachment 3887775
I already had these in my bin previously, but haven't seen such direct population growth after the addition of anything to now.
Amazing enough to share here, and ask if you guys have also noticed this, and whether there is anything to watchout for in this situation.
Also, now I'm not sure whether to just give them another feed and forget harvesting, or whether I can still go ahead and start the new bin tier, perhaps adding this very active layer in as a starter so only the riper stuff stays in the bottom tier for harvest when the worms have moved out?
I will be needing the wormcasts in a week, to get my veggie seedlings started, so any ideas on how to best proceed from here is welcome!
I've been wanting to check on the microherd in there too but alas..
Sorry for being a 'smart arse', but ya both wrong, LOL. They're 'Pot Worms', (nothing to do with the canna term 'pot'). They're an indication of acidic or anaerobic conditions, they're not a problem in themselves, but do indicate conditions which aren't ideal for your composting worms.
http://lasvegasworms.com/pot-worms-worm-composting-bin/
http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com/worm-pests-predators/white-worms-pot-worms-in-worm-composting/
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Ah I just tossed my plans for the day out the window and went to find out what these worms are instead
My worms are very happy and reproducing like crazy, but even at that size they are colored.
These are white worms aka pot worms: https://redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/ive-got-white-worms/
and belong to the family of the Enchytraeidae - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enchytraeidae
Some people even breed them into their bins on purpose: http://lasvegasworms.com/pot-worms-worm-composting-bin/
The only thing that bothers me is that apparently they produce even finer castings, since that is something thats becoming a problem in my pots as is...
But I'm not fazed by the acidity-indicating aspect of their presence, as it was clearly the neem, not the general environment in the bin, that brought them on in these masses.
interesting! Idon't quite get what the plastic is good for though? won't it preven the worms from digging down into the lower tiers?
calliandra
Well-Known Member
lmao thank you and a sunny sunday to you!
oh and I never said they were nematodes, just that some people call them that
gotta save my honor as a nematode-watcher here!
DonBrennon
Well-Known Member
............and you. Seems, I beat you to your 'post' by a minute, LOL. Sorry for stealing your thunder.lmao thank you and a sunny sunday to you!
I've had those ever since I started a worm bin, they're in all my containers too. I was worried about them at first, but I actually like the diversity, they must be bringing different micro-organisms to the table than the other worms. It's a 'War zone' down there and the more diverse the soldiers, the better, IMHO
Nugachino
Well-Known Member
Glad I stumbled upon this thread. I've been wanting to start a proper compost bin for a while now. I don't see the point in wasting cash on synthetic nutrients. Not when you can get a bunch of worms to make some potent poop juice from your kitchen scraps and garden weeds.
This'll help both my gardens.
This'll help both my gardens.
calliandra
Well-Known Member
oh not at all, great minds and all that............and you. Seems, I beat you to your 'post' by a minute, LOL. Sorry for stealing your thunder.
I've had those ever since I started a worm bin, they're in all my containers too. I was worried about them at first, but I actually like the diversity, they must be bringing different micro-organisms to the table than the other worms. It's a 'War zone' down there and the more diverse the soldiers, the better, IMHO
And you know I absolutely agree regarding diversity!
Actually, seeing these potworms spring up at the neem like that, and neem being used vs. fungus gnats, got me thinking, these worms are still big enough to be able to munch up fungus gnat larvae... because that's all the worry with BT or even the SF nematodes (for me at least): will they ever find each other?!
In those masses and with their voraciousness, no worries on that account with the potworms!
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
lots of good tricks here in the organic section if you spend time here and read! Glad you found something you like!