Vermicomposters Unite! Official Worm Farmers Thread

SpicySativa

Well-Known Member
Ok teach me the ways of the worms hehe. I have great sources for worms and Vermicompost but who likes to pay for shit they can do themselves ;)

I have a 5 tower worm farm with a pound of worms on a bed of coco and news paper. I'm thinking rock dust, neem cake, kelp meal, veggie scraps, and botanicals to start. Are you getting the meals wet or using what is leftover from a tea or just add powder? Is it kind of like making soil for you worms to live in? Everything small bits. How about compost? How much?
There are all kinds of ways to go about vermicomposting. For adding rock dusts and amendments, I use a couple different methods. If I feel like the bin needs more bedding, I'll shred and wet down some cardboard in a bucket, dust it with whatever, add a tablespoon or so of castings to kick start the biology, mix it up a little, and lay it down in the bin. Use this method with oyster shell or some other calcium source (egg shells, etc) and a worm orgy will ensue.

If I'm feeling lazy... I just use a tablespoon each of oyster shell, alfalfa, kelp, crab, and neem, plus a little chunk of mosquito dunk. All this gets a quick once-over with the mortar and pestle then gets dusted over the top of the bin.

I keep all my various organic dry amendments in Tupperware-style containers made for coffee. They have nice big flip-up lids, and each came with a handy dandy 2 TBSP scoop. It's super quick and easy to grab a scoop of this, scoop of that, give it I quick mash with the mortar and pestle, dust it, and done. Getting my grow area organized has made the whole experience soooo much better...
 

Cann

Well-Known Member
Been meaning to post this for a few days but ya know how things are...busy.

My worms get fed bokashi, eggshells, greens/canna mulch (usually I let it dry and then crumble it into the bins), shredded newspaper/cardboard/egg cartons, and then all the amendments I usually put into my soil: neem, karanja, kelp, crab, alfalfa (in tiny amounts), sul-po-mag (the occasional sprinkle), greensand, rock dusts etc. whatever I have lying around really.

I usually just dig a little hole in a corner, add my food+amendments, and then cover it again with soil/newspaper. a week or two later I will dig another hole nearby and deposit more food, checking on the previous pile to see how the worms are reacting. I find that a certain amount of negligence is often a good thing when it comes to worms. they definitely prefer to be left alone as long as they have the basics: moisture, darkness, and some amount of food. even if you don't feed them food scraps they will consume their bedding until it is just castings left. I currently have a bin that I havent fed for around 2 months, and I have just been letting them work the same stuff over and over. The worms might not breed in these conditions, but I have enough worms and right now I am focused on producing amazing castings.

i have populations of mites that seem to come and go, along with fungus gnats etc. i just topdress mosquito dunks if the gnats get out of hand. the mites are awesome, the only annoying thing is they love to crawl up my arms when I dig around in the bins, and then I can feel them crawling all over me lol, on the face, etc. not a fan of bugs crawling on my skin...i can tolerate it, but it's not fun.

something that really resonates with my from worms eat my garbage (mary appelhof) was when mary said that she feeds her worms whenever she wants to feed them, not whenever the worms need to be fed. I don't let the worms dictate anything I do...they just sit in the corner, and when I have the motivation I throw some food and goodies in and cover it up...simple as that. it really doesn't have to be very complicated unless you want it to be. less can often be more with worms. they are awesome pets that way...they don't take up much space, don't make much noise, thrive off negligence (as long as it's moist), and consume my waste when I provide them with it. And in return I get castings! which may be the single most important component of my soil...black gold so to speak.

not bad for a pet...much better than my damn german shepherd who costs a fortune in food (she eats raw organic grass fed beef...spoiled bitch!) and then proceeds to dig up my veggies and bury beef bones in my soil mixes...lol. not as redeeming as the worms...although she does provide a bit more protection from home invaders haha. i have a "beware of dog" sign...where is the "beware of worms" sign??? that'll slow em down....

k obviously i've smoked a few too many bowls of sativa :bigjoint: time to shut up


Heres a few shots of my various bins. I have 4 bins in total, one of which is a smartpot.

using a saucer as cardboard...thats how lazy I am at the moment lol. it works...they love it under there. this bin has some earthworms that I dug up from the yard (about 50) and then a few thousand red wigglers. notice the squash seeds germinating in there...must be from the compost I'm running through. the bin is currently composed of bu's blend, my own compost, some manure, and old roots 707 soil +rootwads.

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mites feasting on a dead worm
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little guys going to town on roots/rockwool
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Here is the bin I have been letting the worms work for ~2 months. the only noticeable things left are avocado and mango pits...along with the pumice of course.
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Cann

Well-Known Member
oh yeah and by ~2 months i mean thats how long i didnt feed them for...they have been in that bin since december and i fed them for a few months before cutting the food supply
 

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
The mites are sorta neutral. They do for sure break down organic matter, but they also indicate acidic conditions or excessive moisture.

But, Its completely normal for your bin to have a fluctuating population of mites and other creatures, but too many of them could become a problem, as some of the others can prey on the worms.

And Canns bins look healthy, just like his plants.
 

SupraSPL

Well-Known Member
it really doesn't have to be very complicated unless you want it to be
That says it all. You could probably just feed them canna scraps and use leaves for bedding. I don't use newspaper or cardboard because I don't trust it to be free of chemicals. I just use maple leaves because they break down more quickly than oak.

I feed them organic vegetable scraps, canna scraps, powdered organic eggshells, azomite, organic banana peels and that is about it.

There are 4 kinds of mites I have seen so far.

1. Red mites slow moving - I hear these can be predatory but when I see them they are clustered on detritus not on worms. They came with a batch of worms I ordered so I rinsed the worms off and started that bin over which worked well.
2. Brownish mites very fast moving larger size (hypoaspis miles) beneficial predatory soil mites. I was unable to keep their population going in my soil or bins.
3. Brownish mites fast moving smaller size. These mites are prolific reproducers and are very happy in recycled soil and in compost bins. They look exactly like hypoaspis miles but are smaller in size. These are the ones that will crawl on your arm. They are harmless to seedlings and plants. Not sure if they bother baby worms but I havent seen evidence of that yet.
4. White sucking mites. Non moving or very slow moving mites. These are the ones that come and go and as far as I can tell they are harmless.
 

Rrog

Well-Known Member
Great post! Very interesting stuff.

I will have to check out your LED thread. I'm finishing up one myself.
 

whodatnation

Well-Known Member
Subbed :-) Iv been out worm hunting with not much luck, Im cant pay an arm and a leg for a bag of worms... I may end up doing it though
 

Cann

Well-Known Member
worm hunting is damn easy if you have a backyard..just throw a tarp down, weigh it down with something (I usually just mix soil and leave it on the tarp), and wait (I end up waiting ~30 days for the soil to mature, but I'm sure you could harvest worms in a week or so).

you want the soil surface under the tarp to be moist, so if you live in a dry area you can water before putting the tarp down, otherwise the tarp will naturally trap enough moisture to bring the worms to the surface. after however many days, pull back the tarp and you should see this:

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if you look hard you can see a bunch of worms, worm trails/burrows, and tiny casting deposits.

here they are up close:
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after about 5 minutes of plucking worms...
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check out the crazy green sickly looking worm..not sure about this little dude lol

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Once I harvest the worms, I go back and pick up all their little casting deposits. I usually end up with something like this:
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not bad at all given the price...and the best part is that this whole process is a byproduct of me making/recycling soil. most of the time I don't even harvest the worms or castings, I just move the tarp to a new location and let them go back into their burrows...but when I'm feeling up to it i'll snatch up a bunch of worms and toss them in one of my many worm bins. there is a bin I have which is specifically dedicated to lawn-only worms, cause I know they are probably a range of species vs. the red wigglers I have in my other bins.

if you don't have a lawn i'm sure you could harvest worms out of the forest or a local park by putting damp cardboard down...or even better by putting down some veggie scraps with damp cardboard on top..it's just about finding a discreet/remote enough location that your experiment wont get f***ed with.


k time to sleep lol
 

Rising Moon

Well-Known Member
You can also trap a bunch of them by putting a clay or plastic pot with decent soil in it, upside down on the lawn.

They will migrate up into the pots, and in a couple days you should have tons of them.

Great way to feed a chicken as well as build soil.
 

AliCakes

Well-Known Member
I tried worm hunting a when I first set up. Apparently the worms I got didn't like container life and I kept finding them dead on the ground outside. So my bin is a flow through design with red worms. This persons bin was my inspiration, but I added a piano hinge to close the harvesting area and keep pests out. My total cost was about $20 plus worms.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg0518483522985.html
 

NickNasty

Well-Known Member
Nope I have helped others set them up but haven't got around to setting mine up. I moved to where I live now just a little over a year ago and had other stuff around the house and in the garden that took priority. As far as the mortar/pestle I just need one.:blsmoke:
 

Cann

Well-Known Member
love to grind up neem meal/karanja for a topdress or a tea. more surface area = faster breakdown once it hits the soil..at least thats how I understand it.

perhaps thats how I burnt my ladies in 5 gallons with 1 tsp of neem meal actually...hmmmm.

gotta clean the mortar and pestle well afterwards! lol. my gf hates when I grind crab shells cause the smell likes to stick around... :)
 

cbtbudz

Well-Known Member
a cool little trick to find worms in the ground of your outdoor garden. get a stick and shove it into the ground and get another stick and rubb the first stick for a couple mins and the worms should come right to the top of the soil. not sure why this works but hey.
 
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