im4satori
Well-Known Member
if I set it aside and wait... wont the larvae still be dormant and waiting or will the eggs hatch and adults go without laying new eggs
worm bin and insects
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Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
No, they like your worms are there to munch on the organic matter, once it's broken down, they'll desire to move on.
Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
You could give it a shot but you really would have an easier time if you just ignored your bin for a couple of weeks. The neem cake will discourage fungus gnats but compost related mites will hang out as long as there is excessive organic matter.
That ^^
I know ignoring them is hard when first starting out with worms, at least till they become 'old hat', but that's what really gives you the best results.
You sorta summed up the whole problem in the second sentence of your first post, 'too much fruits and over feeding'.
Remember that worms only suck up the bacterial slime from decomposing organic matter. The mites, fungus gnats, and such feed off the organic matter itself. Put another way is, what the worms actually consume is microscopic and what these other insects consume is easily visable, at least at first. The bin can be full of 'worm buffet' and look totally empty because it's microscopic.
One of my main foods are coffee grounds. I'll add a jug full of grounds to a bin and it sits and sits and sits, totally ignored by the worms for close to a month. Then, it gets 'ripe' with enough bacteria or whatever and the worms flat out swarm it. Like a dinner bell went off or something. It's really amazing, this all or nothing thing. My other main food is fresh frozen comfrey. It also provides all the moisture the bin needs. Same deal as the grounds, but with a much shorter time frame. It sits and turns into slime in a few days and the worms ignore it till it's done to their liking and then it gets swarmed and totally gone in a day or 2. But not till the bacteria reaches the worms liking.
The grounds and comfrey get added perhaps once/month. More than that invites unwanted infestations of other bugs. Dry stuff, like laying mash or neem cake gets added perhaps every other week, or when I check on the bins. Very seldom check them more than twice a month and many times longer than that. They appreciate being left alone.
Basically, it's just chicken feed and is mainly ground up corn. The 'mash' part refers to the consistancy itself, there is also 'crumbles' which is coarser/larger The mash gives the best results as it's pretty fine, just a bit coarser than corn meal.
I learned about it from bait worm farmers as the worms love it like junk food and it really gets them large and fat. The stuff added for the "laying" part (mainly Ca for shell development in eggs), seems to have the same effect on worms and cocoon production. Gets them fat AND horney. LOL It's also one of the main ingredients in Worm Chow.
The best part (and a drawback), is the cost. Here, a 50lb bag is a whopping $12. The drawback is finding anything smaller than a 50lb bag. The only place in town that sells smaller amounts charges $1/lb and telling me the whole time while measuring it out, that they have 50lb bags for $12. Every other place just offers the 50lb bags. One grocery store even carries it in the pet food section. It is certainly not hard to find.
Whatever. 50lbs is still a metric shit ton of worm food and airtight storage containers, even Homer buckets with lids will end up costing more than the feed itself. Plus, there are many more critters besides worms and chickens that love the stuff, especially mice, squirrels and chipmunks. Found that out 3 winters ago, when someone got into the garage to get warm and stayed for all the free food.
If you snag some (and I totally recc you do), especially with more than 1 bin going, the only thing you should never do, is bury it. It will sour and become toxic. Just sprinkle on the surface only and light enough where you can still see plenty of bedding. It will help absorb moisture and is usually gone in just a few days. The bait farmers usually feed again as soon as it's gone. If the bedding is drier, a very light misting kicks it into gear. You'll be able to tell pretty quick if it's sucking up moisture or not.
Give it a try, you'll be glad you did.
I learned about it from bait worm farmers as the worms love it like junk food and it really gets them large and fat. The stuff added for the "laying" part (mainly Ca for shell development in eggs), seems to have the same effect on worms and cocoon production. Gets them fat AND horney. LOL It's also one of the main ingredients in Worm Chow.
The best part (and a drawback), is the cost. Here, a 50lb bag is a whopping $12. The drawback is finding anything smaller than a 50lb bag. The only place in town that sells smaller amounts charges $1/lb and telling me the whole time while measuring it out, that they have 50lb bags for $12. Every other place just offers the 50lb bags. One grocery store even carries it in the pet food section. It is certainly not hard to find.
Whatever. 50lbs is still a metric shit ton of worm food and airtight storage containers, even Homer buckets with lids will end up costing more than the feed itself. Plus, there are many more critters besides worms and chickens that love the stuff, especially mice, squirrels and chipmunks. Found that out 3 winters ago, when someone got into the garage to get warm and stayed for all the free food.
If you snag some (and I totally recc you do), especially with more than 1 bin going, the only thing you should never do, is bury it. It will sour and become toxic. Just sprinkle on the surface only and light enough where you can still see plenty of bedding. It will help absorb moisture and is usually gone in just a few days. The bait farmers usually feed again as soon as it's gone. If the bedding is drier, a very light misting kicks it into gear. You'll be able to tell pretty quick if it's sucking up moisture or not.
Give it a try, you'll be glad you did.
No, specify Laying Mash. There are several 'grinds' like crumbles and I think, pellets for different feeders or methods of feeding.
There is also several types of chicken feed with different purposes, but I don't know about them.
Laying Mash is geared towards egg production and amended to that end. It also seems to be the best for worm farming as well. I do know that other chicken feeds were tried as well before finding that laying mash worked best, as some of those worm farmers kept chickens as well.
Laying Mash is common as dirt since most keep chickens for egg production rather than for meat.
There is also several types of chicken feed with different purposes, but I don't know about them.
Laying Mash is geared towards egg production and amended to that end. It also seems to be the best for worm farming as well. I do know that other chicken feeds were tried as well before finding that laying mash worked best, as some of those worm farmers kept chickens as well.
Laying Mash is common as dirt since most keep chickens for egg production rather than for meat.
RandomHero8913
Well-Known Member
Yes and no. A little neem cake is fine but skip on the predators. Those mites are your friend. There isn't anything living plant wise in your bin so you can be safe in knowing they won't Attack your plants. Don't worry so much about bugs. I know it's a huge difference from hydro life but your soil needs life to prosper. If you kill off these guys before they're naturally taken out by lack of food, you'll be doing yourself a disservice.
im4satori
Well-Known Member
ok im just going to be patient
when the scraps in the bin are gone Im going to switch the worms into my pots and go no till
the organic grows are going pretty good so far so im going to take it to the next level
I just added some biochar to my last amendment so its a good time to focus on biology first
thanks guys
when the scraps in the bin are gone Im going to switch the worms into my pots and go no till
the organic grows are going pretty good so far so im going to take it to the next level
I just added some biochar to my last amendment so its a good time to focus on biology first
thanks guys
Do NOT try and turn your growing containers into worm bins! It will become a 'too much of a good thing' sorta deal. VOE on that.
You get more than enough worms from top dressing fresh VC with the cocoons, baby worms and missed worms in the fresh VC.
You want some worms in with your plants, but a huge population becomes counter productive.
Trust me on this point.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
I thought the worm population would increase to accommodate more scraps. My tower currently has seven trays, but it's a heavy pig. It's been too moist, but I'm working on that.
I've been considering a second bin, especially now that the garden is cranking out lots of organic goodness.
My castings always have some undigested scraps and lots of bugs. It's not a big deal since I use the castings outdoors, but I get the feeling that my worm bin just can't keep up with two people -- one of which is a vegan and generates a lot of worm food.
What do you think?
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
Oh and there are definitely some good bugs in the mix.
I've seen green lacewings hanging out around my worm bin, which is awesome!
I've seen green lacewings hanging out around my worm bin, which is awesome!
Start the second bin.
I have 3 'year round' bins sorta used as nurserys and during the growing season expand to 6 bins to handle the the excess food from the garden and such.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
I've heard people say they harvest one tray per month from each stack, so at the rate I'm going, I should probably have three stacks. The trays are only $5 each, so the expense is small. No way I'm paying $100 for worm factory 360s. They're nice, but not that nice...
No experience with the worm factory 360.
My year round bins are 18 gal Rubbermaid totes and the seasonal bins are 10 gal Rubbermaid totes, 2 totes/setup. One with plenty of drainage and air holes for worms and bedding, nested in one with no holes to catch the leachate. A couple of bricks to keep them separate and provide room for the leachate.
They are prone to too much moisture and there is a learning curve there with fresh fruits and veggies being mostly avoided. The fresh frozen comfrey I use provides all the moisture needed for the peat based bedding I use.
My year round bins are 18 gal Rubbermaid totes and the seasonal bins are 10 gal Rubbermaid totes, 2 totes/setup. One with plenty of drainage and air holes for worms and bedding, nested in one with no holes to catch the leachate. A couple of bricks to keep them separate and provide room for the leachate.
They are prone to too much moisture and there is a learning curve there with fresh fruits and veggies being mostly avoided. The fresh frozen comfrey I use provides all the moisture needed for the peat based bedding I use.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
I save our food scraps in a metal can that's got a charcoal filter to control smell. Then just dump it in a tray when it's full, sprinkle with castings from a previous harvest to jump start microbes, then cover with a layer of moist coco + wet newspaper.
Is there a better way? I don't have fresh comfrey, but I've got organic grass clippings.
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
How do you keep worms from dropping into the lower tote? Are the holes too small for a red wiggler to fit? That would be pretty small & I'd need a zillion of em... 
Chunky Stool
Well-Known Member
Hmm... I may have some nylon mesh that would keep em inside the upper tote. 
How do you keep worms from dropping into the lower tote? Are the holes too small for a red wiggler to fit? That would be pretty small & I'd need a zillion of em...
I drilled a good amount of 1/8" holes for the drainage.Hmm... I may have some nylon mesh that would keep em inside the upper tote.
Some worms still drop through.
Tried the fine nylon mesh. They go right through that as well. Had some in one of the smaller totes and was harvesting from the top down. When I got to the mesh there were 50 or so halfway through the mesh and not even slowing down.
It was amazing that they could make themselves so skinny (but really long). The mesh was like 1/16" or so. I just held it over fresh bedding and they went right on through. They weren't babies either.