Homemade Manure - Ultimate Food for Composting Worms

[TheRastaRick]

All those worms, they love it!! But when its time to use for soil, do you leave the worms in the soil or do you remove them???

[TheCompostGuy]

@TheRastaRick - it depends on where this homemade manure is added. If it's in one of my vermicomposting trench (I made a video about these) or windrow beds beside my gardens then I just leave everything as-is (since the plants can access the nutrients). If it is in a separate system I will harvest the vermicompost once it is finished (see my turbo light harvesting video).

[ves3687]

Bentley, Can you freeze the homemade manure? If so do you need to wait for it to thaw out before putting it in the worm bin?

[TheCompostGuy]

@ves3687 - that's actually a great idea. I freeze a lot of my food scraps, but have not frozen HMM - if you have the space for it, that could be a good way to store it until needed.

[BooKittyRadley]

might do this with loveable loo doo



[1too3fore]

Um, you've overlooked another manure, the manure you generate, humanure. Worms love the stuff. So stop wasting clean drinking water on flushing and compost that crap!

[TheCompostGuy]

@1too3fore - I wouldn't say I overlooked it. This is a completely different topic altogether. "Homemade Manure" is just the name I came up with for this mix of bedding and food waste materials that can be fed to composting worms. Humanure is another great potential foodstock for composting worms, but like I said - a whole other topic altogether (interesting as it may be). Have not tried it yet myself.

[zomgwtfbbqbagel]

Omg bentley, if you turn on closed captioning, its like you are talking about blending up different human races into food. not even joking.

[TheCompostGuy]

@zomgwtfbbqbagel - Uhhh, that's a little odd. lol

I will have to take your word for it though - can't see to get the captioning working.

[savvy9]

pretty cool! I do something similar with a kitchen appliance called a thunderstick... its basically a hand held wand type electronic chopping tool. Its effective in breaking down materials and is easier to clean than a blender.

[TheCompostGuy]

@savvy9 - Sound like a cool too, Savvy! I need to get me one of those industrial versions they use on the Food Network battle of the chef shows! haha

[pgm98387]

Thanks!

[pete1038699]

Hello Bentley

Instead of coconut fibre (coir) and cardboard that you've suggested, What's your opinion on using wood chips & shredded paper as an alternative or mixed with coir and cardboard.

[TheCompostGuy]

Hey Pete,

I actually just use shredded cardboard now, but yeah it's certainly not the only option. I wouldn't bother with wood chips to be totally honest. They take forever to break down and are not absorbent at all. Newsprint and brown paper are ok, but my issue with paper in general is that it gets matted down (impeding air flow). I steer clear of white paper in general since it can irritate the worms (bleach etc). Mixed with bulky cardboard the paper could work well I think.

[PJMDS]

Thanks for sharing your ideas and tips with us, keep up the good work and those worms happy :)