Apartment Composting 101: Vermicompost with Barb Finnin

[organicgardener66]

i love the vid thanks

[GreenCrusaders]

Good tips for apartment dwellers. The biggest prob most apartment people are that they have no space therefore they cannot do their part to reduce organic waste going to landfills. This video is great plus worm castings are fantastic for plants. 

[sly2kusa]

Being a fishermen and gardener who lives in an apartment, I really loved this idea. I have been doing this now for a while, but I use to live in Southern CA where we used to have some bunnies atop our worm bin (bunny poo is worm caviar!).  Great stuff and keep up the good work!

[Hectorsgarden1]

I have been saving alot of my food scap for about a month now. I am waiting on my worms to arrive. Do i keep my scraps in the frigg or do i put it in a 5 gallon bucket till the worms get here? Thank you for any info.

[LouMahoney]

@Hectorsgarden1

You want to be careful not to overfeed as the excess food may rot create a toxic environment for them. A worm will eat about half their weight in a day, so 2 lbs of worms will eat about a pound of food in a day.

Start slow. I would let the worms acclimate in their new bedding for about 24 hours before adding food..

When you do, add a little, then check back in a couple of days to see how fast they are eating and adjust.

As the population increases, you can add more.

[paisleyyama]

Yuck, worms in the kitchen.

[renata161616]

Great video! Really was the final thing that pushed me to start apartment composting. I have one question, and it's really my biggest concern- how often do roaches get attracted to these bins? I live in NYC so it's a big concern of mine to wake up one morning with roaches everywhere...

[ShandiGP]

About the toxic colored ink: I have two pet rats and asked my vet about using colored newspaper for toys and bedding. She did some research and said that colored newspaper ink used in the past was toxic to rats but the inks currently used are fine; however, the same does not go for magazine inks. I would assume (but don't know for certain) that this is the same for worms.

[I3addogy]

Great video ladies, one of the best on the web on this subject.

[936Dancer]

I tried to go to freshtopia . net and I got a "Site Forbidden" message. Help!

[rhuber89]

I'm new to vermicomposting, but my friend who introduced it to me did say that colored ink is toxic to the worms, so be careful!

[jrock99618]

Woa through the whole thing I kept hearing a serious draft goin through the house:((

p.s. cute worms:))

[Elledoubleyou13]

I live in an apartment and made a worm bin a few days ago that I keep in the kitchen- but in the late afternoon and night time I always find worms sitting up in the lid. Is this normal? or am I doing something wrong?

[RyanIsHungry]

@Elledoubleyou13 worms on the lid is normal. ours is like that too. i think they just like to move around. if there are a lot of them on the lid or sneaking out, there might be too much liquid or it's too acidic.

[Elledoubleyou13]

@RyanIsHungry Thanks for the speedy reply, appreciate it :)

[PonderaProject]

@Elledoubleyou13 That happens. Since you just started, there's nothing for the worms to eat yet. They eat the bacteria that breaks food down, not the actual food. I leave my scraps in a bucket for a couple weeks and drain the liquid before putting it into the bucket.

[Allen2045]

If you take tolet paper empty rolls cut them down them length wise the put the machine cut side into your shredder it will work nicely for bedding. If you want to take it a step further cut the strips into smaller pieces. Or have a shredder that shreds and cuts into bits.

[echicao]

if i put the newspapers in the shredder will it work too?

[RyanIsHungry]

@echicao we have a shredder too, and it's a great way to make the newspaper bedding.

[HairbyJUXTA]

What do you suggest for preventing fruit flies?

My bin was overtaken by them, and we had to move it to the balcony, but now I've been told that I have to trash the entire thing before summer arrives.

Seems like lining it with material to cover the hole might help in the beginning, but what do I do now that mine is riddled with gnats?

[ThreeEyedTeddyBear]

@HairbyJUXTA

You do need to change the paper on it cause over time the smell does get through, anywhere from once a week to once a month or so will do ya fine and you may wanna kinda start fomr scratch, get as many worms out as ya can, clean the bin very well make sure not le leave soap behind and then go at it again

[mujkocka]

i am very interested to know this too. my plants have attracted them too.

[mmmmmarcus]

@HairbyJUXTA Fruit flies are actually beneficial to a worm bin, unfortunately they are ANNOYING and can spread disease. Problems with gnats and fruit flies are due to excessive moisture/inadequate drainage, and/or poor ventilation.

[treborly]

newspaper has a grain?

[supersonicavengers]

How do I convince my husband to have this in the kitchen? He's worried about smell, leakage and worms getting out!

[ThreeEyedTeddyBear]

@supersonicavengers chang the newspaper on top form time to time and no smell, there is something on bottom to catch the leakage and the leakage is also great for soil also known as worm tea (though i wouldn't drink it, it's for plants) and the worms are small but you only need tiny worm holes. Atop that the worms should be happy there with no reason to leave and will only populate to the point needed never over that so you're safe

[ericn9vjg]

I heard that composting grains is not recommended. Not sure why or why not. Just wondering about your opinion.

[MonyMG1959]

What a great idea...They should use things like this in cities like Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic where there are many apartments and the trash can became a problem

[kickstartsearch]

Great vid. i got a pre-fab system for this from tierrapath

[pasychosheep]

Also, PCBs shouldn't be leaching on the inside of the bucket unless you keep your bin out in the sunlight. Plastic photodegrades.

[pasychosheep]

For everyone concerned about inks in paper, the vast majority of newspapers in the world(america, especially) use soy based inks. Perfectly safe.

[anirola7]

Nice video!!!

I only recommend to look for a better tray. I think that the compost inside the bin is going to drain all the tea worm once the process has evolved. That is a very precious organic fertilizer too.

And I don´t recommend to have the vermicompost bin in your kitchen for sanitation reasons.

[greencatmusic]

I also wondered about pcbs from the plastic if it's not food grade plastic ...

[greencatmusic]

Is straw better tha n printed paper? It seems really unorganic to use printed paper that must have loads of toxins in it if you want real organic compost for plants? That said... how fantastic this is for people without gardens! Thanks for posting this excellent and very helpful video x

[futurhumen]

@greencatmusic actually most newspapers and flyers are printed using soybased ink, conventional ink is becoming to expensive

[stonerj0e]

don't use color ink news paper. it contains high levels of heavy metals and other nasties ...

[radicalford]

you can use color but don't use the glossy ones

[9aspengold5]

there are only two of us making 'trash'. I was amazed at how much compost material we made just ourselves. I sure hope more people start composting and worm composting. It will be awesome how much space we can save in landfills.

[HTCSWEOD]

Very nicely done.. lots of great advise... this is a great recycling activity

[9aspengold5]

I noticed you used newspaper that had color print. I thought that you should only use the black and white pages and not the color print. Is that true???

[RyanIsHungry]

there are differing opinions on this. i have never had a problem with colored print paper and my worms.

[9aspengold5]

Thank you for the response. I have shredded up my paper and added it to the compost. Lets hope they like it !!!!

[fetymann]

You can't deny the stuff in the paper HAS to be some funky stuff. There's probably a problem that you might not be noticing. Ever wonder how your worms like the 'taste' of the funky inks and whatever the heck that stuff is made of. It can't be good. I don't even think we would feel that good eating that stuff. Not to mention it's probably safe to assume that the inks don't get fully broken down in their digestion so it'll still be in the castings. Ink residues in your veggies. Yum!

[larsinla]

@RyanIsHungry

it depends what color & paint is used on paper. some have lead in them or other petro chemical compounds. newspaper should not be used for that reason!!! ur worms wont die from it but it is still toxic! Just dont put any glossy paper in ut worm box.

[mushymcsquishy]

@9aspengold5 i think the issue is glossy, more magazine-like stuff, rather than newspaper with colored ink.

[IndiaHavenwick2]

Oh, by the way, the video is great. Thank you for posting it! Worms are little wonder workers!

[sweetheart4890]

i luv this vid more than any of the others i've seen. it's way more hands on and step by step and more detailed. and more understandable. thank you so much. im definately spreading the word about this and going to try to get anyone i know doing this.

[staceyannec]

thank you so much for putting this up. As soon as I move out im so doing this!!

[Mrwthompson]

Future science project for my 8th grade students. Thanks for the help Barb!

-Mr. T

[Mechman064]

Part of my preparations for peak oil and the looming economic depression has been to make a deck garden here at my condo(see my videos). I used powdered organic fertilizer to get things started but I think my next step is to begin composting. Making a worm bin seems like a very good solution.

[mmajkla]

Nice video and very informative. I will start soon!

[Speezerina]

This is really great. But how do you harvest the castings?

Thanks for the great how-to. :-)

[crock703]

Anyone know if there is an easy way to get red worms for free (or the cost of shipping)?

[MorganBatChava]

@crock703 I'm wondering if you can't just use bait worms. And then, when there get to be too many worms, use them to go fishing?

[ShandiGP]

@MorganBatChava some bait worms are acceptable, such as the European and African Nightcrawlers. However, other types of bait worms, such as Dew Worms, don't reproduce and live well in crowded bin conditions.

[yanghuikwon]

Thanks so much for putting this up!

I'm going to start my worm bin in a few days, as soon as midterm exams begin.

I hail from S. Korea.

I'm going to tell all students about this.