Vermicompost: Our Worm Bin Rocks!

[CimaraNyx]

Mmmmm...worm smoothie! Do you ever make a tea out of the castings and pour it directly into your garden soil? I've seen that done on other videos. Seems like it might be more evenly spread that way. I can't wait to get my worms!

[paulgem123]

Good stuff. I'm going to do that again.

[trailpacker]

Hi Ryan....did you ever notice that you started to have this white fury substance in your bin....just started my bin last week and this stuff is apearing.

[ArizonaAdventures]

Lookslike you got a lot of worm compost! Nice job.

[rightview]

If you just let this batch set (no additional smoothie or new food scraps), how long will it take to be done?

[BalconyGrow]

I find that if I freeze the food first and then thaw it to room temperature, the worms devour it. This also makes it easier on me not to have to mess with it every day and gives the worms a chance to eat their previous meal. :o)

[mujkocka]

i like your cat :-)

[zomgwtfbbqbagel]

blending food can become anaerobic. Use one of those old-type grinders used for meat. It works wonders, and chops food finely, but doesn't turn it into a goopy mess.

[Phoray]

I wonder if there is a difference -- like if the ink shows up in minute amounts in th epoop. wonder if anyone as ever does a test... I never have to ever dampen the paper because it is always so wet in my worm bin! I think I need to put more air holes, because the worms hang out around the air holes instead in the dirt sometimes o-o

[NOSMOJEFF]

We use shredded paper too but if possible stay away from "toner ink" photo copy paper as a gesture of safety thinking.

[pompomwall]

Don't use anything but black and white newspaper and black and white computer paper!

[RyanIsHungry]

i have found that any color paper works just fine. there has been some talk about bad things in colored ink, but i think most things are ok. i've never had a problem with any paper i've given them.

[rexenne]

Soy-based inks are fine. Most newspapers now use soy-based ink but you cal always call your local newspaper and ask.

[Wormfarmergeorge]

I've found blending is a great idea too. It works well with eggshells and hard vegetables. I've also discovered worms love corn cobs. Once decomposed you'll find lots of cacoons and worms throughout a chunk of cob. The same goes for small pieces of wet corrugated cardboard, they make themselves to home fast in the corrugations. My garden is loving my sorry ass these days due to worm (ahem) excrement. Castings sounds so much better. It's like growth hormones to vegetables.

[Nipfreakcat]

So true! every time I check my worm bin the fat little guys are chillin' in the corrugations. I haven't tried corn cobs because I don't want to blend the cobs less throw the whole thing in the bin. I have to say that I added tiny chunks of cantaloupe and some other vegetable that I can't remember and the population boomed. I started with 50 worms, not I probably have 4x the amount (maybe more than that).

[rexenne]

Freezing also helps soften scraps & accelerates it's decomp. I don't have the luxury of having a blender just for the garbage, so I've been freezing our scraps for 5 years with great success.

[brewingbandeto]

I do the same. I find that this works best because freezing breaks down the molecular structure of the food making it easier for the microorganisms to break it down. Plus if you have a surplus of organic matter you just throw it in the freezer until it is time to give it to the worms. I tried blending the food once or twice, freezing is much easier to do.

[TexasWaterSnake]

That paper looks dry.

My worm bin is two 5 gallon buckets, one inside the other, with a loose lid on top. The inner bucket and the lid have tiny holes that I drilled - house flies cannot get in, but air can. I save the paper towels every time I wash my hands, run them through the shredder, soak them in hot water and drain them until slighly damp for my worm bedding.

I checked my worm bin last night, and my redworms had converted most of the old paper towels & coffee grounds into castings.

[takadi]

Where did you find that bin? It has that perfect shallow wide shape.

[gretabug]

It is an old kitty litter box. You can get them that size at walmart for a fewbucks.

[guest2424]

Oh, by the way, that is what I have heard, I am still a new vermicomposter and still have many issues and problems and only minimal experience, however I love vermicomposting and never want to give up on it.

[guest2424]

I think it is also a good idea, to add back some of the worm compost and non-composted material into a new bin so they feel more at home. By new bin, I recommend you have it sitting with no worms in it for about 2 weeks with wet newspaper, so that it can settle and level out the activity so that they can start eating sooner and won't freak out and all try to escape from a completely fresh bin.

[frankodelic]

Mmmmmmm I want one of your smoothies... yummy, you should open a smootie stand... ha :)