[maikeru]

Sorry to revive this old thread...but I figure that good discussions never get old.

I'm joining the vermiculture bandwagon. I purchased a couple pounds of red worms and hope these guys will come in the mail (and survive the heat...38-40 C) in the next few days. I'll keep the large part of the population in a basement bin, where I can feed them coffee grounds and kitchen scraps. The last few days I've been doing a lot of reading and research about vermiculture... Not too complicated, not too expensive, either.

Are there any Hypographers still raising and celebrating their little worms? Also, will I find it helpful if I slip a few red worms into my terra preta pots to allow them to compost and feed the plants in the pot? Any tips for a vermiculture newbie?

[Michaelangelica]

I had a three stage worm farm but finally gave it up for a 'compost" bin.

I placed it just outside the kitchen window and threw all kitchen scarps and a lot of paper into it.
The possum used it as a feeding tray but after about twelve months I had lovely humus.
I then started a new bin at the other kitchen window.

Worms seemed very slow in winter but in summer it was amazing what they got though including a lot of local papers.

[Chacmool]

Michaelangelica said:

You can buy a three tier plastic worm farm here in just about any nursery
You harvest the 'juice' from it ever other day. One tier is active where you put your scraps (on top) the next partially decomposed the bottom worm castings ready for the garden. The worms follow the food.

I only got into vermiculture a few months ago. I have one of the contraptions Michaelangelica describes. It's ridiculously low maintenance, and my plants seem to love the nutrient-rich water that filters through the system. I also like the fact that a lot of my organic waste doesn't end up in the bin anymore.

[lemit]

This guy is very good:

Garbage Busters Home

I've had a lot of luck with my Guinea Pig bedding/coffee grounds garden. Usually in about a month I have a very worm-rich soil. In three months I have a very rich loam.

I can't imagine buying worms for a garden. Like "Field of Dreams," if you build the soil, they will come. (I don't know if the kind of grass Kevin Costner put in would attract worms as well as it seemed to attract dead baseball players, although if you think about it, dead baseball players would be mostly composed of worms, so perhaps the analogy works.)

So in this Halloween--and MLB Playoff--season, if you want to attract worms, dead baseball players, or a symbiotic combination of the two, just build up the soil naturally.

--lemit

[JMJones0424]

A lot of places, specifically in my neck of the woods, do not contain the worms usually used in vermiculture. Vermiculture is not the breakdown of organic matter in the garden, but rather in a specially designed environment in order to increase decomposition speed. Redworms are to garden earthworms as hot composting is to natural decompostion.

I use about 50% vermicompost in my potted plants, and invariably end up with a few egg capsules which hatch in the pot. But because the environment in potted plants is not generally suited to keeping the worms happy (too wet after watering, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, little food supply), they usually either bolt or die off rather quickly. While I don't believe there would be any harm in adding them to a potted soil mix, I don't believe it would be particularly beneficial either.

[maikeru]

lemit said:

This guy is very good:

Garbage Busters Home

I've had a lot of luck with my Guinea Pig bedding/coffee grounds garden. Usually in about a month I have a very worm-rich soil. In three months I have a very rich loam.

I can't imagine buying worms for a garden. Like "Field of Dreams," if you build the soil, they will come. (I don't know if the kind of grass Kevin Costner put in would attract worms as well as it seemed to attract dead baseball players, although if you think about it, dead baseball players would be mostly composed of worms, so perhaps the analogy works.)

So in this Halloween--and MLB Playoff--season, if you want to attract worms, dead baseball players, or a symbiotic combination of the two, just build up the soil naturally.

--lemit

The earthworms in my lawn and garden are dead. It appears the lawn care people killed them with chemicals. I haven't seen a single nightcrawler in months after big storms, and my red worms didn't fare too well outside. Bird attack. So I'll probably buy more and try to create better conditions for them. I need to amend my garden soil more (i.e., bother the Starbucks people for more coffee grounds) and prepare it ahead for the spring.

[Ganoderma]

Quote

I use about 50% vermicompost in my potted plants, and invariably end up with a few egg capsules which hatch in the pot. But because the environment in potted plants is not generally suited to keeping the worms happy (too wet after watering, too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, little food supply), they usually either bolt or die off rather quickly. While I don't believe there would be any harm in adding them to a potted soil mix, I don't believe it would be particularly beneficial either.

They seem to maintain quite well in my larger pots (1gallon). i leave the leaves that fall off in the pots and that seems to sustain at least a handful unless i forget to water for a long time.



on a side note, i just started digging my compost hole, so far about 3x6meters and as deep as beer and shovel will get me.

[Michaelangelica]

maikeru said:

The earthworms in my lawn and garden are dead. It appears the lawn care people killed them with chemicals. I haven't seen a single nightcrawler in months after big storms, and my red worms didn't fare too well outside. Bird attack. So I'll probably buy more and try to create better conditions for them. I need to amend my garden soil more (i.e., bother the Starbucks people for more coffee grounds) and prepare it ahead for the spring.

That's terrible
Do i remember a thread here on soil remediation using plants?
If so, I would like to find it as i heard a guy on the radio saying he could not garden in his inner city terrace because of lead in the soil. (He had it tested).

Would a green manure crop be a good way of kick starting some food for your (future) worms?

[Ganoderma]

i have heard of pumpkins and the like being used to help soak out the nasties (i heard it with DDT use) but then you have chemical filled pumpkins to put somewhere....not sure about lead though.

[Michaelangelica]

This discussion might interest some
!Permaculture discussion forum • View topic - mini wormfarm made from recycled materials

[maikeru]

Michaelangelica said:

That's terrible
Do i remember a thread here on soil remediation using plants?
If so, I would like to find it as i heard a guy on the radio saying he could not garden in his inner city terrace because of lead in the soil. (He had it tested).

Would a green manure crop be a good way of kick starting some food for your (future) worms?

Yes, I remember seeing the thread on soil remediation a while back. By chemicals, I think they used chemical fertilizers and herbicides, which I'd asked them not to use, because I prefer sparing my little wormies, saving money, and for health's sake. An extra $40 bucks per month is always nice in the recession. Don't think they listened. I noticed on the last two bills that I was charged. Frankly, I'm surprised at how devoid of life the lawn is after several months of their fertilizer and herbicide treatment, and the garden was not terribly great this year.

For green manure, I'll need to get Rhizobium for the white clover. I have seeds. Didn't have a chance this year, but I can. The compost tea I used on my green onions, tomatoes, etc. helped them do better, so I've been collecting tomatoes and greens all summer, but the soil is still hard and clayey. Not soft and pliable as I hoped I could work it into. What would I not give for a few earthworms to take this lifeless dirt and turn it inside out!

My indoor garden has been doing well. Those hydroponic pots I turned into charcoal soil ones are doing much better too. I have started harvesting swiss chard and spinach for salads.

[Getting A Life]

Pretty keen on worms myself.

Got a square metre bin, only a foot deep, that gets about 10 lbs waste per week. This bin is very hard to harvest from I just add all food to one side for a few months then get many pounds at once of worm laden castings from the other side and spread them over the garden patch I'm trying to tweak. I've noticed trees love worms, and get less problems with castings in their mulch.

Paper scraps is good but it seems to attract disproportionate amounts of slugs. As a shredded mulch it fared a lot better, sheets were perfect hiding spots for big bull leopard slugs.

Worms don't eat the food scraps, rather, the biology living on the food scraps. They like bacteria, protists, fungi... If the fungi devour your paper this is a good thing, though I have noticed paper attracts Zygomycetes (moulds) and some of these could be potentially dangerous. Anyone know how to determine this phyla via substrate?

As the worms love the biology they can be encouraged, or scraps processed better, with innoculants. Old finished compost, compost teas, EM, bokashi organic matter, type thing. If you have no worms in your soil the biology is dead, you need compost teas, maybe EM, and organic matter, then the worms will return.

If you have maggots in your pile check and see if you have Hermetia illucens - Black Soldier Flies. These things compost ten times as fast as worms, and their castings are perfect as worm bedding. The maggots they produce are 44% protein by dry weight and can be used directly as chook food or for lizards, carnivorous fish etc. To learn more about BSF....

Black Soldier Fly Blog - Bio-Composting with Black Soldier Fly Grubs – Responsible, Fascinating and Simple

A DIY bin for the beginners is found on page 1.

[Ganoderma]

if your gong the legume route for soil, peas and beans also work. it works really well to grow them int eh compost a little before your spreading it, then the soil is that much more rich. plus you get some nice veg instead of weedy clover (unless you like clover, then by all means!)

[maikeru]

Getting A Life said:

Pretty keen on worms myself.

Got a square metre bin, only a foot deep, that gets about 10 lbs waste per week. This bin is very hard to harvest from I just add all food to one side for a few months then get many pounds at once of worm laden castings from the other side and spread them over the garden patch I'm trying to tweak. I've noticed trees love worms, and get less problems with castings in their mulch.

Paper scraps is good but it seems to attract disproportionate amounts of slugs. As a shredded mulch it fared a lot better, sheets were perfect hiding spots for big bull leopard slugs.

Worms don't eat the food scraps, rather, the biology living on the food scraps. They like bacteria, protists, fungi... If the fungi devour your paper this is a good thing, though I have noticed paper attracts Zygomycetes (moulds) and some of these could be potentially dangerous. Anyone know how to determine this phyla via substrate?

As the worms love the biology they can be encouraged, or scraps processed better, with innoculants. Old finished compost, compost teas, EM, bokashi organic matter, type thing. If you have no worms in your soil the biology is dead, you need compost teas, maybe EM, and organic matter, then the worms will return.

Is it also the same with topsoil/subsoil and deep burrowing earthworms? That they feed primarily on microflora, although they're more geophageous compared to Eisenia foetida?

Quote

If you have maggots in your pile check and see if you have Hermetia illucens - Black Soldier Flies. These things compost ten times as fast as worms, and their castings are perfect as worm bedding. The maggots they produce are 44% protein by dry weight and can be used directly as chook food or for lizards, carnivorous fish etc. To learn more about BSF....

Black Soldier Fly Blog - Bio-Composting with Black Soldier Fly Grubs – Responsible, Fascinating and Simple

A DIY bin for the beginners is found on page 1.

Will keep this in mind.

[maikeru]

Ganoderma said:

if your gong the legume route for soil, peas and beans also work. it works really well to grow them int eh compost a little before your spreading it, then the soil is that much more rich. plus you get some nice veg instead of weedy clover (unless you like clover, then by all means!)

From what I remember, clovers can be some of the heaviest N fixers and what I've noticed growing clover in my room, it also produces and cycles through a lot of leaves and creates good leaf litter, so it does have an important role in building good topsoil and humus. But...it is invasive, like you mentioned! Either a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it. It can compete with most weeds and suppress them. The white clover in my pots try to branch and find their way into other non-clover pots and it annoys me. In my veggie-producing pots, I switched to sugar snap peas as N fixers with a harvestable crop. Hope to collect several pods in the coming winter.