i understand veforne i am a plumber so i know what home building all about. now you say i need red wigglers well thats what they normally sell here in the south for bait. or they use to .when me and my grandfather whet fishing he would buy red wigglers for bait all the time and at the end of the day he would put what we didn't use into his worm bed. now i don't know much about worms but is it possible there another species of worms called wigglers.
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V
vonforne
Worms tunnel deeply in the soil and bring subsoil closer to the surface mixing it with the topsoil. Slime, a secretion of earthworms, contains nitrogen. Nitrogen is an important nutrient for plants. The sticky slime helps to hold clusters of soil particles together in formations called aggregates. These aggregates are added to the soil in the form of castings. as they decompose (time release) they are made avaliable to the plants for nutrient uptake.
I have just started to build a worm box. I went and found this site, http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/neighborhood/index.html It has everything in it that I needed to know. Anyway hope this helps.
G
Guest
make sure to drill some holes on the bottom 3-4" of the sides of the bin
Hi, I've been thinking about setting up my own vermicompost and I've got a few questions. I like to recycle all my glass, card, plastic etc and being able to cut my organic waste too would be excellent. I live in the uk.
Would the weather be ok to support a vermicompost here?
Would I be able to combine the organic waste from my kitchen with the grass cuttings from my lawn?
If I were to set up one here, would I need to mail order some worms, or will the "locals" move in?
How long does it take for a vermicompost to start up (as in being able to use the soil inside)?
Thanks with any help you guys can give me.
Would the weather be ok to support a vermicompost here?
Would I be able to combine the organic waste from my kitchen with the grass cuttings from my lawn?
If I were to set up one here, would I need to mail order some worms, or will the "locals" move in?
How long does it take for a vermicompost to start up (as in being able to use the soil inside)?
Thanks with any help you guys can give me.
G
Guest
you need red wigglers, most likely not your native ones
grass cuttings are fine as long as you don't put too much in at a time (it may get 'hot')
doesn't take long at all as long, you just need food and it has to start rotting/decomposing.
expect to see mold - it's ok
grass cuttings are fine as long as you don't put too much in at a time (it may get 'hot')
doesn't take long at all as long, you just need food and it has to start rotting/decomposing.
expect to see mold - it's ok
3BM
Member
Hey Dignan:
I used shreded paper and it works great. Avoid color, and make sure the inks are soy based. Most modern papers are, look for a local weekly publication. I also cut the paper about 50% w/ pure peat. It improves on the texture of pure paper. Adding grit to the mix may help your worms along. They can digest with greater effciency when their gullet contains tiny granular particles. Washed playground sand from a hardware store works great. Hope that helps.
I used shreded paper and it works great. Avoid color, and make sure the inks are soy based. Most modern papers are, look for a local weekly publication. I also cut the paper about 50% w/ pure peat. It improves on the texture of pure paper. Adding grit to the mix may help your worms along. They can digest with greater effciency when their gullet contains tiny granular particles. Washed playground sand from a hardware store works great. Hope that helps.
Hi, I just bought one of these bins to put in my garden. I've got a load of worms from my friends compost bin and having been saving food scraps for the past week.
Shall I just chuck them all in there with some newspaper and keep topping with the kitchen waste? Or do I have to wait for them to rot enough before adding the worms? Cheers!
V
vonforne
Take your newpaper and tear it into 1 inch strips. Or dry leaves if you have them.
Fill your bin about 2/3s way with this.
Wet the paper like you would a wet spounge.
Add about 4 handfuls of some kind of compost or old soil.
Maybe a little bit of sand for grit.
Limestone or egg shells.
Place your worms in the bin.
Now you want to add your food scrapes to the corners rotating each corner per week.
1 person = 2sq feet of worm food per week.
Fill your bin about 2/3s way with this.
Wet the paper like you would a wet spounge.
Add about 4 handfuls of some kind of compost or old soil.
Maybe a little bit of sand for grit.
Limestone or egg shells.
Place your worms in the bin.
Now you want to add your food scrapes to the corners rotating each corner per week.
1 person = 2sq feet of worm food per week.
Vermicompost: Breaking Down The Benefits
Are there advantages to applying worm castings as a fertilizer to your crop? Mark Elzinga says yes.
By Patricia Riedman Yeager
July 2011
Mark Elzinga began researching worm compost four years ago. As owner of Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses (E&H) in Portage and Kalamazoo, Mich., he was in the midst of revamping his facility and looking for more sustainable ways to cut the facility’s energy costs and reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
“I’m not a tree hugger,” says Elzinga, who oversees 1.4 million square feet of greenhouses. “I went into organics for the money.”
Elzinga says it was around then that he discovered Worm Power, a vermicompost company based in Upstate New York that recently partnered with Harris Seeds to distribute its products. He ordered a few samples and then more. He’s now a fan, mixing up powerful tea – or vermi-espresso, as he likes to call it – which uses 10 percent vermicompost to water by volume. Elzinga touts the tea as the secret to keeping his organic plants growing strong. The mix is a combination of droppings from red worms mixed with molasses, sea kelp and other organics. Together, those ingredients create a bacteria-rich liquid that, Elzinga says, outperforms commercial fertilizers.
Elzinga applies his vermicompost to E&H’s Fresh Flavors branded organic vegetable and herb potted plants, as well as his ornamental crops. He even mixes vermicompost into a proprietary organic soil mix that’s sold under the Fresh Flavors brand at Meijer, a large Midwest supermarket chain. “We don’t use fertilizer,” Elzinga says. “We use a biological amendment.”
Research has established that worm compost, when added as a soil amendment, increases soil fertility, improves plant nutrient uptake, enhances soil structure and boosts soil’s water-holding capacity.
Elzinga & Hoeksema's organic production
benefits from the vermicompost the operation
brews in two vats.
There are other benefits, as well. If you put a slide sample of E&H’s compost tea under a microscope, Elzinga says you can see 100,000 beneficial bacteria with 90 percent fungal density and 400 nematodes. The added benefit is the nematodes can eat the larvae of common greenhouse pests like shore flies and gnats.
“It stops pythium in snapdragons,” Elzinga says. “I can say that because I’ve seen it.”
For the last few years, worm-composting companies around the country have begun research in the pest and disease areas. Studies show vermicompost can protect plants from a variety of pathogens. Researchers are working to uncover the details of how this works. Worm Power, for example, has been the subject of a five-year university laboratory study, which shows it to be effective in suppressing pythium in cucumber seedlings.
The vermicompost market has taken off the last few years with sales of home worm-composting bins and worm poop from bait dealers. Elzinga, however, believes that while straight worm poop from a bait dealer might be OK to spread in a field, he needs a product of consistent quality for a greenhouse. You don’t know what a bait dealer’s worms have been fed, Elzinga says.
For example, at Worm Power, cow manure from a single dairy farm is combined with silage and composted at high temperatures before it undergoes the worm composting process. Every step of the process is controlled and tested. “The techniques they use are so important,” Elzinga says. “Their facility is Club Med for worms.”
Since starting his work with compost tea, Elzinga says he has been able to drive down costs considerably. He is now able to pre-activate some of the vermicompost material, a process that increases the amount of fungal biomass in compost before it is brewed into tea. E&H’s cost to make compost tea has dropped to $115 a week from $1,700 a week when it started. “Vermicompost is the base for everything we do,” Elzinga says.
http://www.greenhousegrower.com/magazine/?storyid=4666
Are there advantages to applying worm castings as a fertilizer to your crop? Mark Elzinga says yes.
By Patricia Riedman Yeager
July 2011
Mark Elzinga began researching worm compost four years ago. As owner of Elzinga & Hoeksema Greenhouses (E&H) in Portage and Kalamazoo, Mich., he was in the midst of revamping his facility and looking for more sustainable ways to cut the facility’s energy costs and reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
“I’m not a tree hugger,” says Elzinga, who oversees 1.4 million square feet of greenhouses. “I went into organics for the money.”
Elzinga says it was around then that he discovered Worm Power, a vermicompost company based in Upstate New York that recently partnered with Harris Seeds to distribute its products. He ordered a few samples and then more. He’s now a fan, mixing up powerful tea – or vermi-espresso, as he likes to call it – which uses 10 percent vermicompost to water by volume. Elzinga touts the tea as the secret to keeping his organic plants growing strong. The mix is a combination of droppings from red worms mixed with molasses, sea kelp and other organics. Together, those ingredients create a bacteria-rich liquid that, Elzinga says, outperforms commercial fertilizers.
Elzinga applies his vermicompost to E&H’s Fresh Flavors branded organic vegetable and herb potted plants, as well as his ornamental crops. He even mixes vermicompost into a proprietary organic soil mix that’s sold under the Fresh Flavors brand at Meijer, a large Midwest supermarket chain. “We don’t use fertilizer,” Elzinga says. “We use a biological amendment.”
Research has established that worm compost, when added as a soil amendment, increases soil fertility, improves plant nutrient uptake, enhances soil structure and boosts soil’s water-holding capacity.
Elzinga & Hoeksema's organic production
benefits from the vermicompost the operation
brews in two vats.
There are other benefits, as well. If you put a slide sample of E&H’s compost tea under a microscope, Elzinga says you can see 100,000 beneficial bacteria with 90 percent fungal density and 400 nematodes. The added benefit is the nematodes can eat the larvae of common greenhouse pests like shore flies and gnats.
“It stops pythium in snapdragons,” Elzinga says. “I can say that because I’ve seen it.”
For the last few years, worm-composting companies around the country have begun research in the pest and disease areas. Studies show vermicompost can protect plants from a variety of pathogens. Researchers are working to uncover the details of how this works. Worm Power, for example, has been the subject of a five-year university laboratory study, which shows it to be effective in suppressing pythium in cucumber seedlings.
The vermicompost market has taken off the last few years with sales of home worm-composting bins and worm poop from bait dealers. Elzinga, however, believes that while straight worm poop from a bait dealer might be OK to spread in a field, he needs a product of consistent quality for a greenhouse. You don’t know what a bait dealer’s worms have been fed, Elzinga says.
For example, at Worm Power, cow manure from a single dairy farm is combined with silage and composted at high temperatures before it undergoes the worm composting process. Every step of the process is controlled and tested. “The techniques they use are so important,” Elzinga says. “Their facility is Club Med for worms.”
Since starting his work with compost tea, Elzinga says he has been able to drive down costs considerably. He is now able to pre-activate some of the vermicompost material, a process that increases the amount of fungal biomass in compost before it is brewed into tea. E&H’s cost to make compost tea has dropped to $115 a week from $1,700 a week when it started. “Vermicompost is the base for everything we do,” Elzinga says.
http://www.greenhousegrower.com/magazine/?storyid=4666
