best worm bins avaiable

[yortbogey]

my BIGGEST problem....has been finding a WORM supplier that can ship NOW....during winter....alotta of worm farms are closed for winter....

 

[vonforne]

this lady will ship. good service also.

http://www.wackyworldsof.com/html/ordering_info.html

 

[Bullfrog44]

Yep that will work fine. It is most likely not finished like the manure compost. 2000+ worms will work that in no time. And remember with the worms comes cocoons......each has 3 offspring in it so the 2000 will be 4000 real fast. and they never count out to exact numbers. Where I got mine the lady said there were closer to 3000 most likely. Cool by me!

I like to add some of my pre-mixed soil and add it to the compost. makes it a little lighter and it has rock powders and all in there. I also add GRD and char to the bin.

V

So I am new to this and I am still trying to figure out the basics. I just want to make sure I understand you correctly.....The compost is the food you give the worms right? I would still use bedding in layers right? Also, do I fill my bin all the way to the top with layers of bedding and compost? Or should I fill half way and fill as I go? Thanks for the help you guys.

 

[vonforne]

This just the way I do it going on a information from Coot. I would normally put food sources and let it take several months.

I never tried layering it.....I just wanted faster than normal castings.

MM would know more about that than me.

V

 

[big_daddy]

my BIGGEST problem....has been finding a WORM supplier that can ship NOW....during winter....alotta of worm farms are closed for winter....

Here's a couple of vendors that should be able to ship right away. Blue Ridge has a good deal on cocoons. 3,000 cocoons could yield between 10- 15lbs of adult worms for 55 bucks.

NW Redworms is a local business to me. Coot and I got our Malaysian Blues from him. Good luck.

http://blueridgevermiculture.com/

http://northwestredworms.com/products.aspx

b_d

 

[jammie]

this lady will ship. good service also.

http://www.wackyworldsof.com/html/ordering_info.html

here's another, cheaper option, especially if you live on the east coast.http://www.unclejimswormfarm.com/

 

[River-Running]

The OSCR is up and running. Definitely well designed and thought out on every detail.

The horse manure that I had delivered several months ago which was loaded with Red Worms went into #65 SmartPots (I ended up with 4 total). The worm activity is better than I expected. I figure that the material will be processed by late February when I'll harvest the worms and cocoons and set the vermicompost aside for 4 months to cure.

I had enough horse manure to add to a remaining batch of thermal compost I had made and I loaded this into a standard coffin-style worm bin - 18 c.f. total.

And from the original worm bin that I had built, I split the vermicompost with a friend and I still ended up with 50 gallons and about 10 lbs. of Red Worms. That is curing now and has another 3 months to go.

I have 40 gallons of castings fully dried and cured which is going into the current cycles. Pretty amazing growth and vigor using castings of this quality. Stunning actually.

RR

 

[Bullfrog44]

River-Running - Is the horse manure used as food for the worms or the bedding? Can finished compost accomplish the same thing? When setting up my bin how should I lair my food and bedding? Thanks everybody.

 

[River-Running]

Bullfrog

In this design the bedding & food stock are one and the same. If I do add kitchen scraps Ii process it using Dan Holcombe's recommendation.

Basically you set-up 2 empty buckets with drain holes drilled all around the base. To that you add some horse manure (or compost or a combination) and hydrate the material. At this point you add your kitchen scraps and if you have both cut them up as much as possible and frozen this material then you will accelerate the next part of the process.

Cover the kitchen scraps with more horse manure and hydrate again. Let this set for several days which will release the water. Excess water is your biggest enemy in a worm bin - that and lack of aeration which usually go hand-in-hand. Once the material has broken down and released the water then you add that to the surface and cover with a thin layer of semi-dry horse manure - absorb water.

You want to maintain a hydration level around 75% for maximum production.

The castings that I'm making have no commercial value because most people would look at them and consider them adulterated because I'm adding organic rice hulls to the material as a Carbon source as well as establishing an aeration amendment from the start meaning that when I mix the potting soil I have a humus source that isn't a big muddy mess.

Something like that......

RR

 

[mad librettist]

Just to add to what RR said - in my worm bin I don't need to remove moisture. In fact, I have to water it.

Imo this is the big distinction: hard sided bins that breathe via vents, and soft bodied bins that breathe all over. I keep a plastic lid on top, otherwise I have to water quite often.

I add calcined DE when I feed. What comes out the bottom is ready to use medium. after rough screening to remove bsf larvae and any unprocessed material (like nut shells)

 

[Bullfrog44]

Thanks for all the answers you guys. I do have one additional question for RR. Does that mean you can just throw manure or compost in your bin? No bedding material or food scraps, just manure/compost? I didn't realize you could do that, I have much to learn.

I built my bin and drilled my holes. I cut up bedding and have loads of tomatoes from the yard that are over ripe. I also have my compost, so now I just need to fill my bins and order some worms. Thanks everybody.

 

[jaykush]

the only time i use bedding is when starting a new batch after harvest. otherwise its all scraps and plant material.

 

[River-Running]

Thanks for all the answers you guys. I do have one additional question for RR. Does that mean you can just throw manure or compost in your bin? No bedding material or food scraps, just manure/compost? I didn't realize you could do that, I have much to learn.

I built my bin and drilled my holes. I cut up bedding and have loads of tomatoes from the yard that are over ripe. I also have my compost, so now I just need to fill my bins and order some worms. Thanks everybody.

Bullfrog

Let's agree on the term 'bedding' and as it's promoted at worm bin sites (you know the grab a Rubbermaid and a pile of romaine leaves and let's make some worm castings!) - their definition usually involves using leaves or better yet, leaf mold. And then comes the newspaper suggestion - probably THE worst idea they could have come up with.

In a flow-through worm bin you do not have a bottom but rather a grate and you place some layers of newspaper or kraft paper and then begin building the bin with food stock and horse manure is a good choice because the aged version has the perfect C:N for vermicomposting - 25:1

By the time that the worms have begun to process the manure and/or compost, the paper will have been digested as well and when fully charged (30 - 36 lbs. of worms), you'll harvest an equal amount of vermicompost as you added material to the top of the bin every 3 days or so.

So to answer your question specifically, using the normal definition of 'bedding' you do not use a bedding in this design.

HTH

RR

 

[mad librettist]

the whole concept of "bedding" doesn't really work in vermicomposting if you think about it. They are living in and eating the same material.

I use "bedding" because my worms are also the disposal area for the bedding my small animals use (a paper product). Actually, it would be more accurate to call what I have a redworm/african nightcrawler/black soldier fly/mushroom (coprinus of some sort) bin. It mostly just eats soiled bedding and coffee grounds.

As opposed to coot's 3 days, material takes more like a month to finish in my bin.

So there you have another major division in bin types: bins for disposing of waste vs. bins for producing castings.


Obviously if the idea is to reduce your waste stream, animal manures are not the way to go.

Obviously if your goal is maximum castings you should avoid paper.

 

[River-Running]

Mad

How's this for a summary of your post - decide what your goal is - vermicompost or re-cycling.

Both are certainly admirable goals in and of themselves but both have innate and definite competing agendas.

RR

 

[mad librettist]

Mad

How's this for a summary of your post - decide what your goal is - vermicompost or re-cycling.

Both are certainly admirable goals in and of themselves but both have innate and definite competing agendas.

RR

yup

 

[mad librettist]

btw who the hell is voting your threads down coot?

just curious, because they are pretty damn helpful...

 

[Microbeman]

Seems there is some confusion here. There is no distinction between bedding and food. The layering simply refers to feeding the worms in layers rather than a bunch at once. Please see my webpage. If there is an advantage to aging vermicompost, it is one on me. I much prefer my vermicompost fresh from the bin and have recently posted about difficulties encountered with slow to wake up microbes from vermicompost which sat for a few months. The advantage to flow throughs is speed and they are employed in the commercial industry. Some of my most microbially interesting vermicompost came from the over-wet depths of a year-old bin. There were masses of worms hanging out down there apparently dying from lack of oxygen. There is not a big problem using newspaper but cardboard is better due to the ink factor. The fastest breeding bins anywhere use cardboard (I think the worms get off on the glue).

If you want the material digested faster then shred it or powder it so the microbes have more surface area. Just jump into it the cheapest most practical way you can using the resources at hand (high carbon;low nitrogen; exception is manures). Forget all those fancy ingredients. No matter what you feed, the highest quality will come from redigestion of castings. I gaurantee it.

Don't give them an abundance of greens and acidic stuff. I killed thousands of worms once, feeding them alfalfa meal. I now keep that kind of stuff to 5%.

Some things can get experted to death.

 

[h.h.]

Forget all those fancy ingredients. No matter what you feed, the highest quality will come from redigestion of castings. I gaurantee it....
Some things can get experted to death.

This has been my question. While "fancy ingredients" may not contribute to the biology of the compost, wouldn't it help break down kelp and rock dust, making them more available? Other than some gassing off, isn't everything going to pass through in some form or another? While too much alfalfa might heat up a bin, wouldn't horsetail contribute silica?

 

[Microbeman]

This has been my question. While "fancy ingredients" may not contribute to the biology of the compost, wouldn't it help break down kelp and rock dust, making them more available? Other than some gassing off, isn't everything going to pass through in some form or another? While too much alfalfa might heat up a bin, wouldn't horsetail contribute silica?

What compost?