[Teadaemon]

I'm having a little trouble in finding a reliable source of worm castings (compost) and had something of an epiphany this morning, when I thought "why don't I make my own?"

I've searched the forums here and found this very informative article by I.M.Boggled which discusses the theory, but is a bit light on practice.

I've also Googled and found a number of useful resources, including an excellent howto article for a DIY continuous wormery.

What I was wondering was whether there are many (any) people on here who 've made or run their own wormery, and any advice they care to give, especially MJ-specific advice.

Your thoughts are welcomed.

[4iiii'z]

make sure its well ventilated
I couldn't get mine far enough from the house
the smell was unreal in summer - it had to go

(*)^(*)

nothing mj specific...but composting with worms is easy. Start with good worms (red wigglers) and good composting materials (different materials will give different end results) and a little time, and thats it.

I've done it a couple of times, and as long as your input material is quality and your worms are happy, the end result will be nice BUT, I will warn you that it is nearly impossible to keep the bugs away (at least for me). The worm bin is a favorite breeding ground for pests that can destroy your crop, so be careful.

[Teadaemon]

Originally Posted by kokua

The worm bin is a favorite breeding ground for pests that can destroy your crop, so be careful.

To be honest that's the one thing that's put me off until now. I'd even consider trying to sterilise it if I didn't want to keep all the microbes.

From my readings so far I'd guess that a continuous system with a stack of boxes would help keep the pests away from the finished compost - since the pests generally live off relatively fresh organic matter I'd expect them to be concentrated in the top box (along with the worms).

[BurnOne]

Teadaemon-

Here is a company that helps people set up their own worm business...

https://www.vermiculture.com/biz/

It's also a great site to get pre-packaged worm castings cheap.

Burn1

[Teadaemon]

Originally Posted by BurnOne

Teadaemon-

Here is a company that helps people set up their own worm business...

https://www.vermiculture.com/biz/

It's also a great site to get pre-packaged worm castings cheap.

Burn1

Thanks, but I think shipping on a bag of worm castings might be a bit steep from the US to Tyneside.

https://www.wormsdirectuk.co.uk - these people (amongst others) can supply me with appropriate native worms, and I've got to check out whether the local growshop can supply me with worm castings in the short term (I'm not sure as he seems to specialise in hydro and selling people expensive bottles of proprietary chemicals).

[BurnOne]

Sorry. I didn't take the good time to check out your location. Good luck with your worms.
Burn1

Worm Castings and Vermicompost are two different terms that you should explore a bit more. Vermicompost is a more general term than worm castings. A casting is manure, the material deposited from the anus after it’s moved through the digestive tract of a worm. Vermicompost contains worm castings, but also consists of partially decomposed bedding and organic waste with recognizable fragments of plants, food, worms of all ages, worm cocoons, and associated organisms (BUGS – good and bad).

The effectiveness of your vermicomposting system will depend partly upon your expectations and partly on your behavior. You can reasonably expect to bury a large portion of your biodegradable kitchen waste in a properly prepared worm bin, check it occasionally, make judgments about what must be done, then harvest worms and vermicompost or worm castings after a period of several months. You cannot expect to merely dump all the trash from your kitchen into a worm bin, add some worms, and come back in only two weeks to collect quantities of fine, dark worm castings that look like what you are used to buying at the store.

Because you want the castings in the most finished form, you have the advantage of extremely low maintenance. You will bury food waste in your worm bin over a four-month period, and then leave it alone. You won’t have to feed or water the worms for the next few months, while letting the entire culture proceed at its own pace. The worms will produce castings continuously as they east the bedding and food waste. The disadvantage of this program is that, as the proportion of castings increases, wastes which are toxic to the worms accumulate, and the environment for the worms deteriorates. They get smaller, stop reproducing, and many die.

In time, your worm bin will provide a quantity of fine castings to give you a homogeneous, nutrient rich soil amendment.

Originally Posted by Teadaemon

From my readings so far I'd guess that a continuous system with a stack of boxes would help keep the pests away from the finished compost - since the pests generally live off relatively fresh organic matter I'd expect them to be concentrated in the top box (along with the worms).

Bugs find a way...there is abosolutely no way to isolate them to the top box. You could try incorporating BTI for fungus gnats and maybe some beneficial nematodes could keep the bad bugs at bay. Remember though, if you build it....they will come!!

[Teadaemon]

Originally Posted by kokua

You could try incorporating BTI for fungus gnats and maybe some beneficial nematodes could keep the bad bugs at bay. Remember though, if you build it....they will come!!

Fair enough, my aim is to have healthy vermicompost, preferably achieved with as few additions as possible. I'll investigate inocculation with benificial microbes, and I'm also considering using a four or five layered system so the compost gets longer to mature after the worms have finished with it. Potentially I'd be prepared to wait maybe a year to start emptying compost out of it, if that meant that the end product was sufficiently broken down.

One specific point I'm unsure of, how wet do the worms like it?

I've seen designs with a sump for the collection of liquid (which is recomended as a liquid fertiliser by some sites, though not specifically for MJ), and I know they do require watering, but are we talking a brief drizzle, a deluge, or something in between?

ETA:
I've just found an online source for high quality worm castings. Somewhat pricey (£13.50 for 18 litres inc. tax and delivery), but as I don't have transport ordering it solves the problem of getting it to my door. So, short-term I'm fixed, and I can look into vermicompost - even if I use 40% compost 20% coir rather than 20% castings 40% coir it should do the job, and reduce my costs at the same time.