i use one of these. similar to smart pot idea except flow through. would love to see one scaled up. you would need a big sewing machine
River-Running - I do have extra 65 gal smart pots from this season. You might be on to something here.
As for the design you guys have been using, how are the castings from it? I want the most refined castings possible, only the best ya know? I know that depends on many factors and I have some books to read so that question might be a hard to answer.
Thanks again for the help everybody.
Let's debunk this myth that worm castings are bad for worms. Worms need the most biologically active environment they can find in order to grow at maximum. The cast of the worm can be as much as six times MORE biologically active than is the OM they ingest. As such, castings are beneficial in the system since they increase the microbial activity. In fact, worms will reingest their own castings over and over again, even in the presence of a rich food source. Some of the most productive worm beds in the world are maintained by removing castings just once per year.
Worms thrive on five things:
Air
Water
Decaying organic matter (OM)
Time
Neglect
Kelly S
i use one of these. similar to smart pot idea except flow through. would love to see one scaled up. you would need a big sewing machine
What do you mean by refined?
I just mean no bedding or other material, just pure castings. like your post pointed out however, the best EWC comes from a bin harvested once a year. I think that is really the answer I needed, thank you.
ML - I saw that bin while doing google searches. I wonder how much that would produce? Thanks for the post.
You can go the Home Depot and buy a drain or a faucet to extract the liquid from the run off container. I have had my bin going for 3 weeks or so now and will be splitting the bin in a week to make another. Harvest the first bin. I make tea from the run off twice a week now.
V
von-
afaik, run off (leachate) is not very biologically or nutritionally valuable (at least relatively to the compost).
also, if you are using uncomposted manures, the leachate can be a vector for disease.
That's another advantage of the bag design - no runoff
The bags are way too small for what I want. Good for a small operation with limited needs.
By the new year I hope to be running 2 to 3 reactors. For now it is large rubbermaid bins.
V
Like I said, id like to see someone scale it up. As in make it much bigger.
I find that one of these replaces 2-3 much larger bins due to faster turnaround.
The lack of runoff is due to evaporation.
The bin I bought is (L x W x h) - 23.5 x 18.25 x 16.0, I was thinking 2000 worms? I really want to harvest around .5-1.5 yards of compost a year, and I don't think this is going to do it. However, it is a start.
Well, I decided to just use some Rubbermaid containers for now. My municipality is selling the can-o-worm bin for 60$ as a promotion to compost in our area. I might swoop that after the holiday's, but I wanted to get my worm count up.
The bin I bought is (L x W x h) - 23.5 x 18.25 x 16.0, I was thinking 2000 worms? I really want to harvest around .5-1.5 yards of compost a year, and I don't think this is going to do it. However, it is a start.