Come and show off those worm bins!

[tuinman]

Here are my two little 10g rubbermaid bins next to a couple of fermenting bokashi buckets that I scoop from occasionally for food.



Due to the high humidity here I've had a bit of a problem keeping these bins at the right moisture level, so I picked up one of these as a stopgap until building something more permanent outside.

 

[madliberated]

Due to the high humidity here I've had a bit of a problem

get a worm bin bag if you are game. You will need to water it.


I believe some fungus gnats are a healthy part of a balanced system. The grubs are decomposers. Thick infestations tend to resolve if one is patient. It can take many months. I hear good reports on the use of crustacean shell meals to reduce gnat levels.

 

[madliberated]

btw, for just a few gnats, whip out the vacuum!

 

[Mizzafishkilla]

Greenmatter, 130 degree swings are tough to design around....I live in the Pac NW and we'll get temps in the teens to 90's through the year...Mine is located in an unheated barn, and the worms do slow down consumption/production when it's cold (Nov - Mar). I tend to feed them a mix of alfalfa and uncomposted alpaca manure to keep them warm in the winter.

The design is called a "vermitopia bin" and here's a link to some more pics and plans: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~compost/binplans.html#materials

You can also do a youtube search, and there's some dude there that has one.

Be aware, once this worm bin has the right amount of worms, this worm bin can eat like crazy! I was feeding it a 5 gallon bucket PER DAY last spring and summer. I was harvesting 1-2 wheelbarrows of the nicest castings PER WEEK from this. Now I have been getting some critter in there screwing everything up. I'm going to cut it in half and end up with a 4' X 4'bin. I have more shit than I need!

 

[greenmatter]

wow ..... i never considered that you could have too many worm castings ..... i always bitch that i never have enough. a wheelbarrow or two a week would sure green things up around here fast. thanks for the input, what i was planning just got cut back 60%

 

[Scrappy4]

Scrappy, those thread lie babies may be pot worms, not red wigglers....Not that it's a huge deal if they get into your grow pots, but they are pretty prolific. They tend to like bread and grain/flour.

The containers i started with actually says red wigglers, not that I know worms. Do red wiggler babies look different? But, whatever, they do seem happy, and the numbers are really going crazy, and the bakashi seems like the catalyst. It's kind of mlldly exiting.......scrappy

 

[tuinman]

get a worm bin bag if you are game. You will need to water it.

Thanks for this, I was investigating these and was thinking of building a DIY version for eventually housing worms outside (assuming a large enough bin would stay warm when it's cooler). In your experience how often would it need to be watered?

 

[madliberated]

Thanks for this, I was investigating these and was thinking of building a DIY version for eventually housing worms outside (assuming a large enough bin would stay warm when it's cooler). In your experience how often would it need to be watered?

Well during the winter the air has been dry, and to really be on top of it I had to water twice a week. that much!

If you had an enclosure that is just a rack for these things, and you had them like cells but with an enclosure, you could keep some moisture in and still let them breathe. Give it a smooth bottom so you can pull/rake out the castings, and leave the bags open on the bottom. If I had any kind of space I would toy with it.

for keeping it warm - bokashi.

 

[Mizzafishkilla]

The containers i started with actually says red wigglers, not that I know worms. Do red wiggler babies look different? But, whatever, they do seem happy, and the numbers are really going crazy, and the bakashi seems like the catalyst. It's kind of mlldly exiting.......scrappy

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/ive-got-white-worms/

Here's a site with a good pic of some pot worms. It also says there that pot worms like acidic conditions - isn't bokashi acidic? Dunno for sure. Do you see a bunch of red wiggler worm cocoons in the top few inches of the bin?

 

[tuinman]

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/ive-got-white-worms/

Here's a site with a good pic of some pot worms. It also says there that pot worms like acidic conditions - isn't bokashi acidic? Dunno for sure. Do you see a bunch of red wiggler worm cocoons in the top few inches of the bin?

Bokashi is acidic, yes, especially the longer it is allowed to ferment. I've been fermenting mine for 6-8 weeks currently, until it's 3.5-3.2 ph before burying it in the yard.

 

[madliberated]

bokashi is acidic but in the end it will feed the bacteria and wind up raising pH towards 7.

 

[Scrappy4]

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/ive-got-white-worms/

Here's a site with a good pic of some pot worms. It also says there that pot worms like acidic conditions - isn't bokashi acidic? Dunno for sure. Do you see a bunch of red wiggler worm cocoons in the top few inches of the bin?

Thanks for the link. These babies are red wigglers, going by the pics in your link. And yes there are lots of cocoons......scrappy

 

[madliberated]

btw, for reference bokashi is about the same pH as orange juice.

 

[Sumbolt]

Any one else have any pictures of there worm bins? All the ones that have been posted so far have been awesome!!

 

[Mizzafishkilla]

Scrappy, cocoons are always a good sign of doing something right. Keep up the good work!

 

[tuinman]

Scrappy, cocoons are always a good sign of doing something right. Keep up the good work!

I just dug through one of my bins while moving them into the new factory - and didn't really see any cocoons anywhere (but plenty of worms), what would this mean? That I didn't look hard enough?

 

[NOKUY]

tag

 

[ILoveit]

What exactly is a worm bin & what is its purpose?

 

[greenmatter]

it is a box that worm live, eat, breed and crap in. the crap is known as a worm casting. good castings=good herb

 

[Mizzafishkilla]

They are there, but pretty hard to find. Once you train your eye to see them, they are relatively easy to see...
Here's a link to some pics and good good practices to good vermicasting.

http://texasredworms.com/category/red-worm-reproduction-2/

I just dug through one of my bins while moving them into the new factory - and didn't really see any cocoons anywhere (but plenty of worms), what would this mean? That I didn't look hard enough?