Just me and my worms

[Ftscustm]

I used to fish

I used to fish

I love my worms so much,,, I take a few select ones fishing with me occasionally....yeehaw

I used to fish, became vegetarian, vegan and vegetarian again over 15 years and found hooking a fish a little difficult to justify. However, I have just moved by a canal, have found others with a love for wriggling things now and a real need to create a proper sustainable natural environment for my trees. Thank you all for the inspiration!

 

[Macncheese]

I started this bin with peat as bedding. I want to start a new bin and try a new bedding. Would you guys go with coco or paper based bedding like newspaper or cardboard? I was thinking leaves would be good but they are all covered with 4 feet of snow, so maybe next time. What seems to work best for you guys?

 

[Ftscustm]

I have limited knowledge but my two pence worth, for all it's worth.

I have limited knowledge but my two pence worth, for all it's worth.

I started this bin with peat as bedding. I want to start a new bin and try a new bedding. Would you guys go with coco or paper based bedding like newspaper or cardboard? I was thinking leaves would be good but they are all covered with 4 feet of snow, so maybe next time. What seems to work best for you guys?

The last time I felt the need of wriggling friends was late into the night, or more probably early into the morning. A popular bidding site was surfed and the tree hugger in me chose to recycle someones old farm. Picture a recycling wheelie bin (UK) in half the proportions. This sat in my bath, as I lived in a flat at the time. I used cardboard but quickly found that too much print is used on the outers these days and breaking the stuff down took them forever. Being soon to join you in this gladdening task, my plate is rather full at the moment - I will be using organic coco as my main base, it is forgiving, absorbs and retains moisture well and if I were a worm, I would want a plateful of that, rather than an ink rush. Help is needed by me please in deciding what type of farm to build? I would love to include a glass panel so that I may see the worms for some of the time: The burrow structure is breath-taking to me.

 

[Baked Alaskan]

Hey macncheese, one thing i would do that takes about a month is small batch compost. I would use forest duff, coffee grounds and kitchen scrap with a little wood ash added. I would use an 18 gal rubbermade tote with a seedling heat mat under the tote with its remote sensor in the mix. I would chop everything up and let it sit in the tote with the heat mat maxed (108° f) for four days then stir every other day and in a month or so have great soil. i would also cover the entire operation with an old sleeping bag to keep the heat in.

 

[Lester Beans]

Where do you get your worms?

 

[Ftscustm]

A wave of comprehension.

A wave of comprehension.

Hey macncheese, one thing i would do that takes about a month is small batch compost. I would use forest duff, coffee grounds and kitchen scrap with a little wood ash added. I would use an 18 gal rubbermade tote with a seedling heat mat under the tote with its remote sensor in the mix. I would chop everything up and let it sit in the tote with the heat mat maxed (108° f) for four days then stir every other day and in a month or so have great soil. i would also cover the entire operation with an old sleeping bag to keep the heat in.

Thank you! You saved my worms a less than fitting start. Decoding your message took time but no considerable effort with the net, that said: Doing so was worth any effort on my part.

 

[Macncheese]

The last time I felt the need of wriggling friends was late into the night, or more probably early into the morning. A popular bidding site was surfed and the tree hugger in me chose to recycle someones old farm. Picture a recycling wheelie bin (UK) in half the proportions. This sat in my bath, as I lived in a flat at the time. I used cardboard but quickly found that too much print is used on the outers these days and breaking the stuff down took them forever. Being soon to join you in this gladdening task, my plate is rather full at the moment - I will be using organic coco as my main base, it is forgiving, absorbs and retains moisture well and if I were a worm, I would want a plateful of that, rather than an ink rush. Help is needed by me please in deciding what type of farm to build? I would love to include a glass panel so that I may see the worms for some of the time: The burrow structure is breath-taking to me.

I've been using coco for a few years now, never bought the good stuff, just cheep compressed bricks that I've always hade to rinse very well. Just started playing with peat this past year. As for worm farms i probably cant help you much there. Right now im using a see through plastic tote and that is set inside a dark one. Seems to work great, the worms seem to be comfortable and i enjoy be able see the worms and the layers though the sides.

 

[Macncheese]

Hey macncheese, one thing i would do that takes about a month is small batch compost. I would use forest duff, coffee grounds and kitchen scrap with a little wood ash added. I would use an 18 gal rubbermade tote with a seedling heat mat under the tote with its remote sensor in the mix. I would chop everything up and let it sit in the tote with the heat mat maxed (108° f) for four days then stir every other day and in a month or so have great soil. i would also cover the entire operation with an old sleeping bag to keep the heat in.

thanks man,ill try that. Forest duff, is that like leafs and twigs? I know i know, what kind of question is that. sounds like something i want to try, just want to get it right.

 

[Macncheese]

Where do you get your worms?

I got my worms from http://unclejimswormfarm.com/?gclid=CLybi_iWysMCFaFr7AodthcAIA
they also have a video that explains how to care for and to set up a worm farm. seems to be a good starting point.

 

[Former Guest]

You shouldn't add to much coffee because it's very acidic and your ph will drop pretty low. I read that they don't like that but do really love the coffee. I've been looking at different designs for indoors. I found one using a square kitty litter bucket and a PVC tube that has nails in it and a hand crank outside the buck for harvesting those bottom castings. You just out a container underneath and turn handle and walah! Then I can put it under the sink and fill that way.

Bokashi will feed the worms. I think they don't actually eat the food but the white fuzz that covers the bokashi bin scraps. The extract is pure fertilizer and very strong. It does contain microbes but that's not it's main purpose. I just made a bokashi bin that is pretty small and I used the lollipopped trim that had loads of flowering hormones, plus nutrients as well as carrots for beta carotenes, and chickweed which is a bioaccumalater. You can tailor the contents for different purposes. Check this out! You might already know about it though.

 

[Ftscustm]

That really helped!

That really helped!

I got my worms from http://unclejimswormfarm.com/?gclid=CLybi_iWysMCFaFr7AodthcAIA
they also have a video that explains how to care for and to set up a worm farm. seems to be a good starting point.

The link was superb in that it gave me the opportunity to see what is available for you guys (the shipping and Tax cost are crippling. If I do manage to persuade the seller to ship as a gift, more often than not, UK customs stops it and I end up paying another third again to have it released).
I am trying to keep away from plastic but due to the nature of the exercise, I may not be able to. I like your clear tote idea for the visual access this gives but am thinking more a piece of furniture for my farm. I have to box in behind the bath to cover the ducting to my grow room, I was thinking to make something to fill this space and cover the ducting. I am throwing a few ideas in the air while I learn more about these wrigglers and their best environment, so thank you for the input.

 

[rik78]

make your own!!

 

[Ftscustm]

That was always the goal.

That was always the goal.

make your own!!

Thank you for the encouragement, ultimately, that is what I shall do but I was looking for ideas of the best way to achieve that for happy wrigglers and so that I may include a glass screen, to see my worms in action. I had a commercial one, some five years ago that I brought second hand but it was quite literally a farm for compost and tea and I set the army free last year. For me that end product will be vastly improved when I interact with my muddy world. I have no issue with emptying all of it out and mixing by hand rather than rocking my worms in a tumbler action, which seems to be the latest way: It'd be like living in a funfair without knowing when someone is going to turn on the power.

 

[Baked Alaskan]

thanks man,ill try that. Forest duff, is that like leafs and twigs? I know i know, what kind of question is that. sounds like something i want to try, just want to get it right.

Yep, forest duff is just stuff that has fallen to the ground. I also use old dead trees that you can break up with just your hands, lots of biological activity going on in those dead trees.

Good luck.

 

[Ftscustm]

A BIG thank you to you all, especially Macncheese!

A BIG thank you to you all, especially Macncheese!

Yep, forest duff is just stuff that has fallen to the ground. I also use old dead trees that you can break up with just your hands, lots of biological activity going on in those dead trees.

Good luck.

The timing of my finding this thread was uniquely right and caused a major shift in the way I am seeing growing these remarkable trees. These winding workers are a beginning of my submerging myself in soil and the communities that live there. My worm journey from here will go to the pages of A community inspired project, so not to highjack your work Macncheese. If you will still have me?, I would like to still stop by and share in this world and the community of minds here. Thank you all so very much, my weed is because of you all now and I shall send up a fat one each day in your honour.
We needed a heart wrenchingly beautiful day to go stomping in the woods:

Check.

 

[Ftscustm]

A place imbued by stoner.

Check.

 

[Ftscustm]

A site to dig:

 

[Ftscustm]

You are all Black Gold!

 

[Macncheese]

Yep, forest duff is just stuff that has fallen to the ground. I also use old dead trees that you can break up with just your hands, lots of biological activity going on in those dead trees.

Good luck.

Thanks man! Im going to have to wait a month or so until this snow decides to go away.

 

[Macncheese]

The timing of my finding this thread was uniquely right and caused a major shift in the way I am seeing growing these remarkable trees. These winding workers are a beginning of my submerging myself in soil and the communities that live there. My worm journey from here will go to the pages of A community inspired project, so not to highjack your work Macncheese. If you will still have me?, I would like to still stop by and share in this world and the community of minds here. Thank you all so very much, my weed is because of you all now and I shall send up a fat one each day in your honour.
We needed a heart wrenchingly beautiful day to go stomping in the woods:
[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=59199&pictureid=1387393&thumb=1]View Image[/url]
Check.

Stop by anytime man you are more then welcome. We learn together and share our passion for success!