What do you feed your worms anywhyz?

[Sinfuldreams]

Yes and No

Yes and No

do u put int worms inur plants soil or just use them to make wormcasting??

The worms can be put in your garden along with the castings... but you don't want them in say your Indoor Containers.. just the castings.

But then again I bet Jackson has a better answer!
He has the experiance with worms.


Sin

 

[Deft]

Jackson, if you are a coffee drinker, use your old grounds in the veg bin. It is high in nitrogen.

The ideal situation would be to raise rabbits, and throw all the rabbit shit in the worm beds. Good fertilizer for mj and great food for worms.

I'll have to stop throwing it out!

 

[Guest]

This was a much needed thread... I just started it.

This was a much needed thread... I just started it.

I am not making any claims of wisdom just telling what I've done/seen. No books just life. I've raised worms off and on all my life mostly outdoors in bottomless pits a whole different thing then this. So I'm learning on the fly also.

Sinfuldreams

On the mark with that. I don't add worms to my inside plants, just use a wire strainer to get out any cocoons/worms/uneatting food before adding it to my tea. I only use 1/4 cup of castings a week indoors, so no prob'. A few worms may not "hurt" to be in the soil but they'll eat your roots if they don't have something better to eat (LST maybe, if you keep them in check?). Outside who cares just by the shovels full.

Your questions about outdoors and feeding. Don't feed for aleast a week in a new bed. Back home we covered our beds with a insulated box and used heat tape to keep it from freezing but nightcrawlers will just go below the frost line untill spring so the bed will "stop" untill then if you let it freeze. dont know about "reds" on that, lived where the ground don't freeze when raising them so far. In northeast MS. they (reds) would slow down on the cold weeks but never stoped eating. Just covered them with some cardboard as needed.

Deft

Why raise worms, unless you plan on selling them, Those rabbits are just above ground fur covered legged worms. They eat the same things as the worms you could add to there diet and make some "Killer Krap". Just use that rabbit crap with some Microbuggers to make your tea I don't know about indoors but outdoors you can use it "green" and never burn your plants, been there done that. Wish I could raise rabbits here, the county don't let you unless your zoned for it. I can have up to two per person no more, I don't need more pets, but wouldn't mind some cheap food.

I don't have any free "droppings" so I don't feed my worms any. But worms LOVE crap and if you have it by all means feed it to them. Popz sayz Green chicken crap is bad but aleast outdoors I've used it fresh, just pile it on top in one corner and watch it vanish. When I was selling fishing worms I had a "finishing feed" that I used that had green chicken shit in it that made the worms sooo slimey that when you put them in the water it made a "oil slick".

 

[Vash]

Thats what I'm talking 'bout...

I just want too try having two bins one geared more for flower, like those potato skins on that NPK list it's "Potato Skins (ash): 0/5.18/27.5" so I want to put more of them in the flower bin, the skins raw will have N in them and the PK will be lower then the ash but still a flower worm food. Cucumber Skins (ash): 0/11.28/27.2 There's another good one for the flower bin. Hair(14/0/0/0) and feathers(15.3/0/0) would be good for the viggy bin for sure. See where I'm trying to go? Now I'm not saying don't feed these things in both bins just more N less PK for the veggie worms and more PK less N for the flower worms.

That's one hell of an idea, JS. Having a veg bin as well as a flower bin. Never thought of that. Now you got me wondering about rabbits...lol. Don't know if Mrs.V would allow me to have that, but I might give it a shot.

 

[Guest]

Fruit worm castings....

Fruit worm castings....

That's one hell of an idea, JS. Having a veg bin as well as a flower bin. Never thought of that. Now you got me wondering about rabbits...lol. Don't know if Mrs.V would allow me to have that, but I might give it a shot.

Let's thank Suby for giving me the idea, "I would feed the ground peels to the worms and keep a seperate wormbin for flowering compost and feed P and K rich goodies like banana peels etc.
Keep coffee grounds for an N rich veg compost ...you get the idea.",
but TANX.

No harm in tring this out and maybe some day we'll see EWC part A, part B on seedbay or something geared for our loved flower. Not by me but one of those "it's a science" guys can tweek it, then sell it. I just am looking for good free feeding for the girls. Right now the castings are good but I'm getting signs of too much N in flower. Nothing bad per say, just lighter, fluffer buds don't look "perfect" and my fan leafs will not yellow and fall off 'till I stop feeded them (flushed for four weeks last time, went longer then they should have) then only a small handfull (might be good for revegging, A). So I'm tring to gear a casting just for flower.

Love rabbit, you ain't lived 'till you've ate some smoked rabbit dumplings.

 

[Guest]

basic q+a

basic q+a

Here is a simple Q+A lowdown for getting started. copied while researching.
......................................................................................................

Worm Composting
Worm composting is a great way to recycle leftover food and other organic material. A properly-maintained worm bin can be kept inside year-round to help you reduce waste and create a rich fertilizer called worm castings (worm manure). Like a compost pile, a worm bin is an ecosystem containing worms, bacteria, mold, and other microorganisms that break down organic material and recycle nutrients into compost. Red worms are the best type of worm for your bin.

What do I need?

water
worm food
soil or compost
newspaper
worm bin
scale
redworms (Eisenia fetida), also called "red wigglers"
How many worms do I need? Determine the average amount of food waste you produce each day. The ratio of worms to food is 2:1 by weight. If you produce 1/4 lb. of worm food each day, you will need 1/2 lb. of worms. If you produce 1 lb. of worm food per day, you will need 2 lbs. of worms.

What do worms eat?

fruit/vegetable scraps
dead house plants
bread
coffee grounds & filters
crushed egg shells
cereals and grains
Do not put meat, oil, or dairy products into bin.
What size worm bin do I need?

The ratio of worms to space is 1:4. 1/4 lb. of worms will need 1 cubic foot of space; 1/2 lb. of worms will need 2 cubic feet. Large surface areas allow enough oxygenated air to reach the worms. Drill some holes in the bottom and sides of the container to allow for additional air circulation and water drainage. You may need to cover the bin to insure that it is dark enough for the worms.

How much bedding and water?

Tear 2 1/2 lbs. of newspaper into strips for each cubic foot of bin space. Tearing the paper lengthwise is easier than tearing it widthwise. A 2 cubic foot bin will need approximately 5 lbs. of shredded newspaper. You will need to moisten the paper with water. Worms are between 75% and 90% water. The surface of a worm must be moist for the worm to respire (to exchange carbon dioxide and oxygen). To ensure that you have added enough water, shred the paper into a sink or other container, and add enough water so the paper is covered. Lift the paper out of the water, allowing the excess to drip off. Place the wet newspaper into your bin.

How do I make the worm bin?

Add one or two handfuls of soil or compost to the moistened bedding to provide grit for the worms' gizzards. Like birds, worms use gizzards for grinding up food. Remember, worms don't have teeth! The soil or compost, along with a few handfuls of leaves, strengthens the bin ecosystem by providing other organisms found in a compost food web. Now you may bury your worm food and add your worms.

Where can I get worms?

Bait stores sell redworms at approximately $1.50 for 50 worms. There are roughly 1000-1200 redworms in a pound, so you will need 10 boxes ($15 worth) for 500 (1/2 lb.) worms. Locally, Gary Trimmer of Little Eden Produce (517/669-3582) in DeWitt, MI carries redworms priced at $15 per pound. Give him a call and about two days notice. Gary also carries worm bins, composting and gardening supplies. Worms are also available by mail from Flowerfield Enterprises, 10332 Shaver Rd., Kalamazoo, MI 49002, 616/327-0108. You'll need to order them by the pound. You can sometimes find worms in rich moist soil around your house or compost pile, but be sure to get redworms.

How do I take care of my worm bin?

Provide the worms with food, adequate moisture and air. Check the bin while you are adding food to see that the bedding has not become too matted, and that it is not drying out. Daily care is unnecessary. You may feed your worms once a day or once a week - whatever fits best into your schedule. Bury the food by creating a pocket in the bedding and covering it.

How do I know when my worm bin is done?

It will take about six weeks before you see noticeable changes in your bin. Once the newspaper has been replaced by castings, the concentration of castings will begin to become toxic to the worms. This process generally takes 2-4 months. At this point you will need to remove the castings and possibly separate out the worms before preparing new bedding.

Three methods for "harvesting" your compost Dump out the contents of your bin and form many small piles. The worms will go to the center of each pile to hide from the light. Then remove the worms from the piles and place them back into your bin that has been prepared with fresh bedding. Gather up the worm-free compost to use as you would like. Push your compost and worms over to one side of the box. Fill the other side of the box with fresh bedding and food. Bury your food only on the "new" side from now on. The worms, in their search for food, will migrate over to the side with the new bedding. In a few weeks, you can take out the worm-free compost. Dump two thirds of your bin, worms and all, into your garden. Add fresh bedding and food to the bin for the remaining worms.

What can I use the worm castings (compost) for?

You can use them in the same manner that you would use backyard compost: 1) To start seedlings, 2) As a top dressing for indoor or outdoor plants, or 3) Mixed in with potting soil.

 

[Guest]

bbc

Cool stuff there.
One if you know, and a comment.

What do they mean by “scale”. Is that ash?
I don't add some of that stuff untill I start feeding the worms later on as a "treat mix" but apples to oranges. As you know from my other thread I can’t personally condone using top feeding of indoor plants. It only take a minute to mix a tea a day or two ahead of feeding. Yes maybe I was using too much, but using the same amount in a tea I seen a 100% deference in my plants. By top feeding when the micro bugs multiply they are taking away O2 from your soil - that means your roots too, in a tea they have already multiplied in your bucket so less O2 loss in your soil. I almost lost “Mommy dearest” with that life lesson… I say “Top feeding is a outdoor gardening concept”. But alas… that is just my opinion and you know what they say about that.

 

[Vash]

Hmmm.......from the sounds of "QnA" by BBC, I may need to increase the size of my bin. It's roughly 12" x 18" and I have 2lbs of worms in there. What do I need to do,folks? Is it too small, or what?

 

[Guest]

Prospective

Prospective

Hmmm.......from the sounds of "QnA" by BBC, I may need to increase the size of my bin. It's roughly 12" x 18" and I have 2lbs of worms in there. What do I need to do,folks? Is it too small, or what?

Would need to know how deep also h"Xw"Xd"/1728= _CF, but 1 cubic foot equals 7.48 gallons. Most totes are sold by the gallon so 2lb of worms would need a 29.92 gallon tote. That's about what my "outside" bin is never weighted them but I swear there has to be 5X that many worms in it easy. Never "bought" worms to start a bin, other then this old bin here and that was "fishing worms", just threw in what was left over from a few trips to the lake.

Let’s get some prospective here, how much castings do you need? Here indoors I made two gallons of tea a week. At two tablespoons a gallon I’m using 1/4 cup casting a week. Therefore, I need thirteen cups of castings a year total, three cups less then a gallon. My tote is 5.786 gallons round it down to 5, won’t be full to the top so 2/3 full is 3.3 minus another 2/3 for the worm is 2.198 gallons. Ok then, two bins would be 4.336 gallons of castings, four times more then I’ll use, just in one turnover. This is not writen in stone, just guessing about how many gallons will be in a casting harvest. That's way I tried to make my bin bigger then what I need, just not way bigger. Why too stoned for math done edited four times, but 2tb = 1oz so that's 128 gallons of tea in one gallon of worm castings that's a little over two gallons a week for a year...

 

[Vash]

Sorry for not being specific. Actually, I was accumulating castings for my next grow(and in the future), so as far as how much I need I hadn't considered . The dimensions are 12'' wide x 18"long x 17"high - roughly 15gal, I'd say. I'm thinking it's time to put another bin on top of them now, or make new bedding because the newspaper looks as if it's been eaten up. I've had the worm bin since the first of November. I guess what I need to do is learn how to post pics. Got a digital camera here just collecting dust.

 

[Sinfuldreams]

Thanks Jackson
This thread WAS and IS NEEDED!
I can't wait to get the worms this week.
Thanks for answer to the food question.

Rock On Jackson
Mabe make you the Worm Poo Guru!!!

Sin

 

[killa-bud]

meal worm casting work???????????

 

[Guest]

Vash

Sorry if I came off wrong, I should have put that math in the very first post. "do you want to start a worm business or make some castings for your garden". It's just if you don't need hundreds of pounds of worm crap why make it. I can see someone, like in those POW movies, taking pockets full of dirt outside to get rid of it.

If the bin isn't "full" you should be able to add bedding to it and keep on feeding them. Reds live in the "top" of the soil like 6"-8" they go deeper/come up for feeding. So if you give them a new place to live it's all good. Yes they will die if you make them live in thier own filth, just push your spent bed to one side and give them a new home. Some folks do it in the middle of the bin which might be better. Start at the corner across from the one you last fed so any uneaten food will be ontop/in the middle so they can eat whats left over, dig it. Please let us know how much you harvest out of that almost sixteen gallon bin.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Jackson
This thread WAS and IS NEEDED!
I can't wait to get the worms this week.
Thanks for answer to the food question.

Rock On Jackson
Mabe make you the Worm Poo Guru!!!

Sin

Please no Guru here...

Like I said before I have never read a book on worms, I am sure the're are a lot more people here smarter then little 'ol me. I just hoped they would jump on board. From what I've read/seen here and on the web I do a lot of things that your not 'sposta do like feeding no - nos and such. The "trick" to feeding is if it's going to be "hot" add it a little at a time or spread it out. I wouldn't try hot" food feeding in a small bin tho.

killa-bud

The castings should work if your feeding them good stuff. But not a "worm" it's a larvee (grub). Just about any critters "lunch snake" will work, the meat eating critters "dirt deeds" will have to be composted first. Bugs, rabbits, pet birds you name it as long as it eats veggies/fruit/nuts. Have always heard cat "scat" is very bad stuff do not ever use it!!!

 

[killa-bud]

cool,just make a tea with it?

 

[Guest]

cool,just make a tea with it?

I would say yes, as long as I hadn't fed them anything that I wouldn't eat/drink myself. Don't know how "hot" it would be, but a bug I wouldent think so...

 

[Vash]

Vash

Sorry if I came off wrong, I should have put that math in the very first post. "do you want to start a worm business or make some castings for your garden". It's just if you don't need hundreds of pounds of worm crap why make it. I can see someone, like in those POW movies, taking pockets full of dirt outside to get rid of it.

If the bin isn't "full" you should be able to add bedding to it and keep on feeding them. Reds live in the "top" of the soil like 6"-8" they go deeper/come up for feeding. So if you give them a new place to live it's all good. Yes they will die if you make them live in thier own filth, just push your spent bed to one side and give them a new home. Some folks do it in the middle of the bin which might be better. Start at the corner across from the one you last fed so any uneaten food will be ontop/in the middle so they can eat whats left over, dig it. Please let us know how much you harvest out of that almost sixteen gallon bin.

No need for an apology, JS. First of all, I didn't make myself clear on how i was gonna use the EWC, so that may have had a bearing on why I hadn't considered how much I wanted. My garden will be a perpetual grow with at least 10 plants in 3 gallon containers.The castings - and tea - will be used in veg and flower. One thing I do know it's time for me to make new bedding because they've practically eaten up all of the newspaper.

 

[Guest]

Feedin' Frenzy

Feedin' Frenzy

Vash

When I stated that I used two gallons I did mean full strength tea, not all of the girlz get a full dose. Mom rarely gets a full shot just soil replacement a few before cuttin' time (think bonsai). The rest, 1/4 to full strength in stages, dig it.
My five gallon buckets take 1/2 gallon of juice with very little runoff, two gallon pot a pint, your mileage may vary. I don't like runoff when feeding seems like a waste, save the "salt flushing" for straight water.

Sin

When I told you no food for a week that's if they come with a "starter pack". If they don't you'll have to add grit to the bin like sand, crushed eggshells, gypsum, and compost. You can use dirt if it's "loamy" just put it the oven for an hour 250F a cup per 10 gallons of bedding would work.

Never did find those batteries so bought some rechargeable today after work so pics later tonight.

I did say this micro wormin’ was new to me... right?

Four days in and noted a big drop in the bedding (+-1/2-inch one night). Therefore, that means the critters are happy and diggin' right on in to there new home. Let's start feeding them some "good" stuff. This bin is for my flowering room so...

Skins from four baseball sized potatoes, (ash): 0/5.18/27.5, wish I knew fresh
Skin from one pretty big Cucumber, (ash): 0/11.28/27.2, once again...
Skins from two apples, (ash): 0/3.0/11/74, sigh...
Shells from four country eggs, eggshells: 1.19/0.38/0.14, for more grit and +PH.

Just in one corner, buried and covered, let's see how long it for them to eat it...

Added

Why I don't wet everything when starting my bin is, "Do you only water your pet once a week", I like to give my "pets" fresh water everyday. Just a misting like a morning dew, show some love. (Tip) With a spray bottle, take off the lid, sqeeze untill the water comes up to the very top, pop it back to put some fresh air into it then put back on the lid, shake n spray. Your plants/worms will love you right back.

 

[Sinfuldreams]

Cool.
I should get them tomarrow sometime.
got the bedding almost ready, I'll look for a starter pack in the box.

thanks
Sin

 

[Guest]

Cool.
I should get them tomarrow sometime.
got the bedding almost ready, I'll look for a starter pack in the box.

thanks
Sin

Hey Sin, just wanted to wish you good luck with your worm setup. I hope you post some pictures for us to see. I'm going to build a unit soon and will post some pictures. Just waiting to see when Worm Ways will have worms. Guess, it's too cold right now.
Good luck,
BG