Vermicomposting

[ChrisGreaves]

Forum? I've started the thread here because "kitchen scraps" is about as close as I can get.

BobH>Might I get back to you on vermiculture some time? I've started a compost pile and built several table top gardens to use the Mel Bartholomew Square Foot Gardening method. As I get more involved, I think I want to try vermiculture to get the castings to add to the mix and maybe even to the compost mix.

Hi Bob. All worms help to create soil, but Red Wrigglers (Eisenia fetida) are particularly suited to indoor composting. My niche is "Design of efficient tower vermicomposters for cold-climate apartment dwellers". Think "People without a garden, balcony, or sunny weather", i.e. ME!

You can make a start TODAY by putting a bushel of shredded paper in a black plastic garbage bag, and tossing onto it a shovel of soil (from the garden or the house plants), tossing a bucket of kitchen scraps on top and then another bushel of shredded paper.

In three or four weeks the bacteria will have multiplied.

Red Wrigglers have no teeth; the scrape bacteria off the scraps, so Vermicomposting is really about maintaining a colony of bacteria. The worms look after themselves.

[DaveA]

Where do the worms (Red Wrigglers) come from?

[BobH]

Thank you, Chris.

Because our Texas weather doesn't include the prolonged hard freezes known to Ontario, I will be raising my worms outside. I plan to put some in the compost pile (where I put leaves and garden wastes plus green 'stuff' from the kitchen) and some in the beds themselves. I was also considering making a worm ranch from a plastic tub.

Yes, red wrigglers are what I plan to get (I've done a little reading). There are several folks who raise them within a reasonable driving range. I think I can also get worm castings from them to add to my compost pile.

For DaveA: There are several places that sell red wriggles on line. Do some searching. From what I've read, they have a pretty good survival rate in shipment, but you will want to get a guarantee from the seller. Also, don't overlook craigslist. I found several worm ranchers nearby on cl.

Again, thank you, Mr. Greaves!! May Springtime arrive and have an extended stay before summer sets in!

[DaveA]

BUT Chris never said he added any worms and just implied that his " kitchen scraps" would generate them!

[StuartR]

I have a garden compost bin which has accumulated kitchen waste for more than a year. It has a healthy crop of bright pink worms, which it acquired as if by magic.

[Rudi]

It has a healthy crop of bright pink worms, which it acquired as if by magic.

They arrive by parachute in the wee hours of the morning...ONLY when the moon is full.

[StuartR]

They arrive by parachute in the wee hours of the morning...ONLY when the moon is full.

That explains it then, I had naively supposed they crept up from the soil beneath the bin

[BobH]

Here we have what are called night crawlers. They are earthworms that can be as much as 10" long. They come to the surface at night and work through the grasses and whatever else they can find. They then return underground to a significant depth - depending on soil conditions. They leave little mounds of worm castings throughout the yard. Given their size and prevalence, one would think they would be good in compost and garden beds; but they are not. They are great for fishing, though . . . especially for catfish.

Red wrigglers, on the other hand, are not native to this area. They stay closer to the surface of the soil both day and night. They are the sort used in compost beds and garden beds and in vermiculture composting as Chris mentioned. Some folks claim that these might become an invasive species, but I've fished with red wrigglers for at least 65 years and never heard any credible evidence that they are an invasive, non-native species.

So, around here, if earthworms show up in my compost pile, they are likely to be night crawlers - unless and until I buy some of the other sort and introduce them, which I plan to do.

[Claude]

I have 2 compost bins, I rotate them on a yearly basis, they produce excellent compost from food scraps, alas, fruit and vegies only, no meat as that start a bacterial process which produces a lot of sulfur based gases, in other words, it starts to stink. (Experienced it myself some 20 years ago).

I no longer have any lawns, so I put newspapers in layers to give the breakdown creatures something else to do. (I'm teaching worms to read, free of charge )

[ChrisGreaves]

Where do the worms (Red Wrigglers) come from?

Despite some of the light-hearted banter, a good source is Cathy Nesbitt in Bradford Ont. She gets her worms shipped up in bulk from FLA, and domestic folks in FLA order from Cathy rather than from local FLA suppliers.
Cathy's sweet; she may be able to point you to a dealer near you.

[ChrisGreaves]

I have a garden compost bin which has accumulated kitchen waste for more than a year. It has a healthy crop of bright pink worms, which it acquired as if by magic.

Probably "night crawlers".
Red Wrigglers have no teeth, eat continuously, breed like rabbits, and live close to the surface.
Night Crawlers have teeth, live in burrows 8 or 10 feet deep, chew leaves, ...

That said, a great way to harvest RW up here is to turn over a small pile of dead leaves. RWs congregate to feed off the bacteria that break down dead leaves.

[ChrisGreaves]

...ONLY when the moon is full.

Which, apparently, it is right now chez vous!

[ChrisGreaves]

That explains it then, I had naively supposed they crept up from the soil beneath the bin

Your supposition is correct; I suspect that every species of (earth) worm travels to a food source.
For forty+ years I've made compost heaps and worms have found the material.
Nice thing is that worms appropriate to the material and conditions will appear.
Evolution, I think is the cause.

[ChrisGreaves]

... They leave little mounds of worm castings throughout the yard. ...

Spot on, Bob, the entire post.
Darwin studied earthworms for 40 years.
One story says Darwin watched, year by year, as stones in his back yard slowly disappeared, sinking as the earth beneath each stone was patiently consumed by worms which then pooped it out on the surface.
Talk about watching paint dry!

I now often ponder that "soil" is really worm-poop, and so every piece of vegetable and fruit I eat has been brought to me through the digestive tract of worms!

[ChrisGreaves]

...no meat as that start a bacterial process ...

I've been adding meat and dairy for years. The trick is not to drop in a three-pound roast, but to mix it finely across the bon.
I always drop in poultry bones, pork and beef bones once they have had the daylights boiled out of them.
Small, fine amounts work well.
They always have in the natural world, where carnivores take the bulk of the meat and leave traces for bacterial consumption.
City councils advise against meat and dairy because they are afraid of lawsuits (citizens complaining about rats, or in Toronto, racoons)

...so I put newspapers in layers

I have long pondered the origins of "Read, learn, and inwardly digest"!

[DaveA]

Where do the worms (Red Wrigglers) come from?

Despite some of the light-hearted banter, a good source is Cathy Nesbitt in Bradford Ont. She gets her worms shipped up in bulk from FLA, and domestic folks in FLA order from Cathy rather than from local FLA suppliers.
Cathy's sweet; she may be able to point you to a dealer near you.

You never said to add worms from outside source.
So when do you add these worms after you get them shipped to you?

I have all I ever need, I do not need to buy any, just was following your instructions and they seem to be incomplete!

[ChrisGreaves]

So when do you add these worms after you get them shipped to you?

I recommened that people wait three weeks until adding the worms.
In practice that means one should set up the matrix, soil, paper and vegetable scraps, wait two weeks, then order the worms.
(Or "wait three weeks then go turn over a pile of dead leaves).
A caution: Red Wrigglers are very light sensitive, and very fast, so it's not a matter of turning over some old leaves, seeing worms, wandering inside for the shovel and a cup of tea, then wandering out to harvest.
They go fast!

[Skitterbug]

Forum? I've started the thread here because "kitchen scraps" is about as close as I can get.

Whew, I'm glad you explained why you put your post in this forum! I thought for a few minutes, we were going to find out how you cooked the critters! I realize worms are supposed to be nutritious but I'm not interested in eating them!

[ChrisGreaves]

I realize worms are supposed to be nutritious but I'm not interested in eating them!

Well Skitterbug, that's OK, but every time you eat a carrot you're eating something that grew from worm poop.
Me I'd rather eat the worms than the poop!

[Skitterbug]

I realize worms are supposed to be nutritious but I'm not interested in eating them!

Well Skitterbug, that's OK, but every time you eat a carrot you're eating something that grew from worm poop.
Me I'd rather eat the worms than the poop!

So you don't eat carrots, potatoes, turnips, beets,onions, garlic, tomatoes or anything else that is grown in soil?
BTW, many farms top dress their growing medium in "poop" of one sort or another. Happy munching!