Back in the middle of August (oh how time flies!) I wrote a post about my plans to test out ‘Mosquito Dunks’ as a means of getting rid of fruit flies and fungus gnats in a worm bin (see “Can Mosquito Dunks Kill Fungus Gnats and Fruit Flies?“). Well of course – me being me – while I DID get around to setting up some bins outside to attract some fruit flies, I failed to actually get going with the experiment until some really cold fall weather finally made me realize I needed to act fast or risk losing my outdoor fruit fly ‘culture’.
So, being the smart fellow that I am, I decided to bring a culture of fruit flies indoors where my systems were happily chugging along, fruit-fly-free! Oh well – I always enjoy ‘taking one for the team’ in order to make a learning experience out of it, so now that I am enjoying a serious infestation of fruit flies in my basement, I know it’s finally time to get started!
I’ve set up a bunch of new apple cider traps, and the other day I started brewing my mosquito dunk water. I’ve decided to proceed somewhat cautiously with this experiment – largely due to the fact that someone left a comment on the other post (mentioned above), indicating the potential for actually harming the worms. While I’m not 100% convinced that this will be the case, I also don’t feel like being so reckless with my worms’ well-being as to simply starting pouring the stuff on my indoor beds. I might as well make sure it’s even going to kill the larvae before taking the risk of inflicting harm on my dear wormies!
As such, the original fruit fly culture container brought in from outside has become ‘ground zero’ for my experimentation.
This container has a piece of corrugated cardboard and a virtually-liquefied cucumber in it. There are lots of fruit fly larvae visible on the cardboard (such as those ones in the first pic) and until recently there were also lots of adults. I released them all when I opened the system to apply the dunk liquid A) accidentally and B) because I am trying to see if the larvae will mature into adults once their food source has been soaked in ‘dunk juice’ (Brain wave! If all this works out for me – I should really think about marketing my new fruit fly killer as ‘Dipteran Dunk Juice’! Haha).
To apply the liquid I used a small syringe and slowly soaked all zones where the larvae were visible – I made sure to move any run-off around the entire container as well.
So far so good – all I noticed today was the presence of two tiny adults. Fruit flies develop VERY quickly, so I’m hopeful that this is a positive sign. Many of the larvae DO still seem to be moving around, but we’ll see how they are doing in another day or two. The bacterium in ‘Dipteran Dunk Juice’ (TM) causes these larvae to stop feeding – so it’s not like some sort of instant poison or anything like that.
If it looks like the larvae are dying off, and no more adults are being produced we’ll move on to ‘phase II’. I’m still not planning to put the liquid on my actual beds yet – first I will set up a small experimental system, perhaps with a chunk of rotten fruit (or fruit-juice-soaked cardboard) in it, along with some worm bin material and a small number of worms.
It is always a lot of fun connecting people worm folks from across the world – it really reminds me just how GLOBAL this little thing we like to call the ‘web’ truly is (they don’t call it the ‘world wide’ for nuthin)! I’ve received emails from vermicomposters – or those thinking about getting involved – living in South Africa, Australia, Romania, UK, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, India and Mexico (among others). Well, up until a little while ago I had still never received an email from anyone living in Norway (or any of the other Scandinavian countries for that matter), so it was a bit of a pleasant surprise when I received some vermi-questions from Felieke van der Leest.
Technically speaking, Felieke is actually Dutch – she moved to Norway from The Netherlands last year.
… Just an educational aside here – as Felieke explained to me, the name “Holland” is actually more for tourists, so if you want to seem a tad more cultured (haha) when visiting the country, you might want to use the other name.
…
I highly recommend you check out her website (her name above links to it) – you will see that she has created some pretty fascinating pieces of jewellery! One such piece, which for some reason I find strangely more intriguing than the rest (wink wink) is the one pictured to the right. These are brooches called “Jail Worms”, and rest assured that if I was a brooches kinda guy – I’d be all over these like a Red Worm on a cantaloupe!!
By the way, here is a little blurb from Felieke’s bio:
Animals have a special place in Felieke van der Leest’s heart. She provides many animals with a busy social life as ornaments, gives a select group a nice home in museums and she placed a few oversized specimens in the center of everyone’s attention in meeting rooms and stairwells. Jewellery, object or light fixture, the scale or function is not the aspect that inspires Van der Leest: the telling of unusual stories is always her main motivation.
Van der Leest has enriched jewellery design with the introduction of textile techniques. Combining this with gold, silver and plastic, in ten years time she developed her own idiom. She drew from her childhood in Emmen where she would visit the local zoo and also from her metalsmith education in Schoonhoven. Her unbridled imagination later came to full bloom at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. For someone who normally works with hand sized pieces it is remarkable to develop monumental installations. Nevertheless, Van der Leest has already produced some ‘jewels’ for public spaces, cooperating with her cousin in Neef Nicht Design.
Anyway – after I helped Felieke with her vermi-questions she sent me a picture of her boyfriend’s worm-adorned feet (first photo above) since she thought I might get a kick out of it (no pun intended). Of course, upon seeing such cool slippers, I did what I do best and begged her to let me share them with all of you!
As the picture caption indicates, these marvelous creations were actually made by Esther Nijdam, who in the words of Felieke is “a very talented young Dutch designer” (also a former intern of Felieke’s). Please be sure to check out her website as well (find the link in the photo caption).
Unfortunately, neither of these cool worm gifts will likely be available from Amazon.com any time soon, but if you happen to be a worm person (or have one on your Christmas list) living in Europe, then you might want to support these talented artists by purchasing from them!
I just want to close by saying thanks again to Felieke for the interesting email exchange. If nothing else, perhaps this post will help to inspire some creative souls (those partial to vermicomposting) over here in North America to come up with some great gift ideas like these!
This old straw bale has become something of a Red Worm apartment complex
I’ve had a bale of straw sitting on the edge of my driveway since mid summer, and not too surprisingly it has started to rot. I guess it’s also not too surprising that it has become more appealing to my resident population of outdoor Red Worms as well. This actually caught me off guard initially – one day earlier in the fall I removed some of the straw to add to my big outdoor worm bin and found myself face to face with a lot more worms than I expected to see! The straw had a lot of fungal growth in the middle but what amazed me was how dry it was – definitely NOT optimal moisture conditions for the worms!
I’ve certainly found worms underneath my bales of straw before, but never so many right in the bale itself (well ok – there are loads of them in the walls of my ‘Winter Worm Bed‘, but that’s different). Makes me wonder what would happen if I actually put some of it in an enclosed worm bin and moistened it even more. Hmmmm…
Straw is a fantastic worm composting material, but just like some of the other ‘fantastic’ materials – such as coffee grounds, fall leaves, and grass clippings – there seems to be a subtle art involved in terms of getting it to work on its own. Of course, straw mixed with manure works very well since the manure holds water much more readily and also adds plenty of nitrogen and microbes into the mix.
Anyway – all of this has reminded me that I wanted to do a ‘50 Cocoon Challenge’ using straw. Obviously I can’t use this particular bale (haha), but I am hoping to get some new ones fairly soon!
On a related note, I also wanted to mention that I will be starting up my shredded cardboard ‘50 Cocoon Challenge’ very soon as well. Both of these should be very interesting since no ‘regular’ food will be added.
Stay tuned!
Firstly, I’d just like to send a BIG thanks out to ‘Jeff’ – one of our readers (and a customer) – for telling me about this today. This is exactly the sort of thing that reminds me of why I got into vermicomposting in the first place (like I need a reminder – haha!). I love coming across these super-cool ‘real world’ examples of worm composting being successfully used on a large scale.
This video talks about the Red Worm beds (which actually just look like a series of big Rubbermaid tubs) being used at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Recycling Center, in Dayton Ohio. The worms process fruit and vegetable waste (along with newspaper) from the base, and of course convert it into a pretty amazing all-natural ‘fertilizer’. One very interesting tidbit was the observation that the worms seem to feed most heavily at 70 F (academic research has suggested that the ‘optimal’ temperature is closer to 77 F).
Although this video is quite new, it looks as though the base has been using Red Wigglers to process their wastes for a number of years now. I tracked down an article over at Worm Digest posted in 2005, but which actually looks to be from 2003!
Here is an interesting blurb from that article:
The base launched a vermicomposting program in July, using earthworms to consume a daily average of 500 pounds of solid waste. The worms digest vegetable matter and old newspapers. That saves the base about $25 per day on transporting and disposing of waste.
As the number of worms grows, so does the amount of waste they consume.
The base acquired 250,000 worms and their climate-controlled home at no cost from another base that found it didn’t produce enough food waste to satisfy the little guys’ voracious appetites.
At Wright-Patterson, which produces more than enough fruit and vegetable waste from its commissary, the California red wigglers have flourished, now numbering more than 300,000.
Well, it’s official folks! Our good friend, ‘Mark from Kansas’ has become Red Worm Composting’s very first staff writer. I finally found someone who will work for worms! (haha – kidding)
As I mentioned at the beginning of Mark’s recent guest post (Mark and his OSCR Worm Bin), I’ve been bugging him about writing for the site for awhile now. Ever since buying worms from me last winter he has been sending me emails about all his cool vermicomposting projects – not to mention sharing his helpful winter worm bin heating strategy, and posting lots of helpful comments on the blog. I just KNEW he’d be a great addition to the ‘team’, since one of my main goals here at RWC has been to get people excited about vermicomposting. If the overwhelming response to his OSCR post is any indication, it looks as though Mark is definitely going to be helping out in that department.
Anyway, I don’t want to waste too much space sharing MY thoughts about all this (will certainly add more in this week’s newsletter), so without further ado, here is a little more about Mark (written by the man himself)…
Let me tell you a little bit about Mark from Kansas.
Mark and his lovely wife Letty
I live in well… Kansas. My wife and I are in the health care field. When we moved into a really nice house a few years ago, the yard was a mess. We even found what was left of a frozen turkey in a cooler in the back yard. The backyard was over run with weeds and the front wasn’t much better. We bought some plants and the yard started to look better. After I cleared the weeds and brush, I took it to the city compost place. There I discovered compost. I took all I could haul and top dressed the flower beds. I then started to research municipal compost and was not all that impressed but, it looked good.
I turned my attention to the lawn and that giant pool of water out back after it rained. I could not grow grass to save my life. It was like the dirt was damaged. One of my residents was telling me about the great dust bowl back in the 30’s. I started to read about the dust bowl and figured that’s what happened to my yard. It turned out to be a good guess. Earlier I mentioned how I wasn’t impressed with the municipal compost – the weed seeds germinated nicely and overtook the grass seed in a matter of two weeks.
So, not wanting to spend money on synthetic fertilizer, I did more research and found redwormcomposting.com and thought “this is the biggest bunch of crap I have ever read!”
The worms are going to eat my garbage, that’s a good one!
[Editor's Note: Mark, you are fired! ]
I think I read everything on the website for about 4 – 5 months before I bought my first pound of worms, mainly because I did not think it would work. I followed the instructions, I even challenged the idea of keeping it outside, it stayed warm like it was suppose to. I noticed that the worms were really doing what they do. We had some really cold weather coming in so I decided to add a heater (that can be viewed elsewhere in this website).
My wife came up with the heater idea. I decided to move the bin inside because I got tired of going out to the cold garage. A few weeks later I noticed that all the food was gone, the bin had an earthy smell to it, and there were these little lemon looking things all over.
I harvested and split the bin. The vermicompost (VC) was so rich looking and the funny thing was, it use to be our trash. Then I split again, bought some more worms, and got hooked.
We use the VC in our flower beds; one bed was mostly sand and the other was mostly gravel. Man did those plants grow. We also started a vegetable garden as well. The tomatoes did well and, through casual observation, they were bug free, disease free and were pretty tasty.
On a personal note, one of the residents I work with, has a dementia related illness with dementia related symptoms and short term memory loss. His wife Joann would come in every day so I got to know him through her. She told me he was an organic gardener and he would always tell her how his compost smelled. Joann did not know how important that little piece of information was. Her husband would open up to me when I would ask him about compost. He would come out of his room more if I asked him to and we became friends. We would talk about compost. Joann passed away a few months ago; I still miss her very much. She was almost motherly to me.
So here I am today. I am moving onto bigger projects. My winter project is the OSCR bin and to see how fast I can process a ton of trash.
I have smaller projects in the works and am planning a big project in the spring and summer.
I would also like to add that my wife Letty (pictured above) has been very supportive of me. She has had some ideas that I incorporated into my projects. When I was harvesting a bin last winter, I did it in the house it was too cold for me outside, she was really impressed with the VC. I was surprised that she didn’t say anything about the wheelbarrow in the back room of the house or the few worms crawling around on the carpet. Letty also brags about me at work, she is like my own personal cheerleader. One time I went to get 2 more plastic tubs for a side project, she wanted to pick them out (I suspect she choose a certain color in case I had to bring the bin inside and it would match the curtains).
Thanks Mark! Bentley here again, folks – and just so you know, I WON’T be butting in on all of Mark’s posts (apart from the odd teasing remark, perhaps). I will be adding a tiny blurb at the end of each of Mark’s articles along with his headshot, just so there isn’t any confusion over authorship. Mark will also have his own user account here, so his name will appear as the author (down below where it says “Written by Bentley” it will say “Written by Mark from Kansas”)
Who says a worm bed is just for worms? Mark takes a break beneath his newly constructed OSCR worm bin
One of the really cool things about building this website is that it has allowed me to connect with lots of people thinking about getting into vermicomposting and then helping to nudge them further in that direction. It is especially gratifying to receive emails from some of these folks weeks and months later, telling me about all the cool vermicomposting projects they have on the go etc.
My vermi-friend Mark (aka “Mark from Kansas’) is certainly a PRIME example of what I’m talking about! He bought worms from me back in February (and again in March), and is definitely someone who has taken to vermicomposting like a fish to water! In all honesty, Mark’s email updates have inspired me so much I’ve almost resorted to begging him to become a RWC correspondent.
Well, all my whining and pleading seems to have paid off (haha), and I am very pleased to be able to share Mark’s first ‘official’ post here today – focused specifically on his new OSCR (Oregon Soil Corporation Reactor) worm composting system.
Included here is a bit of a background story, Mark’s OSCR-building journal entries, and a gallery of pictures taken during the set-up process. Each photo has it’s own caption, but you may have to look closely to read them since I needed to shrink the images so they’d fit in the post.
I like to experiment with the whole vermicompost concept. I have had a lot of success vermicomposting so far. The Rubbermaid bin seemed like too much labor to harvest and maintain. I had, at one time, 4 Rubbermaid bins and one 55 gallon drum (cut length wise) in my garage. They were in the garage for four seasons and all of them prospered. For 12 months I fed them all kinds of things just to see what would happen and made a list of what they would eat. To make a long story short, I had 5 bins with different foods different moisture content, or different temperatures. If I killed some I would not kill them all.
The vermicompost I did harvest was great for our plants. Some plants grew well in sand and other plants did well in what was mostly gravel. My wife used some VC on her tomato plants and from casual observation, they were bug and disease free. She was very pleased with her small crop and received several compliments on the taste and juiciness.
So, I finally decided to lay all my cards on the table. I have read volumes of research and spent more money than I wanted to. Living in Kansas, I have an unlimited amount of manure and coffee grounds. I keep track of how many pounds of coffee grounds I get from the gas station and put up a sign in the store stating how much the store has recycled. The sign is a public awareness tool. They sell more coffee by going green and I get the coffee grounds.
My goal for this year is to reduce the bin input by 90%. I am trying to reduce 1 ton of trash into 200 pounds of high quality VC. I send samples to K-State University for nutrient contents, N P K. Some of the previous values varied greatly and now I think I have a good mix of food to balance out the values. It is my understanding that N P K are non renewable resources, they have to be mined or made from fossil fuels. I make them in my garage.
The guy I get my horse manure from wants to go completely organic in his huge garden. I think it is a fair to trade manure for VC for him to till in his garden, I’ll let him do the growth trials on a large scale, that will free me up to do more research.
I chose the OSCR bin type to meet my needs. Less labor and more time to observe and record.
It does have a forty watt heater cable in it that – based on an electric consumption calculator – will cost me 10 cents a month. I have been criticized for leaving a “carbon footprint” and using electric to heat it wasn’t pure vermicomposting. Personally, I think we are in a natural resource and pollution crisis. Time has run out a long time ago to start doing something now, if I have to maintain my bin with electric, then I have to. If all my worms die, I have no worms to vermicompost and have to spend even more money.
I also decided to install a 4” fan to force air into the harvest chamber, in short, I want to pressurize the harvest chamber to force air up and have the bottom 2” of the bin on the dry side.
Mark’s OSCR-Building Journal
10/10/09
I am getting ready to start the new big bin 40” x 48” x 24”.
The heater cable was a little long so I angled it upwards to 10” because the heater cables can‘t touch each other. The breeding chamber itself is 4” deep The breeding chamber is defined as: the harvested VC from the other bins which I have witnessed as having a lot of cocoons. The main body of the heater cable is 4” above the steel cable screen.
So from the bottom: steel cable, a layer of news paper (2-4 sheets thick), the harvested VC that include cocoons, and the main body of the heater cable.
I want the “finished” VC at the bottom so the heat will hatch the cocoons. The bulk of the food at the top will drive them upward.
I have a Bentley Bin* inside for the harvested worms. I am going to have to start a second BB when I harvest the rest of the blue bin. It is cold outside and I am going to have to let the reactor bin sit for at least a week to let it warm up and stabilize before I add the worms.
*[Editor's Note: I emailed Mark to see what he meant by "Bentley Bin", and here is what he said (I have linked to the video he refers to as well): "Bentley Bin is the Rubbermaid bin you made in your video. The first one I used and had success with. I was so thrilled with the simple bin, that I just call it a “Bentley Bin” because I built it from your website. I guess I am just a fan."]
10/11/09:
Loaded bin with:
100lbs. finished VC with cocoons
6 lbs. paper/cardboard/coffee filters
56 lbs. aged horse manure
48 lbs. aged coffee grounds
12 lbs. kitchen scraps aged in the freezer
2 ½ lbs. aged cow manure
1 ½ lbs. of sand
12 ounces oats
4 ounces egg shell
2 gallons of water
Letty plugged in the heater @ 7:00 pm. The temp of the bin is 42 degrees.
I’ll have to wait for at least a week for the temp to go up to70 degrees. The wait period will also stabilize the contents, once stabilized I’ll add the worms.
10/12/09
Temperatures vary from zone to zone. The temp is 56 degrees within a 20 inch radius from the center, at a depth of 4 inches. The left side of the bin had temps in the mid 60s.
I sprayed down the top with 1 gallon of water. The moisture meter was reading 20%.
I also added:
8 lbs. coffee grounds
8 lbs. horse manure
10/13/09
Temps rising in various zones. I closed the harvest door and have a temp 8 degrees above ambient.
Added 2 ½ gallons of water.
Added 8 pounds of horse manure. The surface seemed like it had to much coffee grounds.
10/14/09
Temps holding steady from 68 degrees on the right and 76 degrees on the left. Right side seems to be the cooler zone with the middle being the warmest. Moisture readings about 40 -50%
Added ½ gallon of water.
10/15/09
I went ahead and added my small holding bin of worms and unfinished VC 24 lbs.
The small bin was running a little dry so, in they went. I estimate 6 lbs. of worms.
I also watered it down with ½ gallon of water.
10/16/09
I have pot worms crawling up the sides.
Added 4oz of bread to the right side.
Added 3oz crushed egg shell scattered around the top
I went ahead and added the other holding bin 43 lbs. of worms and unfinished VC.
I have no idea how many worms were in the 43 lbs but, there was a lot. Maybe 15 lbs.
Added ½ gallon of water.
Totals:
Finished VC/cocoons 100lbs.
Horse manure 72 lbs.
Coffee grounds 56 lbs.
Kitchen waste 12 lbs.
Paper/cardboard/coffee filters 6 lbs.
Cow Manure 2 ½ lbs.
Sand 1 ½
Egg shell 7 ounces
Oats 12 ounces
Bread 4 ounces
Water 7 gallons
Worms holding bins 77 lbs.
Mark’s Photo Gallery
Let me wrap this up by sending out a big thanks to Mark for taking the time to document his OSCR building experience (and of course for sharing it with us). Hopefully he will be able to provide us with updates as the bin (and his vermicomposting adventure in general) progresses!
If you have any questions or comments for Mark please be sure to add them below!
Dan Thorne, with a beautiful Ontario Steelhead (released after the photo was taken)
At the risk of horrifying my loyal worm-lovers (haha), I thought it might be interesting to offer something a little different here on the blog. This was inspired by a recent email exchange with Dan Thorne, one of my local (Ontario, Canada) customers, who just so happens to be an avid fisherman.
As much as I now love my worms, I still definitely have a serious soft spot for the live food folks and the fishing fanatics – after all, my fascination with Red Worms started well before I really knew anything about vermicomposting. I used to be an avid aquarium hobbyist and diehard angler (I still wet a line every now and again – but am definitely not much of a bait fisherman anymore).
I can still vividly remember one of the real ‘turning points’ for me prior to my first introduction to a worm compost bin. I was watching my favorite childhood fishing show – ‘Real Fishing with Bob Izumi’ – and Bob was fishing for Steelhead (large migratory Rainbow Trout) on a tiny creek here in Ontario. As you might guess, his bait of choice that day happened to be Red Wigglers. Well, long story short, he was ended up pulling these monster fish out one after the other – I was completely floored! Steelhead can be a challenge to catch at the best of times, let alone on a teeny tiny, crystal clear creek. There obviously had to be something special about these worms! (little did I know at the time JUST how special they were!)
What’s really cool is that Dan was actually a guest on Bob Izumi’s show at one time (although not on the episode mentioned above), and also knows just how effective these worms can be for catching Steelhead. He recently shared with me a little story about one of his Red Worm fishing days (along with some additional fishing wisdom) and I requested permission to post it here. Dan kindly agreed, and even sent me the great photo above (thanks again, Dan!).
I was fishing an opening day in late April on a very crowded river that held a large number of 5-10 pound Steelhead (migratory Rainbow Trout). The water was gin clear and the fish were extremely weary refusing all regular offerings of various colored spawn sacs, spoons and lures and even big dew worms. Luckily I had the foresight that morning to pack a couple dozen red wigglers adding to my arsenal with the hope of offering something different than everyone else.
I arrived early that morning to find more fisherman than I’ve ever seen at this particular spot, in fact some were actually camped overnight in order to secure a good spot to fish at sunrise. The water was ultra clear and I knew this would be one of those challenging days where the fish would be hunkered down with feeding as the last thing on their minds. I downsized my complete presentation in order to offer my bait in the most natural way possible. My first 10 drifts were made with the typical baits as used by the fisherman who now lined both sides of the river with no strikes…there’s no doubt these fish were spooked.
I single hooked a red wiggler on a small #12 hook, and half way through my first drift my float disappeared and I found myself fighting a beautiful 8 pound Steelhead in front of everyone who had to quickly pull their lines in allowing me to fight this aggressive brute. Some thought I foul hooked it since they didn’t seem to be biting anything….but I knew better! To make a long story short, I continued hooking one after another until I finally ran out of worms my mid-morning but not before landing and releasing another 10 or so beautiful chrome fish, not to mention the ones I battled and lost.
Don’t get me wrong, these worms are not the end all but through experience I know they have produced fish when other baits haven’t. I strongly believe they will hit the smaller worms purely based on natural instinct. Steelhead spend their first 2-3 years of life in the river before venturing out into the lakes, only to return every year thereafter to spawn. During these early years of growth they become accustomed to only feeding on natural food sources which include small worms that get washed into the river after rainfalls. I don’t think big dew worms are as common as the smaller worms, thus my reasoning for raising them and having them on hand for just the right occasion.
This was definitely not an isolated incident as there have been many occasions I have nestled in between unsuccessful anglers and immediately hooked fish. When they ask what in God’s name am I using I simply reply “worms” with no description and then move on.
Well, it’s been a little while since my last Worm Inn Pro update. Certainly a few things to report on there. As you may recall, in my typical over-confident (a.k.a. “dumb”) manner I decided that I was basically going to overfeed this system even though I only started it with a couple bags of ‘compost ecosystem’ mix (i.e. no gobs of worms). I assumed (like a typical dummy) that given all the fantastic air flow, along with the healthy amount of shredded cardboard I’ve been adding, I could get away with anything, just shy of pouring in rat poison!
Luckily, before too long I realized that this foolhardy approach wasn’t the best way to go – for the first time ever I actually ended up with leachate coming out of the bottom of a Worm Inn, and there was a fair amount of stinky anaerobic stuff going on with all the food waste I had added. As such, I cut back on my proposed feeding schedule, and have only added food once or twice since then.
What’s really cool is the fact that despite all this, the system has still remained relatively odorless (and trust me, I’d hear about it if one of my systems start to stink – especially given the fact that my Worm Inn is sitting in our laundry room). When I dig down into it with my trusty hand fork I definitely get some less-than-pleasant odors wafting up (due to all the anaerobic pockets I am disturbing), but I’m certainly not dealing with the kind of catastrophy that would almost certainly be occurring if I was doing this in an enclosed plastic tub.
I should also mention that the worms are doing very well. Now when I dig around I am seeing a lot more worms (large and small), so the population is clearly doing just fine despite my best efforts to be a bad caregiver!
Interestingly enough (yet not surprising at all) some other critters have made their presence known in a BIG WAY, basically taking advantage of the relatively low competition environment. This is actually kind of cool since I wrote about this sort of thing not too long ago in the newsletter, and my last blog post also dealt with a couple of these organisms.
I think I already mentioned there being lots of springtails, but for the first time today I noticed there are also a LOT of white mites.
This is really interesting to me since this is the first time I have seen so many in an open system. Clearly, my excessive overfeeding is providing them with some nice living conditions! I can only imagine how many there would be if this was a dark enclosed tub – as it is, they are only concentrated on wet food materials.
Another dumb move made by yours truly recently was to bring in a culture of large-bodied fruit flies (yes, on purpose! haha) from outside. I had been growing them out in my shed with the plans to test out my ‘mosquito dunk’ theory of dipteran destruction (ie. I wanted to see if it would kill various worm bin ‘fly’ species). Its been getting pretty cold the last little while, so I wanted to make sure I still had some to play around with.
Of course, as ‘dumb’ as I call myself I knew full-well that the likelihood of keeping the fruit flies contained once inside was slim to none. True to form, it was only a day or two before I found them in one of my open tray systems – and from there is was just a hop, skip and a jump over to the Worm Inn. As mentioned, this system is much better than the original at fending off some invasions due to the zippered lid – but its one ‘Achilles Heel’ is the small open space where the two zipper sliders meet. I tried to tape it up, but the tape I used didn’t hold, and I suspect that some may have managed to get in before I even put the tape on.
What’s really neat about this current fruit fly ‘invasion’ (if you can call it that) is that it’s still not obvious. They don’t seem to thrive all that well in my open tray systems, and the Worm Inn is really great at keeping them contained – I didn’t even realize there were all that many in there until I finally opened it up today to take some pictures (so yeah, I might not be doing that again for a little while – haha).
Anyway, as you can probably tell, I love pushing the limits with my systems so that I have things to write about here on the blog – and of course, I also like to remind people that I am a normal, average worm guy who gets fruit flies and mites too!
Here is a question from Geri (**I’ve also provided an audio response at the end**):
I am new at worm compost and I have noticed a lot of little
white insects in my trays–are they harmful and what are they?
Hi Geri,
There are a number of possibilities here – first and foremost however, let me assure you that these critters are definitely NOT any sort of lice. The only type of ‘lice’ you might find in a compost bin are ‘Woodlice’ (a.k.a. ‘Sow Bugs’, ‘Pill Bugs’, ‘Basketball Bugs’) and they are not really lice. Heck, they’re not even insects for that matter (they are crustaceans – much more closely related to crabs and shrimp than bugs).
In my mind there are two main possibilities in terms of what you are finding in your bin: 1) Springtails and 2) Mites
Springtails
Formerly thought of as a prehistoric insect group, I’ve just learned from Wikipedia that these creatures are no longer actually considered insects at all. Regardless, they are a very common invertebrate found in compost heaps and worm bins (among numerous other habitats). As the name implies, they usually have a spring-like tail appendage known as a ‘fercula’, but interestingly enough some of the common varieties found in composting environments don’t seem to have these.
Springtails, like composting worms, feed heavily on microbes – especially various types of fungi – so they are generally beneficial in a composting system. Some people claim that they can irritate the worms when very abundant, but I personally don’t worry too much about their presence my my own systems at all. In fact, they really seem to help break down waste materials – and in particular, seem to be a valuable asset in terms of keeping fungal populations in check (so less likely to see molds etc taking over your bin), and for taking care of wastes that the worms might not be as eager to feed on (such as citrus, and structurally resistant materials like broccoli etc).
Mites
There can be a huge array of different mite species – even within single compost ecosystem environment. One of the more common varieties found in worm bins is what I refer to as a ‘white mite’ (I am still not sure if this is one species, or a number of similar species). People often assume these are ‘eggs’ – in fact many vermicomposting newcomers wonder if they are ‘worm eggs’ – since they are white, shiny, round, and don’t appear to move at all. If you watch them for long enough however (or use a magnifying class) you will realize that they do indeed move, and that they possess a short set of appendages to assist with their locomotion.
As is the case with springtails, the presence of these critters in your worm bin in itself is definitely nothing to be concerned about. If you are seeing massive quantities of them however (coating the sides and underside of lid – perhaps even coming out of the bin) then it may indicate that you need to make some adjustments so as to better optimize conditions for the worms. In my experience, mites (and these mites in particular) really thrive is wet conditions where lots of excess food is available. They also seem to do well in acidic environments – quite some time ago, I wrote about how one of my bins (fed too much bokashi waste) went ’sour’, and one of the symptoms was a huge abundance of these mites.
People often assume that these mites actually attack and feed on worms since quite a few can sometimes be found on the worms themselves. Based on my own experiences with this phenomenon, I feel that yes, they do sometimes feed on worms – but in every single case, I’ve observed that the worms were either dead or dying. I suspect, therefore, that these mites serve as general scavengers in worm bins, performing a valuable clean-up role when the need arises. This is yet another reason to keep your eyes open for these white mite population explosions – they can sometimes indicate that something is going wrong with your worm population (likely due to environmental conditions in the system).
Anyway, Geri – I hope this helps! If you still think your white critters might be something else, please do provide some additional details and we’ll see if we can further narrow down the possibilities.
My main vermicomposting trench garden – looking a little more barren these days
This last week or so has definitely been a bit of a wake-up call in terms of reminding me that winter is just around the corner. The mercury has been dipping well below average for this time of year, and I’m starting to feel a wee bit anxious about getting my outdoor worm beds ready for their winter slumber. Interestingly enough, I have also been receiving a fair number of email questions relating to the topic of cold weather vermicomposting in general.
I’ve certainly written quite a lot about ‘Winter Worm Composting’ – namely my ongoing pursuit of the ultimate (active) winter worm bed, but I wanted to write this post to outline some steps you can take if you want to simply protect your worms until spring. (by the way, you can learn more about my Winter Worm Composting adventures via the links on the ‘Hot Topics‘ page).
That’s right – there is a BIG difference between keeping an active winter system and keeping your worms alive! Red Worms and European Nightcrawlers are very tough worms and seem to be able to survive any amount of cold…so long as they don’t freeze solid, that is! As I think I’ve written before, last year when I was transferring material from my former winter worm composting bed to the new system (of course, after procrastinating until there was snow on the ground!) I actually found wiggling worms in partially frozen material!
There’s a fine line there, however!
Back when I was a vermicomposting novice I set up an improperly insulated system in my dad’s backyard and it froze solid, basically killing off my entire population! (DOH!) I should mention that worm cocoons are a fair bit more cold-resistant than the worms themselves, so even if all hope does seem to be lost you may end up surprised to find a population of young wigglers once the bed/bin warms up again in the spring!
When it comes to fall (outdoor) worm bed maintenance (i.e. making sure you’ve got loads of worms left for next spring) there are basically three main strategies I recommend – 1) Consolidation 2) Protection, and 3) Insurance. It’s not a bad idea to focus on them in that order as well.
Consolidation
As the name implies, this involves concentrating as many worms (+ habitat and food) as you can into fewer key systems. This is not to say that you should completely abandon the systems the worms are being moved from – with a minimum amount of effort you might be surprised how well these ‘neglected’ systems still do. Take my main vermicomposting trench for example – last winter I moved a LOT of material (and worms) from it over to my sandbox garden bed (which was then insulated with straw/leaves and covered with a tarp). I literally did nothing to further protect the trench itself, other than allowing snow to pile up in it!
In all honesty, I had zero expectation of there being any worms left in it by the time spring rolled around. Long story short – I added some wormless manure to it late in the winter, and found the material to be loaded with worms (and I’m not just talking about newborns here) not too long afterwards.
Consolidation is still a good idea though, since it allows you to put a lot more focus on a handful of (or even one or two) systems. Unless you have access to heaps and heaps of manure and/or protective bedding materials, it probably won’t make all that much sense to fully protect every last nook and cranny of your outdoor (warm weather) systems – especially if you are like me and have a vast array of different vermi-projects on the go in your yard. It’s kinda like painting your house (uh oh, Bentley’s analogy engine is kicking in!)…would you rather use a can of paint to do a really great job on a few rooms, or stretch it out for the sake of having the whole house painted (shoddily)?
As mentioned, it certainly won’t hurt if you do at least add a little protection to your leftover systems as well – maybe a shallow layer of leaves, grass clippings or yard clean-up waste. I should mention that this is really only applicable of you have systems that are in-ground or at least pretty low to the ground. If you have ‘regular’ worm beds, and it gets really cold where you live, you will definitely want to move most of your worms indoors, or create some low-lying protective beds (again, with more effort being placed on fewer systems).
My major consolidation activities so far this year have involved removing as much material as possible from my various small and/or shallow systems (such as my vermi-mulch gardens, and my potato boxes) and either harvesting the worms for sale, or moving everything to one of my planned winter beds. At some point I will also more than likely be moving a LOT of material/worms over to my large winter worm bed (over at my dad’s place).
Protection
This is obviously more important than consolidation (although, consolidation as actually a form of protection in its own right) – if you take the time to concentrate your worm herd but don’t offer them any protection, you end up relying primarily on the worms’ ability to cope with the cold.
With ’sleeping’ winter systems it’s actually very easy to provide protection, even in extremely cold locations. As mentioned already, one of the keys is making sure you are using fairly low-lying systems – with something like a vermicomposting trench or pit being your best option. The earth itself provides excellent insulation from the cold, and keeping the system low to the ground also helps to reduce the impact of ‘wind chill factor’.
Once your low lying system is in place, really all your need to do is then add as many layers of ’stuff’ as you can – the more the better. I’m in the process of cleaning up my gardens these days, and rather than tossing the material into my backyard composters (as I would often do with weeds etc during the summer), I’ve been laying it down over top of my trench beds (in the picture above you can see all my chopped up zucchini plants now serving as an initial layer of protection (and potentially even food) for my main trench. Unlike during the summer, when I was trying more to optimize the systems, I’ve basically adopted an “anything goes” kind of approach, short of tossing in my non biodegradable garbage of course!
It’s during the cold weather that the “structure’ materials, such as straw, fall leaves, bulky plants etc can really come in handy – not only providing insulation, but also a long-term food source. One important thing to mention here though – if you are planning to add some good ‘food’ materials as well, it’s not a bad idea to make sure you are adding a healthy layer of the protective materials over top. Let’s say for example that you happen to have access to large quantities of aged manure and plan to bulk up your beds with it. While, this is certainly a fantastic winter strategy, one thing to keep in mind however, is the fact that the worms are likely going to move up into it. Unless you also have a really nice thick layer of insulation materials on top, you can still run the risk of killing off a significant proportion of your population.
While I certainly won’t do this with my trench systems, it’s also not a bad idea to add some sort of semi-breathable ’shell’ over your beds to create an extra layer of wind (and rain) protection while also helping to keep some microbially-generated heat in. I’ve found that a regular tarp can work very well, but if you want to get super fancy I know there are various commercially available compost covers as well. As I mentioned earlier, I used a tarp as an extra layer of protection on my sandbox bed last winter (also on my big winter worm bed). Apart from the protection these covers can offer, they can also be quite helpful for warming up the bed in the spring (assuming they are a dark color) – just don’t leave them on too long!!
Insurance
When it comes to vermicomposting (especially when just starting out), it is NEVER a bad idea to have an ‘insurance policy’ bin (or bins), just in case something goes really wrong in your main system. Well, the same principle applies here. If you live in Alaska, Northern Minnesota or any other extreme winter locale this is especially important! Even if it simply involves setting up one or two tiny bins in your basement, bringing your worm composting efforts indoors is a good way to ensure that you will be able to kickstart your outdoor systems again once spring arrives.
Of course, keeping indoor worm bins has plenty of other advantages apart from preservation of your worm herd! It’s nice being able to continue composting your food scraps during the winter, its obviously advantageous if you own a worm business and still plan to sell worms, and of course who could forget the fact that keeping indoor worm bins is just plain FUN!
So there you have it – my basic approach to getting my worms ready for the winter months ahead. As per usual, if you have any questions or experiences to share be sure to leave a comment down below.
Just so you know, I will also be writing more about the topic of cold weather worm bins (apart from getting back into my ‘Winter Worm Composting’ series) fairly soon – so do stay tuned!
