Red Worm with a second tail – WORM POWER!!!
(apologies to those of you unfamiliar with the TMNT theme song – haha)
Well folks, our ‘Reader Photos’ section definitely seems to be off to a good start! Keep em coming! This one was sent in by Jim Stephanoff, and NO it is not a big worm on top of a little worm – it is indeed a two-tailed Red Worm!
An old friend of mine actually promised me a picture of a two-tailed worm from his bin quite some time ago, but this is the first one I’ve actually seen. Pretty cool!
I’m not sure what exactly causes this (likely some sort of mutation), or how often it occurs, but it is quite interesting.
Thanks again for sending it in, Jim!
Written by Bentley on April 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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Here is a question from Robyn, who is wondering about the feeding schedule once the worm bin is set up.
Hi Bentley,
I am ready to go I believe…I have an old recycle bin (
19″Lx12″wx13″h) with some small holes aready drilled (this does not
have a top for it, so I’ve covered it with aluminum foil – will this
suffice?); I’ve put down 5 layers (bedding, food, bedding, food,
bedding), and watered it all down.
I’ll let it sit for a week or so, then add in a pound of worms.
My question is, how often after this do I add more scraps and/or
bedding?
For harvesting, from reading other posts, it sounds like I just need
to watch the progress and when I start seeing the dark castings I
know I can use it on my plants.
Hi Robyn,
It sounds like you are off to a good start! I would recommend monitoring the bin during the week (aging period) to make sure the moisture is getting evenly distributed and not pooling in the bottom. Mixing everything up a couple times will definitely help as well. Putting tin foil over it while it ages is a great idea since it will help to keep the moisture in (further assisting you in balancing moisture levels throughout bin). Once the worms are added, you can keep the foil on if you want, but you don’t really need it. It sounds like your bin has a decent depth so you could probably get away with a thick layer of bedding over top of your bedding/food mixture down below, and not have to worry about a lid at all. A thick layer of straw or shredded paper/cardboard will work great, and will also help to ensure that your bin doesn’t ever get too wet since much more water vapor will be able to escape.
Once you have added the worms I’d recommend simply monitoring them for the next week or so to see how they adapt to their new home. Dig around a bit periodically to see if they are settling in and consuming the food waste you’ve added. If they seem really responsive, and are clearly reducing the volume of the materials in the bin and you can’t see too much in the way of obvious food waste, you can start adding small amounts of new wastes (preferably aged). Again, watch how quickly they process the materials, and adjust your feeding accordingly. I would recommend adding more bedding material with each feeding, or at least every other feeding to help keep moisture levels and C:N ratio somewhat balanced – not to mention helping to maintain air flow throughout the bin.
It may take some months before you can harvest the material (would be faster if using some sort of ‘continuous flow’ system), and yeah just keep an eye on the level of vermicompost in the bin. When it is starting to look like most of the material is dark and soil like you’ll probably want to get a new bin ready. Once the new bin has been aged you can then transfer worms over using my simple ‘garbage bag harvesting method‘.
By the way, as mentioned in a previous post, I have started up a bin of my own so I can go through all the usual steps of taking care of a new worm bin. I’m going to be sharing the results with my newsletter members in the form of a ‘worm bin journal’. As an indication of just how laid back I am when setting up a new bin, I STILL have my vermicompost sitting on top of the garbage bag (harvester) in the new bin (it’s been more than a week)!
I have been monitoring the worms down below (all have migrated down to the bin) however, and they seem to be doing very well. I’m going to remove the harvester today or tomorrow and get into the swing of things with caring for the bin. If nothing else, this should at least show you how mellow you can be with a new worm bin (set up the way I recommend). The worms have plenty of food so there is no rush to start adding tons of scraps. I know it can be tough to be patient during this period – if you need some place to put your scraps just start up a bucket with lots of bedding in the bottom and add them there (along with some bedding each time you add scraps), assuming you don’t have some sort of outdoor composter.
Anyway – hope this helps!
Bentley
Technorati Tags: worm bin, food scraps, worm composting, vermicomposting, worm castings, vermicompost, worm compost
Written by Bentley on April 15th, 2008 with no comments.
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Although I haven’t really written about them in awhile, it is certainly no secret that I am a huge fan of Terracycle – the now hugely popular ‘liquid worm poop’ fertilizer company. I can still remember when I first heard about them – at the time they were just a couple of young entrepreneurs at Princeton trying to make things work on a shoestring budget. Part of me was kicking myself for not thinking of the idea first (haha), but I was also very excited to see someone helping to raise awareness about vermicomposting!
We’ll they’ve certainly come a LONG way since then – they’ve attracted a massive amount of media attention, their sales have gone through the roof (showing no signs of slowing down any time soon), they even went head to head the billion dollar mega fertilizer corporation, Scotts (see: Scotts Miracle-Grow Sues Terracycle?). According to an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (thanks to ‘Friendly Worm Guy’ for passing that one along!), that battle cost them $400,000 in legal fees. Thankfully they weathered the storm and were able to settle the dispute (agreeing to change their labeling).
Here is some other interesting info from that same article:
It wasn’t easy raising capital, and TerraCycle, based in Trenton, has yet to make a profit. But already its products have been embraced in the United States and Canada by corporate bigs like Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Target and Whole Foods.
Fourteen thousand stores – and counting.
And get a load of sales: $70,000 in 2004, $500,000 in 2005, $1.5 million in 2006, an estimated $4 million this year, and a projected $8.6 million in 2008.
In another five years, Szaky (pronounced ZACK-ee), a CEO who’s “really not much of an eco-freak or recycler,” envisions sales topping $50 million. Don’t laugh. Inc. magazine last year dubbed TerraCycle “the coolest little start-up in America” – and where it finishes is anybody’s guess.
TerraCycle lawn and garden products are made from 100 percent recycled garbage, thanks to the red wiggler earthworm known as Eisenia foetida. The worms’ excretions, or castings, are brewed into a “compost tea” and packaged in recycled plastic milk jugs and soda bottles collected by schoolchildren around the country. TerraCycle pays them a few cents per bottle – $78,000 so far.
So what is it exactly that I love about Terracycle? Here are the “ten things” (in no particular order):
1] They’ve clearly demonstrated that ‘green’ entrepreneurs (or ‘ecopreneurs’) can make it big too!
2] They’ve helped to raise awareness about worm composting – I can only imagine what the future holds!
3] They epitomize my
Compost Guy motto – ‘turning wastes into resources’
4] Speaking of mottos, they have a great one too – ‘Better, Greener, Cheaper’
5] In 2003 they won the $1 million Carrot Capital Business Plan Contest – yet turned down the prize money when it became clear they’d be required to stray from their original vision! (i.e. it’s not just about the money for them). This is a prime example of how…
6] They’ve dared to be different!
7] They’ve harnessed the unbelievable potential of the web to get their message to the masses – in fact…
8] They haven’t even had to spend ANY money on marketing or advertising (according to the Philadelphia Inquirer article mentioned above)
9] The stuff
really works!
10] Not content just to rest on their laurels in the ‘worm poop’ market, they have also been expanding their line of products – still making everything from ‘garbage’
Oh, and one more bonus “thing”: 11] They have an awesome website! Check it out:
http://www.TerraCycle.net/
Technorati Tags: worm poop, worm castings, vermicompost, worm compost, worm tea, compost tea, terracycle, scotts, fertilizer, organic fertilizer, recycling, green products, ecopreneurs, entrepreneurs
Written by Bentley on April 15th, 2008 with 2 comments.
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1937 lb of Organic Waste, and Counting!