April 2009
You are currently browsing the articles from Red Worm Composting written in the month of April 2009.
To say this update was ‘overdue’ would be a pretty serious understatement to say the least! So I won’t say it.
I will however say this…
VERMICOMPOST!!!!
Why exactly?
Well, that time has finally arrived – I performed my first compost harvest from the bottom of my camo Worm Inn. In all honesty (and as per usual with my various projects, it seems), I kinda neglected the system, so I wasn’t really sure what I’d find at the bottom. I had originally hoped to add 3 lb of worms, but unfortunately I was never able to spare that many due to steady demand from customers. I hate to admit it, but I even went so far as to harvest some worms from the Inn on a couple of occasions!
What’s cool about this system is that it handled neglect quite a bit better than the wooden stacking bin I used for my “Four Worm Reproduction Experiment“. I find that the Inn offers an excellent balance between moisture-retention and oxygenation of the composting materials (you may recall that the shallow trays of the wooden system caused everything to dry out very quickly).
Even though it has been a number of months since I first set up this Worm Inn, I thought for sure that my ‘false bottom’ of egg carton cardboard would be essentially intact. As it turns out, it was quite well decomposed, and there seemed to be lots of nice ‘black gold’ down in this lower zone.
Given the weight of the Inn and the relatively small size of the laundry hamper I’ve been using, I ended up having to prop it up on wooden planks in order to easily extract some compost from the bottom.
Some people have expressed concern re: the potential for having everything fall out the bottom at once when it comes time to start harvesting. My suggestion has always been to constrict the bottom with one hand (this is once the drawstrings are loose) and simply let the compost out slowly and carefully. As I discovered, you don’t even need to be that cautious. By the time the Inn is ready for the first harvest, all the material near the bottom has become quite compacted. I actually had to use a hand rake in order to get a decent batch of vermicompost.
I’m sure people are wondering about the worms as well. I honestly thought that there would be at least a few worms down at the bottom, and was actually quite shocked to see none whatsoever. I saw white worms and some other critters, but no worms. I noticed a few cocoons, but it certainly wasn’t loaded with them.
Lastly, the quality of the material really blew me away. It reminded me of the beautiful stuff I harvested from my outdoor bin last summer. The difference of course, is the fact that this material has not been exposed to the elements (rain, freezing etc), so it’s probably even better. It was a nice dark colour, had a rich earthy aroma, and a crumbly texture. Certainly nothing like the sloppy stuff I’ve grown accustomed to finding in the bottom of my enclosed plastic bins over the years.
All in all, I am very impressed. I was fairly optimistic about the effectiveness of this system, but in all honesty it has definitely exceeded my expectations.
The next step is to start harvesting compost on a regular basis. I’ll be very interested to see how much it produces! I also want to test out the compost to see if it is as good as it looks.
Moving on to my other Worm Inn…
In my last update, I said I was going to stick with using Euros in that system (even though they were all congregating down in the bottom). Well, shortly after writing that post, I actually decided to move them to a bin better suited for their moisture-loving tendencies. A few weeks ago I simply set up the second Worm Inn with Red Worm inoculum (old bedding material containing loads of cocoons and baby worms) . Not much to report on there just yet, but I will certainly write more about that system as it matures.
Stay tuned!
Written by Bentley on April 8th, 2009 with 2 comments.
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Giant cardboard boxes containing horse manure and coffee grounds
Late last week I received two big ol’ boxes of ‘worm food’ from a farmer friend of mine – one with manure, the other with coffee grounds. In case you are wondering, I DID in fact pay for these materials (something that would be unheard of for most vermicomposting hobbyists). As a worm business owner, it makes good economic sense to provide my wigglers with lots of highly nutritious food, since it will help them to grow more quickly and breed more readily.
Aside from that, I knew it would provide me with more FUN topics to write about on the blog!
I will be adding a lot of manure/grounds to the big worm bed at my dad’s place, but I’ll certainly be setting aside a fair amount for fun projects as well. One thing I want to do is test out coffee grounds as a sole food source for composting worms to see if that’s a viable option. I also will want to kickstart my vermicomposting trenches in the next few weeks as well.
I will certainly keep everyone posted!
Written by Bentley on April 6th, 2009 with 7 comments.
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Here are some good questions from Liz:
I am new at this worm composting and find it very
fascinating but, there is so much information out there that maybe I
missed the answer… my question is after the bin is full and all the
food waste has decomposed do I just dump the bin with all the
wonderful fertilizer in my garden with the worm as well or do I need
to do some fishing?? By the way I love your website it has so much
helpful information. I just thought of another ?? Do I dump the soil
that comes with the worms into the in to the compost bin as well?? My
mind is spinning with all the information out there that I can’t think
straight help! Look forward to reading your email. Thanks in
advance!
Hi Liz,
When your bin is full, and much of the material has turned into a dark compost, it is definitely time to start a new bin (assuming you want to continue vermicomposting) or multiple bins for that matter. You can either remove any leftover (undecomposed) bedding/food or simply leave the system to sit without feeding for a while longer. If removed, this material can then be added to the new system(s).
You can of course simply dump the contents of your bin in the garden, but I’d recommend separating the worms from the compost as best you can. There are a number of different ways you can do this. A very common low-tech approach is called the “light harvesting method”. This works particularly well outside on a nice warm, sunny day, but indoors under bright lights should be fine as well. Start by dumping the contents of your bin out on a plastic sheet and (if indoors) positioning your light over top. Leave the heap to sit for at least a few minutes (the longer the better) to allow the worms to start moving downwards. If it is really wet, you may want to actually let the material sit for a few days (obviously not going to be an option if you are doing this in the middle of your living room – haha).
Next, you simply start moving material off the top of the pile, creating a second heap of (hopefully) wormless compost. Any worms you come across can be put into a container or the new bin (for best results, this system should be ready before you start harvesting the first one). Eventually, you will basically be left with a writhing mass of worms down at the bottom, and a separate pile of compost. Aside from the missed worms, there will also be plenty of worm cocoons and baby worms left in the compost. You can either consider these a loss and start using it in the garden, or you can let it sit for even longer, perhaps with some food waste up top to lure your baby worms that have hatched. The food waste zone can then be removed and added to a new system.
Another approach you might want to try out is what I’ve referred to as the “garbage bag harvesting method“. You basically set up a new system (letting it age like a fine wine – haha), then put a perforated piece of plastic over top of the material in the new bin – on top you add material from the old bin. The worms will then migrate downwards into the new system. This method can take longer than the light harvesting, but it allows you to go do other things. You certainly don’t need to use perforated plastic either – anything that will allow worms through, while being able to support the material above (when it’s time to lift it off) will be fine – an old onion bag, mesh/screen material etc.
You might also want to try out my vermicomposting trench method, and simply dump everything in there (once a worm-friendly habitat has been created, of course). At the end of the season, you can then take some worms from your trench and start a new indoor bin.
Ok, moving on…
When adding worms to a new system, I definitely recommend also adding the material they came in, UNLESS you are trying to salvage a handful of surviving worms from a shipment that has gone awry. You definitely don’t want to add lots of dead and dying worms to a new vermicomposting system – this can create a chain-reaction of worm death, quickly wiping out the entire population (especially in enclosed plastic ‘bin’ types of systems).
Generally speaking (assuming no major issues with the worms), this material that comes with them will help them to get settled in. They can remain in it for as long as they like, rather than being forced out into the new environment.
Anyway, I hope this helps, Liz!
Written by Bentley on April 3rd, 2009 with 4 comments.
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