Soil Biology Overview
Just a very quick post to point you in the direction of what looks to be a cool resource. Credit for the find goes to ‘Mark from Kansas’. He is in “research mode” at the moment (in case you are wondering why he has been so quite as of late), and came across a really interesting section all about Soil Biology on the USDA website: Soil Biology.
Some of you might wonder what “soil biology” has to do with worm composting (after all, we’re not using soil, right?) – well, there are certainly a lot of parallels, and a solid understanding of soil biology can indeed help a great deal when it comes to understanding the inner workings of your composting systems.
Anyway – just wanted to provide that link for those who might be interested. Thanks again to Mark for tracking it down.
Written by Bentley on February 23rd, 2010 with
3 comments.
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Bentley
#1. February 23rd, 2010, at 9:57 PM.
I have been composting with worm bins for over 20 years. The last few years I have run into a new problem. The worms went away. The bin is the same. Last year I took out all the old soil and buried it thinking there may have been some anti-worm substance that got in and created a hostile environment for the worms. Then I started a new pile with organic compost from the nursery. Still no worms. I introduced some red wigglers that I found in the soil of the yard but they did not thrive.
In the past I have always had worms find the bin and set up a colony there. I still put household waste in the bin, the same as always, no meat scraps, etc., you know the drill. But, no worms. The soil I make is good but it takes a long, long time to mature. I loved the worms. I am reluctant to buy a box of them only to see them perish (along with the money I spent on them!). Any suggestions? Thanks for any help you can offer. TH