Homemade Manure Video

Nanette
#1. March 30th, 2010, at 6:40 PM.

Question: Do you still need to cover the contents of this homemade manure with cardboard or shredded paper to keep down the smell etc. in the Worm Inn?

Nancy
#2. April 1st, 2010, at 10:31 PM.

I’d like to offer the suggestion to anyone who does “juicing” if they haven’t thought of it already. The pulp from the juice machine is a great composting and worm food. It’s mostly carrot, celery, cucumber and apple. I feed my worms once or twice a week and they’re thriving.

Tom
#4. April 30th, 2010, at 4:35 PM.

Bentley, great site. I think I’m getting close to the end of reading all your content, so I’m starting to go through it all again. I learn something new every single day.

My bin is 3.5 weeks old and I added 2 lbs. of red worms 1 week ago. I aged the bin as you recommended and I didn’t start with the homemade manure (“HM”). Until yesterday, I hadn’t added any new food since adding the worms, I didn’t want to overload the system since it was new. I whipped up a fresh batch of HM, I didn’t weigh it, but I would guess it was roughly 2 lbs. or so. First, I let the scraps sit for a few days, then froze and thawed them, then mixed in cardboard until it was no longer dripping wet. Well, the worms haven’t started on it yet, but I suppose once the microbes colonize it, the worms will follow.

How long does it takes for the microbes to get into it? My guess is immediately, and they probably reproduce very quickly under these conditions.

The HM is heating up the side of the bin where I put it, can it get too hot and harm the worms? I suppose they can just move away from it. Also, the heat is a sign the microbes are chomping down, correct?

Should I have used a more scientific method for the amount of cardboard I add versus the food scraps than just adding cardboard until the HM was no longer sopping wet? My concern here is that I added too much nitrogen rich material and the HM will get too hot. The rest of the bin is primarily cardboard and newspaper.

Would it be better to spread the HM around evenly? Would that prevent it from heating up so much, or does it even matter?

How long does it usually take for the HM to settle and start to cool down? A few days?

If your worms could handle the heat generated from your overfeeding challenge, then mine can certainly handle 2 lbs. of HM. I guess I’m just a nervous new parent here, right?

Thanks again.

Tom
#6. May 1st, 2010, at 8:37 PM.

Sounds like I’m on the right track. Thanks for the reply, it was very helpful.

I’m using a 14 gallon rubbermaid container (24″x16″x12.5″), although I’m not nearly using all of that volume. I put plenty of air vents on the sides and a few on the bottom as you suggested. The bin is indoors, so the ambient temperature stays around 71 degrees F.

I can’t seem to keep from digging around and checking things out, which definitely increases airflow. Would it be better for the worms to leave it be? Or is stirring it up fine?

Colleen
#8. May 22nd, 2010, at 7:35 PM.

Hi Bentley! I decided to experiment with the homemade manure. I made up a batch using old produce I picked up from the grocery store, mixing it with just enough shredded cardboard to eliminate the liquid, then let it rot on the back porch for about 2 weeks After that I added it into 2 of the worm bins that I have. I made a trench, loaded it up, then covered it with a light layer of the bin bedding. At the end of of about a week I did some checking. In the first bin I couldn’t find any worms in the bin EXCEPT for in the remains of the manure trench. In the second bin the manure was completely gone! The worms had grown substantially as well. Since you are great at pushing the limits on our pre-concieved notions I decided to fill a whole bin with nothing but the manure. I then added in about 4 handfuls of redworms. Today I looked at them and boy, do they look great!!! Who knows if they are breeding yet, but they sure are happy, you can almost see little grins on their faces…

Paula Allen
#9. November 1st, 2010, at 3:13 AM.

I mixed my worm food like this. I placed my mixture into the card board egg cartons. So when I feed them I just break off some bowls of food let them thaw and place it in the bin.

Herbie Ewers
#10. November 22nd, 2010, at 2:59 PM.

I notice in the video you use shredded cardboard. Do you have any suggestions on an fast, efficient way to shred cardboard?

Sarah
#12. November 30th, 2010, at 11:04 PM.

Hi Bentley,

A few questions:

- Are there particular cardboards to use/avoid? I assume that toilet paper rolls are fine, but I only have so many of those ;o). What about like, office depot shipping boxes? or the boxes that reams of paper come in?

- For newspaper, does it matter if it has color printing on it, or should it be black and white only?

- For papertowels, as long as they are pretty much used for drying hands, is that ok?

- Also, can you use used kleenex/tissue? I produce a lot of that whenever I get a cold ;o).

- A friend of mine keeps rabbits. If I ask for some of her rabbit poop, what is the proper way to age the manure, or should I not bother asking for it?

Thanks a lot for your help!

Sarah
#13. November 30th, 2010, at 11:08 PM.

Oh yeah, as a follow up question to my post above, would it be safe to use castings in my food garden if I add rabbit poop to the worm bin?

Kevin Jiang
#14. December 2nd, 2011, at 9:01 PM.

I’ve had a lot of success with HMM. I’ve also got some horse manure quite recently as well. The Euro’s I have love HMM. They swarm it immediatly.
Kevin