Comments on: SSUBWHT – Update #1

By: Wayne

Wayne — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:26:00 +0000

Why let the cantalope sit? My worms can smell cantalope why I open their box and begin jumping for it. I can take a strip of canatople just cut, lay it on top of other food and there will be worms eating on it within five minutes. There crawl over other older food to get to the canatlope

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:11:04 +0000

John – thanks for sharing that! Sounds like an interesting idea. I think honey or molasses could work well too. I suspect that it might be the rapid bloom of microbes (feeding on the easily assimilated carbon source) that might attract the worms, but regardless that’s something I’ve never tried – will definitely give it whirl.

Brynn – when it comes down to it, no organism wants to live it its own waste products, nor is it healthy to do so. As such, the more worm castings (and other worm wastes) there are in a system the poorer quality it’s going to be, but it would take quite awhile before it is toxic – especially if you are continuing to add bedding.

If you harvest the castings now, allow excess moisture to evaporate/drain away, and store in a cool dry place your castings will remain in good shape for quite some time (should definitely still be fine by spring)

By: brynn

brynn — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:53:14 +0000

nice work! i can’t wait to hear how you do this. i have a 32-gal worm bin in my basement that i am procrastinating on harvesting: i just can’t find it in me to dump that huge thing over and pick through it with my hands, worm by worm.

i read on a website (i can’t remember which one) that the castings are toxic to the worms – but since i’ve only seen this written in one place, i question its accuracy – could you comment on that?

i was hoping to put off harvesting til spring, when i can put it directly into some rooftop tomato beds that i’m preparing to install for this year – i have a very small urban space to work with. if i do end up harvesting sooner than spring, any idea how long the castings can be stored before use while actually retaining their nutrients?

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:18:54 +0000

Hmm…

Maybe I should sprinkle brown sugar on my bedding when I set up a new bin for my stacking system. I’ll try it and see what happens.

At this site, even the comments are packed of great information!

By: John

John — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 23:29:18 +0000

Try a little brown sugar on the moistened paper. I understand that they can sense it and that it is really attractive to the little dears. I haven’t tried it but it is a technique that the Urban Farmer (Wayne?) uses when moving worms between his vermicompost bins.