Comments on: ‘Wild’ Red Wiggler Worms http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/ Red Wiggler Worms, European Nightcrawlers and loads of helpful Worm Composting Information Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:46:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Brian m http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-32634 Brian m Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:35:06 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-32634 I am starting a worm bin in my garage. It's about ten gallons with 2 lbs of wigglers. I am mainly using horse manure and just a few veggie scraps from the kitchen. My questions are. This winter my garage drops down to as low as 40/45 degrees but does have a heat vent and usually the temp hangs around 50/55 when the doors are shut. Is that a safe temp? And, do red wigglers like tomatoes because I lost quite a few in an un expected frost and I was wondering if I could chop them up and freeze them to feed my bin with from time to time? Any input will be greatly appreciated. I'm definitely excited about having a successful system. I am starting a worm bin in my garage. It’s about ten gallons with 2 lbs of wigglers. I am mainly using horse manure and just a few veggie scraps from the kitchen. My questions are. This winter my garage drops down to as low as 40/45 degrees but does have a heat vent and usually the temp hangs around 50/55 when the doors are shut. Is that a safe temp? And, do red wigglers like tomatoes because I lost quite a few in an un expected frost and I was wondering if I could chop them up and freeze them to feed my bin with from time to time? Any input will be greatly appreciated. I’m definitely excited about having a successful system.

]]> By: Bentley http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-28933 Bentley Tue, 01 Feb 2011 01:52:57 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-28933 Hi Kim, In all honesty, if you end up with ammonia smell the worms will likely already be dead (they are very sensitive to ammonia). If the 1 month manure has been sitting outside exposed to the elements it shouldn't cause any issues, but maybe start by testing with a small number of worms just to make sure you are ok. All in all, it sounds as though you've got a nice little plan! Keep us posted! B Hi Kim,
In all honesty, if you end up with ammonia smell the worms will likely already be dead (they are very sensitive to ammonia). If the 1 month manure has been sitting outside exposed to the elements it shouldn’t cause any issues, but maybe start by testing with a small number of worms just to make sure you are ok.
All in all, it sounds as though you’ve got a nice little plan!
Keep us posted!

B

]]> By: Kim http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-28931 Kim Mon, 31 Jan 2011 19:45:13 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-28931 Hello, I am starting a rather large scale vermicomposting bin. I will be purchasing around 10 lbs of your worms. I have 6 horses which you can imagine create alot of prime realestate for these little workers. I have designed and began building a 2'x10' flow through reactor for my worms to create their masterpeice. My intention is to sell and use the compost for garden soil. The question I have (after my long winded story) is it ok for my horses to have the bin in the barn? Does the worm compost create an amonia smell? The base manure is around 10 years old, around 1 inch thick, on top of that will be 1 month old manure then sprinkled daily with new manure. (I will be cautious of overheating) I live in very cold New Hampshire so winter will be nice for my worms. As my worms procreate I will have enough room to ad many more bins and grow my facility. The "lid" will be electical conduit with black landscape fabric so birds are not able to swoop in. Do you see a problem with my design or plan? I do have a farm tractor which is able to fit in the barn for removing the processed compost so it will be no more labor intensive than caring for my horses. Also can I ad my unusable hay to the worm facility or is hay bad for them? Thank you very much for any input you can give me. I have researched this for endless hours and would like to thank you for your articles which have made me relize what a great community worm farmers truely are. Thanks again Kim Hello,
I am starting a rather large scale vermicomposting bin. I will be purchasing around 10 lbs of your worms. I have 6 horses which you can imagine create alot of prime realestate for these little workers. I have designed and began building a 2′x10′ flow through reactor for my worms to create their masterpeice. My intention is to sell and use the compost for garden soil. The question I have (after my long winded story) is it ok for my horses to have the bin in the barn? Does the worm compost create an amonia smell? The base manure is around 10 years old, around 1 inch thick, on top of that will be 1 month old manure then sprinkled daily with new manure. (I will be cautious of overheating) I live in very cold New Hampshire so winter will be nice for my worms. As my worms procreate I will have enough room to ad many more bins and grow my facility. The “lid” will be electical conduit with black landscape fabric so birds are not able to swoop in.
Do you see a problem with my design or plan? I do have a farm tractor which is able to fit in the barn for removing the processed compost so it will be no more labor intensive than caring for my horses. Also can I ad my unusable hay to the worm facility or is hay bad for them?
Thank you very much for any input you can give me. I have researched this for endless hours and would like to thank you for your articles which have made me relize what a great community worm farmers truely are.
Thanks again
Kim

]]> By: Bentley http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-17317 Bentley Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:58:30 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-17317 Hi Robert - sorry to hear that. How much did you add? Must have been a lot if it cause enough heating to potentially "cook" your worms. Overheating is definitely something you need to be wary of - especially with N-rich materials like manure. Did the material you used still have a manure smell? If so, it should still be considered fairly fresh. Adding cardboard is a good idea. Careful with stirring though - this adds more oxygen and can actually lead to more heating. I would remove some of the manure and also try to spread it out more (if at all possible). Add a lot more moist cardboard or other carbon-rich bedding materials to help shift the C:N ratio. B Hi Robert – sorry to hear that.
How much did you add? Must have been a lot if it cause enough heating to potentially “cook” your worms.
Overheating is definitely something you need to be wary of – especially with N-rich materials like manure.

Did the material you used still have a manure smell? If so, it should still be considered fairly fresh.

Adding cardboard is a good idea. Careful with stirring though – this adds more oxygen and can actually lead to more heating. I would remove some of the manure and also try to spread it out more (if at all possible). Add a lot more moist cardboard or other carbon-rich bedding materials to help shift the C:N ratio.

B

]]> By: Robert http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-17184 Robert Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:51:00 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-17184 Hi Bentley, I received some aged horse manure, added it to my compost heap and so far disappointed, my worms were raised stictly on greens, now it looks like 80% of them are cooked or disappeared, stirred the heap to cool down and also added card board prior. Your feed back would be appreciated! Robert Hi Bentley,
I received some aged horse manure, added it to my compost heap and so far disappointed, my worms were raised stictly on greens, now it looks like 80% of them are cooked or disappeared, stirred the heap to cool down and also added card board prior. Your feed back would be appreciated!
Robert

]]> By: Bentley http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-8686 Bentley Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:40:41 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-8686 Hi Jay, I'm always amazed by how quickly people can become interested once they see how excited I get about these little guys! It's all about perspective. :-) Hi Jay,
I’m always amazed by how quickly people can become interested once they see how excited I get about these little guys! It’s all about perspective.
:-)

]]> By: Jay http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/comment-page-1/#comment-8668 Jay Fri, 25 Jul 2008 02:37:16 +0000 http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worms/wild-red-wiggler-worms/#comment-8668 Talked to a nice lady with a stable about worm composting and she couldn't believe anyone would take interest in a bunch of worms, nor did she know worms even existed in her manure pile. When I arrived at her farm and dug through the pile, she got curious and I showed her the striped yellow tailed creature, and she got pretty excited. I hope I converted her somehow Talked to a nice lady with a stable about worm composting and she couldn’t believe anyone would take interest in a bunch of worms, nor did she know worms even existed in her manure pile. When I arrived at her farm and dug through the pile, she got curious and I showed her the striped yellow tailed creature, and she got pretty excited. I hope I converted her somehow

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