March 25, 2008
Four Worm Update
It has been almost 3 MONTHS since my last ‘4 Worm Experiment’ update, so I figured I better provide one this week for sure. I was actually away for more than 2 weeks recently so I haven’t even been monitoring the system for quite some time. Before I went away I did however make sure to thoroughly soak the contents of the bin to make sure it didn’t totally dry out on me (I’ve been having issues with keeping everything moist in that bin).
If you need some background info on this experiment, be sure to check out my first post in the series: Four Worm Reproduction Experiment. I’m sure many of you who have been following since the beginning could even use a refresher given how long I’ve gone between posts!
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As expected, quite a bit has changed since I last looked in. I’m happy to report that I found quite a few baby worms at varying stages of growth. The one pictured above could be considered more of a juvenile worm than a baby. I also found a very diverse ecosystem now thriving in the system – I guess all that moisture I added really helped. There are lots of mites, springtails, various kinds of insect larvae – even white worms (I think – need to have a closer look with my Eyeclops). I was able to find three of the four adult Red Worms, all congregated in one corner of the bin. I didn’t want to disturb the system TOO much so I didn’t didn’t bother continuing my search for the fourth worm.
It looks as though things are once again starting to dry out, especially around the edges, so I’m going to try to be more diligent with my watering. I want to be able to add a second tray to the system before Christmas – haha! All joking aside, I have little doubt that once the young worms grow up the waste materials will start getting processed a lot more quickly!
There were a few other brave souls who decided to try out their own Four Worm Experiments, but I haven’t heard back from anyone in awhile (no surprise there, given the lack of updates on my part!!). Allen, from Driftless Ramblings was actually blogging about his experiment, but his last update was back in January. Hopefully I can inspire him to provide an update as well!
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Anyway, thats all for now. Won’t let it go as long before the next update!
[tags]worms, worm reproduction, red worms, red wigglers, worm composting, vermicomposting, worm bins, experiments[/tags]
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This question comes from Beth, who has a few questions before getting her first system up and running.
Okay, I’m off to the store to purchase my bins.
I have plenty of bedding stuff and have a couple of buckets of
veggies, egg shells, adn good stuff that has been sitting for a month
or two just waiting for this moment.
Do I need any special starter food, or this coconut coir thing?…
Where is the best place to purchase worms? I want red Wigglers AND
Euro Night crawlers.
Oh, and I found this site that has SuperReds…
are they the same as NightCrawlers.
Great Beth! A month or two? Wow, that’s what I call patience!
8)
You definitely don’t need any special food for your worms. That is what you’ve been brewing for two moths – all those food scraps left to rot – definitely tasty stuff for your worms (I like to think of it as an all-you-can-eat microbial buffet). It sounds as though you’ve kept your bedding separate from your food scraps for this period – if so, you should definitely mix everything together and let the mix sit for a bit before adding the worms. Food scraps sitting on their own for awhile can get pretty nasty – bedding helps to absorb excess moisture and encourages air flow.
If you mix in a lot of food scraps (the stuff you’ve been aging) with your bedding initially you won’t likely need to really feed the worms for a while. The best bet is to let the worms settle in for a little while (maybe 3 or 4 days) and see if you can find any recognizable food materials – maybe then start adding a few things at a time and monitor how long it takes for the food to disappear. If it looks as though your worms are eating everything quickly (will help if you’ve aged the wastes for a bit before adding them) you can start upping your feeding rate.
Coconut coir is a ‘green’ alternative to peat moss – it is a waste product (husk materials I believe) from the coconut industry and has very similar properties. Both peat moss and coir are very absorbent, very high in carbon but low in nutrition – in other words they are great materials to use as (or mix with) your bedding. I’ve used coir mixed with shredded cardboard before and it does seem like a cool material, but it’s not really needed – I do just fine with my shredded cardboard (sometimes with brown leaves mixed in for good measure).
As for where to get your worms – if you send me an email I’ll be happy to make some recommendations.
We wary of the hype of worm marketing – I can assure you there is no such thing as a “Super” or “Hybrid” worm regardless of what people tell you – ask for the latin name. Red Worms are Eisenia fetida and European Nightcrawlers are Eisenia hortensis (formerly known as Dendrobaena veneta – a name still commonly used, especially overseas).
This is a perfect example of the problem with relying on common names – people can call the worms whatever they want.
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Hope this helps, Beth! Thanks again for the questions.
B
[tags]red worms, european nightcrawlers, worm bin, worm bins, worm composting, vermicomposting[/tags]