Comments on: Citrus Vermicomposting Update

By: Jeff Cummings

Jeff Cummings — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:34:31 +0000

Recently I went outside berry picking, and grabbed some leaf mold, dirt and carbon stuff in general from the forest floor. I am going to try to incorporate this into the bedding material.

When I first started worm composting, I did it indoors! So I’m familiar with the fly infestation problem you are having, now I have it all outside, and I recently merged my small worm tubs into the one large tub of compost, so we’ll see what happens.

I garden off site at a community garden (very cool btw) and started taking some of the vermi-compost and compost mixed with peat moss and applying it as a mulch to the garden plot that I am growing herbs and squash on!

Take care, I’m enjoying your blog, thanks!

Jeff C

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:18:54 +0000

Interesting stuff, Jeff – thanks for sharing!
It seems the springtails REALLY love that mold that grows on citrus peels, since they always congregate on the peels before the worms start feeding on them.
Unfortunately, I’d had to delay this one yet again due to a fruit fly outbreak in the house! Look forward to getting back to my testing before too long!
8)

By: Jeff Cummings

Jeff Cummings — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 07:52:08 +0000

Nice! That mold on the peels breaks down the oils (which are anti-microbial in nature), I’ve added a lot (…did I mention a lot…I juice 3 grapefruit before I go to work every day, and ALL the peels go into the compost bin with my worms) of peels to my compost and that mold has broken them down sufficiently and the worms love the ‘mold poo’. The mold break down the peels, and the waste product of the mold is what the worms eat…of course, my tub has a lot more compost in action (it’s warm) than worms. I also don’t freeze any of my kitchen scraps, but I used to shred as much as possible nightly (with scissors, I might add…!), I simply add shredded newspaper, cardboard and peat moss. The compost looks great. I should take some pictures, and I even found a cocoon bigger than I’ve ever seen one! It was about 1/2 inch in size.

Take care, I’ll write more as I follow your blogs 🙂

Jeff C