Comments on: Homemade Manure – 07-31-19

By: Bentley

Bentley — Wed, 06 May 2020 12:49:00 +0000

Thanks for the update, Angus! I certainly have an even greater appreciation for HMM these days, now that I have somewhat limited access to other materials.

By: angusmacduff

angusmacduff — Wed, 06 May 2020 01:09:21 +0000

One more thing – when I get to the end, I will remove all of the castings and just start feeding towards the other end — Left to right and then right to left.

By: angusmacduff

angusmacduff — Wed, 06 May 2020 01:04:03 +0000

A follow up from my last note. Luv the HMM. I took two large cement mixing trays – two foot by three foot and about eight inches deep and cut about three inches off both of them. I then welded them together using Flex Seal to make a tray that is almost six foot long. I separated the worms and castings from three bins – one was a pail with the vents, another was a copy from Green Shorts – they all worked but I thought I would try something different.
I put all of the worms and bedding into the new long bed at one end – took up about two feet of the bin. I let them sit for about a week and then put down a strip of shredded wet cardboard – abut four inches deep and five inches wide from one side to the other. and put about a 1 gallon of my soggy HMM (probably six months old) on top of the cardboard. I then covered them with a wet beach towel. I put a Styrofoam cover over the top. I feed them about every six days – when the old HMM and cardboard are about gone.
I’m almost to the end of the tray and the castings at the beginning are beautiful – with no worms mixed in. Close to three feet and a perfect consistency. I’m very pleased and it is easy to care for. At ninety years I don’t need a lot of heavy lifting or extra work – I have a twenty by twenty vegetable that tires me out – but worth it.
I find that it is pretty wet at the end of the wedge where the worms are – moist would probably be a better word. When I lift up the towel (what’s left of it) it looks like I had put half of a watermelon in it the worms are so thick all of the way across.

This has gone on and on – I would highly recommend giving it a try. It’s on a bench in my cellar. I’ll be happy to answer any questions, but I think it is pretty clear.

Angusmacduff – AKA – Frederick (Al) Fyfe, South Weymouth, MA

By: Bentley

Bentley — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 18:39:42 +0000

Sounds great, Angus! I think the cardboard should help – even if just to loosen it up a bin. Do the flies ever get at it in the garage?

By: angusmacduff

angusmacduff — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 16:45:16 +0000

I’ve been using the HMM for a few years. I started a new batch on Monday – I gal. hardwood pellets, 1 gal. alfalfa pellets and I pound of chic starter. Mixed it all up and added water – probably three gallons and mixed well. I stirred it up on Monday – it was warm. Stirred on Tuesday and it was hot – you could not plunge your hand into it, you would get burned. Today I’m going to add some shredded cardboard – should have done it at the beginning – but the temp has been in the high nineties – stir it all up again. It takes about a week for it to cool down. I will add some Dolomite and ground egg shell powder.
I add Black Kow, coffee grounds and worm castings before I use it. I spread some on top of my bins, add the frozen food scraps and cover it over with more HMM.
When I plant tomatoes I put a big scoop in the hole.
While this is cooking, it can give out an aroma that might not be appealing to most (WIFE) – do it in the garage,
After it is done cooking and cool I store it in five gallon buckets in the shed.