Comments on: Curtis Windsor’s Trench Vermicomposting Project

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 04 May 2019 12:29:01 +0000

Hey Russell,
The “out of sight” (and lower risk of bad odors) aspect of trenches is certainly nice, but the benefits extend well beyond that. Down below ground level it will be easier for the plants to directly access moisture and nutrients released (and less likely they will be lost). And trenches/pits offer a great deal of protection for the worms – keeping things cooler/wetter during hot dry weather, warmer/drier during cold wet weather etc, so they can actually be excellent for worm farming – and a better option than above-ground outdoor systems in a lot of cases. With the worms able to stay more active they can be better for composting (during challenging times) as well.

By: Curtis Windsor

Curtis Windsor — Sat, 04 May 2019 03:38:12 +0000

Hello Heidi. On excavating the trench I plan on collecting the finished compost and returning any unfinished compost along with the worms back to the trench so I can fill it over the winter months. I am very interested to find out how far along the compost will be by fall.

Russell, yes for me the trench is a way to reduce a large quantity of waste out of sight of the neighbors but also a way to compost on site where the garden and soil can directly benefit from the nutrients and increased soil activity as it breaks down.

By: Russell James

Russell James — Fri, 03 May 2019 18:27:37 +0000

Thanks for the reply guys, From what I am getting from the conversation is that trenching is a way of moving a large mass of waste underground for better containment in an urban type of environment more so than a better way of composting or worm breeding ….. is this so?
Thanks for the link Steve Bichlmeier interesting read in regards to food waste.

By: Heidi Weitz

Heidi Weitz — Fri, 03 May 2019 15:44:02 +0000

Hi guys! So much great information here. Curtis, when you mention excavating the trench at the end of the season, will you bring the worms indoors or just collect the compost and continue?

By: Curtis Windsor

Curtis Windsor — Fri, 03 May 2019 04:02:51 +0000

Hey Russell,
The dimensions are roughly 23 feet long x 1 foot wide x 1.5 feet deep. I was limited to that by the dimensions of the garden and needing a little solid ground on the sides of the path to rest the boards on.

I am going to let it sit through the summer growing season like Bently mentioned and allow the plants to take up what they can and see what worms populate it. My plans are to excavate the trench in the fall to see how far along the compost is. My state registration requires that I report how much compost I create for the year so I will try to account for as much as I can. It will then go directly to the growing beds.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 03 May 2019 02:13:14 +0000

Hey Russel,
Hopefully Curtis will be able to pop by at some point with the info about the dimensions.

I won’t answer for him about his plans for utilizing the good stuff produced in the trench, but will say that what I usually do is just plant crops right beside the trench, so they can directly benefit. That said, I do like excavating trenches eventually (usually 2 or 3 seasons later, but it could be done sooner than that), and using the rich compost on my gardens as well.

By: Russell James

Russell James — Thu, 02 May 2019 23:05:00 +0000

Hey Bentley

I may have missed it but what are the dimensions of the trench and how long do you think it will be viable for as a “composting” depository.

I am assuming Curtis will be moving the finished product to a growing zone or what is the way the material from the trench utilized.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 18:08:10 +0000

Curtis – Thanks for chiming in! I will be interested to see how the population of worms develops in the months ahead.
—
Steve – that is really interesting – thanks for sharing!
😎

By: Steve Bichlmeier

Steve Bichlmeier — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 10:09:16 +0000

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/south-korea-recycling-food-waste/

By: Curtis Windsor

Curtis Windsor — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 01:58:43 +0000

Thrilled to see positive comments. Heidi, to answer some of your questions, I have not added any worms. There are a lot of soil dwellers already. It was hard to dig the trench without hitting quite a few. Over the winter I put a thin layer of food scraps under the leaf mulch on the planting beds. I am now finding red wigglers under that mulch probably as a side effect to applying my own vermicompost to the beds last year with a few cocoons mixed in. I am sure they will make their way to the trench when they are ready. Our shirts can be found at: rusticsunflowerapprl.etsy.com and we ship to the US and Canada. Feel free to ask any other questions, I just love talking worms and compost!