Comments on: Sandbox Trench Excavation 2013

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 05:46:55 +0000

Where does one buy dolomitic lime and what is it??

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:35:14 +0000

I have a lot of fruit waste for my worm inn, more than I do veggies. So my bulk foods are less than idea, fruit waste, coffee grounds, bread ends. I find dissolving some dolomitic lime (make sure it’s dolomitic and not some other lime) in water and adding it to the home made manure mix does wonders for getting worms up into the new feeding and population growth (either from fewer worm losses, or more cocoons). Also fewer potworms etc. (not that those are a problem, but they are an idicator).

By: oneman

oneman — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 16:08:12 +0000

I have a farmer friend in Scotland who swears by quarry dust / rock dust. His soil is very, very Gritty and produces a fantastic crop. The extra minerals are definitely a big benefit.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:57:34 +0000

JOHN – There isn’t a lot of the grounds, and I added some rock dust with it to help buffer the acidity, so I’m definitely not concerned. Plus, others report having success with grounds being fed to Euros, so this is something I need to test out a bit more anyway.
The depth would likely have been about 2 – 2 1/2 feet this time around (somewhat deeper when originally created)
I would let a trench go either indefinitely (as is the case with my other trenches) or for at least a year or two. I’m sure it would have lots of great stuff in it after a single season though.
As the level of material goes down I will definitely be adding more food materials + more of the aged manure containing cocoons.
—
RUTH ANN – while Oneman is right about the value of grit, I’m more interested in the buffering capacity and micronutrient profile. It’s definitely not vital for a trench (I haven’t really used it all that much in the past and everything has still worked out well.

By: oneman

oneman — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 15:16:58 +0000

Hi Ruth Anne.

Rock dust ( grit ) is essential in the worms guts. The worms have no teeth so they use grit in their stomach to grind up the food to get at the nutriment. I use river sand. They do not need much.

Regards.
Oneman

By: Ruth Ann (from PA)

Ruth Ann (from PA) — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 04:38:50 +0000

Why the rock dust?

By: John W

John W — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:43:02 +0000

just curious…but on one of your recent post you mentioned that coffee grinds may not be great for Euros…Will that complicate things in this bin if you are trying to get euros to hatch?

Also…how deep is that?

Also two…how long do you let that go?

Also three…do you add food to it as it ages or do you just let them go on the manure?