
Today’s Topics
– Re-hydrating dried-out vermicompost.
– Don’t add boric acid to a worm bin.
– Blended foods + dark bedding – how to tell when food has been consumed and vermicompost ready for harvest.
– Can worms break down pesticides and heavy metals?
– Can different foods be mixed?
– Worm biz ideas for a special needs class.
– Keeping a small bin warm with dryer exhaust?
– Even MORE on Black Soldier Fly larvae
– Can a worm bin be started with just cocoons?
Hope you enjoy it!
๐
That one felt quick.
I am sure black soldier flys are good at what they do…but the idea of having them near anything I own would make me go crazy….I can only imagine having a fruit fly infestation but the flies are hundred times bigger!!! That and my wife might kick me out if she ever saw the larva…she gets grossed out at the worms ๐
I’ll take that as a good sign (since it was actually a bit longer than normal)!
Yeah, I’m not sure how I’d deal with them if they were this far north. I’m not a big maggot fan (lol) so I’d likely be trying to keep them separate from the worms.
A note on the issue of pesticide destruction and heavy metals: I think the possibility exists that vermicomposting could have two possible positive effects: i) probably the most important would be creating the right environment and variety of bacteria, fungi and others that can break down pesticides more quickly, and ii) I believe there’s some evidence that a fair number of organisms can detoxify some heavy metals and other toxins, mainly by ‘locking’ them into combinations with other elements/compounds. See this site for some evidence on mushrooms used in this (and I think some mushrooms are known to use/promote chelation, which is the process of binding heavy metals):
http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Mycoremediation/
So while the worms themselves may not be playing any direct role in removing or detoxifying the bad compounds, everything that comes with them and works with the worms might have some positive impact.
This is by no means a recommendation to try to clean up a superfund site with worms – but to me it seems plausible that they would help by improving the biological environment that could deal with low levels of toxicity a bit better.