Comments on: Vermicomposting in Arizona Heat

By: Sondra

Sondra — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 05:19:05 +0000

I am also in the East Valley Phoenix area. I’m wondering if anyone has considered getting a used refrigerator (apartment complexes replace old ones on a regular basis and sell them for dirt cheap). You could insulate the worm bin so the worms don’t get too cold and put the bin in the fridge during the hot part of the day….. Just an idea.

By: Neil

Neil — Mon, 12 Jan 2015 14:15:02 +0000

I live in Las Vegas. Fortunately for me there’s a local hobbyist from whom I got my worms. His worms have been acclimated to our harsh temps and can survive outside with no extreme measures, in the shade.
http://www.lasvegasworms.com

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 16:42:27 +0000

Thanks for popping by and sharing your thoughts (and interesting resources/info – great stuff as always), Allison! We definitely need to get caught up some time.

Nice so see one of my Worm Farming Alliance members (Linda Leigh) getting a bit of free press as well!
😎

By: Allison Jack

Allison Jack — Sun, 13 Jul 2014 18:37:31 +0000

A student of mine had good luck with a buried system in Skull Valley, AZ (elevation 4,200 ft). Dig deep enough and you get a root cellar effect. It retained moisture surprisingly well with a loose fitting plastic lined cover so that moisture generated from the metabolic activity condensed and rained back down.

You can see a report from her project here:

http://agroecologyaz.wordpress.com/2012/12/14/vermicompost-at-jenner-farm-guest-blogger-eleanore-nelson/

The Prescott, AZ Farmer’s Market has a great vermicomposting booth but for some reason it is not listed on their website. Patrick sells worms and they are nice quality (I have some in my current bin). He has an outdoor horse manure based system in full sun (windrows). Granted it is high elevation in Prescott (5 – 6,000 ft), but I was amazed. The windrows formed a dry hot crust, but inside the pile it was moist and cool.

Tucson has some great vermicomposting businesses too:

http://lindaleigh1.wordpress.com/

By: Ray White

Ray White — Sun, 22 Jun 2014 16:00:26 +0000

I’m just getting started planning for vermicomposting and have a few questions.

1. How deep do my raised beds have to be to allow the worms to survive? Mine are 12″ filled with good quality garden soil and watered mostly by 1/2″ drip irrigation hose (with an occasional wetting from above with a spray head. Only a couple of my 5, 16′ x 4′ raised beds get any shade other than that supplied by the plants I’m growing in them. I could do shade cloth but don’t want to harm vegetable production.

2. Who do I buy worms from here in Kingman?

By: MurphyTalbot

MurphyTalbot — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 14:40:55 +0000

I am in Chandler, with 3 very large Vermiposting bins that are cut down plastic city trash bins with holes in them They are semi buried and I have great success. I am an avid gardener with 3 gardens a year in raised beds and my worms eat every bit of what is put in the bins. The bins are in shade and kept moist. My raised gardens are thick with worms transfered out of the bins over the years. They do go down deep during the summer. I have been doing this for 10 years.

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 04:03:02 +0000

I, too, live in Mesa. I moved here from California with a bin of worms in July last year. I put the worms directly on the ground in the garden near the roots of a large bush with a drip system nearby. They ultimately succumbed after a month or two when the soil got too dry, but it did show that they were able to tolerate ~110+F weather out of direct sunlight.
I’m thinking of buying or building a garden tower planter, and putting worms in the center composting tube (see link below). I’m planning to keep it outside in partial shade (back patio, which has a roof). My hope is that the plants and the dirt will provide enough insulation from any direct sun that they’ll survive the summers, and the whole system is supposed to be pretty water efficient, which is an important consideration for a region that’s supposed to run out of water soon. Has anyone else tried this yet? I’d love to know if it worked.
http://www.gardentowerproject.com/

By: Tom Bergstrand

Tom Bergstrand — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 23:28:09 +0000

We have hot weather here in Kingman so one liter bottles of water kept in the freezer get added every day.

By: Jeb C.

Jeb C. — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:57:16 +0000

Yeah, also in Mesa AZ, keeping them in a shaded garage didn’t pan out for me over the summer. Up to 100 degrees was fine, but past that, some of the little guys would start roaming (and dying out / drying out on the garage floor). I suspect I may not have lost the entire population if I let them tough it out as the contents of the 35 gal tote never felt too hot when I stuck my hand in there, but I caved and brought them inside.

Outside I’ve had worms are in a flood / drain aquaponics system as well as a soil based wicking bed, and those guys do just fine through the summer. They both get sun too, but the worms seem to do all right in them.

By: Matthew F

Matthew F — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 13:40:35 +0000

I also live in Phoenix and have been fairly successful over the last couple years with no vermicide in spite of our horrendous summers. I have used both an indoor and outdoor bins, and the simplest solution would be to bring the bin indoors for at least the hot summer months. An alternative and/or addition to using frozen water bottles should you decide to keep the bin outdoors, would be to freeze your food scraps prior to adding them to the bin. This not only helps to cool the bin down but once the food has thawed it is easier for the worms to break down, as well as killing any fruit fly eggs that might be on the produce. I personally keep my bin indoors year round now, I never have odors or pests and it seems like the best way to keep worms thriving.