Comments on: Earth Machine Vermicomposting

By: JOLJ

JOLJ — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 20:19:03 +0000

Good deal.
I use five gallon buckets for this.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Tue, 14 Sep 2021 19:29:39 +0000

Someone in my New England neighborhood had an old Rubbermaid insulated worm composter, about 3’x3’x3’. She keeps it rolling all year long. Wish that were still made. Any ideas for DIYing something like that!

By: JOLJ

JOLJ — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 18:25:58 +0000

“mole/vole problem” Milky spores to kill grubs, so the moles will leave, MSpors will NOT harm earthworms, only grubs, which are mostly Japanese beetles & the larger Fruit beetles. For vole(mice) use hardware cloth/rabbit wire to keep them out of your raised bed & redworm containers. Cat will go a long way to stop both moles & voles. I use a trench & had no problem with any animals.

By: Dorothy

Dorothy — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 22:31:46 +0000

Aloha from Hawaii…it may sound silly but for people doing this indoors when it comes to knats and such…turn on the kitchen light at night and fill your sink with water…I bet when you get up in the morning all the Knats and stuff will be dead in the water…just drain and rinse the sink out….tada….the mess and the knats will be gone….during certain seasons you may have to do this nightly…but it works like a dream…..Mahalo

By: Leslie Jo

Leslie Jo — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 19:08:50 +0000

I accidentally colonized my earth machine with compost full of redworms when I first got it about 5 years ago. The worms did much better than the composting did – so I got into the habit of digging hole to dump scraps into and then covering it up with drier material to stop the fly problem. It was pretty amazing! The next time – a few days later, or a week later- that I’d go to add saved scraps, all signs of the last load were gone. The overwintered a couple of years here in Washington State also.

When we moved out of the house that goes with the garden, took down the composter and moved probably 30 pounds of castings and worms into the garden. Success.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 02 Oct 2014 13:42:15 +0000

I have been doing this for a couple years now. I just keep dumping scraps, shredded cardboard and dirt into my compost bin. It is a giant worm bin, and works great. I get occasional maggots, but I have learned a trick: I keep the top partly open. Birds actually sit on the adjacent fence, you can see them grabbing flies as they go in and out. Also I hung a hummingbird feeder near by, and they now love it for the fruitflies that come up and out of the bin. They are very active near the bin! I live in KY and it gets hot in the summer, but does not seem to be an issue. In the winter the outer edges sometimes freeze, but it keeps working in the center. And in spring it is instantly back to full speed. The are no longer just reds, I get a lot of earthworms up thru the bottom. But hey, who cares?

By: Claude Phillippy

Claude Phillippy — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 14:20:18 +0000

I’d like any updates you have about Earth Machine worm bin. Thanks

By: miccc

miccc — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:18:07 +0000

I have one of these earth machines that I put on wheels. I thought I would have a nice composter, however it turns out I have a great worm bin. Here on the Cailfornia central coast I don’t have any problem with it ever getting too hot for my worms.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 01:25:47 +0000

Hi Kevin,
Unfortunately there’s not a whole lot you can do to get rid of BSFLs. You MAY be able to prevent them from laying eggs if you can somehow enclose the composter with a screen of some sort but once they are established it will be tough to deal with them. In the Florida heat I suspect a backyard bin is better suited for BSFLs anyway (they are more heat tolerant etc).

By: Kevin Jiang

Kevin Jiang — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:21:19 +0000

I have a problem with this… Our earth machine is 1. in sunny Florida and 2. has an extreme infestation of black soldier fly maggots. My mom and I (I’m currently a 7th grader) have tried to kill off the maggot with boiling water to no prevail. plz help!!!