Comments on: Homemade Manure

By: John Wood

John Wood — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 03:06:42 +0000

Hi Bentley,
Just found your website, and very pleased with what I have read so far. bought in starting with the 360 mod. Live in South Carolina, Greenville area. Worms are doing fair, hot summer here. Had them setup in the garage,went on vacation in Fl. for a week ,came home to find 128 excapees dead on floor. Had to put them out doors after that.Trying to keep them cool in 94 deg heat not good. Have been pulverizing the food for a month now mixed with different grain flours and freeze for a few days. I use shreaded paper now tried some last years leaves with leaf mold but got a bunch other critters in with it. Have black fly larva in beds now,(Ithink they comsume more food then the worms do). So I have been reading your blogs and have come to the conclusion I have been feeding them to much food and not blending in enough paper products.
Going to try something different tomorrow, putting shreaded cardboard and newspaper some dirt from compost ben and food from freezer in a paint bucket and mix it with paint stiring with electric drill. Then feed some to worms and refreeze rest for later. Sound ok to you?
PS I also put the worms under the house where it is 70 deg.

By: LindaHarrison

LindaHarrison — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:41:42 +0000

I know the worms are supposed to reside in the upper 6 inches of the bin, but mine go all the way down to the bottom as well I worry about the 02 content since i did not drill holes in the bottom. so I aerate the bin on a regular basis. Does this stress the worms out when I remove everything from my bin. They are healthy and strong, but not terribly active, In fact they have never been real active from the start. This concerns me. I thought red wigglers WIGGLE. I am concerned about the conversation regarding leachate. It is suggested as a liquid fertilizer Why? Science has proven it is toxic to humans and food crops. Why not skip the whole soak and drip out waste routine, keep your beds evenly moist and stop collecting a stinking solution that is worthless. Focus on molasses aerated worm tea that stimulates plants and wards off bugs. Oh, is it okay to play with my worms? I love messing with them

By: Normano

Normano — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:45:31 +0000

Hi Bentley, can I use store bought cow manure and or mushroom compost for homemade manure mix?

By: iJohn

iJohn — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:16:56 +0000

I have an “almost” endless supply of fruit and veggies to use as food for my worms, I also use wood chips, eggshells UCG, and off course the paper/corrugated cardboard… I freeze everything and blend everything and I precompost… I now have access to a good supply of horse manure and I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to incorporate some in my feed… How aged is aged horse manure, what’s the best way to age it…? I don’t have a conventional composting bin… My worms are in RM’s and one FT, all inside…

Thanks

By: Ali

Ali — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:18:24 +0000

I started my worm bin shortly after I started making vegetable juice every morning. The waste from our juicer is essentially veggie pulp that has been wrung out – it’s perfect for the worms! I keep the pulp in the freezer and feed my worms once a week, about a handful each time mixed with shredded brown paper bags or egg cartons. I noticed that the food would be gone in 2 weeks on average, and it feels like my worm number is dwindling, so I came to this blog to check if I was feeding the right amount. Now I understand they eat pulp much faster than chunks of food. This week I gave them about 1.5 handful of food and extra bedding.. I hope I see more worms soon!

Thank you for creating such a valuable resource of information, Bentley! There’s nothing on the internet like it!

By: Sharon

Sharon — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 01:14:35 +0000

I just tried this a few weeks ago and spread it on top of some dry shredded cardboard then watered it in (and have been doing it weekly every since) and the worms are scarfing it down like nobody’s business. Really glad I went back and re-read these posts about HMM!

By: janet

janet — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 01:46:30 +0000

I’ve been mixing blended food scraps, leaf litter and grass clippings into my garden bed each week for a couple years now. There is absolutely no odor, flies or vermin present. Though I wasn’t trying to, I have noticed a HUGE increase in the number of worms in the area being composted. Prior to adding the organic material, there were NO worms in the vicinity. I’m certainly no expert but the soil appears rich and holds moisture very well. I will be using it to fill a raised garden bed this spring. Fingers crossed for a bountiful harvest 🙂

By: Bentley

Bentley — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:27:36 +0000

Hi Kevin,
You can use whatever mix you want – that’s the beauty of homemade manure. There is no set-in-stone recipe.
Your mix sounds like it will be pretty tasty for the worms.
8)

By: Kevin Jiang

Kevin Jiang — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:52:18 +0000

For my homemade manure can I use frozen banana, chinese squash, persimmon peels, and carrot peels and use cardboard for carbon?

By: Buddy Byrd

Buddy Byrd — Fri, 14 May 2010 04:29:06 +0000

Well, here goes on my manure list. First of all some of the ingredients may be odd or extreme to add to worm food, but they are what I like to add as plants supplements. So please don’t hesitate in commenting. Knowledge is good. And, if I’m doing something wrong, I really need to know.

Right now the main thing that’s available is pumpkins. I bought 20 last fall for $1 each. I think I have ten remaining. Anyway. I cut the pumpkins up into about 1 inch squares. I then put them in large plastic jars and freeze them. When I’m ready to make the manure, I thaw one jar out and then fill it up half way with rain water. Then I add up to one table spoon of sifted peat moss, pulverized sphagnum moss (has small chambers in which it can hold organic material and water), coir, alfalfa meal, cornmeal, oat meal, grits, farina (wheat), wheat germ, ground flax seed, green sand, small amount of potting soil (last 2 ingredients for grit), phosphate rock, bone meal, cotton seed meal, molasses, fish emulsion, compost and finished vermicompost. I fill it up the rest of the way with rain water and put it in the refrigerator to meld together for about a week. Then I take it out and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours. I then put all of it in a food processor and blend it until it is some what smooth. During blending, I drop in small pieces of cardboard that have soaked in rain water for about 24 hours. Dropping in the cardboard carefully I might add, it can make the processor jump and make a mess. Then I strain this mixture. I take small amounts of the mush and distribute it on top of the bedding/food in different places. I used to put one pile in the middle, but that caused anaerobic conditions. I take the rest of the mush and add equal parts compost that is alive and well with microorganisms and more wet cardboard. I let this sit for a few days so if it heats up I can let it cool before feeding to my worms. When I’m ready to feed some of this to my worms, I take some of the left over mush water that has been brewing in a bucket with an air pump and air stone, and sprinkle enough to moisten the bedding and then put an inch or so layer of manure on top and in the middle. They start eating this manure in less than 1 one day and will finish it off in about a total of 3 days. After that I sprinkle mush water and manure as needed. I also sprinkle sifted moist compost in between manure feedings to add extra microbes. My goal in all of this is to keep a fresh supply of food (manure and microorganisms) so my worms will hopefully reproduce and make good vermicompost efficiently.

I probably left something out. But I’m really tired now. LOL Hope this is not to long to read.

Thanks