Comments on: Winter Worm Composting – 12-08-08

By: lea

lea — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 00:06:02 +0000

Hi i just read this article – winter worm composting. I have been looking into large scale composting like the picture you have shown with the straw bales but maybe on a bigger scale. Just wondering if you have any useful info you could give me on starting out? We are opposite we have hot climates!

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:05:48 +0000

Assuming these systems are exposed to outdoor (or near outdoor) temps, that could be a bit of a challenge, Harry. Those are pretty small bins.
You’d almost certainly need some sort of artificial heat source like seedling mats or de-icing cables etc – but something you’re not going to have to worry about starting a fire with.
It terms of just keeping the worms alive, bottles of water with bird bath warmers submerged in them could work. They don’t heat up all that much, but your water mass would stay above the freezing mark and would help to ensure that the contents of each bin would as well.

By: harry rapenske

harry rapenske — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:12:42 +0000

I am just starting a small 2 five gal container worm farm. i live in lower ny state. we go away in feb-march for about 5 weeks. we do not have a reliable attendant source. how can i provide for the farm to make sure it survives to time away?

By: satya

satya — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 22:01:00 +0000

hi bentley,thanks for responding. My worm bin bedding is made of coir. They are fed raw vegetarian food scraps which I usually put into a blender which I was told would be easier to digest. A few months ago the bedding seemed very dry so I had put in a little water-maybe that’s the problem. Thanks!satya.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:29:13 +0000

Hi Anders,
There are two critical factors when it comes to keeping a worm bin (or anything for that matter) warm in the winter – 1) Heat and 2) Insulation.
The large volume of my system helps to generate (thanks to microbial activity) and hold heat, while the straw bales and snow helps to hold in that heat.

Small systems can be kept warm artificially. I will actually be writing a post about that very soon.

By: anders

anders — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:55:53 +0000

I am doing pretty well with my wormbin, or should I say the redworms do a good job. but every winter here in Seattle, the workings of the redworms get slower almost to a stop. I have a bin outside the house, for bedding I use wood shavings for food kitchen scraps, we are vegetarians. I sometimes water the wormbin.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:05:02 +0000

Hehe – I’ve never heard someone say that worms are “falling” out of their bin, Satya – but there’s a first time for everything, right?
😉

Seriously though, obviously worms are supposed to stay inside your vermicomposting system. If they are trying to escape in large numbers then something is wrong inside. Unfortunately I need more info about your system in order to provide any sort of advice. What sort of food have you fed them? How did you set up the bin? What type of bin is it? Do you have bedding materials? What kind of worms and how many do you have?

Just a few questions that come to mind.

By: Satya

Satya — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:58:20 +0000

Hi!
I had ordered a vermicomposting bin a while ago and have started composting. I do it on my patio. I don’t know what to do, but I have been having numerous worms fall out of the bin for the last few weeks. Why could that be? How can i solve it?
Many thanks!
Satya.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:56:25 +0000

Hey Christine,
We sealed the temp gauge inside a plastic bag with dry shredded cardboard in it (to help keep it dry inside). I just get the impression that it’s not a very good system. Even out in the air it didn’t seem to work incredibly well.
Oh well – back to my trusty long-stemmed thermometer!
🙂

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 20:51:34 +0000

Bentley,

I assume you put the temp gage in a zip lock plastic bag before you burried in in the pile? Or maybe those things are totally weather proof and being burried in dirt and exposed to a lot of moisture doesn’t ruin them?