Comments on: Worm Inn Journal-03-04-11

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 05:29:14 +0000

When I look in my worm bin I have zillions of the little teeny tiny white things that you see in your photo of the slug and orange droppings… I am very new to worm composting… what are those? worms? slugs? something awful or something good? I am finding slugs as well, not sure what brought them into the system, but they haven’t grown very big yet.

By: Paula from Illinois

Paula from Illinois — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:43:58 +0000

Thanks Bentley, I have a bunch of VC in the bag. The worms plow thru what ever I place in the WI quickly. Its almost half full of VC now.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:28:57 +0000

Sorry Paula for delay,
I wouldn’t worry too much. Very normal for false bottom to remain intact – I normally just let this cardboard layer drop out and then start scraping the vermicompost above. Try scraping some material out to see how it looks and smells, and to see how many worms are in it. Ideally it should look/smell earthy and have relatively few worms.

By: Paula from Illinois

Paula from Illinois — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:41:29 +0000

Well darn I hoped some one would leave a comment to my question.

By: Paula from Illinois

Paula from Illinois — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 21:51:53 +0000

Jerry or Bentley, I have had my Worm Inn since Feb. I started with 200 worms. The bottom is no longer dripping wet but wet. I felt thru the opening at the bottom and all I feel is the cardboard egg carton pieces that I put in when I started the Worm Inn. Should I place a fan next to it to help it dry. Or is it ok. Im glad this is not one of my plastic worm systems it would be a swampy mess.
I know I have way more then 200 worms in there now. Im in no hurry for the VC I just want to know if its ok.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:43:37 +0000

Hi Sharon,
I definitely wouldn’t consider either of those really good “food” since they are both pretty stabilized materials. Probably decent bedding materials – just be careful of the salt content with some of those bagged manures – may irritate the worms.
Try small amounts of both and see what the worms do!
Ya never know!
🙂

By: Sharon

Sharon — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:21:18 +0000

Hey Bentley,
I have a quick question about feeding my worms compost, not my own but some I had purchased last year before my worms were producing sufficient vermicompost. Do you think it’s safe to feed them mushroom compost or Black Kow compost from Lowes? I’m wondering since it’s already composted (I have the mushroom compost) if it would be ok but wanted your opinion. Thanks. Have a great day!

By: jean kruse

jean kruse — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:33:00 +0000

I put dryer lint in all the time – it takes a while to disappear but does eventually with no harm to the system.

By: Paula from Illinois

Paula from Illinois — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 21:40:55 +0000

Chris I put my dryer lint in my non worm (hot compost) bin. You could always try a small amount in a corner and see what happens.

By: Kator

Kator — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:04:06 +0000

Fascinating Bentley! I also would be interested in what you find. This is one of the reasons that I thoroughly enjoy this site – great ecological diversity in the classroom 🙂