composting worms

[OakLeaf]

I think it's called honey pot composting or something like that.

Eh... I've always heard "honey pot" refer to the kind of composting that I'm too timid to try. The kind that says NOTHING gets wasted...

[sgtiger]

Oakleaf, you could be right. I may have gotten the name mixed up. I'm not brave enough to try the compost everything and anything method either. I found out that most municipalities (on the West Coast, at least) do that for us anyway. Supposedly the stuff is safe to land apply once it's been cured but I didn't want it for our veggie garden. I'm guessing that's the reason for some of our more recent produce recalls. Getting the occasional tainted veggie is one thing, but having the whole yard contaminated by sludge that is not cured right would be a nightmare.

.... but taking them halfway across the country twice a year is a little more than I want to sign on for.

I guess the neighbors would give you funny looks if you asked them to take care of your worms while you were away.

[divingbiker]

I don't think getting worms for your birthday is weird at all. I looked into this a few weeks ago, and decided against it.

I live in a neighborhood with lots of apartment building dumpsters and the rats that accompany them, so my worm compost bin would have to be indoors. I read that fruit flies are an issue, and I don't want to deal with them. But I'm still seriously considering it. Being a vegan, I have a LOT of vegetable scraps.

[GLC1968]

We put together our worm bins using rubbermaid bins left over from our storage/move. Cheap, easy and repurposing...all good! We've had them for a few months now and they are happily sharing our kitchen scraps with our regular compost pile, the chickens and the goats.

This is the first house I've had as an adult without an in-sink garbage disposal. I was worried that it would be an issue, but I don't miss it one bit!

Our bin has been inside all winter. No flies anymore (we did have an issue early on, but learned how to fix that). Two things help: 1) lots of shredded paper on top of the added scraps (we saved packing paper from our move for this, but newspaper would work well, too) and 2) freeze the scraps before giving them to the worms. I got this idea from someone else, and I have no idea why it works, but it does. I just keep a leftover container in the freezer for 'worm food'. I throw stuff in it, and then when it's full, move it to the worm bin.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Our bin has been inside all winter. No flies anymore (we did have an issue early on, but learned how to fix that). Two things help: 1) lots of shredded paper on top of the added scraps (we saved packing paper from our move for this, but newspaper would work well, too) and 2) freeze the scraps before giving them to the worms. I got this idea from someone else, and I have no idea why it works, but it does. I just keep a leftover container in the freezer for 'worm food'. I throw stuff in it, and then when it's full, move it to the worm bin.

I think the freezing thing works because fruit flies lay their eggs in your little kitchen compost collecting pot for the day or two you are collecting kitchen scraps, before you take it to your worm bin....and freezing kills the fruit fly eggs before you put the compost material into the worm bin.
They also say if you gently make a little hole and bury your kitchen scraps down inside the worm bedding, and have plenty of shredded paper on the surface, then fruit flies are not a problem.

My 'worm condo' has been shipped. I ordered 2 lbs of red wriggler composting worms, but I did something a bit quirky- I ordered 1 lb of worms from two different places, to see what the service and quality differences might be. I also had this weird idea that doing this would ensure that my worms would have some genetic diversity as they started multiplying and that it would somehow be healthier as opposed to getting only worms that had been interbred for years together. Am I nuts for thinking this? Hah, here I am already practicing animal husbandry on my worms.

[Tuckervill]

Lisa, you crack me up!

We have red wigglers in the ground here. I wouldn't have to buy them.

I don't compost my kitchen scraps because of um, laziness. But I do compost leaves and every year we chip about a yard of limbs that have fallen from our oaks and pecans, and we use that for mulch. Well, last year we didn't mulch, and now that pile is all lovely, lovely compost that I'm putting in the gardens this year.

Karen

[Dianyla]

I think the freezing thing works because fruit flies lay their eggs in your little kitchen compost collecting pot for the day or two you are collecting kitchen scraps, before you take it to your worm bin....and freezing kills the fruit fly eggs before you put the compost material into the worm bin.
They also say if you gently make a little hole and bury your kitchen scraps down inside the worm bedding, and have plenty of shredded paper on the surface, then fruit flies are not a problem.

I've only had a problem with fruit flies with citrus fruits, so eventually I just stopped adding those to my bin. However, I'm interested in the freezing technique... I hate not being able to compost everything.

(Burying them deeper didn't fix the problem for me.)

[tulip]

For years I froze my kitchen scraps in order to eliminate the stink that accompanied the collection. Now, however, I use a stainless steel bucket with a tight fitting lid. I take it out to my compost bin every couple of days. I've had no problems with stink or flies.

I'm a long-time composter, and I'm excited to get my 3-bin system up and running in May at my new house. Right now I have just a big pile of leaves (I have five mature oak trees in my yard) and my black composter. No problems with rodents here, but I did have a terrible problem with rats when I lived near DC. The only way to keep them away was to turn the pile every few days so they couldn't settle in. But that was hard to do with my work schedule. I would consider worms if I didn't have a yard.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I bought this worm bin:
http://images.marketplaceadvisor.cha...rayhiplain.jpg
As soon as it arrives I'll set up the worm bedding (damp shredded newspapers and cardboard- which they eventually eat as well- with a couple handfuls of earth) and then order my worms! Apparently they even love eating shredded corrugated cardboard, eggshells, and coffee grounds (along with the used coffee filters).
My tomato patch will love the worm castings fertilizer once it gets producing enough to harvest.

The worms are a special type you order (red wrigglers) that eat compost material at an incredible rate- unlike our local usual earthworms. They multiply well if they have decent conditions. Also unlike our local worms, they live within a foot of the surface and thus would freeze and die in our northern US winters if left out or 'released'. I will locate the bin in the garden in the shade for the summer, and move it down into our basement for the winter so the worms won't freeze and die. The whole thing is smaller than it looks- only 16"x16" x30" high, and that small size can house several thousand worms. Lots of people just use a smaller scale tupperware type bin and keep it under their kitchen sink. Apparently it's also a popular school project. If the bin conditions are right it doesn't smell bad at all- more like an earth or forest smell.
I find it fascinating!
Here is one of the better blogs I found about composting with worms:
http://wormdirt.wordpress.com/

DH is already making jokes about "Sweetie's Worm Ranch". Nothing i do ever surprises him. I've tentatively decided to name it The Lazy 'S' Worm Ranch. Any other name ideas?

[Grits]

Two Christmases ago, my son asked for a compost bin for Christmas. We got him a 'Can O Worms" (or something to that effect). It is still going strong, although we got off to a slow start, mainly because we only got about one pound of worms at the beginning to learn on. We then let it get too dry once and lost a lot of them (I know, poor worms.), but nursed the remaining ones back to health, and I think we are finally ready to expand up to the next layer of the can. We keep ours in the garage, and the worms slow down over the winter. We plan to build a regular compost bin next week over spring break.

[RoadRaven]

2 summers ago I got my parents, and my ma-in-law their own composting bins with worms.
Fantastic pressies, still being used, and the children (although 3 are adults now) really like us having one too!

Go for it. Most excellent.

(Though our worms have to compete with the pet cattle - as opposed to our farm cattle - and our dogs for the scraps from the house)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I have added some progress reports on my worms with some new photos to my blog here:
http://strumelia.blogspot.com/

It's VERY exciting, and the worms I put in from a couple of days ago seem to be doing very well and are active.

[badger]

Vancouver actually subsidises worm composting, so two years ago I attended a class and came home with a bin and a bag full of red wrigglers.

I don't think I'm doing it quite right, though I'm assured I am by the garden society. I currently have the bin inside my apartment until we're completely out of the freezing point. Because of the fruit flies that tend to proliferate, I tend to starve the poor worms a bit when they're indoors. I'll have to harvest soon, too, it's getting too heavy.

What I found is that those worms can be somewhat picky eaters - I sometimes get sprouts coming out of things like cabbage cores because it takes them so long to chew through.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Vancouver actually subsidises worm composting, so two years ago I attended a class and came home with a bin and a bag full of red wrigglers.

Now that is forward thinking at its best. I wish our area was as progressive.

I don't think I'm doing it quite right, though I'm assured I am by the garden society. I currently have the bin inside my apartment until we're completely out of the freezing point. Because of the fruit flies that tend to proliferate, I tend to starve the poor worms a bit when they're indoors. I'll have to harvest soon, too, it's getting too heavy.
What I found is that those worms can be somewhat picky eaters - I sometimes get sprouts coming out of things like cabbage cores because it takes them so long to chew through.

If you lay 3" of dry shredded newspaper or a piece of cardboard or a few sheets of folded newspaper over the top of the worm soil, it will prevent most of the fruit flies from laying eggs in the scraps. Also, very important to BURY the scraps under the bedding, out of reach of the fruit flies.

It's good to cut the scraps up into 1" chunks- that like quadruples the surface area of the scraps and thus helps them break down and lets the worms work them much more quickly. I keep a spare scissors next to the sink scrap box. Easy enough to snip your banana peel, coffee filter, and other food scraps into pieces as you add it to the box of scraps.
I'm also following the simple advice of when I get a bunch of scraps collected (maybe three or four days' worth?) then I put a plastic box of them in the freezer for a day and then thaw them before giving them to the worms. This enables the worms to eat them right away instead of the worms having to wait til they decompose more first. Freezing/thawing starts breaking down the cell walls of the scraps.

So if you snip your scraps into smaller pieces and freeze/thaw them, you won't get cabbage cores sprouting or large pieces of food hanging around in the bin for too long. It sounds like more trouble than it really is- takes a few seconds really to snip pieces or throw stuff in the freezer.

Mimi- the worms will actually eat the eggshells if you crush them well. I had about 5 shells the other day and I let them dry overnight next to the sink. Then I put them in a cereal bowl and used the bottom of a drinking glass to just crush them up nicely first and mixed them in to the scraps. (I suppose I could get a mortar and pestle if I want to get fancy) They say ground egg shells are very welcome by worms as grit and calcium, and the calcium helps them to produce their worm 'cocoons' (which are actually little shelled worm eggs that hatch when mature!) Reminds me of feeding crushed eggshells to chickens to help them replace their lost calcium from laying eggs.

I have a cool book I just bought (used) called "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof. Between that and reading the vermicomposters.com forum I am learning an awful lot about worms lately. They are fascinating.

[bluebug32]

How exciting!

By the way, I just moved to Red Hook, so we should meet up for a ride when it finally gets warm