Well my little Red Wiggler breeding experiment continues to move along successfully but, as with most such ventures, there have been stumbles as well. Primarily, the opportunities for learning have come in regards to temperature, moisture...and bugs.
I believe that the temperature and moisture issues have actually been working together. My first bin often needed water added once in awhile, but the 3 main ones that I have been running lately have all become quite soggy in the bottom, despite having drain holes. One of them was actually draining some water out, including some VC and even some worms. I had to retrieve the wanderers or they'd have eventually drowned. The other two bins merely got soggy in the bottom and I have had to do plenty of stirring and adding of absorbent bedding in order to avoid smelly anaerobic activity.
I suspect moisture issue had two causes. One is simply that I have been feeding the worms things that have had a higher moisture content, like cast-off pumpkins from our fall harvest. The other factor is temperature. The one main bin that I have had here in the condo has been by far the least soggy of the three, whereas the worst of the three seems to be the bin that has been sitting on the cool floor of the basement at my parent's house out at the farm. So I think the trick is going to be keeping them off the floor and, if I can, away from the cool walls. These cooler temperatures really seem to slow down the activity of the worms, both feeding and breeding. Now that I have eased off on the feeding of water-heavy things to the condo bin, I am starting to see some very nice and nearly finished VermiCompost that should be ready for use in the greenhouse within a couple of months. Hopefully the other two bins will catch up quickly.
The more frustrating issue has been bugs.
In the last update I wrote about the fruit fly infestation that I was fighting. Well no sooner had I won that battle than I had an infestation of small manure flies which came from some dry cow patties that I brought from the farm. These little bastards are tiny things that like to come to my computer desk and fly up my nose when I am working or watching something. I don't know of any way to get rid of them other than to remove all food sources and let them die off, which is hard to do when trying to actively breed bins of worms in my condo. However soon I will be able to move the bins from here back out to the farm where bugs are much less of an issue. Let this be a lesson, however. Don't bring manure into your house unless it has been properly composted already. Its a lesson I should have known already but I am a boy after all!
But if you're wondering why I brought the cow shit into the condo, well, it makes GREAT longer term food and serves as bedding. As bedding it can come in real handy for sopping up excess moisture if the manure is very dry. And of course, plenty of bedding over top of added food that might attract bugs is always a good way to not attract them in the first place.
3 years ago
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11 comments:
I'm so glad you explained why you brought the manure inside. I had to read back over the post after seeing the answer because I missed most of what you wrote --- all I could think was, "why did he bring manure in?!" :-)
Thanks for the tip on the manure:) So how long would you estimate that it will have taken you from start to finish? Perfect timing with spring nearly here.
I'm not sure just how long it has taken from start to finish because I've never established what the finish would be. I have basically just been trying to increase my population as quickly as possible. However I think the tub that is finishing off now was started in September, so its been about 5 months.
In regards to the whole project, I started with about 150 worms and one bin back in June of 2009. I think it is safe to guess that I am up to at least a couple of pounds of worms now, so several thousand individuals. In my condo the population doubles every month or so, but in the cooler basement at the farm, activity and breeding seems significantly slower.
Thanks for answering Jerry. So at least 5 months perhaps more depending on conditions. Thats a good enough answer, ball park or not.
I think some of the materials that I used have added some significant time though, as will the moisture level (and temperature) of the bins out at the farm. Plus, a good number of worms were harvested two or three months back in order to start the second bin that I have here at the condo. If I had left them in the first bin, it would likely be a month ahead of where it is now. I bet a pound of worms would have made that much VC in less than 3 months under conditions suited solely to making VC.
Hi Jerry
I just saw a live vermiculture demo which made me think about your moisture issue. Do you harvest the liquid and if you do, how do you have it set up in order to catch the liquid? The demo had a jar of liquid waste that is used as a compost tea when diluted and also to spray for bugs.
Hi Linda, I appreciate the thought.
Actually, the moisture I'm talking about has only built up enough to run out the drain holes in one bin out at the farm and that was only for a short period. All of my bins have drain/ventilation holes in the bottom and sit inside another bin which can catch excess moisture. However, this moisture is not compost tea. Compost tea is made from finished VC. The moisture from the active bins can contain substances that can be harmful to plants.
I had intended to dilute and use what little runoff I had the one time anyway, as an experiment, but it evaporated before I was able to do so.
Thanks for verifying this for me. Perhaps the demonstrator didn't make that part clear.
She may not have known, a lot of people confuse the two.
Or we may have assumed. Yet she did say it was an insecticide (if diluted alot). So maybe she was being brief.
As I understand, real compost tea IS an insecticide. The excess moisture that drains out might be as well, I don't know.
As an aside, I was experimenting with nettle tea last summer and it is NOT an insecticide, it attracts flies like you wouldn't believe, lol. At the time, I thought that was compost tea but in retrospect I think it is a compost activator...used to speed up the activity of a compost pile.
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