Vermiculture

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Comment by Letti on August 20, 2009 at 6:53pm

Connie, I have tons of soilder flies in my outside compost bins. They do eat the vegetable scraps much faster than the worms. I try to leave the bins uncovered so the visiting birds can find food for their young. The Carolina Wren and the American Robin enjoy a breakfast of soilder fly larvae most mornings.

Comment by N & K Grant on August 11, 2009 at 10:00am

So great to hear about the worms in class rooms. It's so important ot teach children about all the wonderful natural things out there and to not be afraid of nature.

Comment by Connie Kupke on August 9, 2009 at 3:39pm

David, I have recently become interested in soldier flies after finding a ton of tha larvae in my kitchen scraps compost bin. I have to put the scraps in an enclosed bin or the dogs get into it. They seem quite interesting...ate a foot long zucchini in one day. They seem to really love cantaloupe and coffee grounds. I am hoping they will enrich my compost and make the food scraps more available for the worms. Then I can feed them to the birds, lizards, and frogs. We don't have enough lizards and frogs where I am - maybe this will tempt them to come into our yard.

Comment by david e kelley on August 8, 2009 at 3:50pm

I dearly love my dogs (although they think they are a higher form of us, and have trained us very well), our truly independent cat, and other animals, but I have to nominate earth worms as the ultimate pet. They live in compost, require only an occasional drink, eat our food scraps, create the finest fertilizer, and will even go fishing with us.
When I had a classroom in a public school we grew plants from seed for the students to take home and always kept a 48 gallon container for vermiculture. Be sure to have a lid and small vent holes so the worms will not crawl all over the room at night or during a storm. We didn't put drain holes in the bottom because the bin was in the classroom. To control odor just don't put too many food scraps in at one time.
We began with shredded newspaper mixed with compost from my bin. Add crushed egg shells if the compost doesn't have them and moisten thoroughly, but not to the dripping point. Just add worms and they will multiply rapidly. We used European crawlers since they are much larger than red wrigglers and easier to handle and study. That 1 bin kept any other teachers supplied, if they were interested, and worms for the student to start their own bins for many years.
What a pleasure it was to witness a new class of girls and some boys come in and squeal with disgust and a little fear of the "slimy things" and them watch them become interested and soon handling then with great interest. Once I brought in some compost that had Soldier Fly larva which matured to fill our room with adult Soldier Flies. Also a mother visited me to say her home had many of the flies from that batch. She wasn't upset, but used it as a lesson for her children.
I hope I haven't bored you with my self indulgence.
Stay natural.
David

Comment by de Moffarts Eugène on August 8, 2009 at 1:53pm

Yes, worms can drown. It's happen to me. Now I set a layer of 5 inch gravel of porous volcanic rock (pouzzolana) and a hole of 0.8 inch diameter on the lowest part of worm container for draining. Now it's OK .No problems more.

Comment by Strumelia on August 7, 2009 at 4:18pm

Kristen, you need to allow your bin to dry out more. It should not be sopping wet. Don't add water, squeeze the extra liquid out of foods before feeding them, prop the lid open, add more shredded dry newspaprs and mix it in, get more ventilation holes in your bin, including something on the bottom so it can drain.

Comment by kristen holtz on August 7, 2009 at 3:39pm

i am new to vermiculture and up until recently things have been going very well. the bin has become very full, wet and has a stinky odor. i have another bin to separate the castings from the worms but want to get rid of the smell first. what can i do to fix this? also, could my worms be dead? i read something that worms can drown?! please help. thanks.

Comment by Maxine Walker on July 15, 2009 at 7:39am

Before I get comments on the credibility of my post on Azomite, I added it to 12 inches of SOIL in the worm box.....

Comment by Maxine Walker on July 12, 2009 at 6:26am

Have noticed some comments about keeping a worm bin fed when on vacation or for some reason not having material to add or it being such a "chore". A couple years ago I kept my worm been healthy for 8 months with nothing but a complete mineral powder called Azomite. It is mined from a mountain of a raised ancient seabed in Utah. I attended a class one time on vermiculture and related this story to a teacher - she said 'and they were all dead' - I said no, they thrived and reproduced with lots of little balls of tiny worms. Wonder stuff - I also add it to my raised beds, and to my distilled drinking water to avoid chlorine and flouride. Can purchase from Peak Minerals online.

Comment by de Moffarts Eugène on June 25, 2009 at 5:31am

In the little village Combaillaux near Montpellier in France the principe of vermiculture is used as Wastwater treatment. It is named "lombrifiltration"

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