Vermiculture

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Comment by sonia on June 1, 2009 at 8:07am

Great topic! I've been thinking about starting a worm bin for kitchen scraps in my kitchen. Would that be too stinky?

Comment by Thomas Roy Lantis Sr on June 1, 2009 at 8:04am

Several years ago my wife and I bought the "package" and put it in the basement. We dutifully took kitchen scraps to them and had a great success, until we went on vacation. Since then we have a 3' diameter wire "cage" in the garden. We add any vegetation we don't want except sticks. The cage is about 3" tall. As we add more and more scraps and vegetation, the rhubarb leaves fill it about 3 times a year, within a few days the top of the pile is about 1 to 1 1/2 feet high. The worms and natural decay keep it at about that level. Once a year, in the spring, I scatter whatever is left around the garden and start again in a new area. The woms we have are mostly night crawlers. I think, a worm is a worm is a worm. When we bought the package it had instructions which indicated that red wigglers from Africa are more voracious. Maybe.

Comment by Kay Robbins on June 1, 2009 at 6:42am

Livinv in the city, I don't have any Alapcas nearby. If only you could use dog poop, I would be in business.

I get plenty of earth worms in my compost and my raised beds but from what I have read they are not the same as red wigglers. Should I try adding red wigglers?

Comment by Joy Williams on June 1, 2009 at 3:10am

philip, yep.

Need food!

Comment by Joy Williams on June 1, 2009 at 3:08am

wow, Pisces!

Comment by PiscesGirl on June 1, 2009 at 12:03am

Our compost bin & worm bin are one in the same! We had a few worms in there by luck, then we bought a few dozen more from the "worm man" at the farmers market, and haven't done anything special since.

The next year when we were scooping out finished compost to add to the garden beds, we came across a "ball" or red wrigglers about the size of a soccer ball!

Maybe it's the wet Pacific Northwest weather that keeps them happy, but our worms have been completely effortless for us. :-)

Comment by Phillip on May 31, 2009 at 11:18pm

It appears sometimes that we think "WE" make it happen, and therefore it is a bunch of work. Really it isn't, since everything happens naturally. We don't make our gardens grow, we simply set the process in motion and help keep conditions correct. Water when there is no rain, till the soil when the land needs it. Composting and worms are much the same. Joy used a tarp with straw and manure. Keep the pile "dryish" with a cover on rainy days The manure and scraps will provide all the moisture you need. Turn the pile over when it needs air. The worms will come and do everything else. Your pile will get hot where conditions are right and the worms will follow where their conditions are correct.
Yes there are kits and trays, you can buy if you wish, but it really can be much simpler, and no work to it. I never think about it anymore since it is too easy.

Comment by Joy Williams on May 31, 2009 at 10:40pm

How to? hmmm
I sorta did it without even knowing it. LOL

So if you can do it without even knowing it, I assume that there is some things I did that naturally fell into place. First of all I have alpaca manure. Now you can probably FIND this. There are alpaca breeders all over the country. Most uf us have no clue what to do with our manure, so offer to relieve them of it. Put it in a place surrounded by hay, and cover it with a tarp, in the shade. let it age for a year, peak under it and see the worms. :)

Comment by Phillip on May 31, 2009 at 10:36pm

Joy is right. If you can fall off a log you can compost and vermiculture. I have 5 piles going right now. I have the Mantis tumblers and those are not worth the money. Food scraps and/or manure plus green matter (go very easy on the grass clippings, they sour fast) and a carbon source like straw, saw dust, old leaves or ??? and let it work. The worms will show up. I have been doing it for 20+ years. Most of the worms are too small for fishing, but they really help enrich the compost.

Comment by Michelle W. Flannery on May 31, 2009 at 10:16pm

Okay Joy, time to start a "how-to" discussion.

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