WOW!Grey wrote:
Now I don't have a SB near me
I thought there were SB's EVERYWHERE! And when I say everywhere, esp. here in Pacific NW, I mean everywhere! I think there are 6 within 2 miles of my house! (And that really is a shame too...)-
TheBigEasy
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grandpasrose
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I moved to the Appalaichain foothills last year. There is a SB inside the bookstore in the next large town about 35 miles south of me - but I'm there so rarely it really is just a treat to browse some books and sip a Caramel Mocchiato. And when I asked about coffee grounds the college kid behind the counter gave me quite the odd look!TheBigEasy wrote:
WOW!
Or I guess I could find one in Chattanooga. But I'm in Chatt maybe once every 5 months or so. Really pathetic. I'd like nothing better than to have a SB here in my little town. It would be so awesome!
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The Helpful Gardener
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Easy, I wouldn't mix it right into soil; it needs to compost a bit. For a deck area I would probably think about a vermiculture set-up. Faster turns, great soil amendment and fertilizer, and you can sell progeny to the bait shop... 
There are small kits for small splaces and you could even disguise it as a plant stand in between feedings and clean-outs...
Scott
There are small kits for small splaces and you could even disguise it as a plant stand in between feedings and clean-outs...Scott
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TheBigEasy
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The Helpful Gardener wrote:Easy, I wouldn't mix it right into soil; it needs to compost a bit. For a deck area I would probably think about a vermiculture set-up. Faster turns, great soil amendment and fertilizer, and you can sell progeny to the bait shop...
Scott
Embarrased to say, but I'm not sure what you mean by the vermiculture idea. I may be understanding that would have to do with the worms? Or maybe a composting system with worms involved? If so, that would be a great idea as I am also a fisherman (well, I try to be anyway 
)...and could always use worms! AND, selling them to bait shops would be sweet too!!! -
grandpasrose
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TheBigEasy
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Thank you Val! It makes sense to me...grandpasrose wrote:Big Easy -
Vermiculture: The cultivation of worms to break down waste. The worm casts contain recovered nutrients which can then be used for fertilizer or soil conditioning.
As easy as pie!!!
Val
Don't know how my wife will feel about it...but we'll see! :lol"
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grandpasrose
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opabinia51
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Hi Big Easy.
Vermiculture is dead simple. The classic way to do it is to buy a Tote box and drill holes along the sides and on the bottom. Then fill with leaves or newspaper and add about a cup of RED WRIGGLER WORMS and add all your kitchen scraps (chopped up) to the set up and in about 3 to 4 months, you will have lovely soil. And the worms will multiply like you wouldn't believe.
Red Wrigglers are notoriously expensive to buy so, the best way to get them is start a compost pile in your yard (a cold compost pile) and they will come. Then, just transfer them to your worm bin.
Vermiculture is dead simple. The classic way to do it is to buy a Tote box and drill holes along the sides and on the bottom. Then fill with leaves or newspaper and add about a cup of RED WRIGGLER WORMS and add all your kitchen scraps (chopped up) to the set up and in about 3 to 4 months, you will have lovely soil. And the worms will multiply like you wouldn't believe.
Red Wrigglers are notoriously expensive to buy so, the best way to get them is start a compost pile in your yard (a cold compost pile) and they will come. Then, just transfer them to your worm bin.
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TheBigEasy
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opabinia51
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Hi again Big Easy,
just thought that I would give you some more advice. I prefer to use leaves (usually maple) because they have a C:N ratio of about 800:1 as compared to Newspaper with a C:N ratio of 2000:1 and takes a notoriously long time to be broken down.
These tote box compost systems are actually designed to be used inside apartments and homes. I keep mine outside because when I start a new cycle going, I fill a 5 gallon bucket with some cocoa hulls (or peat but, I don't recommend peat) and manure. Manure is just not something that I want in my house
So, keep the leaves moist so that the worms don't die of dessication.
Oh, and prop your worm bin up with some bricks or something else and place a drip pan (I use one of those aluminium roasting pans from the supermarket) the compost tea that you will collect can be diluted about 10:1 and used as a fertilzer for you plants and as a foliar spray.
You will find that with use as a foliar spray that herbivory by insects and other organisms will decrease. If you like I can get into the particulars of that on a later date.
Anyway, great stuff. My plants love it.
just thought that I would give you some more advice. I prefer to use leaves (usually maple) because they have a C:N ratio of about 800:1 as compared to Newspaper with a C:N ratio of 2000:1 and takes a notoriously long time to be broken down.
These tote box compost systems are actually designed to be used inside apartments and homes. I keep mine outside because when I start a new cycle going, I fill a 5 gallon bucket with some cocoa hulls (or peat but, I don't recommend peat) and manure. Manure is just not something that I want in my house
So, keep the leaves moist so that the worms don't die of dessication.
Oh, and prop your worm bin up with some bricks or something else and place a drip pan (I use one of those aluminium roasting pans from the supermarket) the compost tea that you will collect can be diluted about 10:1 and used as a fertilzer for you plants and as a foliar spray.
You will find that with use as a foliar spray that herbivory by insects and other organisms will decrease. If you like I can get into the particulars of that on a later date.
Anyway, great stuff. My plants love it.
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TheBigEasy
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opabinia51
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Pretty tough to screw worm composting up. The one mistake I did make was allowing an old room mate to put all the pulp from the ginger juice that she would make into my bin. (There was a lot of it)
For one reason or another the entire bin went anoxic and I had to empty it and clean the whole thing out with bleach (for the first time in four years). So, be careful with additions of large amounts of ginger. To date, that's the only problem I have ever had.
For one reason or another the entire bin went anoxic and I had to empty it and clean the whole thing out with bleach (for the first time in four years). So, be careful with additions of large amounts of ginger. To date, that's the only problem I have ever had.
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TheBigEasy
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opabinia51
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birdhouse-lady
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opabinia51
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For compost tea?
For anaerobic tea:
Place your compost in a bucket of water and stir daily for about a week. Nothing simpler
For aerobic tea:
Place compost in a bucket and aerate with an aquarium pump or other aeration device and let steep for a week as above.
Use as foliar spray and/or as feritilizer.
Using compost teas as foliar spray reduces the amount of disease that your plants will recieve as you are adding beneficial fauna to the plants. As a fertilizer applied to the soil nutrients are added as well as the beneficial fauna. It's win-win!
For anaerobic tea:
Place your compost in a bucket of water and stir daily for about a week. Nothing simpler
For aerobic tea:
Place compost in a bucket and aerate with an aquarium pump or other aeration device and let steep for a week as above.
Use as foliar spray and/or as feritilizer.
Using compost teas as foliar spray reduces the amount of disease that your plants will recieve as you are adding beneficial fauna to the plants. As a fertilizer applied to the soil nutrients are added as well as the beneficial fauna. It's win-win!