Lazy Worm Farm Is Swarming with Baby Worms!
Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:44 pm
Well, a small swarm... more than I could count... (ran out of fingers and toes).
Looks like I screwed up in reverse with my half fast worm farm! Something has to be going right or they would be sooooo many tine little worms. Haven't gotten into full on vermicomposting yet. Probably will when I finish of the SIP's and racks I am making and get the mix thing straitened out.
Earlier this year I drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, filled it with mulchy compost and added some kitchen scrapes and recruited a bunch of red wiggler type worms out of my compost pile the take up residency in the bucket. Then I kept the bucket buried to the top in my "curing compost pile". Thinking was that if the conditions were better in the bucket than outside the bucket they would stay and and process the mulchy stuff and kitchen scrapes in an easy to remove container. If things went south in the bucket they could exit at will over the top or out the holes in the bottom.
When frosts started becoming common, I brought the bucket into the basement and put it on a lid to catch the escapees and any liquid oozing out the bottom. No escapees yet and no liquid, just a tiny bit of black granular stuff that looks like very finished compost.
A couple of weeks ago after to turned the contents of the bucket by transferring the compost out, picking out the worms and then putting the compost back into the bucket one handful at a time and adding the worms back in near the top, I added half of a baked potato half and buried in under the last inch of material to go back into the bucket.
That's where the baby worms are - just under the papery skin of the potato. No potato left, just the papery skin. Added a pot's worth of cooled coffee grounds because I think they like those too and the potato was gone, again about an inch under the surface. Didn't really want to disturb things too much cause the little worms look so fragile.
I'm guess from what I have read that I just keep adding food stuffs and if it starts to smell, I cut back on the food and let them catch up.
Am going to start freezing some of the veg scrapes and then thawing them to room temp before feeding it to the worms.
Other than getting an actual worm container, the correct worms, a paper shredder ... , is there anything I should be doing or watching out for?
The couple of times the surface started to dry out I gave it a heavy misting with distilled water. Basement is pretty much a constant 60*F or so.
Looks like I screwed up in reverse with my half fast worm farm! Something has to be going right or they would be sooooo many tine little worms. Haven't gotten into full on vermicomposting yet. Probably will when I finish of the SIP's and racks I am making and get the mix thing straitened out.
Earlier this year I drill a bunch of holes in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, filled it with mulchy compost and added some kitchen scrapes and recruited a bunch of red wiggler type worms out of my compost pile the take up residency in the bucket. Then I kept the bucket buried to the top in my "curing compost pile". Thinking was that if the conditions were better in the bucket than outside the bucket they would stay and and process the mulchy stuff and kitchen scrapes in an easy to remove container. If things went south in the bucket they could exit at will over the top or out the holes in the bottom.
When frosts started becoming common, I brought the bucket into the basement and put it on a lid to catch the escapees and any liquid oozing out the bottom. No escapees yet and no liquid, just a tiny bit of black granular stuff that looks like very finished compost.
A couple of weeks ago after to turned the contents of the bucket by transferring the compost out, picking out the worms and then putting the compost back into the bucket one handful at a time and adding the worms back in near the top, I added half of a baked potato half and buried in under the last inch of material to go back into the bucket.
That's where the baby worms are - just under the papery skin of the potato. No potato left, just the papery skin. Added a pot's worth of cooled coffee grounds because I think they like those too and the potato was gone, again about an inch under the surface. Didn't really want to disturb things too much cause the little worms look so fragile.
I'm guess from what I have read that I just keep adding food stuffs and if it starts to smell, I cut back on the food and let them catch up.
Am going to start freezing some of the veg scrapes and then thawing them to room temp before feeding it to the worms.
Other than getting an actual worm container, the correct worms, a paper shredder ... , is there anything I should be doing or watching out for?
The couple of times the surface started to dry out I gave it a heavy misting with distilled water. Basement is pretty much a constant 60*F or so.