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Worm castings
Thread starterRiverRock
Start date
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How did I miss this thread! Worm castings are very good. We had our Christmas party for the Association I work for. We alway collect donations for door prizes from our Affiliate Members. One of them owns a local worm farm and they donated 2- 50 lb bags of castings. No one wanted it but boy I sure did. Since I am an employee of the Association and not a member I am not eligable for prizes. I sure hope who ever got it uses it.
Just think of it this way. Worms are what make compost so great
Great info in those links Tina!
RR of course you can get excited they're great fun to have around the place eating all those scraps etc. and giving you great castings.
Crabber I was wondering where you were lol, as this is right up your alley! Wow I would've grabbed those 50lb bags sooo fast....
i've got to look in to this and see what it's all about
will check out the links that everyone posted
i have compost piles but could save some for a worn bin
not sure what i would do with them in the winter
keep them down cellar???
Mainegal,
I only get to the 20's in the winter and keep mine outside, but any lower and I definitely would move them to the garage. Mine sit right outside our central heat unit. Placing them next to a warm wall would probably work too.
Ok I need some help here! My red wigglers got here today and I discovered real fast that I am in trouble..lol
I got a nice big container from walmart that is perfect and I drilled some holes in the bottom to vent it and was going to put some screen over it like was mentioned. In my mind i was thinking like screen door screen. Well by the looks of these tiny wigglers that wont work at all they will go right through it. I did not know they were so small. So what do I use for screen to cover the holes and also how do I secure the screen down over the holes?
Ok I need some help here! My red wigglers got here today and I discovered real fast that I am in trouble..lol
I got a nice big container from walmart that is perfect and I drilled some holes in the bottom to vent it and was going to put some screen over it like was mentioned. In my mind i was thinking like screen door screen. Well by the looks of these tiny wigglers that wont work at all they will go right through it. I did not know they were so small. So what do I use for screen to cover the holes and also how do I secure the screen down over the holes?
Anything that will let excess water through should work temporarily. Coffee filters or dryer sheets (used). The weight of the damp bedding should hold them down enough. What type of bedding do you have in it? If your worms are happy they will stay put. If they aren't happy you will lose them anyway. Enough damp paper and/or cardboard and it will probably work out.
I don't know how big red wigglers get. Mine stay quite small. My biggest are at best half the size of our regular earthworms if that even.
They really need some paper or cardboard in there. They will eat it. That is why I said temporary until you can figure out something less tasty for them. Yes you can turn it once in a while but that is really not so necessary.
I have a stock watering trough with my worms in it. It has one drain hole. I have a wad of fluffy flower arranging stuff in there that is something like a plastic cotton ball or fine steel wool that won't breakdown. Before I found that, I just used the coffee filter. it was deep on the bottom and as the worms are top feeders they didn't much venture down there to taste. I just replaced it when I did turn. I also replace my purple fluffy stuff as needed.
RR,
don't freak out! The screen door stuff is just fine. The only real reason for it is drainage,not to keep them in. The babies are so tiny that,yes,some will travel. If you keep the bedding and food supply going ,they're going to stick around. Red wigglers are not like nightcrawlers,they will only burrow a short distance. When I get a giant batch of them (like I have now) I even put them in my potted plants.
The worms will turn the mix for you,you don't have to mix it up unless there is something like a whole potato in the bin.
Ok I got it all set, I just laid the screen on the bottom of the container and put the leaves and pulp on top. I will put some paper and cardboard in later. It rained throgh the night so i collected wet leaves from the yard. I hope they do good And thank you so much for donating to me the start of my redworms! They are kinda creepy loking..rofl
RR,
I used to think they were creepy too,but now that I've been around them a while they don't gross me out at all. Glad they made it o.k. Happy vermicomposting!
Thanks for that wonderful site Cyndy. It helped me lot. It shows that I can use the top that comes with a container, just need to drill holes in it. I will get one of them or if I use a foam ice chest, can I use the top that comes with it? I have plenty junk mail and newspapers to shred. I only buy the paper once or twice a week but my neighbors on both sides subscribe so I can ask for theirs and my friend Celeste gets the daily paper too. Lots of food for my worms.
I had a worm farm for a few years after I graduated from High School. I would have enjoyed having one of my friends share in it with me,but they all laughed and thought that I was crazy! Anyway,I ran it all by my little lonesome and got interested in other things-so,I tossed in the towel over having that and sold all the works over to a bait shop I sold the worms to when I had it active.
- Wish ya lots of success for those in that business - ( that is what you do right? )
PRH,
I'm just teasing Dor about the "farm". Basically what we are doing is composting with worms to get the nutrient rich "castings" and green up our world a bit.
Wish I had known you in high school...maybe I wouldn't have been such a latebloomer if we were friends then.
Hi Cynday, It supposed be in the high 70's through Saturday. I am buying my container tomorrow and I am going to have my grandson shred the newspaper for me today.
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