Serverchris
Well-Known Member
What would you suggest feeding a worm bin for really nutritious castings? I just started one and so far all I have fed is kelp meal and crab meal.
Show me your worm bins and compost
- Thread starter Mary's Confidant
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stoned-monkey
Well-Known Member
Fresh raw organic fruits and veggie scraps, natrual no pesticide leaves from your yard. Baked and ground up egg shells. I believe diverse, natrual, local, cheap/free, organic input works best for me.
I add the more expensive things like kelp to my soil mixes and top dressings. But if money isnt an issue or those inputs are cheap/free by all means it will work.
I will add a little rock dust to every tray i fill in my worm bin.
SlownLow86
Well-Known Member
Love all the great info in this thread.
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MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
Clackamas Coots talks about using neem meal in his worm bin along with barley. I recently used bokashi bran in my worm bin and they seemed to love it and it looks like they had a population growth. I am going to add more to the other side of my outdoor bin because it seems like the bokashi heated up and it would be great for this snow storm I'm about to have. I'll take pics and share after I have my coffee.
Here is 10gal of home-made Grokashi. I left out a couple of things on the Grokashi recipe, but I got most of it in there. I have so much of this stuff and it is so cheap to make, that I'll probably use 4 gallons on my outdoor bin today. I have leaf compost that I've been working on for about 13 months now and I'll do anything to speed it up. Grokashi seems to work. I'm guessing that it is like a super food for them???
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
I made a top-dressing for my worm bin today. I used Grokashi, alfalfa meal, and a mix of azomite/basalt/glacial rock dust.
This is what my leaves look like after 13 months, it's a long wait for this stuff. I recently added it to the worm bin to see if it would speed up. I didn't have it amended with anything.
I'm trying to add things that will cause thermal compost and keep the worms alive and well during upcoming winter storms.
This is what my leaves look like after 13 months, it's a long wait for this stuff. I recently added it to the worm bin to see if it would speed up. I didn't have it amended with anything.
I'm trying to add things that will cause thermal compost and keep the worms alive and well during upcoming winter storms.
Achillesactual
Well-Known Member
I top dressed my worm bin with bokashi bran expecting fuzzy goodness. But it looks like my isopod cleaning crew loves to eat the fuzz as it's 4 days since that top dress and the bokashi hasn't created any fuzz.
I really like having the isopods in my bin, free insect frass and chitin! Plus they keep the top clean and clear.
I really like having the isopods in my bin, free insect frass and chitin! Plus they keep the top clean and clear.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
I had to google Isopods, but yes, my bin is FULL of them! They actually showed up before the worms were established. This is my first time using bokashi bran in the worm bin, so I'm not too sure on what to expect. Well, I used it about 1-2 weeks ago and it looks like the worm population really took off so I took that as a green light to amend the rest of the bin. I use wet cardboard inside of the tarp and there were masses of worms when I lifted the cardboard. Def an improvement over the last 2 weeks!
I couldn't tell exactly what was going on here, but I'm guessing some worm porn?
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
yup conjugation. the lighter colored portion of the worm is called the Clitellum. it contains both male and female parts and the worms are passing sperm to each other through the clitellum.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
They were def some lumpy worms lol. I don't know what my home-made Grokashi did exactly but the worm population really took off.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
Youngevitey was part of the Grokashi recipe and I don't know if that helps with the worms or not?
https://youngofficial.com/product/youngevity-beyond-tangy-tangerine-2-0/
https://youngofficial.com/product/youngevity-beyond-tangy-tangerine-2-0/
DankTankerous
Well-Known Member
That is some beautiful leaf mold. do you try to introduce fungi from different sources/locations? I'm assuming doing so would provide a great bio-diversity.
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
not my bin you're looking at (though I wish it was haha), it's @MustangStudFarm 's. He can tell you bit about it i'm sure
So i just started on making some leaf/grass composting bins. I decided to start with old wood pallets and lay them on their sides and tie them together with cable ties and some old scrap wire I had lying around. Do you guys suggest wrapping them in landscaping fabric or chicken wire to try and retain more of the composting product within the bin since it has fairly large gaps between the planks?
Also have had a fairly standard rubbermaid tote worm bin going for a little over a year now. Worms seem to be thriving and devouring everything I put in there. I was curious as to how you guys are storing your finished castings? As of now, I am just using a spare "bin" to house the finished product. I left a few of the worms in there to continue working the material down and throw the worms that fall into the leachate portion of the working system back into the finished bin to keep a somewhat healthy population of worms in there to continue the whole process.
Any advice would be appreciated and I can post some pictures at some point, still new to actually posting on the thread as opposed to just soaking in all the good info you guys put out.
Also have had a fairly standard rubbermaid tote worm bin going for a little over a year now. Worms seem to be thriving and devouring everything I put in there. I was curious as to how you guys are storing your finished castings? As of now, I am just using a spare "bin" to house the finished product. I left a few of the worms in there to continue working the material down and throw the worms that fall into the leachate portion of the working system back into the finished bin to keep a somewhat healthy population of worms in there to continue the whole process.
Any advice would be appreciated and I can post some pictures at some point, still new to actually posting on the thread as opposed to just soaking in all the good info you guys put out.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
When I was collecting leaves, I found a huge patch of the white spider web looking mycelium and I def tried to grab as much of it as I could! I kind of felt like I was robbing nature, but I'm sure it's fine. Also, any mushrooms that I found would go in there also. There were several species of mushrooms that I found.
MustangStudFarm
Well-Known Member
I used some plastic pallets and I am glad to see someone else getting creative! Chicken wire should work but I have been using this wire mesh for everything lately rabbit cages, worm bins, and sifting screen. Anyways, don't spend too much money because I'm sure that what you come up with will work. This stuff usually comes in 1/4'' or 1/2'' squares.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-Actual-10-ft-x-3-ft-Steel-Welded-Wire-Rolled-Hardware-Cloth-Fencing/1000367331
Yea that stuff looks great, I'll have to try it out. I'll just use what I have on hand for now and finish slapping these pallets together to get this compost flowing.
I also have a 10+ year old pile of lawn clippings/leaves from the yard that has just been piled on top of each other over the years. Do you think this pile will still produce the beneficial microbes we need even though it has been in a dry/anaerobic state for such a long period of time? Obviously it will be cared for now, with proper turning and moisture practices being utilized.
Achillesactual
Well-Known Member
If you peel back the top and go down to the brown fluffy stuff that's fully broken down it should be a good fungal dominated compost!
yea, finally got the first one set up, so started to dig through the big un-maintained pile and it was looking real nice on the bottom layers. Nice and dark/fine compost. I decided not to try and harvest any of the finished looking compost yet, since it is the winter now and really not much use for it at the moment as I don't have my tents up and running at the moment. I just layered it into the bin along with the uncomposted grass and leaves that I want to get started working on. I figured the good aged material would just help expedite the process once the bin gets established and working properly.