Vermicomposting: Are my Worms Eating at all?
I just started a red worm vermicompost with 1 pound of baby red worms. They’re all really little right now, but there’s 1 pound of them, and I thought red worms were supposed to eat their own body weight in 2 days. It’s been almost a week and it doesn’t look like they’ve eaten almost anything.
Here’s what I did:
Got a 5 gallon bucket
Drilled 1/8" holes in the bottom, the sides, and the top. I don’t know how many, but I drilled quite a few.
I laid down strips of damp cardboard on the bottom.
I added the worms with 1 pound of soil.
I added probably 2 pounds of organic matter; vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, etc. No meat, dairy, or fatty stuff!
I added dry strips of cardboard and paper to the top.
The composting layer is only about 3-4 inches deep. The rest of the bucket is full of the top bedding, and a few inches for the bottom bedding.
There are no odors.
A little bit of liquid has come out of the bottom into the catch tray.
I check on them about once a day, and everything looks about exactly the same. I expect that 1 pound of red worms should finish 2 pounds of food in 4 days.
Are they supposed to be eating this slowly?
Eating their weight every two days is extremely optomistic. Yes, they are eating, but look at the size of a worm, and the weight of a worm. A couple of grams at the most. Call them 1 1/2 gram each for an adult worm. There are 28 1/2 grams per ounce, 16 ounces per pound, so it is going to take those worms quite a few days to eat a couple of pounds.
That is if they don’t escape by crawling between the cardboard and the bucket, and out the holes.
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How should I do my project, about worms, compost, and the effects of it on plants?
I am doing a science project. I don’t know much about worms, or compost. I have been doing some research, but I really don’t know exactly what to do. Could I find what a difference there might be between different brands or amounts of vermicompost on plants’ soil? How do I find different companies that sell vermicompost? Please help, any information will be welcomed. Thank you!
Or maybe even comparing vermicompost to a different kind of compost altogether? where could i get different compost?
would a month and a half be enough time to make my own compost, and do the experiment too?
vermicompost is the word for worm-made compost
What is vermic compost?
If you want to compare different brands of commercial compost, then you need to go out and buy a bag of the different brands from your equivalent of the hardware store, or garden centre/nursery, and/of feedstore.
Then you plant the same plant in different brands of compost/mix and treat each plant the same and see what happens.
If you want to learn about worms and composting, just collect all your household vege scaps and lightly bury them in the garden. Put a scrap of old carpet over the top as worms will come to the top if it is dark. Carpet will also let rain into the soil.
Hint, soak the old carpet in a bucket of water, each day for a week. Some carpets have insecticides impregnated in them and this will kill the worms.
Take a digital camera, and each day, peel back the carpet and take a photograph of what happens.
Good luck
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Vermicomposting: Is it ok to dump soil into compost bin instead of newspaper?
I started a vermicompost bin a little ago. I don’t know how many worms I have because I was given the worms by another vermicompost user. I’m a newbie in this, so I didn’t know I had to make a newspaper bedding for the worms, or even how much I should feed them.
After realizing too late that I had overfed them (mold was beginning to grow on the food) I decided to take all the moldy food out as much as I can. My brother suggested dumping a lot of soil over them to ‘re-create’ their environment (I’m using red-wigglers btw) and perhaps make all the fruit flies go away (yes there were lots of them).
My question is, is it ok to dump soil over the food instead of making a newspaper bedding? (It is my understanding that the food goes under the bedding). The soil I dumped over the worms had nutrients/fertilizers cuz I was coincidentally transplanting a tomato plant to a bigger pot and decided to get nutrient-rich soil.
Somehow I fear for those worms’ lives. Any help would be appreciated.
Any tips on how to care for them? Thanks!
There is nothing wrong with adding regular dirt to your vermicompost bin, however dirt itself is already in a broken down state and therefore will not do anything to benefit your vermicompost bin. An alternative to newspaper might be grass clippings or fallen leaves. The reasons for using items like these is that they also serve as food for you worms and allow you to break down more of your waste via your vermicompost bin.
Note: Be sure to moisten your bedding before adding it to the vermicompost bin. Worms need a moist environment.
As for the fruit flies, they gather when there is exposed food. You have the right idea. You want to dig a hole down into your vermicompost bin, place the food, and then cover it back up with the bedding and compost within the bin. By burying it, you will avoid odors which attract predators and pests.
Check out the "how to" guide for worm farming at http://wormerycompost.com
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Thousands of tiny white eggs in worm compost bin?
I started a vermicompost bin about a month ago. I recently moved it outside for the last 2 days due to a gnat infestation…but it’s going to need to come inside again very soon as it’s getting cold outside. I was digging through it a few minutes ago and noticed that there are thousands of tiny egg-like things all over. What are these?
Also, any tips on how to control the gnats? I’ve been doing plenty of reading about having the right ratios of carbon/nitrogen and I think I’ve got that down okay, and I know that gnats are normal…but they weren’t just staying in and around the bin…they were making their way into my kitchen and downstairs bathroom! I guess I could move the bin down into my basement…but I don’t really don’t want a bug infestation down there either, especially since I have no clue what’s going to hatch out of those thousands of tiny white eggs!
Help!
The tiny white eggs are likely larva of a fly (i.e. maggots). Sometimes they move and sometimes they don’t.
I place a fan next to my compost bowl (which holds compost scraps until I take them out to the bin). A fan, even on low, makes just enough wind so that flies and gnats can’t get near the bowl. Since they have no where to land to lay eggs, their numbers are almost non-existent.
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i want to go for certied organic farming.my orchad is in 3acres of land.there are 200 fully grown mango trees?
i do not use chemical fertilizer only synthetic pesticide are used to control pest attack.only animal manure and vermicompost is used,please help
Presumably you are in India.
The DST, Govt of India, has funded some projects on this subject.
Visit www.ciks.org
CIKS has a whole lot of info on the subject. Their scientists can help you with all that you need.
They have already helped many farmers in Sukkankoil, Tamil Nadu to set up organic farming. The products are being exported is the info.
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1. Farmyard Manure
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farmyard manure and vermicompost are the best biofertilizers u can get ur hands on..
they are cheap and non polluting 2…
jst a little effort and a small initial capital is only required but very beneficial as its also a good way 2 dispose ur wastes…..
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Paper towels in a vermicompost?
So, I’m 15 and I’ve been working on being more environmentally conscious over the past few years. Now, I have a composter and I use vinegar and baking soda to clean. I know worms in a compost will eat paper towels and such. But my question is: Will worms eat a paper towel that has been used to clean with vinegar and baking soda? Will it injure the worms? Will it make the soil more acidic/basic? Thanks 
A few here and there would not be too bad. Figure the acidic acid in vinegar is the pretty much the same as in lemon peels.
But if you have had something bad enough growing in your bin that you needed to disinfect it, then toss the paper towels. You would not want to reintroduce a contaminate.
I keep a couple of pales of mature compost when I empty out the bin. As I put fresh material in the bin I sprinkle a layer of the mature compost over it. The colonies of good bacteria and worms get a head start. This layering seems to breakdown the material a bit faster with less smell.
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Compost-how could walnuts appear?
I have a vermicompost bin in a covered plastic rubbermaid container in my backyard. There appears to be walnuts in it. At first I thought maybe they were worm cacoons, but I googled photos of them and they do not look anything like that. Any ideas how walnuts could have gotten in a covered compost bin? People said squirrels or chipmunks, but the wholes are only 1/4 inch big, and the lid is on tight.
I would still say squirrels! They’re crafty little buggers and they can fit in under the lid of a rubbermaid tote. They get in, they get out and it wouldn’t be that difficult.
I also wanted to mention that a couple of walnut are not going to ruin your compost! That’s rediculouse! Walnut trees would have crept over the Earth and poisoned all of the soil by now if that were true. The roots of the tree makes it very difficult for anything to grow in, but a sprouted nut… give me a freaking break!
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