Many More Questions

14 years ago

OK, I've been reading posts and watching youtube videos etc.

Here's what comes to my mind question wise (so far).

1. What about UNDER feeding, is that possible? and/or a problem?

2. The flow through bins (using tall containers like a 55 gallon drum) how do you get your material down into the bin? And how deep would it need to be to start?

3. If I use some sort of stacking bins, what would be the minimum depth of each section to be effective? Is the idea of the stacking bin almost like those steamer baskets, that go inside a steamer? and you could just add in a new basket, and when you remove the lower baskets that is where the compost is?

4. Does food always need to be decomposing BEFORE it goes into the bins? or is that only at the beginning?

5. Has anyone ever tried using a square igloo type cooler? (it would be insulated for outdoor use, it has a removeable top, you could drill holes in bottom and sides/top) but in a set up like this or a bin, how exactly do you actually harvest your castings?

6.what about combining 2 ideas, the regular bin with red wigglers incorporated somehow into an outdoor worm tower? to attract other outdoor worms to the flock?

I think there may be more questions I have, I"m still just trying to get a grasp of what will work best for me and how to get er done ;)

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Comments (2)

steamyb
14 years ago
Read "Worms Eat My Garbage".
susanfromhawaii
14 years ago
1. I've been told that worms will regulate their population and just not breed if there isn't enough food. I don't think it's a problem if you're not in a hurry.

2. You have a removable lid on the top of your bin. A 55 gal drum is okay, but so is a large trash can of the type that sits on the street curb and has wheels. Since you need to put some lining like newspaper along the bottom so that things don't fall out in the beginning, I don't think it needs to be very deep at all. You'll want it to be fairly deep when you harvest, since you're hoping your worms will have moved up to the newer stuff before harvest. and you'll need enough weight on things to prevent what's left from falling out.

3. Again I don't think there's a minimum depth - even 2 inches would be okay, but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. Stacking bin systems are exactly like the Chinese bamboo steamers. If you want the worms to move up to the next level when they're done with their current level, you'll need to make a mound of the vermicompost so it's in contact with the level above it. The stacking systems I've seen that you can buy as a system are about 6 inches deep. Lots of people stack their rubbermaid bins too, so those are a LOT deeper.

As each level gets full, you start again with bedding and food on one level up. When you harvest the bottom level, it can become your new top level.

4. No, exactly right. It's good to have some decomposed food their for the worms as they start life in their new digs, but many just dump whatever ends and peelings into their bin while they're preparing the meal.

5. Wouldn't the holes ruin the insulating effect? You'd have to have the holes, but I don't know that it would be better than a normal plastic bin. There's lots of harvesting methods. Check out http://wiki.vermicomposters.com/wormbin/Harvesting_Vermicompost

6. No idea. I'm in a 20th floor studio, so it's not an option for me.

Keep asking as you have more questions and check out the archives here or http://wiki.vermicomposters.com/wormbin/Main_Page for quicker answers.
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