We use our own quality worm castings/vermicompost, been using it for years, once I started with fulvic/humic acids some of my plants get a little wanky (single leaf nodes for one) ...I've pretty much stopped using them or use them VERY sparingly. I find that coconut water and barely seed teas work for me with immediate (overnight) result. ACT in my outdoor gardens = plants go wild SST and coconut water in the indoor gardens = plants go wild My experience, indoor garden is basically BlueJay/Coots mix & no-til, I'm on my 4th and 5th runs. Amend at end of run with VC, rock dust, neem, crab kelp meals. Neem a must have with VC !!
I think this quote answers that question: You cannot amend your way to a viable soil. Get the Compost/EWC dialed in and you won't have many questions that need an answer. Lumperdawgz
If you put your composting worms inside your no tills and feed/mulch/top dress them, would it be vermicomposting? Sorry for all the questions I'm still trying to get this sorted out.
No, it would be worms in your no till (a good thing), But it wouldn't be vermicomposting. The conditions /environment to produce VC is different from growing plants. Wet
Hey Jerry, how well does your trommel you made work? I am building one now with a couple of Lowe's 5 gallon buckets and some 1/4" hardware cloth.
Excellent tutorial! For a fellow environmentalist vermicomposting is the way to go. Everything goes back to the Earth to be used again.
Interesting article on invasive earthworms. Earthworm Invaders Have Huge Implications for Forest Health
Wow Chunk, that post sure slowed the thread down. Guess the forests will adapt, just as they have over the last 4-500 years since worms were re-introduced to N America. Amazing just how fast and far they spread in such a short time. Just made ~13 gallons of bedding and quit feeding the worms a couple weeks back. Plan on harvesting both bins sometime in Sept. I do think I might take a few fresh comfrey leaves and put on top. It breaks down so fast. I'm mainly waiting for the much slower coffee grounds to break down and get consumed. To *try* something, I added ~1+ gal of coffee grounds in the 3 gal bucket (what was left after filling 2-5gal buckets), and was going to use this as the first added to the fresh bins. A bit more aeration was also added. It will have at least a month to settle in and cycle. If anyone has done something similar and found it NOT to be such a good idea, please give a shout out. I use coffee grounds regulary, but never that much as part of the bedding. Mostly on top of the bedding and let the worms take it from there. Thanks! Wet
Hey Wet - we have a 165 gal compost worm bin. We put approximately 2-3 cups of fresh coffee grounds in our bin every day. We add in all veggie scraps from the kitchen we get daily along with the grounds, add to that all or much of the weeds we are pulling from the gardens (a lot this time of year). We do that every day. We must have a shit load of worms in the bin cause the bin is full today, and I mean topped off. The next day we go to pour in the next round of grounds/veggie scraps the pile is down 12"-18" from the day before. I think the worms actually really like coffee grounds. Here's the thing tho - coffee grounds ave a 20/1 carbon to nitrogen ratio - perfect for heating up the pile. The larger quantity you mentioned "may" fire up the temps and get too hot for the worms!! Our bin is not hot, its worms baby. We try and add in much more greens so that the pile doesn't go thermo. Here's a quote from OSU (Oregon State U) "Coffee grounds are an excellent nitrogen source for composting. They have a C/N ratio of 20/1. In informal trials with OSU/Lane County Extension Service, Compost Specialists sustained temperatures of 140-160F have been recorded for up to two weeks (when coffee grounds were 25% of the material in the compost pile by volume)." High temps I don't think are ideal for vermicomposting, unless its winter time?? I may have to see if i can keep the pile from freezing with this type of addition for winter time. Cut down our other additions and get coffee grounds to be 25% and we will keep the worms alive. This time of year we have a lot more greens than browns. The cool thing tho the worms will lay eggs and freeze to death and the pile always comes back to life after the thawing in early spring here on the east coast. This early spring I was chopping pieces of solid EWC that were frozen solid and adding into my no-til pots as top dress!
Understand about the temps, but it will be at least a month before any worms even get close to it. I just usually dump a coffee can full of grounds on top of the bedding, alternating between bins. I've added some to the bedding before, along with other things, but never 30% +/-. Fresh but frozen comfrey makes up most of the rest of food sources. I make a peat based bedding and with worms it's easy to make well in advance, like a month or 6 weeks before harvest and I harvest the entire bin at once. Wet
Heya Wet Yeah, that link did put the brakes on this thread for sure. Over the years, I've found that these threads are cyclical. They'll sit idle for a while and then blow up for a while. Looks like this one is gonna be on an up cycle now that you've gotten the party started again. Take care, Chunk
Yeah, understood about the cyclical nature, just at you a bit. Plus, *I* didn't get to go to Montana. LOL Hope you had a good time. Wet
Well that article didn't mention red wigglers anywhere, lol. Interesting how forest fragmentation plays a role with invasive species. Being a gardener and not a fisherman, I'll blame the worm problem on the people ripping lips.
I went to a celebration of life / family reunion in honor of my dear, departed aunt. We visited Glacier National Park as well as several local tourist attractions in the Kalispell / Flathead Lake region. The 600+ mile drive each way was a hoot in a 7 passenger van with my mom, dad, brother, sister and brother in law. All in all a good time although my aunt's passing was the somber point.
Nice, my daughter has been working in Glacier for the last 2 seasons. Did you go up and see the Glacier??
I found some stuff via google. but I was wondering what was the best place online to order European Nightcrawlers from? I saw Uncle Jim's and that seems legit. Im in the southwest US, and hoped someone could point me to the best place. Might just end up going with Uncle Jim, $28 for 250 worms seems solid. Any stories from experiences with Uncle Jim?
Damn...just saw this post and did a little reading on them. They are supposed to be able to tolerate heat better than others....and thats perfect cuz I'm in a desert climate! So can anyone recommend a place to buy African Nightcrawlers? Im a fisherman too...so they look like they can be better for that purpose too! http://www.worms4earth.com/worms/africannightcrawl... ?
I think most worm wranglers deal with red wigglers. They found me naturally and my bin and piles are full of them. The night crawlers are solo, for a worm bin I'd got with the red ones! The production is hard to beat.
I'd check out redwormcomposting.com first. Lots of information in the site and excellent to do business with. Much prefered over Uncle Jim's. I run both red wrigglers and euro nightcrawlers in my bins. They are related and do very well together. Many places do a 50/50 thing of RW and the euros as a package. The Africans ... meh .... A big deal a few years ago, but they really never lived up to the hype. Do some reading before spending any money. Wet