Worm Bin Additives ??

When you guys get your comfrey root starts don't be shocked. They're supposed to look like that - pieces of stick.

Not to worry though............

BTW - Borage is an annual comfrey plant. Beautiful flowering plant that attract bees and butterflies and it's root exudes contain rooting hormones that will create bigger root systems for nearby plants.

It would be easier to find a seed company that didn't offer Borage than looking for those that do have them.

This is a perfect companion plant for strawberries and tomatoes as it increases the brix levels in these fruits.

LD2

 

Wet Dog

All of mine are up and running (4 root plants) with another 8 coming next week.

A couple of things that might be helpful. Plant these root 'pieces' at 2" depth. Keep the ground around them fairly damp until the leaves appear and then your work is over. This plant grows at rates that you wish you other plants would show.

Definitely give them 3' spacing between each plant. By the middle of July or so you should have more than enough to make 30 gallons of comfrey tea. By September you should be able to harvest 12 - 15 lbs. of biomass from each plant.

If you make a large batch of comfrey tea you can store if for several months. This is an advantage in using natural fermentation vs. using a concentrated lacto base for fermenting.

HTH

LD2

 

Stankie

One of the root pieces had shoots on one end with roots just below that - probably what you're seeing on your comfrey root stock.

I planted that specific one in an upright (vertical) position - that's the strongest plant out of all of the 4 that I planted.

FYI

LD2

 

Ordered. Thank you for the referral LD.

 

Hi welcome to the worm section. have you just started worming?

 

WeeDroid

Choose your site with an eye towards the future. It will be there for 30+ years and you will not be able to remove it, kill it, damage it.

It's yours.

LD

 

Well hello and thank you. Yes I have. I now have 50#s of rice hulls in my garage with a 5 stack wood worm bin on it's way to me. I'm slowly working my way through the vermicropping sticky, taking notes as I go.

Thanks for the heads up LD. Awesome advice as always man, thank you.

 

hello and you are welcome. You don't have to have a stack-able bin to have a super successful worm farm. If you run into any troubles give a holler and I would be happy to help.
Nice to meet you!
Alot of it is uncommon sense. Like if you wont hold it in your bottom lip cause it would burn or irritate don't feed it to your worms!
Plus watch your vegetable proteins and make sure they are not too high? Don't buy things to feed em as their purpose is to eliminate waste and the need for large industrial companies to make ferts?
It will be a breeze and you will love it!

 

Actually what I'm loving is your avatar persona.

The stackable bin is on it's way so I'm committed. I like the design a lot and feel like it will give me a lot of ewc's for very little effort.

 

Okay, so what goes in my bins;

The bedding is a used compost mix (with lots of root bits) and rice hulls. The compost has a base of 2/3 commercial compost (fir mostly, but some other good stuff) and 1/3 coir fiber (the loose stuff, not bricks). Amendmendts include Hi N and P bat guanos, green sand, dolomite lime, ewc's, kelp meal, humic shale oar, rock powder, So Po Mag. I also put some fresh lava pumice in there.

I layered on top (after it became available); crab meal, neem cake meal, coffee grounds.

I have alfalfa meal on the way as well as oyster shell.

 

Are you farming just for the castings? I guess I don't understand why all the commercial stuff? To me the point of farming is the waste it eliminates and its ability to cut a commercial producer out of even one nute needed for the grow?

I use organic fertz but I don't feed them in my worm bin.

I also feel that the more you give them in housing the less they work to make it. My beds have coconut in em but just cause it is readily available?

Worms are super happy making a home with some leaf, shredded paper, toilet paper and paper towel rolls and some cardboard. A good handful of soil or two for some grit all moistened add in all your veggie kitchen scraps as well as dry bread and they thrive.

Not trying to disrespect your methods but to me worm farming is to eliminate waste and make our own fertz as well as a way to eliminate food scraps. I see a ton of people though who set them up and purchase them food? It confuses me?

 

No disrespect felt. My ways are as mysterious as the wind.

My goal is to grow the best possible pot in the most organic/healthy way possible. I'm also enjoying learning how to be what I feel is an organic farmer, a steward of the earth.

The stuff added to the compost is from my previous attempts (prior to finding this web site) at growing organically. I've always had this leftover compost from old grows as I didn't fell competent enough to recycle the used compost.
Most of it I have given away to a friend who has built up their backyard garden. I get a lot of perks from them for helping out that way.

LD mentioned that one of the best foods/bedding you could give a worm farm was used compost. So since I had that available, I went ahead and used it along with some rice hulls. The sweet part is that I've used rock dust and green sand in my old compost blends which takes a long time to break down. As worm food it should be perfect.

In other posts I've made at this site (link below) I've stated that one goal of mine is to move away from things like bat guanos towards more local and sustainable soil blends. It's not going to happen all at once or right away, but already I've made strong moves in that direction from where I was before becoming a member here.

http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/920810-my-own-way-mixing-bagged-compost.html

If you look at my posts on my worm bins in the stuck vermicroping topic, you'll see that I am using food scraps, not only for my worm bins, but also for a Bokashi Compost run, some of which will go directly into my worm bins.

 

Thst is great you are working your way towards organics created from just what you have! Dont hesitate to post adds on craigslist ect to pick up old newspapers phonebooks in your neighborhood as well as toilet paper rollers and papertowels ect.

Phonebooks ran thru a shredder are heaven for worm housing! As is fallen tree bark. Bake it first the bark to eliminate bugs.

 

Lumper, in your post above you mention the introduction of half rotted mushrooms to a worm bin. What do you perceive as the benefit or advantage to doing this?

I am asking this specifically as I have 10-20 lbs of mushrooms available to me per week at no cost.

I have a wooden flow-through measuring 40"x26"x22". I have been periodocally feeding mushrooms to my herd but now have the opportunity to feed more and am just curious as to the benefit?

Thanks, Sam

 

Were the mushrooms grown organically?

The reason that I ask is that if you were tho walk into a grocery store and walked the entire produce section you could not come up with a product that is as heavily sprayed with pesticides, herbicides and fungicides than mushrooms - especially the White Button variety.

And just on another note, 'Portabello Mushrooms' are simply 'Crimini mushrooms' that were allowed to continue growing for a few days - they're just larger.

LD
Produce Industry Wonk