Composting help

I would be very careful with using anything that comes from birds.

I use quail & chicken bedding, leftover feed, etc. in my compost and the ammonia levels can get VERY high if there is a lot of their fecal matter in it. It really can be quite overwhelming even in small ammounts and dangerous.

It needs to be thoroughly composted before it can be used. I use a HOT composting method and it takes a bit longer to fully breakdown when I do add anything that comes from my chickens or quails.

In your case, if there is bird crap present then it may kill the worms.

I would say keep it simple man, you can use str8 plant matter in your worm bin and the worms will break it down in no time.

Also, keep your bins in the shade. I had worm bins a couple of years ago and ended up cooking them because the bins were in full sun, the smell was horrible!

Good Luck

 

Worms will eat anything basically.

From my experience they like both Nitrogen based (grass clippings, food scraps, etc.) and Carbon based (straw, dead leaves, hay, etc.)

Feed the worms = feeding the soil

 

DankSeeker

Since I live in the People's Republic of Oregon where pristine water is the norm (other than Portland - yuck!), I can't speak to the issue of needing to use RO water - but you know your local deal and I don't.

As a general process I use the bokashi method to process most/all of the plant-based material that goes into my worm bins. Bokahsi is simply an agent that has been inoculated with lactobacillus bacteria strains, like EM-1 or your homemade lactic serum you made from rice.

The main advantage to running material through the fermenting process (however you get there) is that the issue of heavy metals is negated in this process. It also removes most/all of the minerals from the plant material making it more available to the compost worms which results in 'sequestered nutrients' that are the hallmark of EWC.

If you have the time and/or option, run all of your plant material through some kind of fermenting process, i.e. FPE, bokashi, hydrolysate, etc.

HTH

LD

 

Stankie, I never liked the idea, either. When I lived in Alaska and had a well, the first thing my kids dentist did was put her on a flouride regiment. I think it was pills? I can't remember. However, as you said, this thought has never come up and I am hoping someone will tell us it dissipates with the chlorine.

JaK

 

Personally i drink tap water allllll the time. In fact, I had less cavities after drinking the tap water out here. (Wa state). However, recently read something...

Fluoride - Adverse Health Effects

Also...
In laboratory studies, fluoride seems to be toxic for microbial processes at concentrations found in moderately fluoride polluted soils; similarly, in the field, accumulation of organic matter in the vicinity of smelters has been attributed to severe inhibition of microbial activity by fluoride.

Signs of inorganic fluoride phytotoxicity (fluorosis), such as chlorosis, necrosis and decreased growth rates, are most likely to occur in the young, expanding tissues of broadleaf plants and elongating needles of conifers. The induction of fluorosis has been clearly demonstrated in laboratory, greenhouse and controlled field plot experiments. A large number of the papers published on fluoride toxicity to plants concern glasshouse fumigation with hydrogen fluoride. Foliar necrosis was first observed on grapevines (Vitis vinifera) exposed to 0.17 and 0.27 µg/m3 after 99 and 83 days, respectively. The lowest-observed-effect level for leaf necrosis (65% of leaves) in the snow princess gladiolus (Gladiolus grandiflorus) was 0.35 µg fluoride/m3. Airborne fluoride can also affect plant disease development, although the type and magnitude of the effects are dependent on the specific plant–pathogen combination.

Several short-term solution culture studies have identified a toxic threshold for fluoride ion activity ranging from approximately 50 to 2000 µmol fluoride/litre. Toxicity is specific not only to plant species, but also to ionic species of fluoride; some aluminium fluoride complexes present in solution culture may be toxic at activities of 22–357 µmol fluoride/litre, whereas hydrogen fluoride is toxic at activities of 71–137 µmol fluoride/litre. A few studies have been carried out in which the fluoride exposures have been via the soil. The type of soil can greatly affect the uptake and potential toxicity of fluorides.

Aluminium smelters, brickworks, phosphorus plants and fertilizer and fibreglass plants have all been shown to be sources of fluoride that are correlated with damage to local plant communities. Vegetation in the vicinity of a phosphorus plant revealed that the degree of damage and fluoride levels in soil humus were inversely related to the distance from the plant. Average levels of fluoride in vegetation ranged from 281 mg/kg in severely damaged areas to 44 mg/kg in lightly damaged areas; at a control site, the fluoride concentration was 7 mg/kg. Plant communities near an aluminium smelter showed differences in community composition and structure due partly to variations in fluoride tolerance. However, it must be noted that, in the field, one of the main problems with the identification of fluoride effects is the presence of confounding variables such as other atmospheric pollutants. Therefore, care must be taken when interpreting the many field studies on fluoride pollution."