Best Worm Bin food for MJ?

I put any and all vegetable and fruit scraps from my kitchen. It's all about diversity. Here's the downside of it. Commercially grown agriculture usually contain significant amounts of pesticides and herbicides, (esp. bananas). These can kill a great deal of the bacterial microherds, other benificials like nematodes, and even your worms, not to mention they end up in your plants, too.
In the beginning, I didn't have any choice but to use the commercial grown agriculture from the super market, because organically grown produce was more than I willing to pay.
I since came across Trader Joe and is national, but I went a different route: http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/800140-my-garden.html
Bottom line was that I decided after a great deal of research that I needed to be as organic as I could.

 

Sorry, forgot to answer your orginal question. This will be a better read:All About Vermicomposting - How to Set Up and Care for a Worm Bin
Google can be your friend, too.

 

Once you've digested enough of that info to get your feet wet, this is the actual answer to your orginal question about food values and our beloved mj. To have given you this to start would have only confused you.

NPK Nutrient values for some common worm foods

High N:
Blood Meal (NPK 13-1-0)
Coffee grounds (NPK 1,99-0,36-0,67)
Felt (NPK 14-0-0)
Hair (NPK 14-0-0)
Tea grounds (NPK 4,15-0,62-0,4)
Worm Meal (dried & ground worms) NPK 10-1-1
Greens, leaves & meals, alfalfa, stinging nettle

High P:
Bone Meal generic NPK 4-21-0,2
* steamed NPK 13-15-13
* burned NPK 0-34,7-0
Shrimp Waste NPK 2,87-9,95-0
Tea Leaves ash NPK 0-1,66-0,4
Wheat bran NPK 2,65-2,9-1,6
Oats, Chicken Manure

High K:
Banana skin NPK 0-3,08-11,74
Molasses NPK 0,7-0-5,32
Potato skin NPK 0-5,15-27,5
Wood Ash NPK 0-0,15-7,0
Wood ash (broadleaf) K 10%
Wood ash (coniferous) K 6%
Alfalfa, ashes, potato wastes, peel & skin (-ashes, too)

High Calcium:
Poultry manure (0,5-0,7% dry), dolomite lime, egg shells, bone meal
Note that its usually thought that worm castings is high in calcium (perhaps with the presumption that lime or eggshells are added during the process).

High Iron:
Stinging nettle (Also high N)

High Magnesium:
Dolomite lime, poultry manure, epsom salts


Vermicomposting by Numbers

Facts from a technical compost quide, section 'Vermi-stabilization' (of composted communal waste). (Komposti, WSOY 1984).

They are talking about the red wriggler Eisenia Fetida:

• Optimum pH range 5-8. The worms die under pH 4,5 and over pH 9.
• Optimum Humidity 80-85%.
• Dissolved salt leves should not exceed 0,5 % (5000 ppm?). Ammoniumacetate is toxic to the worms when concentrations exceed 0,1% (1000ppm).
• Greatest growth rate in temperatures between 20 and 25 C degrees, greatest feeding rate in 15-20 C degrees. Temperatures above 37 C degrees cause worm deaths. Can adapt to live in temperatures close to 0 C degree.
• "Its been theorized that with optimum temperatures and sufficient food source the worms would achieve maturity in 5-9 weeks, meaning that a population of 100 worms could produce an offspring population of 250 000 worms in a year."
• "..up to 20% of the waste materials weight can become wormbiomass ." (worm biomass is the worms themselves, not the worm castings)
• "The will never be a problem with overproduction of worm- biomass, as the worms can always be dried and ground to produce a plant fertilizer. The NPK value of the dried worms is approxemately 10-1-1. The worm-biomass also contains 0,8% sulphur, 0,6% calcium, 0,3% magnesium and minerals that benefit the growth of plants."


Worm Species Data

Eisenia fetida (foetida)/Eisenia andrei
Common names: redworm, tiger worm, manure worm

Maximum reproduction under ideal condtions:
3.8 cocoons per adult per week
83.2% hatching success rate
3.3 hatchlings per cocoon
Net reproduction of 10.4 young per adult per week

Maximum growth rate under ideal conditions:
32-73 days to cocoon hatch
53-76 days to sexual maturity
85-149 days from egg to maturity

Temperature requirements C (F):
Minimum 3C (38F)
Maximum 35C (95F)
Ideal range 21-27C (70-80F)

Eisenia hortensis (Dendrobaena veneta)
Common names: Belgian nightcrawler, European nightcrawler

Maximum growth rate under ideal conditions:
40-128 days to cocoon hatch
57-86 days to sexual maturity
97-214 days from egg to maturity

Temperature requirements C (F):
Minimum 3C (38F)
Maximum 32C (90F)
Ideal 15-21C (60-70F)

Heat tolerance is dependant on moisture level. This worm is very tolerant of environmental fluctuation and handling, but has a slower reproductive rate and requires very high moisture levels, relative to other worm species.


Other common composting worm species[b/]

Bimastos tumidus - often found in compost piles, tolerates medium C:N ratios and cooler temperatures better than Eisenia foetida , multiplies rapidly in old straw and spoiled hay, hardy to Z-5 and will survive in ordinary soil conditions hence once established it would survive without extensive preparations. Earthworm Ecology and Biogeography in North America

Eudrilus eugeniae: (African nightcrawler) do well but cannot withstand low temperatures.(composter or surface worker species)

Lumbricus rubellus: (common redworm or red marsh worm), used in Cuba's vermicomposting program, (composter or surface worker species), native to U.S.

Lumbricus terrestris: nightcrawler, native to U.S. Not suitable for vermiculture.

Perionyx excavatus: (Asian species) do well but cannot withstand low temperatures. (composter or surface worker species).

 

g3rr

Egg shells are simply 94% Calcium Carbonate - same as limestone, calcite lime, oyster shell powder, etc. To figure out the actual elemental Calcium (Ca) content, take the amount and multiply by .385

Something like that...........

Worms need Calcium to reproduce and in commercial vermicompost operations they add some form of Calcium (typically limestone and/or soft rock phosphate). Worm castings are literally covered in Calcium Carbonate which is a major reason that soils that have EWC added face little, if any, issues relative to pH

HTH

LD

 

Remember, the Red Wiggler (Eisenia fetida) are known as "manure worms" and "dung worms" is various parts of the country. As such, they really get after manure. I use partially composted organic alpaca manure as part of the material that I put in my box. I notice that if I put in "fresh" manure, it will take a few weeks before they start to crawl on it (maybe because it's been peed upon and the worms don't like the urine).
My other inputs:
Leftover vegetables from the local fruit/veggie stand
coffee grounds with filters
Purina worm chow
Glacial rock dust
Azomite
ground up chicken eggs
alpaca hair in limited amounts

By the way, apple skins take a lot of time to break down. Chop/dice your apples well, or your worms will never get to the interior of the apple - I learned that the hard way...

 

Tossing in a handful of neem seed meal is beneficial as well.

 

Also, check out the "Worm bin additives" thread.

Wet

 

I don't know what the climate is where you are but if you are just starting out with a new bin at composting.

I would suggest not doing a lot of grass or really green things at first. They tend to heat up and have been known to reach temps of 130+ degrees which will cook your worms. So wait on adding grass and such until your colony of workers is very well established.

I don't add fresh grass or leaves or anything like that to my indoor bins. Those go in the huge outdoor operation and I only ever put them in on one side of the bin or the other. That way if it gets too hot or unfavorable they can move. Which is a good idea as far as a feeding program anyway.

Also use extreme caution on citrus, tomatoes, tomatillos ect and as far as hot fruit veggies (jalapeno, garlic, ginger, onions ect) don't use em in a small bin. Remember (as a general guideline) if it would burn an open cut on your skin or you would not want to hold it on the inside of your lip, don't feed it to your worms. It will burn their skin.

BTW the egg shells will make your worms tougher. Toughens up their skin..