Vermicomposting (Make your own Worm Castings)

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by OldPork, Feb 8, 2009.

  1. Well all that sounds pretty nice! Thanks for that really in-depth reply. Would be interested to hear your results as things progress.

    I’m always running short on compost and soil, it’s crazy how much you need, even without dumping my pots every cycle, just finished a year in same 20’s. I’m slowly switching into 200gals and using blumats. Every time a plant finishes now, I dump it into the next waiting 200gal that needs to be filled, plus some new soil, minerals, and compost. By the end I’ll have 5x 200gals, each with a 600w light above. Then I’ll just be chop dropping dynamic accumulators and cannabis leaves on it.
     
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  2. I hear ya on running out. I used to have 2 complete sets of 5's, then 7's, now 10's. For mr the hard part is warm storage on the soils/ compost off season. I really like to keep everything warm, worm infested, and constantly cycling. I have totes and tubs squirreled away everywhere with all kinds of stuff.
    Then too make it more complicated, I switch stuff up every so often, like changing to leaf mold or switching too bark nuggets.
    The good news is, retired canna soil, becomes veggie soil. Oh the veggies love me. Tomatoes grown in a coot style mix just thrive. The veggies also get my old pots everytime I upsize as well.
    I'll let ya know how the leaf mold and bark nugget adventures go.
    cheers
    os
     
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  3. Wow. Great info here! I am working through the 242 pages and getting it down... I think.
    While peat is mentioned quite a bit, it sounds like I can also use coco coir.
    I have around forty one gallon pots of used coco from my coco days that we’re going to be recycled into new coco pots, but now that I’m on the no till path they won’t get used for my planters. I am hoping to use them as bedding for the garbage can worm bin I just made. They are pretty well root bound so lots of organic matter for the worms to feed on. I have let them sit outside in the heavy spring rains to help flush any residual nutrients out frome the last grow.
    Can I use these and amend them with the need, karanja, kelp, and oyster flour that I used to build my CC style soil in my planters? Maybe around 1/2 cup per cf or so...?
     
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  4. Sounds like you went with a static bin? The garbage can will work but it's a bit tall. Same with amended Coco...it will work. Ideal or preferred environment? Not exactly.
    I'd rather see you use the garbage can as a compost bin. Use an 18g Rubbermaid for each bed. Mix the Coco 50/50 with some Teufels compost. Topdress once a week with amendments or at a rate the worms can keep up with. This will be ready to go whenever you are.
    In the meantime you will have your own compost cooking to replenish the bins. I'll bring a bag of Teufels and some worms in the next few days. Still need to get the studded tires off the car!
    RD
     
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  5. B6D1531E-78C4-401D-8F6B-44ED30D01FB2.jpeg 206EC82A-2B04-4321-BFEC-22914AC39E29.jpeg Hey there Rancho! good to hear from you.
    Well, I thought its a vertical flow set up... I did put a grate system on the bottom.
    Still wrapping my head around it, but I think it’s gonna work...?
     
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  6. @JMcGD

    No experience with Coco, but problems I've noticed over the years is, when coco gets used in an actual LOS. Seems fine when bottled nutes are used and very little microbe activity is involved, but once dry amendments mixed in the soil become involved (worm bins also), with heavy microbe activity, K and sodium seem to reach toxic levels from the coco leaching them.

    No proof or anything, just a reoccuring theme of former coco growers wanting to go full organic but keeping the coco they had as a base mix. The worm bin was a guy who used it as bedding and when he had the castings tested, both potassium and sodium were at toxic levels.

    Like I said, no experience or proof, just observations over time and something you may want to look into.
    Cheers

    Wet
     
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  7. Also, $20 of peat goes a long way as far as making worm bins.

    Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
     
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  8. Nice flow thru man! Looks like you used good heavy pipe too. Very nice!
    cheers
    os
     
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  9. Thanks for the replies gentlemen.
    After speaking with Rancho and the replies above I will get some peat for the worm bin. Maybe some compost as well.
    Do you think I can use the coco in my compost bin instead or will I run into the same toxicity problems?
    I really want to use it up.
     
  10. Again, IDK, but I've seen some that use coco as a % of their mix in the organics forum. Perhaps start a thread asking about adding coco? LOL, we need a hand waggling emoji! That's what I'd give to Rancho's suggestion of a 50% blend. My WAG would be 10 - 25% coco & see what happens (WAG = Wild Assed Guess). But, if you start a thread ask for experience only. One WAG is enough.

    But it did seem that most of the problems came from mixes that were 100%, or nearly so, coco.

    REALLY nice job on that flow through! What size is the smaller can? Like a 20gal nested in a 32gal, or what? Looks like it would work better than the single can usually used. Props for a well thought out bin!
    Cheers

    Wet
     
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  11. Someone here with a similar set-up uses your racing cultivator to get the castings out from between the pipes. Just didn't drop through as planned, but stayed pretty cohesive.
    Cheers

    Wet
     
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  12. I'm just privy to a lil more information. He's running 3 raised beds, each in the neighborhood of 300 gallons. The vermicompost will be used to topdress and maintain the beds. 13 gallons of used/leached Coco into each bed is only 4% of the entire bed. There isn't enough to matter all that much.
    I've used Coco in my soil mixes at 20% not including a solid 1-2" of the Coco crotouns (big, chunky pieces) as a mulch layer. I used to grow mushrooms on coir and the spent bags would end up being fed to the worms usually after being composted.
    I do like the WAG acronym...lol!
    RD
     
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  13. Ahhhh...Ok.

    I thought you were refering to 50% of the total mix. 4% of the total should not present any sort of issue. My misunderstanding.

    Yeah, I like that WAG acronym too. Wish more would use it when spitballing.

    Wet
     
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  14. Cool. Thanks for the WAG homies!
    I think I’ll leave it out of the WB and then use it at , IDK, say 20% of my compost pile. And yes, this will be used as topdress primarily.
    Thanks for the props on the bin! I found the design online and modified it a bit. Mainly just added a circular piece of laminate countertop to the bottom of the can to make removing the finished product easier.
    Worms show up today!
     
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  15. I see.

    Yep. I replaced peat with coir once. The results were nothing short of disastrous!
     
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  16. Loving this thread but with 2 kids and a whole lot more to do im not getting through it very quickly (page 15 so far!)...
    I have a question would love some advise on...Ive justsuccefully completed a 1 month hot berkley compost heap(Straw/Alfalfa, Cow manure and green material) and have 60l of beautiful sieved compost....so now i am wondering if i should set up a worm farm and run this compost through it...

    I already have two worm farms for kitchen scraps etc but i am wondering if i should set up a new one and if the worms would be happy living in and processing just the compost without additions of food scraps etc?
     
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  17. Do it!
    We have some great mixes for compost "bedding recipes" over in the "Converting to Vermiculture based Gardening" Thread. The short version of my mix is 2 galllons compost, 1 gallon pine bark fines, 1/2 gallon rice hulls. You can do it however, just add something to bulk it up (rice hulls, bark, perlite, chopped straw, whatever ya got that you would want in your soil in the end).
    cheers
    os
     
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  18. Thanks Sinse...thats a great thread... whats your thoughts about adding ammendments into the compost before putting the compost into the worm bin? My idea was to mix some kelp, rock dust, oyster shell flour etc,etc but after reading through some more of the thread you sent me, it looks like ammendments are added to the top as a feed and to just add straight compost mixed with the aeration component....

    So maybe best just to add some rice hulls to my compost and then add ammendments on top as a feed?

    Could then add more ammendments to the finished vermicompost after harvesting?
     
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  19. Most of "straight compost" that is being used was amended when it was first mixed, so it does in fact contain amendments when it goes into the worm bin. You could definitely amend your compost, probably at half rate (1/4-1/2 cup per cu ft), when you mix your bedding. Just don't put very much high N material, such as alfalfa meal, unless you give it ample time to cook and cool off. You can keep adding amendments as top dress a little at a time, and then when you finish your VC, you can mix in amendments at half rate again. This gives the microbes something good to work on while it cures/while you store it.
    hth,
    toaster
     
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