Worm Bedding & Starting a New Urban Worm Bag with Pitt Moss
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- We're going to cover 8 great worm bedding choices plus introduce Pitt Moss as a potential worm bedding choice. At the end, Steve starts a new Urban Worm with Pitt Moss and gets it ready for the worms!
First, Steve covers the importance of carbon-heavy worm bedding to maintaining a high carbon:nitrogen ratio for your worm bin and then details 7 great choices for worm bedding to include aged horse manure, coco coir, peat moss, paper, cardboard, compost, and simple yard waste as a high-carbon worm bedding
For more information visit: urbanwormcompany.com/bedding 
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Ive been worming for yrs and like others have made mistakes along the way, Started with large plastic tubs worked ok for a while but ran into problems . So eventually bit the bullet and purchased the worm factory which I still use for what I do. Horse manure would be good to use but not that easy to get so moistly I use coco coir , shredded paper and corrugated cardboard. When it comes to worm food , I stay away from citrus and spicy foods and greases. try to use mainly left over food scraps from fruit and greens. On mine I save in ziplock bags till ready to use. Then all food is run thru my big mouth juicer saved in large containers like coffee cans till ready to feed worms. Sometime I will give the worms a super food of old fashioned oats and corn meal ground into a flour then sprinkled into the bins.
Epic introduction. Been curious about Pitt Moss myself
Thanks Kevin!
Really liking PittMoss so far. I was expecting a clumpier bedding and I was also expecting more worms to be climbing up the sides. Only a few climbers the first day and the none after that. Really impressed with the water retention too.
Can I mix altogether the bedding with peat moss, paper, coco coir, chip bark, dead leaves, etc? Or should it be one type only.
Sorry for the innocence. Haven't done it before.
Thank you.
@@isayc2208 Since this comment 2 years ago I hope your adventures in Worm farming have gained you more experience.... Yes you can mix beddings.
Good job, sir! Congrats on your company! My worm bag (2) showed up today so I'm gearing up on knowledge and can't wait to use it. Cheers from Colorado (and from a fellow Veteran)
Fresh shredded leaves and partially decomposed wood chips. My worms favorite. They eat as much leaves as food. And they like to hang out in leaves if the bin gets a little hot.
Thank you for this video. I got my bag yesterday, worms coming tomorrow. Nice to know I have some stuff to get ready for my new little creatures.
You explained the carbon to nitrogen ratio very well!
Thank you for telling me about "Pit moss" now I want to try it.
Some of my favorite beddings,
Cardboard , brown bags, toilet and paper towel rolls, peat moss, newspaper, used napkins,
sticking food waste in cardboard tubes wets it well.
Sifted Peat > coco
Leaves are good let them "Cook" in a closed plastic bag for a while after "Rinsing"
Great content. My egg cartons (recycled) are a great source of bedding. soft and easy to cut up. I mix it with coir and leaf mould
Thank you. I can't wait to try this out.
Picked up a used Urban Worm Bag and am ready to give this a try for our little back yard garden!
Sweet!
Love ya, Steve. Thanks so much for all you do for the community! I've had bad experience with Coco Coir. Maybe it was my source, but I lost over 9K worms in one month. It was devastating.
Hoo boy, Dawn! I'm so sorry to hear this. Can you tell me what brand?
Good job Steve! There sure seems like a lot of false information out there. When people say that worms will eat 100% of their own body weight everyday it sure throws of the Nitrogen to Carbon ratio and over time will harm the harm the worms. I did a talk yesterday for Earth day out at Oneida about vermicomposting and it was well received. Looks like we will be putting a few of your bags in the schools out there. Many thanks.
I love it Philip! If you're going to be doing anyhting in bulk, get in touch 2 support@urbanwormcompany.com
Fascinating, I've never heard of someone noticing the texture difference in finished casting. I new but not the biggest fan of shredded paper, mire because of the matting issue I've noticed.
Anyway great video, super valuable for a nube like me.
Cheers from Victoria Canada
Great video, Steve! I love your explanation of C:N ratio. People get greens and browns confused with food and bedding, but you made the correlation very clear. I usually like to point out the non-nutritive value of peat moss and coconut coir as well. Good visual demonstration of starting the UWBag. Just to see the process makes a world of difference for some people. Keep up the good work!!!
Just purchased the other day. It arrived super fast and the initial set up was easy and fun. As a flight attendant I enjoy the low maintenance of this product.
As a pilot for Southwest, I love to see fellow flight crew using my product! :)
Great video. Hope to see more.
Thanks Nomad! More published shortly!
Good info! Thanks!!!
Thanks! :)
Very intresting. I bet the worms will like it. Rhanka for the video.
Thanks Melinda! They do seem to like and I really like the texture of it so far. An update is coming!
Great video.
nice explanation !
Thanks V K! :)
Thanks Steve, for the great video. I now have the best tasting worms on the block. I recommend Tony Chachere creole seasoning!
Ha! Thanks buddy! When are you headed back to work?
Not sure why I never knew you had a channel.. Good information!
Because I almost never published! :)
Well done video Steve. Very professional and informative! A great "go to" video for anyone, but especially beginners.
Many thanks Karl! :) More to come.....;)
Great video Steve! I can't believe you fit so much good information in only ~9 minutes! Really keeps your attention, and you really stay on topic!
A few questions:
What do you mean you don't like the texture of the worm compost when using paper bedding? I mean, what about the texture is not as great? I've only ever used paper, so I'm curious :)
Hi Jamie! Thanks for the kind words! I look forward to publishing more of these! As for the texture of vermicompost created from paper waste, I feel it tends to be clumpier and more matted than I would prefer. Mind you, there are a bunch of other factors that come into play, including what kind of paper, what the nitrogen-based feedstock is, the age of the vermicompost, whether or not other bulking agents are present etc.
Your results probably vary!
This guy knows his story
Steve, I buy mushroom compost that has aged horse manure in it. Will this work as well?
tyvm
Awesome video Steve. Professional and informative:) Never heard of Pitt Moss, but isn't it just easier and cheaper to get cardboard? Thank you for your service and going to your website now. Subscriber from NW Florida.
Hey Leah! It is absolutely cheaper to shred cardboard and paper than it is to buy Pitt Moss or coco coir. The issue is the texture and how much surface area there is on a micro level and how quickly the smaller Pitt Moss, coco coir, and peat moss particles break down.
But if you need it, you tend to only need it in the beginning. Think of these materials like a starter log for a fire. Good to start with but unnecessary once everything is up and running! :)
Great video, thank you... I went to buy some coco coir, but no luck, so I was told to use some G&B peat moss, will my worms be safe with this please? Also adding egg cartons, cardboard & mixed paper, coffee grounds & eggshells when it's meal time...
Great
I'm grateful.
Thanks Jennifer! :)
@@UrbanWormCompany just got 4lbs today. I've been on a waiting list for months.
Man love u thx so much for all ur video yes i yes i bro
Thanks for the information. What about adding Bokashi precompost? Would that be ok?
I do not have experience with bokashi and worms, but from what I've heard, they love it! :) Give it a shot and report back!
Worm bedding garden rised
I've put lots of partially, and mostly broken down leaf mold in my urban worm bag, but I picked up some mites in the process, will they harm the worms?
Mites should not harm the worms in most cases. They can, however, start to prey on worms that may already be dying or struggling.
I'm trying to figure out how you add more bedding, is there a video on that? Do you need to lift the worms up and get it under them? or do you just put it on top with more food on top of that? little confused on that process. And should I add both every couple of days? would love a video on adding more of both!!
Hi Eli,
I'll put it on the calendar. :) In short, there's not a wrong answer here, but I like to bury food waste under a layer of bedding, but you can also mix the food waste and the bedding together as well.
I totally underestimated the importance to start of the bin with a lot of bedding, that made it clear thanks
Thanks for the useful video
Can i use dry neem leaves as a worm bedding?
I have access nearby to alot of neem trees and alot of falling dry neem leaves, and it's the easiest bedding source i got.
But am wondering if i can use it as a worm bedding or it will harm the worms
You got it! I'd probably stay away from aromatic leaves like that
Thanks Steve! What makes "bad" peat, bad? Ph? Very professional and informative presentation. 😎
Thanks Wayne! George Mingin of Kookaburra Worm Farms can tell you. He lost about $50,000 USD of Euros in a weekend after adding a new peat moss vendors products to his beds. Crazy.
Peat moss is acidic and definitely needs an additive (lime or something else) to remediate the pH.
Great info Steve! I have a bag and worms coming this week! I'm having trouble finding how to handle Michigan winters - We will be feeding the bin all winter (paper, cardboard, and kitchen scraps) and with the extended time frame to start collecting; the bag will be sitting either outside or in an unheated garage. Besides wrapping it up any thought on how to keep the worm alive (not to freeze) till spring?
Thanks so much Wyatt! Michigan winters are tough for sure. If it's in an unheated garage, at least place it on an interior wall. You can also experiment with overfeeding the bin slightly to keep the microbes population booming, which will create its own heat. This is a bit tricky because overfeeding can make a bin get really nasty.....really fast.
You can also try a soil heating pad like this one. It should keep the surface about 20 degrees warmer than the ambient air. And it's a great size and shape for the UWB. let me know how it works!
And if you bought your Urban Worm Bag on Amazon, I'd be thrilled with an honest review!
amzn.to/3aR0ZfS
@@UrbanWormCompany - Hi Steve - Thank you for the feedback - I did my first harvest over the weekend and it was far too wet and like mud - clearly my carbon to nitrogen was far too low and ended up emptying the bag - We are feeding the bag about once a week with veg cuttings, eggs shell, tea bags, and coffee grinds 1-2" and using mostly 3-4" shredded paper on top - any thoughts? Perhaps I didn't have enough worms? Also - fruit flys! wow? will diatomaceous earth help with controlling that?
@@wyatthazlett3733 I'd like to see the answer to your questions!
Pittmoss has several products. Which did you use for bedding?
Use Pitt Moss Prime!
Should I be turning the contents of the bag over now and then or just placing new material on top?
Turning shouldn't be necessary but sometimes it's fun to turn it just to see what's going on under the surface
I've used coco coir for gardening for 7 years as the main substrate. I never rinsed it. I did, however, find that adding a couple of handfuls of calcium carbonate helps tremendously.
I bought the urban worm bag a few years back. I’m so disappointed in it! Right from the start the top zipper was trouble opening and closing. The bottom zipper was even worse when I went to harvest. My husband had to use pliers and even than took about 15 minutes of playing with it to get it open. Never again!
Did you ever reach out to us?
Try me at steve@urbanwormcompany.com
Would be mixing some of these options an even better choice?
ok, now i get to the part of the video when you talk about diversifying
@@pausimo Absolutely!
I started using the first stackable system to be able to advise consumers. Since your wormbag, I thought, is now also for sale here in France, I am curious what the first experiences are. The zippers in particular seem vulnerable to me. And the bag will be spoiled outside? How long is the lifespan (if known)?
Hey there.....we sell in Europe through wormsystems.com. And the newest bags do not have zippers at the bottom. I'd try to keep the Bags under cover and protected from rain as well.
@@UrbanWormCompany I'l follow the users overhere...
What specific PittMoss product did you use?
That would be Pitt Moss Prime!
What an amazingly informative video! When you say aged horse manure, how aged do you mean?
Thanks! Aged horse manure should not resemble horse manure or have that ammonia smell. This could take at least months in a pile.
@@UrbanWormCompany at least a month?
@@Dylan_Marshall that should work! :)
Do you have to use paper? Can you just use brown paper bags that you get from the store?
Absolutely.
I put organic raised garden soil in my worm bin along with coco core and shredded paper, is this mix going to kill my worms? I am worried that I shouldn't have put the soil in the bin.
The soil itself won't kill your worms. I don't know what your ratio of soil to coir and shredded paper is, but you could always add more of the non-soil ingredients!
Our four grandsons 2-8 yrs old and I put all of the soil on 2 six foot tables and picked all the worms out of the soil and put them in the urban worm bag filled with coco coir and cardboard etc. The boys had a blast founding and picking out all the worms and now instead of dead worms we have live red wigglers and are feeding them, they are happy in their new non soil home. Thank you for saving all our worms and all the fun of raising worms. Making memories
My worm farm is a work in progress--poor critters. After days of heavy rain found them all in the bottom tray. For some reason they didnt like my top tray filled with new C & N They are all staying in the lower trays--all dark and wet and to me un inviting? Also Tried using my garden compost and it wasfilled with ants. Put the next round in the frig but that probably kills good microbes. Wish a Worm Doc could make housecalls. We havea County Bee Expert why not for worms?
Worms will follow moisture so if it's really wet in the bottom of your bin, that's where you'll find lots of them! :)
I've some doubts in use paper, could the ink from printed papers have some heavy metals?
Hi Angatu, most inks in the US and Canada are soy-based so the heavy metals issue shouldn't come into play. I don't know about elsewhere though.
What happen if few micronised biochar is used?
I like the idea of using biochar in vermicompost, both as a habitat for microbes and as a grit for the worms.
basalt to...micronised basalt and adding passive and active electroculture, i pay someone in canada to test it..all can be addeed in micronised forms digest by worms to bio available to plants then in our food chain...the greek told let the food be our medecide...
How about straw or old hay?
Straw is a good additive but should probably not be a sole source of bedding. Hay would be fine, but it would have to be old....otherwise hay should be considered a green. I would avoid it unless you know it's aged enough!
can i use sawdust for the bedding?
Hi Dani,
Yes you can, but I would put some bulkier material in there with it, like wood chips or even corrugated cardboard. Sawdust by itself may compact more than you want it to!
@@UrbanWormCompany thanks
@@UrbanWormCompany and another thing, can i use pig manure too?
@@DanTheAv3rage Yes to that too. It tends to be much runnier than other manures and should be precomposted in order to reduce the risk of it heating up in your bin, but otherwise....yes!
@@UrbanWormCompany so if its older, like a month or more it would be ok?
Should not be better to use rain water or primary water? To preserv bacteria and microbes?
If you can collect it, I love the idea of using rainwater
That PittMoss looks a lot the cellulose insulation that is sprayed on walls! I wonder if they are similar products or even interchangeable. My guess is the insulation stuff is treated with fire retardants so that would be a hard NO. Still maybe the PittMoss is that stuff before it's treated. Hmmm???
It's a recycled paper product....not infused with insulation or anything!
How many worms should I add if starting a new urban worm bag?
I recommend about 1-2 lbs for an Urban Worm Bag!
In my opinion peat moss is the best its the most full of carbon has sticks that are soft and easy for the worms to eat the only issues you gotta deal with is the ph which can be raised with garden lime and also its cheap and peat moss IN CANADA is sustainable please do research on this
Hi i do not use paper i have a number of reasons why i do not like paper but i love cardboard I shread coragated cardboard i love the stuff and my worms love it also.
Coco Coir? How about just Coconut shells?
Make sure you are using pure peat moss, not potting soil and you'll have no problems.
Bad peat moss?
That's what he says....he's in Australia so their sourcing may be quite different than our North American peat moss.
Thought this guy was thick 44 for a second
I had to look this one up....haha!
Is this Steve or Johnny Sins?
I'm not sure whether to say thank you or be offended! :)
Aren't you supposed to add soil to the worm bin? The worm can't live on shredded cardboard or pit moss alone.
Hi John,
If you add soil, it should only be a small amount. And the cardboard and Pitt Moss aren't the only bin ingredients. These are just bedding materials to mix with food waste.
Why would you use tap water? Unless you have a well, your tap water probably contains Chlorine or Chloramine. These chemicals are added by water systems to prevent bacterial contamination of your tap water. These chemicals are also very lethal to the bacteria in your worm bin. As any aquarium keeper knows Chlorine will kill fish even. I only use rainwater or filtered water in my compost bin and worm bins and strongly recommend anyone raising worms or composting do the same.
Would be good it that zipper part on the bottom was completely removable for those that don't use it and for getting it out of the way during harvesting for those that do use it
Check our newest design! We completely removed the zipper in 2021 and replaced it with a buckle and velcro system that completely detaches.
@@UrbanWormCompany Even better. If I can keep my worms alive this time, I'll likely get one or two of them. I spent more time learning this go around. This video was also really helpful especially with the C:N ratios for not only worms but bacteria. My N was way too high in previous attempts.
sus sus amogus
Sorry, potting mix.
Pitt moss?? Isn't it peat moss??
Nope! Pitt Moss is a peat moss alternative made from recycled paper.
Don't use peat moss please. Pitt moss looks awesome
I have found using my worm bag as a compostable toilet is great. The worms love our vegan diet.