I started a worm farm 7 months ago and it has been so much fun. This is the educational stuff I really like to watch. Constantly gathering information about worms, implementing new ideas I have learned and doing my own experiments has been the best experience. Learning from videos like this and books I can find is how I get the knowledge to have the confidence to do this on my own. Hope everyone has a nice day.
I just started my own worm farm today, and this is by far the best video I've seen, thank you for sharing your process! I'm definitely a hands on learner, so all the hours of reading hasn't helped nearly as much as this short video. It's straight to the point, very informative, and the chooks in the background just make it all the more pleasant to watch :) Thank you for sharing, I'll be sure to watch more of your videos! :)
I really enjoy your program. I've been composting for nearly 60 years and still learn sometimes from you young fellas. Keep the Faith and keep composting. Really enjoy your chickens as they remind me of youth on the farm. I always wanted to farm but could never win the lottery.....so, this is my answer to that. Tom
Hi I live in Australia and just started becoming more interested in gardening recently. Just watched your video which is the first time. I really liked it . Very clear and straight to the point. Definitely, I'll keep watching 😀
If you search #shedwars21 you'll find some fellow Australian gardeners from our southern hemisphere teams. They're pretty informative. Happy gardening!
In order for the worms to use the calcium in the egg shells they must be ground up really fine. Other wise the egg shells do not break down for a long, long, long time.
I use a high-speed blender for that. First I blend egg shells full speed with water. Then I insert some veggie scraps and blend on low so that the tiny shell pieces stick to the veggie scraps. Then use a colander to drain. The tiny shell pieces disappear in the bin after a couple months, so they must be breaking down.... I've heard that the calcium from shells help worms to multiply more quickly, but I can't verify that.
Love your continuing education for us. As a worm farmer just a FYI, none of my bins have any type of drainage NO LEACHATE due to toxic phosphates whatever. My worms in bins are feed a certain amount of food and there is no "drainage". This is everyone's choice. I choose to make tea for my garden using their castings. I do not want to worry about problems from anaerobic problems. Again, thanks for another great video! A+++
just a question. When I was researching worm bins before purchasing one, all of them have a little tap at the bottom for drainage - in case the bin is outside and it rains and some water seeps in, whatever. And all the worm factory makers strictly recommend to keep this tap open, or the worms can suffocate. That is also an outlet for leachate. Do you think this is wrong? How do you deal with excess liquid from green feed, if any? Or you just increase the amounts of carbon material to absorb it?
@@growpuravida I would say that it is unnecessary in a well-managed worm bin. However, the fact is that most people feed them too "much" fresh stuff, and as a result you get too much moisture at the bottom.
@@stestrupholm-dyrkjorden I can say authoritatively it's more for the convenience of creating worm tea. I also manage worm bins both with and without a tap and as long as you're sensitive to what your worms need and can provide them choice where to go, your worms will be happy. So, If worms want to go to a darker, cooler environment they can always burrow down a ways. But I also position my bins so they get the warmth of the sun and can got in that direction, too. Or, put your food in a corner so that worms can go there or away if they don't prefer an environment with a lot of oxygen robbing decomposition. Amount of water is just one choice. Give your worms plenty of choices and they'll do what makes themselves most happy.
This is so informative and and full of insight. I really appreciate you taking the time to share all this info with us. May God bless you, you have blessed us all.
You have a different setup than I have but I did start out using tubs/totes but now using a factory 360 since mine is done inside and I love it been using it for yrs. Some I might add especially for new wormers that can speed things up is I use a hamilton beach big mouth juicer which is 800 watts of power which you will need for doing things like banana peels. If the material is too dry then will add juice back into the pulp to make it more of slush. I also use a mini composter and coffee grinder for use on the eggs, but first I will run the shells thru a microwave 3-4 min. to kill any pathogens that might be there. The coffee grinder makes egg shells into a grit which the morms can use to help help move material thru their gut. Also some other critters wont like moving thru the egg shell grit so a multipurpose. Also I will save my potential worm food in zip lock bags and freeze till Im ready to make another batch of food. I will keep my processed worm feed in large coffee cans till needed. For new wormers go easy till you see how fast the food disappears. Most new wormers make the mistake of having more food in the bins than the worms can handle and the bins can become anaerobic and smell and thats when most new wormers will quit .
Yup. But keep in mind that blending everything means that the microbes will disappear all the food faster than your worms can consume either the goopy nutrients or the microbes that feast on the goop. You want to provide the food in a way that's consistent with the herd's needs which usually means over a few days if not weeks.
interesting video I purchased a used blender in a junk store and run all my kitchen scraps through the blender to make a thick soup, the worms love this blended soup. I freeze extra soup in baggies and use it all winter when garden and kitchen scraps are more scarce.
How are your worms getting sufficient air flow? I dont see any holes and n your bins. I ask because I will soon be vernicomposting using 5 gallon buckets I will be drilling holes into for proper ventilation.
First of all this channel is awesome. Lots of great info and a very inspiring person. Now the questions: How often would you feed them kitchen scraps? After how many times feeding kitchen scraps do you put the second bin on top of the first? How long after can you use the worm casting? How regularly do you harvest the leechate? Thank you for everything. You're great!
Yes. I didn't know this since I'm fairly new to it but holy cow...sliced it in half and burried the domes half way and they went to town. Same thing with a bad watermellon we got from the store.
hello , i have lots of coffeegrains can i better use them directly in my soil {worms are verry attracting to it and love it) or better make wormcastings with the coffee grains ?
I go to the local mangroves and dig down into the broken down seaweed piles and grab a few bins of partly decomposed seaweed . I then take it home rinse it by running fresh water through it and then add it at about 20% mix to my compost volume . The worms love it and yep it’s basically for free .
That's great. I live a few miles from the beach and every few months before dawn wake up and go collect kelp off the beach before the flies lay eggs. I used to wash off the kelp being afraid of the alkalinity of sea water, but later have omitted that step. I often feed an enormous amount of kelp at a time so I always place the food in a corner where the worms can come get the decomposing kelp as they want it or move away if they find the decomposition too toxic or not their choice. As always I avoid simply throwing food on top of the surface because the decomposing food can rob all the oxygen and suffocate the worms that need that oxygen to breathe. Although I've never done a study to confirm I feel confident that over time the worms will reconsume the kelp and their casting spreading the benefits of kelp derived nutrients throughout the bin's worm castings.
Suggestion. Unless you use well water which is pumped straight on your property i recommend rain water or allow your tap water to sit for a day or so. The chlorine in the water will kill the microbes and fungi your trying to produce. It will set the process back every time.
Chlorine is no longer used to treat municipal water in large US cities. Instead they're using chloramine, that's much longer lasting and does not dissipate when exposed to air. High capacity KDF85 filters from Camco and Boogie Blue are about 70% effective in removing chloramine - when new. The remaining chloramine can be removed with powdered sodium ascorbate or vitamin C. 1/8 teaspoon is more than enough to treat 5 gallons. It only takes a minute when the water is agitated vigorously. Filters with KDF85 technology cost around $65 and are typically rated to treat 8k gallons. Less expensive filters without this technology do not remove chloramine, regardless of what the manufacturer claims.
Last month I passed a restaurant that dumped a bunch of vegetables out the back boor so I collected a bunch of it for my worms. I brought home several large bags with apples, carrots, potatoes, lettuce and cabbage. I gave them the lettuce right away but I've been breaking up the rest and adding it to a bucket to break down into a slurry. I peel the cabbage and cut the apples, carrots and potatoes and mix it all up. I then add a couple scoops of the slurry to the bin every few weeks. But now after all the things I read about cabbage I am wondering if I can give it to them and if they'll even eat it. Do you think the cabbage is ok to give them?
This is amazing thank you! I just bought a tiered worm system with a tap on the bottom. I’m trying to translate your bin system into how I would need to use mine but have an annoying amount of questions. When you say you have the one big bin to harvest them all into, Is that just the castings you out in there? Do you take some of the worms too so you reduce the population each time, to prevent overcrowding? The bottom layer in your table collects the liquid? See, I need to watch all your vids and come back so I know what to ask. I’m so green!
Just the finished castings go into that "Big" bin. Some worms are still in those finished castings but that's ok. The worms will manage their own population.
What you do is knowledge gained in time personally using your own resources, experience, observation and time. I learn worms in russia, and i kind of figure out how england started this. Began the vermicompost popularized composting technique as in germany. And now going global usa, turkey. I see warms get inside the cardboard for shelter. My russian parents chop an old tree and how i found larvas, beetles, and worms living harmoniously underground and inside a wood. Basicly eating through a large wood. Worms are magnificant and makes me addicted. One significant condition that i figured is worms love rain and black soil. And they can not survive on Muds but they can breath on water. And they can not live in super salty water. I see many people find plastic bins for use vermicompost. But i use different scales and tactics. For example : a plastic pvc vertically stabbed on soil , worms can travel vertically. Worms like metal containers. Red Warms like animal source for example i see giant red warms live under the chicken barn under the wood work over the concreate ground. They travel a meter to get there at night. There is no demand for vermicompost in russia. However as in england or germany or usa, the meat supply is abundance. There are enough livestock. Such as england knows how many sheeps they have. But i dont think there are enough compost or culture of composting. For example composting house hold trash. Or sheep cow manure. I have seen plants , flowers , and observe if housewives put any compost. No. On farming i have seen. One critical thing i learned in russia, small farmers raise crops to feed not only themselves but the livestocks. Such as sugar beets, carrot, potato, and pumkin. They have all the land in the world, 5000 hectars. Helicopters mechanical engineer minds. But agriculturally using old techniques despite using Modern machines. I still could not figure out what to do with all this land , maximizing utility and productivity, and man power. I think agriculture should be fully automated so that man kind can focus more on RD, painting art,music, and automotive. So many talents are wasted in front of computer screens. If we have spent same amount of time on automotive sciebce than on coding computers we would all be driving on a $750 cars with a milage of 500 kms charging solar power.
Thanks for a great video with so much information that helped me a lot. Realy appreciate your time to explained in such a way I/WE can understand it. Will watch more video's from you. Greetings Alta from South Africa
New to this, Now you have the bottom bin With the top bin set on top with the quarter inch holes drilled into the bottom Does the top bin with the 1/4" holes drilled into it have to be touching the bedding or castings in the bottom bin for the worms to transfer or migrate to the top bin ,If you can Please answer this question does it matter if its touching or not ? In need of answers here ....Just subscribed
Thanks for making these. Hope all is well with you and your family. Our family is getting setup to grow a small vegetable garden and your videos have made it a reasonable task. It is much appreciated especially in this time. Thanks again! Take care 🤘😁🌞🌱
We have local hey here and I have a high-powered blender just for my garden is it okay if I pulverize the hay in my blender and then use that in the bedding
I grind all my eggs shells into a powder in my mortar and pestle and this greatly helps their gizzard. Earthworms and compost worms do not have teeth to grind their food, but the muscles of their gizzard churns and mixes the food. Since earthworms eat dirt, the sand grains grind against the food tearing it into smaller and smaller parts. The eggs shells work in this way in a worm farm.
So is it correct to say that if food is put in a worm bin today, it will be eaten a week or two from now? (And what the worms are eating now are the food that were broken down by microbes a week or two ago?)
Thankyou for you video on what to feed red wig let’s. I have Kentucky bluegrass. Clippings I compost for about 3 months. Would the grass clippings be good to feed my worms?
I'm starting an apartment worm farm and would like to use the castings next growing season. How do I store the castings or should I just add what I get to my pile of soil in the yard under my tarp prior to the start of the season.
I ‘store’ my castings on the soil of my garden beds for the most part. But I keep some in a storage tub for use in my pots where I mix it with potting mix.
Does the top container rest directly on the castings/compost in the lower container so that the worms can move up to the top one, or is there an air gap? If so, how much?
It has been a week and I have a lot of worms but there are white little balls on top of the newspaper that I layed on top of my bin befor covering. I fed them vegetable which I turned smal flurrry. the balls look something like little tapioca balls only white. Can you tell me what these whit balls are?
I didn't get all high tech like you did so I am not an expert but I learned that if food isn't molding then it goes to the chickens, if its moldy and a human shouldn't eat it then its perfect for the worms. I had worm feeding stations so my worms were free to come and go as they pleased so I never concerned myself with making castings as worms were everywhere on my property and in every pot in my nursery. I even got worm loving chickens from a neighbor and I never ran out of worms.
I am just starting to fish. Bought some “Canadian nightcrawlers”. They’re big worms they’re in a small container in my fridge and I felt bad just letting them die so I stuck a bunch of lettuce in there and when you said “they love bacteria and fungi” it made so much sense because today when I checked on them they were just kinda laying over all of the lettuce
To be absolutely certain, I don't recommend feeding even stable manure if the compost will be used for edible crops, there's just too much unnecessary risk involved potentially infecting with e-coli and salmonella. If you do use any kind of animal meat or derivatives (like manure), I recommend not using that compost for fertilizing edible crops for at least 90 days after the last time that animal meat or byproduct was given to the worms. The possible catch is remembering and counting the days because worm compost is normally "ready" to be used long before 90 days. So, why the 90 days? It's an estimate I've developed that more or less ensures the worms have reprocessed the castings enough times that the worms would almost certainly have eaten all the harmful bacteria that might have been introduced. That number might have been influenced by some research I read long ago but can't remember where.
Nature's Always Right I have a friend in Phoenix who finds more organic material than he can use. Worm bins buried and shaded and kept moist will grow you all the worms you can use.
@@NaturesAlwaysRight One local worm grower recommended a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of Black Cow compost and peat-moss, but your mix is more complex, Is his satisfactory?
@@NaturesAlwaysRight Hi. Question for you. In your building the worm bins video from 2018, you put food in the bin then some straw, cardboard, paper and cover it all with a piece of cardboard before closing the lid. In this video you just put the food on top and close the lid. The reason I’m asking is because I’ve built my first worm bins using your videos and i put some food on top and now have a lot of little flies and even some maggots on the food scraps. Just wondering if this is normal. Thanks for your great videos, I’ve learned a lot and they got me back into gardening again!
You can add Citrus to the worm bins but not a lot so I usually add just a little bit to mine and the rest is fruit and vegetables, I just mine up really small so they digest it faster and once I start getting more than my freezer can hold i will start grinding it up and put in some really small ice cube tray's and freeze them and give them to them that way as well. They love it. I also add leaves dry and make a leaf mold with it as well, Crushed up egg shell from a blender I sprinkle that on top and some times i will switch it up and sprinkle Corm Meal on top as well. That the Jiffy kind the one's you have to add the egg and flour ect to. They love Melon peels, banana Peels and sense I have my bins inside I cover my food so it does not attract insects. So far so good, I have had my worms 2 weeks now. I have European Night Crawlers.
Deana Lynn Allen Rogers Call me crazy, but I both compost in place with well stocked lazy beds with a worm tower in each end of each bed. All beds are thriving with castings and worms. For me anyway, it is so much simpler.
Deana Lynn Allen Rogers When bananas are going bad, and prices are cut way back, I buy. I add one half of a banana in each end of my lazy bed. I got the idea from another Utuber, whose name I cannot recall.The worms congregate there en mass, and no search is necessary if I need to move some elsewhere, or go fishing.
Do you need to add bedding if the worms (Tigar worms) are put into a pot with a plant using organic living soil? I put the straw on top as a mulch but it's the dry type when first put on. So it's not a worm bin I'm after but an organic living soil in a pot for plants. Thanks.
Hi i have just started using a worm farm, and i juice veggies for myself to drink every day. Can i use the veggie juice pulp for my worms? Mostly i use carrot, beet, celery, kale, apple and very small piece of ginger to make the juice for myself Every day ... is this acceptable waste for feeding the to the worms?
I know this videos have been told but spring is coming in a couple months so I was thinking about getting started. I've one question are there any woods that are toxic to worms
We live in Miami, FL where it gets very hot and humid in the summer. We do have lots of shade in our backyard due to two HOA trees in the backyard. I have no room in my small house for worm bins but I’m wondering if I can keep them outside under the shade? Any information on this would be most helpful because I don’t want to kill worms. But I really, really want to do this!!
That’s far more work than is necessary, I started with a worm farm feeding block (peat), add worms, food scraps, coffee grounds & cover with a thick amount of paper or cardboard...the vermicompost is BEAUTIFUL!! So dark, airy and highly nutritious for the garden.
and you can also add chopped up leaves or make a leaf mold with just leaves from the yard and add some fruit juice to start the process. I just add water and mix it up every few days or so. But have heard they like it dry so I will do some dry leaves and see
Lots of questions.... What are the best species of worms to use and how many would be needed for container gardening in each 5 gallon bucket? Do I need to go to all this trouble or can I just add the compost and some carbon in with the plants along with the worms? Also, can the plants be brought indoors in those same buckets so that harvesting can continue during the winter months and what are the best veggies to continue growing in the winter indoors? Please link any videos or articles that might help. I have a black thumb (lol) and need to stay fed. Thanks for your help! :)
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That is an interesting system. Would it be best to grind everything down to tiny bits so that they will break down faster?
Great video
I started a worm farm 7 months ago and it has been so much fun. This is the educational stuff I really like to watch. Constantly gathering information about worms, implementing new ideas I have learned and doing my own experiments has been the best experience. Learning from videos like this and books I can find is how I get the knowledge to have the confidence to do this on my own. Hope everyone has a nice day.
I just started my own worm farm today, and this is by far the best video I've seen, thank you for sharing your process! I'm definitely a hands on learner, so all the hours of reading hasn't helped nearly as much as this short video. It's straight to the point, very informative, and the chooks in the background just make it all the more pleasant to watch :)
Thank you for sharing, I'll be sure to watch more of your videos! :)
Freeze your food scraps before putting in worm bin, it breaks it down and the worms process it 10 times faster.
Good idea!
Love that ☺
It kills most fruit fly larvae and eggs as well
Awesome information. Thanks
Thanks, I didn’t know that
I really enjoy your program. I've been composting for nearly 60 years and still learn sometimes from you young fellas. Keep the Faith and keep composting. Really enjoy your chickens as they remind me of youth on the farm. I always wanted to farm but could never win the lottery.....so, this is my answer to that. Tom
Tom Nekuda You're a farmer Tom. A worm farmer!
@@Permaculture1957 Haha! That's pretty good......I'm gonna remember that.
Hi
I live in Australia and just started becoming more interested in gardening recently.
Just watched your video which is the first time. I really liked it . Very clear and straight to the point. Definitely, I'll keep watching 😀
If you search #shedwars21 you'll find some fellow Australian gardeners from our southern hemisphere teams. They're pretty informative. Happy gardening!
This is a great channel, also check out 'The weedy garden' channel, Australian, his content is fantastic
In order for the worms to use the calcium in the egg shells they must be ground up really fine. Other wise the egg shells do not break down for a long, long, long time.
I use a high-speed blender for that. First I blend egg shells full speed with water. Then I insert some veggie scraps and blend on low so that the tiny shell pieces stick to the veggie scraps. Then use a colander to drain. The tiny shell pieces disappear in the bin after a couple months, so they must be breaking down.... I've heard that the calcium from shells help worms to multiply more quickly, but I can't verify that.
Love your continuing education for us. As a worm farmer just a FYI, none of my bins have any type of drainage NO LEACHATE due to toxic phosphates whatever. My worms in bins are feed a certain amount of food and there is no "drainage". This is everyone's choice. I choose to make tea for my garden using their castings. I do not want to worry about problems from anaerobic problems. Again, thanks for another great video! A+++
just a question. When I was researching worm bins before purchasing one, all of them have a little tap at the bottom for drainage - in case the bin is outside and it rains and some water seeps in, whatever. And all the worm factory makers strictly recommend to keep this tap open, or the worms can suffocate. That is also an outlet for leachate. Do you think this is wrong? How do you deal with excess liquid from green feed, if any? Or you just increase the amounts of carbon material to absorb it?
Dame for me 😉👌
@@growpuravida I would say that it is unnecessary in a well-managed worm bin. However, the fact is that most people feed them too "much" fresh stuff, and as a result you get too much moisture at the bottom.
@@stestrupholm-dyrkjorden but how about the bins that are outdoors? Mine is not rain-proof though it's a commercially made one...
@@stestrupholm-dyrkjorden I can say authoritatively it's more for the convenience of creating worm tea. I also manage worm bins both with and without a tap and as long as you're sensitive to what your worms need and can provide them choice where to go, your worms will be happy. So, If worms want to go to a darker, cooler environment they can always burrow down a ways. But I also position my bins so they get the warmth of the sun and can got in that direction, too. Or, put your food in a corner so that worms can go there or away if they don't prefer an environment with a lot of oxygen robbing decomposition. Amount of water is just one choice. Give your worms plenty of choices and they'll do what makes themselves most happy.
This is so informative and and full of insight.
I really appreciate you taking the time to share all this info with us. May God bless you, you have blessed us all.
Love your chickens getting in on the audio input….chirpy chirp chirp..🥰😎
You have a different setup than I have but I did start out using tubs/totes but now using a factory 360 since mine is done inside and I love it been using it for yrs. Some I might add especially for new wormers that can speed things up is I use a hamilton beach big mouth juicer which is 800 watts of power which you will need for doing things like banana peels. If the material is too dry then will add juice back into the pulp to make it more of slush. I also use a mini composter and coffee grinder for use on the eggs, but first I will run the shells thru a microwave 3-4 min. to kill any pathogens that might be there. The coffee grinder makes egg shells into a grit which the morms can use to help help move material thru their gut. Also some other critters wont like moving thru the egg shell grit so a multipurpose. Also I will save my potential worm food in zip lock bags and freeze till Im ready to make another batch of food. I will keep my processed worm feed in large coffee cans till needed. For new wormers go easy till you see how fast the food disappears. Most new wormers make the mistake of having more food in the bins than the worms can handle and the bins can become anaerobic and smell and thats when most new wormers will quit .
Yup. But keep in mind that blending everything means that the microbes will disappear all the food faster than your worms can consume either the goopy nutrients or the microbes that feast on the goop. You want to provide the food in a way that's consistent with the herd's needs which usually means over a few days if not weeks.
@@tonysu8860 Wrong ,, it is the microbes that gets the food ready for the worms
interesting video I purchased a used blender in a junk store and run all my kitchen scraps through the blender to make a thick soup, the worms love this blended soup. I freeze extra soup in baggies and use it all winter when garden and kitchen scraps are more scarce.
I'm new to worm keeping. It makes me feel better knowing I'm doing it right. Thank you!
Thanks a lot for sharing your knowlege in worms bedding so as produce rich organic soil to be use for home gardening! Keep it up! God bless!
Fantastic video. Best I have seen on this topic. Thank you!
How are your worms getting sufficient air flow? I dont see any holes and n your bins. I ask because I will soon be vernicomposting using 5 gallon buckets I will be drilling holes into for proper ventilation.
Quick question shouldn't you turn the oyster shell to powder so the worms can eat it?
First of all this channel is awesome. Lots of great info and a very inspiring person.
Now the questions:
How often would you feed them kitchen scraps?
After how many times feeding kitchen scraps do you put the second bin on top of the first?
How long after can you use the worm casting?
How regularly do you harvest the leechate?
Thank you for everything. You're great!
You harvest Leecate won time each week! Yw
This is interesting because I am doing a warm farm just starting out
I love that your chickens are agreeing with you.
Worms love pumpkin. If you haven't ever fed you worms left over pumpkin after Holloween. You need to try it. You will be amazed🥳
True, I always try to pick up any I can for the compost program I run for a community garden. All my compost bins have red wigglers in them.
Yes. I didn't know this since I'm fairly new to it but holy cow...sliced it in half and burried the domes half way and they went to town. Same thing with a bad watermellon we got from the store.
Love the sound of the chickens in the background. I miss keeping chooks 😊🐔
Can I use decomposed manure?
Would powdered eggshell work better?
Great video. I plan on using the alternate side feeding method in 'one' bin. Great information, thanks.
Have a wonderful day yourself. Ty for the video
Interesting publication & you did great describing it Thinking about getting me a couple worm beds started
Good morning I am very newI am just starting my worm bin my question can I use mushrooms as food. I bought some to use but for got them in the fridge.
I have access to a supply of shredded office paper. Would that work for bedding or would it maybe break down too quickly?
Yes you can use the shredded paper I do . And others I follow that on YT some of them use shredded paper
hello , i have lots of coffeegrains can i better use them directly in my soil {worms are verry attracting to it and love it) or better make wormcastings with the coffee grains ?
I go to the local mangroves and dig down into the broken down seaweed piles and grab a few bins of partly decomposed seaweed . I then take it home rinse it by running fresh water through it and then add it at about 20% mix to my compost volume . The worms love it and yep it’s basically for free .
Roger Ramjet Great idea! That's gotta be good
That's great. I live a few miles from the beach and every few months before dawn wake up and go collect kelp off the beach before the flies lay eggs. I used to wash off the kelp being afraid of the alkalinity of sea water, but later have omitted that step. I often feed an enormous amount of kelp at a time so I always place the food in a corner where the worms can come get the decomposing kelp as they want it or move away if they find the decomposition too toxic or not their choice. As always I avoid simply throwing food on top of the surface because the decomposing food can rob all the oxygen and suffocate the worms that need that oxygen to breathe. Although I've never done a study to confirm I feel confident that over time the worms will reconsume the kelp and their casting spreading the benefits of kelp derived nutrients throughout the bin's worm castings.
Suggestion. Unless you use well water which is pumped straight on your property i recommend rain water or allow your tap water to sit for a day or so. The chlorine in the water will kill the microbes and fungi your trying to produce. It will set the process back every time.
Chlorine is no longer used to treat municipal water in large US cities. Instead they're using chloramine, that's much longer lasting and does not dissipate when exposed to air. High capacity KDF85 filters from Camco and Boogie Blue are about 70% effective in removing chloramine - when new. The remaining chloramine can be removed with powdered sodium ascorbate or vitamin C. 1/8 teaspoon is more than enough to treat 5 gallons. It only takes a minute when the water is agitated vigorously. Filters with KDF85 technology cost around $65 and are typically rated to treat 8k gallons. Less expensive filters without this technology do not remove chloramine, regardless of what the manufacturer claims.
Last month I passed a restaurant that dumped a bunch of vegetables out the back boor so I collected a bunch of it for my worms. I brought home several large bags with apples, carrots, potatoes, lettuce and cabbage. I gave them the lettuce right away but I've been breaking up the rest and adding it to a bucket to break down into a slurry. I peel the cabbage and cut the apples, carrots and potatoes and mix it all up. I then add a couple scoops of the slurry to the bin every few weeks.
But now after all the things I read about cabbage I am wondering if I can give it to them and if they'll even eat it. Do you think the cabbage is ok to give them?
Coolbeans! Thanks for the info. I have a bin in the shed. I'll try this out with some red wigglers.
This is amazing thank you! I just bought a tiered worm system with a tap on the bottom. I’m trying to translate your bin system into how I would need to use mine but have an annoying amount of questions. When you say you have the one big bin to harvest them all into, Is that just the castings you out in there? Do you take some of the worms too so you reduce the population each time, to prevent overcrowding? The bottom layer in your table collects the liquid? See, I need to watch all your vids and come back so I know what to ask. I’m so green!
Just the finished castings go into that "Big" bin. Some worms are still in those finished castings but that's ok. The worms will manage their own population.
Nature's Always Right Thank you!
i add straw that hasn't been broken down outside and it does break down in my bin :)
Nice to know :)
What you do is knowledge gained in time personally using your own resources, experience, observation and time.
I learn worms in russia, and i kind of figure out how england started this. Began the vermicompost popularized composting technique as in germany. And now going global usa, turkey.
I see warms get inside the cardboard for shelter. My russian parents chop an old tree and how i found larvas, beetles, and worms living harmoniously underground and inside a wood. Basicly eating through a large wood.
Worms are magnificant and makes me addicted.
One significant condition that i figured is worms love rain and black soil. And they can not survive on Muds but they can breath on water. And they can not live in super salty water. I see many people find plastic bins for use vermicompost. But i use different scales and tactics. For example : a plastic pvc vertically stabbed on soil , worms can travel vertically. Worms like metal containers. Red Warms like animal source for example i see giant red warms live under the chicken barn under the wood work over the concreate ground. They travel a meter to get there at night.
There is no demand for vermicompost in russia. However as in england or germany or usa, the meat supply is abundance. There are enough livestock. Such as england knows how many sheeps they have. But i dont think there are enough compost or culture of composting. For example composting house hold trash. Or sheep cow manure. I have seen plants , flowers , and observe if housewives put any compost. No. On farming i have seen. One critical thing i learned in russia, small farmers raise crops to feed not only themselves but the livestocks. Such as sugar beets, carrot, potato, and pumkin.
They have all the land in the world, 5000 hectars. Helicopters mechanical engineer minds. But agriculturally using old techniques despite using Modern machines. I still could not figure out what to do with all this land , maximizing utility and productivity, and man power.
I think agriculture should be fully automated so that man kind can focus more on RD, painting art,music, and automotive. So many talents are wasted in front of computer screens. If we have spent same amount of time on automotive sciebce than on coding computers we would all be driving on a $750 cars with a milage of 500 kms charging solar power.
God bless you brother
Thanks for a great video with so much information that helped me a lot.
Realy appreciate your time to explained in such a way I/WE can understand it. Will watch more video's from you. Greetings Alta from South Africa
New to this, Now you have the bottom bin With the top bin set on top with the quarter inch holes drilled into the bottom Does the top bin with the 1/4" holes drilled into it have to be touching the bedding or castings in the bottom bin for the worms to transfer or migrate to the top bin ,If you can Please answer this question does it matter if its touching or not ? In need of answers here ....Just subscribed
Thanks for making these. Hope all is well with you and your family. Our family is getting setup to grow a small vegetable garden and your videos have made it a reasonable task. It is much appreciated especially in this time. Thanks again! Take care 🤘😁🌞🌱
Great video wow! I’ll definitely be checking out more of your videos. Definitely make your own compost one 🤙🏼
Is it okay to mix different types of worms in the same bins
Fantastic set up. I love worms. Have 2 worm factories and one 27-gallon tote. Happy plants!!
Can I use vegetables that were previously cooked? Such as roasted or steamed broccoli that was uneaten?
Patrick Kaplan steamed should be fine, try to avoid roasted, the oils are bad.
Do you think expired rolled oats (oatmeal) would make good worm food in a compost pile ?
Yes. Put in a blender with water to make a liquid slurry and pour on top, then cover w damp newspaper
I enjoy orgabic gardening because the microbes and earthworms help recycle all wastes back into food . thanks for showing us ow to do this.
You should look into jadam then :D
Thank you for doing this video. It really helps.
i really love the editing for this! visuals and sounds are awesome!!
We have local hey here and I have a high-powered blender just for my garden is it okay if I pulverize the hay in my blender and then use that in the bedding
I bought oysters shell and I see it’s like rock and very big for the worms so did you grind them first?
I grind all my eggs shells into a powder in my mortar and pestle and this greatly helps their gizzard. Earthworms and compost worms do not have teeth to grind their food, but the muscles of their gizzard churns and mixes the food. Since earthworms eat dirt, the sand grains grind against the food tearing it into smaller and smaller parts. The eggs shells work in this way in a worm farm.
So is it correct to say that if food is put in a worm bin today, it will be eaten a week or two from now? (And what the worms are eating now are the food that were broken down by microbes a week or two ago?)
thank you for defining lechate vs tea
I would like to know if the worms can still get p to top bin on a tier system if there’s a large gap between top and bottom layer
Yeah they'll climb anywhere.
Thankyou for you video on what to feed red wig let’s. I have Kentucky bluegrass. Clippings I compost for about 3 months. Would the grass clippings be good to feed my worms?
I'm starting an apartment worm farm and would like to use the castings next growing season. How do I store the castings or should I just add what I get to my pile of soil in the yard under my tarp prior to the start of the season.
I ‘store’ my castings on the soil of my garden beds for the most part. But I keep some in a storage tub for use in my pots where I mix it with potting mix.
I've got so much leachate... What is the reasoning behind using it straight away?
Does the top container rest directly on the castings/compost in the lower container so that the worms can move up to the top one, or is there an air gap? If so, how much?
Directly on the castings so they can travel up. No air gap.
Great stuff, I have a worm bin in a 30 gal pvc sink. W the drain the leche' just drains ourt w gravity. TY, very informative 👏 👏 👏
very informative . Thank you for your thoroughness ! What do you think about Compost Sacks?
ruclips.net/video/xX0yWlGIyM00/видео.html.
Yow bro how can I get those containers that u make ur compost in and the name of it
It has been a week and I have a lot of worms but there are white little balls on top of the newspaper that I layed on top of my bin befor covering. I fed them vegetable which I turned smal flurrry. the balls look something like little tapioca balls only white. Can you tell me what these whit balls are?
I have a problem with my worm bin getting hot, like a compost bin. Any suggestions?
My guess is we need to create a shaded, cool area. Good thought.
So why not coarsely grind the food scraps if the slurry good for them
I was thinking about adding some kombucha to my mixture but that might be too acidic what do you think for microbial
One of the most complete descriptions I have ever seen. Video excellent as well.
I didn't get all high tech like you did so I am not an expert but I learned that if food isn't molding then it goes to the chickens, if its moldy and a human shouldn't eat it then its perfect for the worms. I had worm feeding stations so my worms were free to come and go as they pleased so I never concerned myself with making castings as worms were everywhere on my property and in every pot in my nursery. I even got worm loving chickens from a neighbor and I never ran out of worms.
I am just starting to fish. Bought some “Canadian nightcrawlers”. They’re big worms they’re in a small container in my fridge and I felt bad just letting them die so I stuck a bunch of lettuce in there and when you said “they love bacteria and fungi” it made so much sense because today when I checked on them they were just kinda laying over all of the lettuce
If you can get stable manure, that is already aged a few months, that makes awesome food for the worms and very light and fluffy castings.
To be absolutely certain, I don't recommend feeding even stable manure if the compost will be used for edible crops, there's just too much unnecessary risk involved potentially infecting with e-coli and salmonella. If you do use any kind of animal meat or derivatives (like manure), I recommend not using that compost for fertilizing edible crops for at least 90 days after the last time that animal meat or byproduct was given to the worms. The possible catch is remembering and counting the days because worm compost is normally "ready" to be used long before 90 days. So, why the 90 days? It's an estimate I've developed that more or less ensures the worms have reprocessed the castings enough times that the worms would almost certainly have eaten all the harmful bacteria that might have been introduced. That number might have been influenced by some research I read long ago but can't remember where.
The caption is Worm Farm in Melbourne. Please check guys.
Great tips, looking forward to implementing this myself
How long should you go without changing the bins to new material ?
2-3months usually once they run out of carb you really need to change it.
Blending them up a bit before feeding also helps out alot 👍
But the worms would die if they got blended
Love the chicken backround soundtrack. Thanks for the advice mate.
I would think corn husks would make awesome bedding.
I was told not to use egg shells...that the sharp pts of shell will cut up inside of worms. Would lose worms
What correct?
Daniel Miller egg shells are quickly broken down in the worm gizzard by the grit
the worms swallow to aid their digestion !
Would Jobes organic tomato/vegetable granular fertilizer be beneficial or harmful to add to a bin in small amounts?
What would happen if we add orange and sweet lime peels/pulp?
I've found that worms really enjoy a covering of moss, too if you can readily find some around your yard.
Oh nice great recommendation, out here in desert San Diego we don't have moss.
Nature's Always Right I have a friend in Phoenix who finds more organic material than he can use. Worm bins buried and shaded and kept moist will grow you all the worms you can use.
@@NaturesAlwaysRight One local worm grower recommended a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of Black Cow compost and peat-moss, but your mix is more complex, Is his satisfactory?
Do you now what worms eat.
@@NaturesAlwaysRight Hi. Question for you. In your building the worm bins video from 2018, you put food in the bin then some straw, cardboard, paper and cover it all with a piece of cardboard before closing the lid. In this video you just put the food on top and close the lid. The reason I’m asking is because I’ve built my first worm bins using your videos and i put some food on top and now have a lot of little flies and even some maggots on the food scraps. Just wondering if this is normal. Thanks for your great videos, I’ve learned a lot and they got me back into gardening again!
You can add Citrus to the worm bins but not a lot so I usually add just a little bit to mine and the rest is fruit and vegetables, I just mine up really small so they digest it faster and once I start getting more than my freezer can hold i will start grinding it up and put in some really small ice cube tray's and freeze them and give them to them that way as well. They love it. I also add leaves dry and make a leaf mold with it as well, Crushed up egg shell from a blender I sprinkle that on top and some times i will switch it up and sprinkle Corm Meal on top as well. That the Jiffy kind the one's you have to add the egg and flour ect to. They love Melon peels, banana Peels and sense I have my bins inside I cover my food so it does not attract insects. So far so good, I have had my worms 2 weeks now. I have European Night Crawlers.
Deana Lynn Allen Rogers Call me crazy, but I both compost in place with well stocked lazy beds with a worm tower in each end of each bed. All beds are thriving with castings and worms. For me anyway, it is so much simpler.
Deana Lynn Allen Rogers When bananas are going bad, and prices are cut way back, I buy. I add one half of a banana in each end of my lazy bed. I got the idea from another Utuber, whose name I cannot recall.The worms congregate there en mass, and no search is necessary if I need to move some elsewhere, or go fishing.
Is it okay if I chop all of this in my blender and put the small pieces in the one bed
would cocoa husks make for good bedding?
Josef Reiz Yes.
The worm lechate (?) where did that faucet come from, where or what are you draining?
What if your compost has small mini flies in them, should I toss and start over? I really have a lot
A lot of flies or compost?
Fruit flies aren't a problem.
Do you need to add bedding if the worms (Tigar worms) are put into a pot with a plant using organic living soil?
I put the straw on top as a mulch but it's the dry type when first put on.
So it's not a worm bin I'm after but an organic living soil in a pot for plants.
Thanks.
Hi thx for the video. Learnt a lot.
What do you use the worms for? Are you selling them?
Thx again
Some say corn meal is a good worm chow Mixed with other foods Is corn flour or corn starch just as good or not?
Wow, very educational.
Hi i have just started using a worm farm, and i juice veggies for myself to drink every day. Can i use the veggie juice pulp for my worms? Mostly i use carrot, beet, celery, kale, apple and very small piece of ginger to make the juice for myself Every day ... is this acceptable waste for feeding the to the worms?
They will love that! Everyday seems like too often to feed depending how ambitious your plan is
Can you use bell peppers or big Bertha peppers to feed red wigglers?
I know this videos have been told but spring is coming in a couple months so I was thinking about getting started. I've one question are there any woods that are toxic to worms
What is your opinion on adding Guinea pig poop and alfalfa hay dust and Timothy hay dust to the worm bin?
Great system! I tried adding compost to my (back porch-enclosed) worm bin and introduced ants to my bin.
How do the ants and worms interact?
how about coffee ground? can i use it for their beds?
Use it to feed the worms, they love it. I use coco coir, leaves and shredded paper for my bedding.
how about blood meal and/or bone meal as a supplement?
We live in Miami, FL where it gets very hot and humid in the summer. We do have lots of shade in our backyard due to two HOA trees in the backyard. I have no room in my small house for worm bins but I’m wondering if I can keep them outside under the shade? Any information on this would be most helpful because I don’t want to kill worms. But I really, really want to do this!!
That’s far more work than is necessary, I started with a worm farm feeding block (peat), add worms, food scraps, coffee grounds & cover with a thick amount of paper or cardboard...the vermicompost is BEAUTIFUL!! So dark, airy and highly nutritious for the garden.
and you can also add chopped up leaves or make a leaf mold with just leaves from the yard and add some fruit juice to start the process. I just add water and mix it up every few days or so. But have heard they like it dry so I will do some dry leaves and see
You make that look so easy. Janice
May l know where you get worms did you buy it or did you just get it from the soil pls help
Lots of questions.... What are the best species of worms to use and how many would be needed for container gardening in each 5 gallon bucket? Do I need to go to all this trouble or can I just add the compost and some carbon in with the plants along with the worms? Also, can the plants be brought indoors in those same buckets so that harvesting can continue during the winter months and what are the best veggies to continue growing in the winter indoors? Please link any videos or articles that might help. I have a black thumb (lol) and need to stay fed. Thanks for your help! :)
red wrigglers or african nightcrawlers.
I'm in zone 5 and just wondering what to do when temperature gets below freezing?