Below are some of the items I use for vermicomposting & my channel's videos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you use these links. Thank you for supporting this channel! Worm Bins I use: Vermihut 5-Tray Worm Compost Bin amzn.to/3w15lQt Urban Worm Bag V2 amzn.to/3XE9QsT 20 Gallon Fabric Grow Pots amzn.to/3EBYhdr 3 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck tote amzn.to/3eKDLhO Other Worm Bins: Worm Factory 360 3-Tray Version amzn.to/3AHnjqK Worm Factory 360 5-Tray Version amzn.to/3tYfWY4 Bus bins amzn.to/3fd8AvP Equipment I use: 12 Sheet Cross Cut Micro Shredder (I use it to shred cardboard) amzn.to/3xYZKYu Magic Bullet Small Blender (to pulverize egg shells) amzn.to/3gwEzb4 or amzn.to/42SQ4w9 (with extra coffee bean & nut blade) Indoor Outdoor Wireless Thermometer for worm bin amzn.to/3wIdXbO Additional thermometer sensors 433 MHz amzn.to/41juD7v Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Additional thermometer sensors 915MHz amzn.to/3WTFgua Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Wrigglebrew Worm Casting Tea amzn.to/46PhV2A Food Dehydrator amzn.to/3O5Uj2H Mosquito Dunks 6 pack amzn.to/3Oe4Sl0 granular amzn.to/42KDtM0 or 20 pack amzn.to/42Br4Kf Kitchen scale to weigh worms & food: amzn.to/3HnOQjg Blue gloves amzn.to/3XsBg5n Spray bottles to mist bedding amzn.to/3Fq23rN Digital handheld Thermometer amzn.to/3EWfC2j Compost Tea Bags amzn.to/3fCb5o1 Solar powered light amzn.to/3nOucAq Reusable Keurig Coffee K-cups amzn.to/3FNXvt6 Other useful equipment for worm farming: 5 stackable sifter with different sized mesh: amzn.to/3S2k184 Cameras & camera equipment I use: Insta 360 ace pro amzn.to/3vgdmR8 Flexible Tripod amzn.to/3CGTjcF Insta360 GO 2 camera amzn.to/3oxCc80 Insta360 One X2 camera amzn.to/3nqV6hp iPhone 13 Max Pro amzn.to/3nq52aU Canon EOS Rebel T8i amzn.to/3HcBuX6 4 Ocean bracelets I wear Multiple colors to chose from bracelets amzn.to/3HMbHEx Books on worms & worm farming Worms Eat My Garbage amzn.to/3L4FXN2 Where to buy worms: www.TheGardenAndWormLady.com
I'm with you on using cloth towels rather than using disposable paper towels 👍🏻 The system looks great - and now even better with that generous application of yummy foods & ample bedding :)
Thanks AV! Sometimes it's an uphill battle fighting the paper towel habit in my household😂 At least the worms can make use of them! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Nice to have you back Patrick! 👋 You sure need loads of bedding with that huge feeding. I use a different approach: I just put the food on a double layer of newspaper, sprinkle the extras (chow, grit, coffee grounds etc.), wrap it all up and bury it half way into the feeding area. That way worms usually start from the bottom, then make *huge* worm balls. My wife hates to see that, but I love it. 😂 Cheers, have a great weekend!
Thank you Thomas!! That is a fantastic technique! I might have to give it a try on a video!! I love seeing the worms gather into big worm balls!! Autumn didn't like the worms at first...now I think she is their biggest fan!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
So many cranberries! 😂 I'm glad the coffee didn't heat up, I was definitely concerned that would be an issue. Always learning new things. Glad you're back, Patrick! Hope you're healing well. Can't wait for more videos ♥️
Thank you Amber!! We may never see the end of those cranberries😂🤣😂 I think if I had wet down the coffee tower it may have heated up, but I thought it was at least going to at least give off some heat?!?? Luckily the shoulder/arm is better enough for me to work again on my videos I've already filmed, but I can't wait to be able film more. Thanks so much for the well wishes and of course for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey Patrick, sorry I'm late getting to this video. We had a big family weekend here blitzing getting our house ready to go on the market. That system of yours is like a bottomless pit! I'm just waiting to get over this cold before I do my deep dive on spent coffee grounds and worm bins. Please stay tuned! ~ Sandra
No worries Sandra!! That is a big undertaking for sure!! We had too many moves in my 20 years in the Air Force so I feel your pain! I'm really looking forward to hearing what you found on the coffee grounds, especially as one of the commentors mentioned coffee being bad for worms??!? Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick and Autumn, firstly, hope the healing is going well. Another good video. Wow, that is a lot of food for those worms. It will certainly keep them happy for a good while. The worms will be addicted to coffee by the time they get through the coffee tower. Loving your work, as always. Have fun, Mark : )
Thank you Mark!! The shoulder/arm are doing much better compared to the first days after surgery! I'm able to have the stamina to edit and type for longer periods of time now. I'm hoping they have made some pretty good progress on the coffee tower since I first filmed this video...I should get another good peek at it this week. Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
❤️🤘And He's back!! Hope all is well. I was thinking,everybody is starting a worm bin? They are going too keep there food? It is going too be competition!!😂 The more people compost, the better you and the planet 🌏 well be.💚✌️
I'm back!! The shoulder/arm is recovering slowly but as expected so I can't complain (but I have been...often). It is a double edged sword getting them into worm farming😂🤣😂 They are big suppliers of food scraps for my worms and my compost pile, but like you said, it's better for all of us the more people compost!! Thanks so much for watching Tory!!🪱🪱🪱
Good morning, Patrick, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸 I hope you and Autumn are enjoying the end of our winter. Wonderful feeding and I'm glad to see that you are recycling ♻️ those paper towels 👍♻️👍 Happy Vermicomposting ❤Peggy❤
Thank you Peggy!! Feeding the worms our paper towels is the oly thing that keeps me from crying about wasting all that money 😂🤣😂 Thanks so much for watching Peggy!!🪱🪱🪱
As for the coffee grounds the worms like to get a buzz on too! They only indulge in the morning though, as they found any later than that keeps them up at night.😂
😂🤣😂 Luckily for them it's decaf as I brewed all the caffeine out of it to sustain life for me!! Thanks for the good laugh & thanks for watching Laura!!🪱🪱🪱
Patrick, still spotting a few cranberries getting mixed up in the bedding. 😂 Wow that was a ton of paper towels, glad to see you added some additional shredded paper on to the top of the feeding. Any plan on adding some water to the top?
Those cranberries & taxes are the only sure things in life right now!! Believe it or not, with the humidity we have around here and the material the bin & lid is made of, all that bedding material became wet without me adding additional moisture! It's like a warm hug when you walk outside😂 Thanks so much for watching Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
Because of your experience with the harvest from this bin, I am giving the worms in my CFT bin more broken down materials for bedding. The bedding in the bin looks terrific. Actually, you could possibly keep turning the contents of that bin until ready for harvest. The volume looks to be similar to my 50 gal grow bags. One thing for sure you have a terrific worm population, think I will be adding more worms to the CFT bin next month. For sure the worms were drawn below that feeding of coffee grounds, should be interesting to see what is left of that bolus of coffee. Have you been on vacation, missed your routine videos. Stay Well!!!!
Thanks Brian! I has shoulder surgery about 5 weeks ago and it really made it difficult to edit videos even though I had 3 videos in the hopper! I'm still 5-6 months from a full recovery but I can use the computer for more than 5 minutes at a time now! Been working on this video for 5 weeks! With this Urban Worm Bag, I'm hoping to find the sweet spot of being able to put whole bigger pieces of food and bedding versus only shredds. I'm thinking if I do a good job of getting the material off the sides in the first 6-10 inches and slow down the harvests, I can make this a real garbage can/recycling bin type of wormbin...wishful thinking at this point, but I'm gonna keep experimenting! Your home made CFT & 50 gallon grow bag bins are amazing!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost So sorry to hear about the shoulder surgery. I think it is quite amazing what they can do these days. My sister in law and son in law both had shoulder surgery in the last week, one a complete replacement the other rotator cuff, bone spurs and something with a bicep ligament. Hope your recovery accelerates. Was hoping you were out traveling with your worm bin down the Amazon river or something. You have so many worms in there, it looks like they are going through everything quite nicely. Your garbage can approach is working. Stay Well my friend!!!
Now that would be fun traveling with the Tiny Traveling Worm Bin down the Amazon! I had a SLAP tear (the something with a bicep ligament you mentioned) I hope they have full and speedier recoveries as well!!
Glad you're back! How's the shoulder doing? I have a 5 tray vermihut, I would suggest your mom get the urban worm bag. I kind of wish I'd gotten that instead, but you are the expert. Seems much easier to get the castings? My worms don't seem to travel to other trays, even it I don't feed the upper tray. Even when I remove the lid for a couple of hours, encourage them to go down, they only go down to the bottom area, lol. Happily I do have a ton of healthy worms! I give them a lot of coffee grounds. It's just difficult to get to the castings. I live on the cool, humid, Oregon coast and my outdoor wormbin stays VERY moist! Thanks for the video!
Thank you!! The shoulder/arm is hanging in there...I can atleast work on my computer now for more than 5 minutes😁 It's a long recovery but I'm on track. I love my VermiHut and my Urban Worm Bag!! I say you get both!! The UWB is a little too big for my son & daughter-in-law's apartment and I don't trust my mom's mobility to get down to harvest and bend over to put things in it. But the gravity feed nature of the UWB helps with the imediate process; but I do still sift it with an empty tray of the VermiHut. I actually find the VermiHut to be super easy to harvest with the aggitation technique I use. If you aggitate then come back and scoop the top layer of castings off the worms will eventually go down below as thier space with castings gets smaller down to the tiniest thin layer on the tray. The worms always favor going up, so they won't travel down and stay down if you feed the lower trays but not the top tray. That is great it is producing so many worms for you!! That's great to hear that you give them lots of coffee grounds...I really need to start giving all my bins more coffee to keep up with me and Autumn's coffee drinking habits😂 Sounds like our humidity levels are similar on opposite sides of the country!! Thanks so much for watching Laura!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost Thanks so much for your comments! Hang in there with the shoulder, very frustrating, waiting for full recovery! I'm so jealous of your harvesting from your vermihut. I think I've watched all you videos! Mine is very wet (its outside under our deck), if I add more bedding it seems to take them too long to use it. I think I need to be more patient in waiting for the worms to go down even with agitating, lol. Awe, yes I was wondering about your mom's mobility. If this only issue was 'getting down under' you could make a sturdy table for her, but it sounds like it's more than that. So nice she saves her scraps for you. Yes, it would be nice to have both, but I don't think I want to invest in another one. Thanks too for the explanation on which way the worms prefer to go, that's very interesting as well. Keep up the PT. Thanks for your channel.
Yes, As Autumn will attest, I'm not a patient man but worm farming has taught me (some) patience😂🤣😂 Thank you so much for watching all of my videos!! Those first ones are hard for me to watch, but luckily I've learned some things about editing, lighting & sound to make it a little bit easier to watch my more recent ones!!
Thank you Ron!! I had shoulder surgery about 5 weeks ago and it's been tought to edit the videos I made...I should be back to being consistent from here on out! Thanks so much for watching and thanks for your support!!🪱🪱🪱
Yes!! I was actually working on the editing of this video for the last 6 weeks...just 5 minutes at a time!! The shoulder/arm is recovering enough for me to work longer on my computer but I still can't get into my bins like I want to!! Thanks so much for watching Ann!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick! Welcome back! One nice thing about the bigger systems is their ability to take large feedings and then let it run! Set and forget is a good thing ❤
At first I thoug, oh good your shoulder is healed..... then i saw "late January", Hope all is going well.. WIll we see the executive producer soon? Have a great day.
"Healed" enough to finally finish editing this older video...I have 2 more I filmed before surgery that I have to edit and released before we "see" the Executive Producer! I'm still about 5 months away from being totally functional and 8-11 months away to being back to normal...Thanks so much for watching Mikko!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks Ann!! My next harvest should be really good with how long I've waited since the last harvest! These bag systems sure are fun to run!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Just got my urban worm bag a few weeks ago and the booklet it came with said to not feed citrus or onions due to acidity. Since you are doing both, what are your true thoughts on this? Glad you’re back!
Thank you!! Good to be back! Moderation is the key...the number one problem with new worm bins is overfeeding and overfeeding foods that are acidic can ferment or ammoniafy the contents of the bins before the worms, microbes & other critters can eat them. So the advice a lot of folks give is to avoid them entirely. But Earth would be full of citrus, onions & other forbidden foods if worms did not eat them! So I have found after my bins are established ( a few months) I start giving it to them in small amounts, I never give them a feeding entirely of citrus or onions. Here are some videos of me testing forbidden foods: ruclips.net/video/gewt_og8EfQ/видео.html & ruclips.net/video/6iY2mIEB3R8/видео.html Additionally, much like humans, what goes into a worms' fronts doesn't come out the back with the same pH...luckily for all of us😂 I hope you are enjoying your Urban Worm Bag as much as I am...it's a beast!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I purchased 100 worms and have first used shredded cardboard and coco coir, then after about 1week I fed chopped up blueberries, apples and peels, then added cut up newspapers and coco coir. I leave my bin open and none try to escape. My question is does newspapers prevent the worms from moving through the bedding? I am also noticing a mold smell. Will adding orange peels prevent that smell and is it normal to smell that? I was also told that not stirring up the bin consistently the bin will build up ammonia and suffocate my worms. Is this true? Should I add just ripped up or cut up cardboard instead of cut up or ripped up newspapers? Today I noticed a stronger odor after stirring yesterday or the day before. Is too much newspapers causing the smell of mold and not using cardboard? I appreciate your response and help. Thank you
Hi Carolyn! I think it might help to watch these short videos on setting up a new worm bin: ruclips.net/video/1IRP-Nu6_90/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/UsH3k92KhYg/видео.html The number one issue with new worm bins is over love/over feeding. For 100 compost worms, for the first week, I would feed just one strawberry top or one piece of lettuce leaf, frozen then thawed before you put it in. The worms need to be able to consume the food before it ferments or worse, releases it's nitrogen in the form of ammonia. This off-gassing will cause the worms to flee or may kill them. So first things first, feed very little at first to your worms. As they prove they can eat the food you give them, then you can increase the amount. I am not a big fan of paper or newspaper alone because it can mat down and prevent the worms from getting through it. If you mix it up with shredded cardboard then it works out better, but I like to use just shredded cardboard. So specifically for your situation right now I would, at a minimum, take out any remnants of food you can find in your bin and add more damp shredded cardboard. However, if you smell ammonia or fermenting smells, it is best to pluck out each worm and put them in a new bin with damp shredded cardboard and just one previously frozen strawberry top or one previously frozen lettuce leaf. Do not add any orange or orange peels for several months. Once you get things stabilized (by not feeding much at all) and the worms appear to be eating all the food you give them after 5-6 days, then you can add more food (and slightly damp bedding with each feeding) I hope this helps!! If you have any more questions feel free to ask in the comments of any of my videos! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Enjoying the channel! I'm just a little curious, at the end you generally use a lot of bedding, do you mist the bed at any point or just let food create the moisture? I put bedding in after adding food but usually mist a little later. Thanks again for the info.
Great question!! In some of the early feedings I misted the top but I ended up getting liquid out of the bottom. I live in Florida and this is "outside" on my screened in porch lanai; so it is surrounded by the same high humidity as the outside air. Because of the zip up lid on this Urban Worm Bag it actually often has water dripping back on to the top surface. So after a few days all the bedding you see on top ends up being damp from all the moisture in the food I feed. There are time of the year that I do mist this bin but we have been having rain storms lately. Each climate and bin for that mater are different so if mistting is working for you keep it up! I'm glad you and a few others have asked this question; it lets me know I need to adress it in a future video! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
My worm tower is up and running, and they happily ate a frozen lettuce end. But then they went to the bottom and hid for over about a week. 🥺 They left the strawberry tops on the top layer.
That's fantastic!! Lettuce is definitely a fast food. Did the worms eat any of the red part of the strawberry top? The green part seems to take forever. The worms will take a while to get used to and find the boundaries of the worm tower, so they are probably doing a little exploring of thier surroundings. As long as you keep burying the food with some bedding they will find it & eat it up. As you see them eat all the food keep slowly increasing the amount you give them without overfeeding. Sound like you are off to a great start!! Thanks so much for watching Tiffany!!🪱🪱🪱
I would take them out then. There may have been something on them or something they don't like about them, like different kind of microbes that got a foothold on them that they don't prefer. Eventually, in a mature bin, anything put in will eventually dissapear, but in a newer bin I would take out any food that isn't dissapearing in the normal time frame just to be safe. We don't want any food to ferment or ammoniafy.
Do you ever add water to your uwb? Mine also being outside, I find the wind dries out the outer edges of the contents. Are you happy with the level of moisture you have in it? I've heard you should be able to squeeze out 1 drop of moisture, but I do like to run mine on the drier side, similar to yours. Always worry it's too dry.
I live in Florida where the outside air humidity smacks you in the face every morning you walk outside! So I generally don't have to add moisture to my UWB. Occasionally I mist it with mosquito dunks solution water to prevent fruit flies and gnats from infesting it, but in general I do not add water...except to my Outdoor Worm Bin where I constantly add lots of dry shredded cardboard to bulk it up. In that case I pour collected rain water over the top to let it run through the worm bin and into my garden. If you live in a dry windy climate, adding water is probably a smart thing to do! Just try not to add so much that it runs out of the bottom which can happen several days later. I prefer not to have swampy worm bins!! I hope this helps! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Buddy if go to your state farmers market they may have scraps that didn’t sale. You guys are going through strawberry season down there, should be plenty.
That is a great idea!! We do have several farmers markets around here if I run out of food scraps for them. Yes, the strawberries are amazing and cheap right now...The Stawberry festival just finished up too. I love seeing the rows and rows of strawberry plants in the strawberry fields as we drive through Plant City which is pretty close to where we live!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Yes, In moderation the worms will eat citrus and onion...a more mature bin will eat them faster as the microbiota within the bin is more abundant and diverse. I think the "rule" is out there because folks are afraid new worm bin owners will put a bunch in and overwhelm their worm bins...overfeeding any food is pretty common for beginners (myself include when I started) and onions just stink when they rot. Luckily citrus and other acidic foods don't have the same pH going in the worm (or humans) as they do coming out so no worries about it changing the pH of the bin but again overfeeding acidic food can be a problem! I hope this helps!! Can you imagine all the lemon peals and onions there would be left on earth if worms didn't eat them!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
After cracking and using the eggs, I give the egg shells a quick rinse then set them on my counter or out on our back lanai to dry off. Then I store them in a jar which I shake a little to break them up. When I need them I fill my magic bullet blender about 1/3rd of the way full with them and push the cup into activate the blender. I have used both the coffee bean/nut blade and the standard blade and they both work well. I keep grinding until the egg shells look almost powdery. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Здравствуйте! Я бы кофе не советовал, он имеет накопительный эффект и червь может начать дохнуть через несколько месяцев. Ещё на кофе разводится вредная для червя плесень, которая плохо пахнет! Будьте осторожны с этим продуктом! Вы большой молодец и удачи вам и вашим близким!
Спасибо за добрые пожелания!! Были ли у вас проблемы с использованной кофейной гущей? Пока у меня не было никаких проблем, но я буду искать любые проблемы. Большое спасибо за то, что поделились своими знаниями. Спасибо большое за просмотр!!
Great to finally be able to release this video!! The arm/shoulder post surgery is finally letting me spend more than 5 minutes a day on my videos!! Thanks so much for watching & for all your support!!🪱🪱🪱
Yes, going in it the bedding is super dry, but with the lid and the bin being outside in Florida the bedding is soaking wet after about a week! It took some trial and error before I realized I didn't need to wet the bedding or spray it down excdept for certain dry times of the year. Their are definately different climate and times of the year that wet newspaper on top and moistened bedding are perfect for a worm bin! Thanks so much for watching & for the tip!!🪱🪱🪱
Great question! It's just my verbage for the mass of dried, stuck together used coffee grounds that accumulate in the container I have right by my coffee maker to collect my used coffee grounds. The moisture slowly evaportes out of it and mold forms sticking it together. I usually shake the container up to break up the coffee grounds but this time around I put the whole thing in for the experiment! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Great question! I do shred a lot of our toilet paper and paper towel rolls, but it becomes a chore so I'm always trying to take the lazy way out with this particular bin! My other, smaller bins just get shredded cardboard rolls. Thanks so much for taking the time to ask a question I'm sure other folks have as well!! And of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Yep, they tend to shy away form it at first but after a week they are all over it! Been feeding them leftover lemons and rinds from my tree for years. The outer papery part of the onion takes awhile but they eventually get to all the food...Thankfully or the earth would be covered in rotting lemons and onions!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Good to be back!! I love getting big bags of coffee grounds for my compost from my local coffee shop! Thnaks for the well wishes, my shoulder/arm is slowly letting me do more activities! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Below are some of the items I use for vermicomposting & my channel's videos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you use these links. Thank you for supporting this channel!
Worm Bins I use:
Vermihut 5-Tray Worm Compost Bin amzn.to/3w15lQt
Urban Worm Bag V2 amzn.to/3XE9QsT
20 Gallon Fabric Grow Pots amzn.to/3EBYhdr
3 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck tote amzn.to/3eKDLhO
Other Worm Bins:
Worm Factory 360 3-Tray Version amzn.to/3AHnjqK
Worm Factory 360 5-Tray Version amzn.to/3tYfWY4
Bus bins amzn.to/3fd8AvP
Equipment I use:
12 Sheet Cross Cut Micro Shredder (I use it to shred cardboard) amzn.to/3xYZKYu
Magic Bullet Small Blender (to pulverize egg shells) amzn.to/3gwEzb4 or amzn.to/42SQ4w9 (with extra coffee bean & nut blade)
Indoor Outdoor Wireless Thermometer for worm bin amzn.to/3wIdXbO
Additional thermometer sensors 433 MHz amzn.to/41juD7v Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz
Additional thermometer sensors 915MHz amzn.to/3WTFgua Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz
Wrigglebrew Worm Casting Tea amzn.to/46PhV2A
Food Dehydrator amzn.to/3O5Uj2H
Mosquito Dunks 6 pack amzn.to/3Oe4Sl0 granular amzn.to/42KDtM0 or 20 pack amzn.to/42Br4Kf
Kitchen scale to weigh worms & food: amzn.to/3HnOQjg
Blue gloves amzn.to/3XsBg5n
Spray bottles to mist bedding amzn.to/3Fq23rN
Digital handheld Thermometer amzn.to/3EWfC2j
Compost Tea Bags amzn.to/3fCb5o1
Solar powered light amzn.to/3nOucAq
Reusable Keurig Coffee K-cups amzn.to/3FNXvt6
Other useful equipment for worm farming:
5 stackable sifter with different sized mesh: amzn.to/3S2k184
Cameras & camera equipment I use:
Insta 360 ace pro amzn.to/3vgdmR8
Flexible Tripod amzn.to/3CGTjcF
Insta360 GO 2 camera amzn.to/3oxCc80
Insta360 One X2 camera amzn.to/3nqV6hp
iPhone 13 Max Pro amzn.to/3nq52aU
Canon EOS Rebel T8i amzn.to/3HcBuX6
4 Ocean bracelets I wear
Multiple colors to chose from bracelets amzn.to/3HMbHEx
Books on worms & worm farming
Worms Eat My Garbage amzn.to/3L4FXN2
Where to buy worms: www.TheGardenAndWormLady.com
I'm with you on using cloth towels rather than using disposable paper towels 👍🏻 The system looks great - and now even better with that generous application of yummy foods & ample bedding :)
Thanks AV! Sometimes it's an uphill battle fighting the paper towel habit in my household😂 At least the worms can make use of them! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
:)
Nice to have you back Patrick! 👋
You sure need loads of bedding with that huge feeding.
I use a different approach: I just put the food on a double layer of newspaper, sprinkle the extras (chow, grit, coffee grounds etc.), wrap it all up and bury it half way into the feeding area. That way worms usually start from the bottom, then make *huge* worm balls. My wife hates to see that, but I love it. 😂
Cheers, have a great weekend!
Thank you Thomas!! That is a fantastic technique! I might have to give it a try on a video!! I love seeing the worms gather into big worm balls!! Autumn didn't like the worms at first...now I think she is their biggest fan!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
So many cranberries! 😂 I'm glad the coffee didn't heat up, I was definitely concerned that would be an issue. Always learning new things.
Glad you're back, Patrick! Hope you're healing well. Can't wait for more videos ♥️
Thank you Amber!! We may never see the end of those cranberries😂🤣😂 I think if I had wet down the coffee tower it may have heated up, but I thought it was at least going to at least give off some heat?!?? Luckily the shoulder/arm is better enough for me to work again on my videos I've already filmed, but I can't wait to be able film more. Thanks so much for the well wishes and of course for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey Patrick, sorry I'm late getting to this video. We had a big family weekend here blitzing getting our house ready to go on the market. That system of yours is like a bottomless pit! I'm just waiting to get over this cold before I do my deep dive on spent coffee grounds and worm bins. Please stay tuned!
~ Sandra
No worries Sandra!! That is a big undertaking for sure!! We had too many moves in my 20 years in the Air Force so I feel your pain! I'm really looking forward to hearing what you found on the coffee grounds, especially as one of the commentors mentioned coffee being bad for worms??!? Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick and Autumn, firstly, hope the healing is going well. Another good video. Wow, that is a lot of food for those worms. It will certainly keep them happy for a good while. The worms will be addicted to coffee by the time they get through the coffee tower. Loving your work, as always. Have fun, Mark : )
Thank you Mark!! The shoulder/arm are doing much better compared to the first days after surgery! I'm able to have the stamina to edit and type for longer periods of time now. I'm hoping they have made some pretty good progress on the coffee tower since I first filmed this video...I should get another good peek at it this week. Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
❤️🤘And He's back!! Hope all is well. I was thinking,everybody is starting a worm bin? They are going too keep there food? It is going too be competition!!😂
The more people compost, the better you and the planet 🌏 well be.💚✌️
I'm back!! The shoulder/arm is recovering slowly but as expected so I can't complain (but I have been...often). It is a double edged sword getting them into worm farming😂🤣😂 They are big suppliers of food scraps for my worms and my compost pile, but like you said, it's better for all of us the more people compost!! Thanks so much for watching Tory!!🪱🪱🪱
💚👍good too hear your still alive!! Not compost yet!!✌️
😂🤣😂 We'll all eventually end up there!!
Good morning, Patrick, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸
I hope you and Autumn are enjoying the end of our winter.
Wonderful feeding and I'm glad to see that you are recycling ♻️ those paper towels 👍♻️👍
Happy Vermicomposting
❤Peggy❤
Thank you Peggy!! Feeding the worms our paper towels is the oly thing that keeps me from crying about wasting all that money 😂🤣😂 Thanks so much for watching Peggy!!🪱🪱🪱
You always have tons of worms in your bins. Amazing.
Thank you Joe! It's so amazing to look back at what I stared with and see the populations now!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
As for the coffee grounds the worms like to get a buzz on too! They only indulge in the morning though, as they found any later than that keeps them up at night.😂
😂🤣😂 Luckily for them it's decaf as I brewed all the caffeine out of it to sustain life for me!! Thanks for the good laugh & thanks for watching Laura!!🪱🪱🪱
Welcome back.
Thnaks AJ!! Feels good to finally get this video out!!🪱🪱🪱
Welcome back! We missed you💚🪱🌱
Thank you!! It's great to be back and able to use my arm more after my shoulder surgery! We appreciate your support and well wishes!!🪱🪱🪱
Patrick, still spotting a few cranberries getting mixed up in the bedding. 😂
Wow that was a ton of paper towels, glad to see you added some additional shredded paper on to the top of the feeding. Any plan on adding some water to the top?
Those cranberries & taxes are the only sure things in life right now!! Believe it or not, with the humidity we have around here and the material the bin & lid is made of, all that bedding material became wet without me adding additional moisture! It's like a warm hug when you walk outside😂 Thanks so much for watching Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
Looking good! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you!! I appreciate you taking the time to watch Scot!!🪱🪱🪱
Because of your experience with the harvest from this bin, I am giving the worms in my CFT bin more broken down materials for bedding.
The bedding in the bin looks terrific.
Actually, you could possibly keep turning the contents of that bin until ready for harvest. The volume looks to be similar to my 50 gal grow bags.
One thing for sure you have a terrific worm population, think I will be adding more worms to the CFT bin next month.
For sure the worms were drawn below that feeding of coffee grounds, should be interesting to see what is left of that bolus of coffee.
Have you been on vacation, missed your routine videos.
Stay Well!!!!
Thanks Brian! I has shoulder surgery about 5 weeks ago and it really made it difficult to edit videos even though I had 3 videos in the hopper! I'm still 5-6 months from a full recovery but I can use the computer for more than 5 minutes at a time now! Been working on this video for 5 weeks!
With this Urban Worm Bag, I'm hoping to find the sweet spot of being able to put whole bigger pieces of food and bedding versus only shredds. I'm thinking if I do a good job of getting the material off the sides in the first 6-10 inches and slow down the harvests, I can make this a real garbage can/recycling bin type of wormbin...wishful thinking at this point, but I'm gonna keep experimenting! Your home made CFT & 50 gallon grow bag bins are amazing!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost So sorry to hear about the shoulder surgery. I think it is quite amazing what they can do these days. My sister in law and son in law both had shoulder surgery in the last week, one a complete replacement the other rotator cuff, bone spurs and something with a bicep ligament. Hope your recovery accelerates. Was hoping you were out traveling with your worm bin down the Amazon river or something.
You have so many worms in there, it looks like they are going through everything quite nicely. Your garbage can approach is working.
Stay Well my friend!!!
Now that would be fun traveling with the Tiny Traveling Worm Bin down the Amazon! I had a SLAP tear (the something with a bicep ligament you mentioned) I hope they have full and speedier recoveries as well!!
Glad you're back! How's the shoulder doing? I have a 5 tray vermihut, I would suggest your mom get the urban worm bag. I kind of wish I'd gotten that instead, but you are the expert. Seems much easier to get the castings? My worms don't seem to travel to other trays, even it I don't feed the upper tray. Even when I remove the lid for a couple of hours, encourage them to go down, they only go down to the bottom area, lol. Happily I do have a ton of healthy worms! I give them a lot of coffee grounds. It's just difficult to get to the castings. I live on the cool, humid, Oregon coast and my outdoor wormbin stays VERY moist! Thanks for the video!
Thank you!! The shoulder/arm is hanging in there...I can atleast work on my computer now for more than 5 minutes😁 It's a long recovery but I'm on track. I love my VermiHut and my Urban Worm Bag!! I say you get both!! The UWB is a little too big for my son & daughter-in-law's apartment and I don't trust my mom's mobility to get down to harvest and bend over to put things in it. But the gravity feed nature of the UWB helps with the imediate process; but I do still sift it with an empty tray of the VermiHut. I actually find the VermiHut to be super easy to harvest with the aggitation technique I use. If you aggitate then come back and scoop the top layer of castings off the worms will eventually go down below as thier space with castings gets smaller down to the tiniest thin layer on the tray. The worms always favor going up, so they won't travel down and stay down if you feed the lower trays but not the top tray. That is great it is producing so many worms for you!! That's great to hear that you give them lots of coffee grounds...I really need to start giving all my bins more coffee to keep up with me and Autumn's coffee drinking habits😂 Sounds like our humidity levels are similar on opposite sides of the country!! Thanks so much for watching Laura!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost Thanks so much for your comments! Hang in there with the shoulder, very frustrating, waiting for full recovery! I'm so jealous of your harvesting from your vermihut. I think I've watched all you videos! Mine is very wet (its outside under our deck), if I add more bedding it seems to take them too long to use it. I think I need to be more patient in waiting for the worms to go down even with agitating, lol. Awe, yes I was wondering about your mom's mobility. If this only issue was 'getting down under' you could make a sturdy table for her, but it sounds like it's more than that. So nice she saves her scraps for you. Yes, it would be nice to have both, but I don't think I want to invest in another one. Thanks too for the explanation on which way the worms prefer to go, that's very interesting as well. Keep up the PT. Thanks for your channel.
Yes, As Autumn will attest, I'm not a patient man but worm farming has taught me (some) patience😂🤣😂 Thank you so much for watching all of my videos!! Those first ones are hard for me to watch, but luckily I've learned some things about editing, lighting & sound to make it a little bit easier to watch my more recent ones!!
Long time no see good video as always
Thank you Ron!! I had shoulder surgery about 5 weeks ago and it's been tought to edit the videos I made...I should be back to being consistent from here on out! Thanks so much for watching and thanks for your support!!🪱🪱🪱
Yeah! You are back 👍🥂🎉🪱🪱🪱🪱
Yes!! I was actually working on the editing of this video for the last 6 weeks...just 5 minutes at a time!! The shoulder/arm is recovering enough for me to work longer on my computer but I still can't get into my bins like I want to!! Thanks so much for watching Ann!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost So glad you are recovering! The worms can wait. I bet their bins are loaded with new castings! 🪱🪱🪱🪱👍
Hi Patrick! Welcome back! One nice thing about the bigger systems is their ability to take large feedings and then let it run! Set and forget is a good thing ❤
Thank you!! I love set it and forget it...I've been doing a lot of that these last 6 weeks as my shoulder/arm recover!!
At first I thoug, oh good your shoulder is healed..... then i saw "late January", Hope all is going well.. WIll we see the executive producer soon? Have a great day.
"Healed" enough to finally finish editing this older video...I have 2 more I filmed before surgery that I have to edit and released before we "see" the Executive Producer! I'm still about 5 months away from being totally functional and 8-11 months away to being back to normal...Thanks so much for watching Mikko!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost sorry to hear it will take that long. I know the pain of physiotherapy , but it's worth all the pain.
Good worms🎉🎉 I think your last harvest was pretty good for how new the bag system is. 👍🏼🪱😃
Thanks Ann!! My next harvest should be really good with how long I've waited since the last harvest! These bag systems sure are fun to run!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Just got my urban worm bag a few weeks ago and the booklet it came with said to not feed citrus or onions due to acidity.
Since you are doing both, what are your true thoughts on this?
Glad you’re back!
Thank you!! Good to be back! Moderation is the key...the number one problem with new worm bins is overfeeding and overfeeding foods that are acidic can ferment or ammoniafy the contents of the bins before the worms, microbes & other critters can eat them. So the advice a lot of folks give is to avoid them entirely. But Earth would be full of citrus, onions & other forbidden foods if worms did not eat them! So I have found after my bins are established ( a few months) I start giving it to them in small amounts, I never give them a feeding entirely of citrus or onions. Here are some videos of me testing forbidden foods: ruclips.net/video/gewt_og8EfQ/видео.html & ruclips.net/video/6iY2mIEB3R8/видео.html Additionally, much like humans, what goes into a worms' fronts doesn't come out the back with the same pH...luckily for all of us😂 I hope you are enjoying your Urban Worm Bag as much as I am...it's a beast!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I purchased 100 worms and have first used shredded cardboard and coco coir, then after about 1week I fed chopped up blueberries, apples and peels, then added cut up newspapers and coco coir. I leave my bin open and none try to escape. My question is does newspapers prevent the worms from moving through the bedding? I am also noticing a mold smell. Will adding orange peels prevent that smell and is it normal to smell that? I was also told that not stirring up the bin consistently the bin will build up ammonia and suffocate my worms. Is this true? Should I add just ripped up or cut up cardboard instead of cut up or ripped up newspapers? Today I noticed a stronger odor after stirring yesterday or the day before. Is too much newspapers causing the smell of mold and not using cardboard? I appreciate your response and help. Thank you
Hi Carolyn! I think it might help to watch these short videos on setting up a new worm bin: ruclips.net/video/1IRP-Nu6_90/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/UsH3k92KhYg/видео.html The number one issue with new worm bins is over love/over feeding. For 100 compost worms, for the first week, I would feed just one strawberry top or one piece of lettuce leaf, frozen then thawed before you put it in. The worms need to be able to consume the food before it ferments or worse, releases it's nitrogen in the form of ammonia. This off-gassing will cause the worms to flee or may kill them. So first things first, feed very little at first to your worms. As they prove they can eat the food you give them, then you can increase the amount. I am not a big fan of paper or newspaper alone because it can mat down and prevent the worms from getting through it. If you mix it up with shredded cardboard then it works out better, but I like to use just shredded cardboard. So specifically for your situation right now I would, at a minimum, take out any remnants of food you can find in your bin and add more damp shredded cardboard. However, if you smell ammonia or fermenting smells, it is best to pluck out each worm and put them in a new bin with damp shredded cardboard and just one previously frozen strawberry top or one previously frozen lettuce leaf. Do not add any orange or orange peels for several months. Once you get things stabilized (by not feeding much at all) and the worms appear to be eating all the food you give them after 5-6 days, then you can add more food (and slightly damp bedding with each feeding) I hope this helps!! If you have any more questions feel free to ask in the comments of any of my videos! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Enjoying the channel! I'm just a little curious, at the end you generally use a lot of bedding, do you mist the bed at any point or just let food create the moisture? I put bedding in after adding food but usually mist a little later. Thanks again for the info.
Great question!! In some of the early feedings I misted the top but I ended up getting liquid out of the bottom. I live in Florida and this is "outside" on my screened in porch lanai; so it is surrounded by the same high humidity as the outside air. Because of the zip up lid on this Urban Worm Bag it actually often has water dripping back on to the top surface. So after a few days all the bedding you see on top ends up being damp from all the moisture in the food I feed. There are time of the year that I do mist this bin but we have been having rain storms lately. Each climate and bin for that mater are different so if mistting is working for you keep it up! I'm glad you and a few others have asked this question; it lets me know I need to adress it in a future video! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
My worm tower is up and running, and they happily ate a frozen lettuce end. But then they went to the bottom and hid for over about a week. 🥺 They left the strawberry tops on the top layer.
That's fantastic!! Lettuce is definitely a fast food. Did the worms eat any of the red part of the strawberry top? The green part seems to take forever. The worms will take a while to get used to and find the boundaries of the worm tower, so they are probably doing a little exploring of thier surroundings. As long as you keep burying the food with some bedding they will find it & eat it up. As you see them eat all the food keep slowly increasing the amount you give them without overfeeding. Sound like you are off to a great start!! Thanks so much for watching Tiffany!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost No, they aren't eating the strawberry tops. They're just rotting slowly
I would take them out then. There may have been something on them or something they don't like about them, like different kind of microbes that got a foothold on them that they don't prefer. Eventually, in a mature bin, anything put in will eventually dissapear, but in a newer bin I would take out any food that isn't dissapearing in the normal time frame just to be safe. We don't want any food to ferment or ammoniafy.
@@Vermicompost okay will do.
Do you ever add water to your uwb? Mine also being outside, I find the wind dries out the outer edges of the contents. Are you happy with the level of moisture you have in it? I've heard you should be able to squeeze out 1 drop of moisture, but I do like to run mine on the drier side, similar to yours. Always worry it's too dry.
I live in Florida where the outside air humidity smacks you in the face every morning you walk outside! So I generally don't have to add moisture to my UWB. Occasionally I mist it with mosquito dunks solution water to prevent fruit flies and gnats from infesting it, but in general I do not add water...except to my Outdoor Worm Bin where I constantly add lots of dry shredded cardboard to bulk it up. In that case I pour collected rain water over the top to let it run through the worm bin and into my garden. If you live in a dry windy climate, adding water is probably a smart thing to do! Just try not to add so much that it runs out of the bottom which can happen several days later. I prefer not to have swampy worm bins!! I hope this helps! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Buddy if go to your state farmers market they may have scraps that didn’t sale. You guys are going through strawberry season down there, should be plenty.
That is a great idea!! We do have several farmers markets around here if I run out of food scraps for them. Yes, the strawberries are amazing and cheap right now...The Stawberry festival just finished up too. I love seeing the rows and rows of strawberry plants in the strawberry fields as we drive through Plant City which is pretty close to where we live!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I see you breaking the rules and putting lemon and onions in your bin 😁 and the worms are ok with them
Yes, In moderation the worms will eat citrus and onion...a more mature bin will eat them faster as the microbiota within the bin is more abundant and diverse. I think the "rule" is out there because folks are afraid new worm bin owners will put a bunch in and overwhelm their worm bins...overfeeding any food is pretty common for beginners (myself include when I started) and onions just stink when they rot. Luckily citrus and other acidic foods don't have the same pH going in the worm (or humans) as they do coming out so no worries about it changing the pH of the bin but again overfeeding acidic food can be a problem! I hope this helps!! Can you imagine all the lemon peals and onions there would be left on earth if worms didn't eat them!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
How to you grinds the egg shells with the magic bullet?
After cracking and using the eggs, I give the egg shells a quick rinse then set them on my counter or out on our back lanai to dry off. Then I store them in a jar which I shake a little to break them up. When I need them I fill my magic bullet blender about 1/3rd of the way full with them and push the cup into activate the blender. I have used both the coffee bean/nut blade and the standard blade and they both work well. I keep grinding until the egg shells look almost powdery. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Здравствуйте! Я бы кофе не советовал, он имеет накопительный эффект и червь может начать дохнуть через несколько месяцев. Ещё на кофе разводится вредная для червя плесень, которая плохо пахнет!
Будьте осторожны с этим продуктом!
Вы большой молодец и удачи вам и вашим близким!
Спасибо за добрые пожелания!! Были ли у вас проблемы с использованной кофейной гущей? Пока у меня не было никаких проблем, но я буду искать любые проблемы. Большое спасибо за то, что поделились своими знаниями. Спасибо большое за просмотр!!
@@Vermicompost Проблемы были и этот опыт я делал несколько раз, поэтому предупредил!
Спасибо за предупреждение!!
@@Vermicompost Спасибо и вам, что смотрите!
The 🪱 🐐 ! 💚
Thank you!! I really appreciate your support expressed in emojis!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks for everything you teach us!💚🪱
My pleasure!!
🙏🔥🙏
Great to finally be able to release this video!! The arm/shoulder post surgery is finally letting me spend more than 5 minutes a day on my videos!! Thanks so much for watching & for all your support!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost hope you recover quickly. Get a good protein shake powder
Yes!
It's too dry. Wet newspaper on top?
Yes, going in it the bedding is super dry, but with the lid and the bin being outside in Florida the bedding is soaking wet after about a week! It took some trial and error before I realized I didn't need to wet the bedding or spray it down excdept for certain dry times of the year. Their are definately different climate and times of the year that wet newspaper on top and moistened bedding are perfect for a worm bin! Thanks so much for watching & for the tip!!🪱🪱🪱
What is a coffee tower?
Great question! It's just my verbage for the mass of dried, stuck together used coffee grounds that accumulate in the container I have right by my coffee maker to collect my used coffee grounds. The moisture slowly evaportes out of it and mold forms sticking it together. I usually shake the container up to break up the coffee grounds but this time around I put the whole thing in for the experiment! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost Ok, makes sense! 🙂
Why don’t you shred the toilet paper rolls?
Great question! I do shred a lot of our toilet paper and paper towel rolls, but it becomes a chore so I'm always trying to take the lazy way out with this particular bin! My other, smaller bins just get shredded cardboard rolls. Thanks so much for taking the time to ask a question I'm sure other folks have as well!! And of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Worms dont like leemon, onion...
Yep, they tend to shy away form it at first but after a week they are all over it! Been feeding them leftover lemons and rinds from my tree for years. The outer papery part of the onion takes awhile but they eventually get to all the food...Thankfully or the earth would be covered in rotting lemons and onions!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Worm bin mohers day 🎁👌👍🪱❤️
😂🤣😂
Hi Patrick glad you're back 💪👌, i got my first big bag of coffee grounds, not used it yet.🪱💩👍👌💪
Good to be back!! I love getting big bags of coffee grounds for my compost from my local coffee shop! Thnaks for the well wishes, my shoulder/arm is slowly letting me do more activities! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
The worms have broken down the bedding and food Scap’s nice🪱🇳🇿
Thank you!! They are doing good work for us for sure!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱