Coffee & Compost: Blending or Pureeing Food Waste for the Worm Bin
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 21 июл 2024
- A reader told me she pureed her food waste, but also has mites in her worm bin. We'll connect the dots as to why that's happening in this short Coffee & Compost episode.
Хобби
Most gardening channels say do this or don't do that. But you go further and say why. Thank you for helping people make more informed choices.
Agree with the comments, Steve; SUPER HELPFUL!!Look forward to future content.
Just starting two bends and this was very helpful. makes good since , thanks for your time and sharing the info.
Thanks Leo! Glad I could help. :)
I blend, leave sludge to drain, then smear sludge which is now oatmeal consistency into silicone cube mold and freeze. I can more easily manage my moisture content with these small cubes.
Greetings from arctic Norway. I can pick peat moss direct from the ground here, so its all fresh. I find that moss to be perfect hydrated. I dont add water at all. I dont pick more than necessary as a basic medium. When i feed with food scraps i always put more beddings and dry mix. In that way i keep my bin dry as possible. I had mites before, and learned the hard way. I do what you said in the video and works perfectly for me too.
Hi Steve.
I've got something similar to the worm tower 360. A few weeks back a few too many changes at once.
I have a lot of greens in my garden this year.
I took a bucket lid, cut a 10cm x 10cm hole in it & plastic welded a wire mesh that has a grid of wires 2.5mm apart.
I chopped all my greens up (spinach, lettuce & cabbage), added shredded news paper, cardboard, coffee & let is decompose for a week & stops heating up. I Used this as bedding.
I liquidised the rest of the food, & added ground up egg shells.
I added the food & new bedding to my bin & within a day my bin turned anaerobic & filled with fungus Nats I've now gone back to chopping my food up with a double bladed herb knife which has cured my anaerobic problem. My composted bedding I now cover with coco coir which has reduced my gnat problem but can't seem to get totally rid of the Fuckers even after I started over with cleaning my bin, adding new food & bedding.
I don't want to add these gnats to my vegetable patch so I need to nuke my castings before adding them which kills a lot of microbes.
Does anyone have a brainstorm Idea of totally ridding these fuckers that cling to your bin like a wet fart clings to your ass?
The example of the 20 gal of water with the hose all at once i.e. (lol waterboarding the worms.)
I have blended (pureed) my scraps for my UWB's every since I got them. So my bags do run on the wet side. And in order to blend the scraps I actually have to add water to get it going! Before I add it to the bags, however, I mix it with aged horse manure (dry) or paper scraps (dry). Alternatively I let it set out in a mortar tray and an angle to let it drain for a while. (I scoop out the liquid and put in the garden.) I have had gnats previously, but not mites. One problem I see with this is not having a lot of bulk in the bags like I see in others and also the compost is rather compact.
Yep...more confirmation of things taught to me in the past by Bentley. Great stuff!
Very interesting! I do puree frozen, thawed food scraps. However, I discard the water from the thawed food before blending. I also add coffee grounds to this mixture. I don't have mites, but maybe I'm just lucky.
Brilliant points! Thank you
Very educational, I'll be back for more of this info.👍🙂👊
Brilliant That’s The First Time I’ve Heard It And That Makes Common Sense.Thank You
You got it! Thanks!
Good afternoon ~
Thank you for your suggestion of adding more shredded paper or cardboard. My worm bed has gotten way too wet lately. I tried leaving it open to help dry out but now have maggots on the top from opening it up and letting it dry out.
I will try to scoop out maggots and place them in a bucket and put more cardboard and shredded paper content.
First time listening to your site. Won’t be last.
Kurt
Thanks for the suggestions. I usually put my food scraps in the blender, freeze them, thaw, drain off the excess moisture, and add coffee grounds and ground egg shells to my worm bins (once a week or so). This works pretty well and doesn't add too much moisture to the bins.
I do the same! :-D
Absolutely, I also put my blended unfrozen scraps on a strainer to drain for an hour. Helps if you "saute" motion the strainer to release moisture. I'm left with a wet pulp and always mix with newspaper
Luckily I was looking for information on mites in vermicompost. After hearing this information I won't be chopping up my worm food anymore 😅 I enjoy your way of delivering 20 gallons of water, exceptionally helpful 🤩 Thanks for sharing!
You got it Gmama!
Super helpful, I will forget looking for a meat grinder, haha. All the different bulky food waste provides structure over time.
Good point Steve. Really liked the water quantity analogy. Video quality was much better.
Great explanation
Thanks so much!
My worm bin is a wooden flow-though design. I only add enough water to create a slurry that my blender can process efficiently. The climate here is hot and dry. Any excess water simply drops down into the bedding in the lower levels and gets absorbed or evaporated through the wooden walls. If you go crazy with the water content, it just ends up in the leachate tray, which you can simply dilute and toss in an unused patch of your garden to naturally mature.
I have a little food processor that minces the food for my worms and I never need to add water to my bins. I top with dry paper and it sups up excess moisture. So far that works real well for them, not too soggy, not too dry!
I also do it in the same way here in Austria....and it works very good ! Best regards Brigitte
Thanks for doing this!
In yesterday’s test run, you said you don’t grind eggshells for grit for your worms. What do you do instead?
It's funny, you were talking about the moisture content of fruits and veg as I was drinking a fruit smoothie from a VitaMix. I blended a loosely packed salad bowl worth of greens into it and it was responsible for perhaps half of the moisture content. We're talking greens, not a piece of fruit. Spot-on analysis.
Thanks Willie! :)
I wished I have came across this video sooner as I’ve decimated nearly 3/4 of my worm population in my bin doing this. I thought there is enough worm in the bin to finish up the food in 2-3 days but it turn out the puréed food just turn into a block of anaerobic mess and heating up the bin causing the worm to escape the bin and commit suicide.
Sorry about this Daniel! And yes...the quick water release can cause a stinky mess in a hurry.
Thanks for this info I have mites in mine worm bin but and opened the bottom to help dry it out a bit.
Please add action items on how to fix these problems when you do these videos so the Urban Worm Community can follow along. I will add more shredded news papers to hold and dry out other excess water. Look like the top had condensation as well
One vlog I watched said, Use a light sprinkling of dolomite with you wash ìn it increases the Ph but stops flies millipeds and the like breading in your bed Garden lime is bad for the worms But a light sprinkling of crushed dolomite is OK
Good morning Steve, I think an important aspect of mites, in addition to the moisture content is, sugar content. I have always pureed food for my worm bag but never a mite issue. I always add dry bedding. The moisture level in the bag stays around the "goldilocks" level. I got lazy a few weeks ago and threw in some quartered apples. The next week when I checked to see if the worms needed to be fed the apples were covered in mites. I really don't consider them a problem . Here's a question; in a closed system how do the mites get in the bag? Thanks, Gayla
YES I agree that if you add blended food (not soupy, just well cut up veg scraps) then you just add enough dry bedding at the same time to absorb the new moisture then there's no mite problem. I dig out an area of bedding, add a layer of new dry bedding (say shredded paper), then put a layer of existing bedding, then the new blended food, then cover w/older bedding. That way any moisture drips right down into the new dry bedding. Yes I'd also like your question answered about where do the mites come from in a closed bin system. The only thing I've heard is that mites are already everywhere, and there are many different kinds of mites. I suppose the moisture just supports a noticeable explosion in their growth.
Thank you very much ❤
Thank you for your helpful videos, i have a question can i put bedding, peat moss, wood powder, chicken manure, and shredded cardboard,
Red mites are the only mites that will attack worms. Other mites reportedly do not. Neem oil treatment containing a bit of dishwashing liquid and water, emulsified by mixing and sprayed onto dry cover bedding. Good to kill off other undesirables like fungus gnats as well.
Ground food juices are full of VALUABLE, editable content. Add dry carbon sources to soak it up till the balance of 60% moisture is reached. I don't waste a drop.
If there is standing liquid, drain it off using a sieve. Alternatively, the bin can be dumped out onto a towel to sop up as much as possible then continue...
To combat a bin with too high a moisture content, take an pulp, egg carton and put it at the bottom of the bin, on the feed end if you use the wedge system, and block the opposite end - raising that end of the bin by a couple inches. Exchange carton as needed until desired moisture content is reached. Anything worm compatible, dry and absorbent will suffice. Even a brick can be used.
Due to the nature of the worm bin, especially an outdoor bin, other life will find their way into it. Most are helpful in the process of breaking down material but a few can be harmful to the worms.
You can chop it up in a blender and sieve out the liquid but don’t throw it away water your out door plants with it. Dilute it a bit and water your rose bushes. Put it in your out door compost etc…..
Your video is rocking compared to yesterday...nice job...Thank You
Not reliant on the WiFi keeping up! :)
After grinding your food waste into a semi-solid liquid state, pouring it into your soil & mixing, how long do we wait before applying your homemade compost soil to your plants?
Hey Steve like d way u hv been changing the mug from one hand to d other. 😅
I aim to please Sandy!
I like blending up my food scraps. I dry it up by adding cornmeal, flour and oatmeal so they have a worm chow and veggie scraps. I'm very lucky that there are no mites or fungus gnats. I'd be mortified to have fungus gnats take up shop, they never leave.
Yeah I've been lucky to avoid them too. I tend to hear about them from folks in warmer weather climates than we have here in Philly.
Puree then spread out on a tray to loose most of moisture then add to bin.
Any advice on how to get rid of mites? I tried adding. Neem leaf powder and it wiped out 90% mites in a day and I thought they were gone. After 1 were they are getting back slowly. NEEM leaf powder did not kill the worms.
tyvm
Interesting that in this video Steve's opinion is that people generally are operating their bins too wet.
My first reaction viewing one video after another was that I'd never seen so many dry worm bins and that their worms would be a lot happier if their bins were a lot wetter. In fact, in practically every type, size and design of bin I'd ever done, without any exception I found that worms always graitated to wetter portions of the bin unless there was something else that attracted them (primarily food). I'd also run a few bins so wet that there was standing water and I saw worms actually prefer to go swimming instead of crawling up out of the water.
So, I'm curious what reason Steve thinks a bin should be run on the drier side (certainly not sopping wet). At least one person prefers drier compost so she can sift the compost more easily. But that is because her bins are simple trays and she's manually separating worms and cocoons from the castings. In a flow-through system or a system where you migrate worms to different parts of the bin, there's less need to manually separate castings, the worms can be coaxed to go somewhere else and leave castings for harvesting.
BTW - Aside from that curious comment, I'd say that everything in this video, I'd say that everything else in this video is consistent with what I have found correct...
I purée food but mix it with shredded cardboard and put all in a container so the moisture doesn’t drain into the bedding. It acts like a bait trap. I know when the worms are finished. Wait a few days and then give more.
Also I watched a vermitote video about moisture. This fellow has informative videos but at one point mentioned the urban worm bag as a closed system which if closed water will condense and become trapped in the bag. Is this true? I thought the urban worm bag was breathable material.
Thanks, nancy
That's a brilliant idea using the container. I'm new to this reality; I haven't even fed them yet.
Thanks fir the great info..
And btw coffee drains a lot of vital electrolytes from our body..
God bless
If true, I have drained a LOT of electrolytes out of my body! 😄
Can you blend kitchen scraps and put it around your plants then covered it with soil to prevent flies?
I don't think I would apply kitchen scraps directly to your plants. I think you would be attracting rodents and large critters
I’m starting worm compost. I live in the Caribbean and we are in the mangos season. My worms love mangos and there are tons of mangoes on the streets. Can I froze them and feed the worms with them later. Can I feed them just with mangos until the season ends?
I see lots of videos of frozen stuff being fed to the bin, im gonna try it on my side, il be back in a week and give and update
What's optimal moisture level
So, if you have a dried out bin then a feeding of pureed food would help with improving the moisture, yes?
Maybe....but if the material gets too dry, then it becomes hydrophobic so a pureed mixture would not be absorbed by the vermicompost. However, if you've gotten that dry, then you would likely have a languishing worm population.
Try running a few paper bags through a shredder and add it to the mix to soak up any excess moisture. Cross-cut shredders work best, turns grocery bags into paper nibblets..
Hi Sir, been keeping worm bin, built one based on the hungry bin, i wanted to know how i would know that i need to add water to my bin? or do i ever need to?
With regular feedings, you probably shouldn't have to add water unless you live in a very dry area. Most food wastes have over 85% water content but your vermicompost itself should have about 70%. If you add in dry bedding, you should be able to balance out the moisture well with water being needed only to counter the evaporation if that makes sense.
Are you able to feed your Red Wigglers Bokashi composter? Using spent brewery grains to feed my Red wigglers.
What if you have holes on the bottom of your bin does that relieve the problem?
It relieves the worst of the problems, yes. You still could have lots of worms hanging out in the bottom of the bin, but if you're using a Rubbermaid/tote setup, then you have to separate the worms anyways, so I guess it's a moot point. :)
Is that a 1 liter cup of coffee???
Probably #2 of 3 liter cups that morning, Francisco!
Does all the bedding material get converted into worm casts I suppose it must do but not hundred % sure
Hey Mark,
Yes....sort of. Beddings like peat moss, coco coir, aged horse manure, paper, and cardboard can be expected to be processed. But other materials like wood chips (which are technically bedding) would not be expected to be fully processed.
Also, for a bin like the Urban Worm Bag, the very initial base layer bedding would likely exit the bottom of the bag mostly unprocessed. But you can always put it back into the top of the bin. It's still excellent material.
Hello, what about all these issues AND compost level in bin seems to be shrinking? Add compost in?
You'll need more material, especially bulkier bedding material!
·what about corn cobs? Will the worms use them as is?
Timbo, they'll eat whatever they can off of the cob, but I would not expect the cob to break down in a worm bin for a loooong time.
Very very true..if you have a abundance of mites your doing it wrong
I have had mites, I don’t any more. I once had gnats, I no longer do. The worms stay, the others don’t.
Are mites dead.y for worms and product? Or just a nuisance?
Normally just a nuisance, but they are known to attack struggling worms.
I juice so I started placing my veggie/fruit scraps from juicer into the bin. There not a lot of juice in scraps.
I disagree! There's probably not much water in scraps that have already been juiced. But most people aren't getting the liquid out first.
@@UrbanWormCompany your right Steve, there little water, however these compost faster, and I regulate when and how water I may need to add into my compost bin. I vlog people were adding smoothies which as you know has a lot of liquid. I get the juice the bin gets the scraps.
I have purchased 6 worm beds from a gentleman. Already has worms and active. Concern is it also has roaches. ROACHES help what do I do?
Eesh....roaches are tough. I'd say to remove manually. You might try food grade diatomaceous earth as well!
@@UrbanWormCompany Will do. Thanks!
Steve, I added bananas, beets, n carrots to my nutri-bullet n pureed my worms food, then plopped it out in 2 corners, the worms didn't want to touch the mix, n seemed stressed by it, when feeling the mix, and would pull back from it. I put a couple worms on the mix, and they got sluggish, n almost died, or died. Help, please. -Thanks - Rob
Sorry for the ;late reply, Rob. Make sure that whatever the volume of food waste you're adding to your bin, add twice that in the volume of bedding!
I’ve never wasted time on purées & chopping finely. Why bother? My Worm cafe is thriving.
What's more the food doesn't get the time to grow as many microbes before getting sucked in by the worms.
I puree my food and add water cause their soil is just so .... bad? Dry? Their soil needs compost and moisture.
I trap the mice and the fox eats them.
Uh...uhh...umm...ummm..smack...uh...umm SMACK.... uh...ummm...smack...smack...uhh
Thanks for watching Jason! I hope you’ll approve of the improved quality in my more recent videos.
Why do you hold your head sideways?
What do you care?
As a new viewer I have 2 recommendations. 1) Do not stream and 2) keep your videos under 10 minutes. Every RUclips maker will say they have a "short" vid but then drone on for 20- 30 minutes! And as for streaming, I have yet to see one under an hour, a lot go 90 minutes! Respect your viewers time. Thanks!
Thanks Chris. This is a 6-minute video though?
omg, 6 mins on a fineness of worm food? puhleease humans, humans! quit dragging your knuckles. I'm having a hard time finding a reason besides music to keep your species around.
It's not the fineness of worm food Nicole! It's the management of the moisture which makes all the difference in most worm bins
Yeesh. If it was too much for you, speed up the video. Or scroll on by. Dude isn’t forcing you to stay. 🤦♀️ better ways to get your point across human, or better yet, learn from thumpers dad. If you can’t say anything nice don’t say anything at all. This world is so negative. No one cares about your feelings. Move on. My my 🤦♀️
@@UrbanWormCompany no need to defend yourself. That was so uncalled for. Suggestions are one thing…that was just downright gross.
No need to be so rude. Fine, you don’t like the length of the video, that’s all that’s required. Won’t watch or sub your channel lady.
Enjoyed your video as I am just getting started doing this and it really helped drive home some of the basics.