Odjob
Well-Known Member
I try to use anything that will rot and get eaten. Hopefully I'll end up with what a plant likes best.
Wormcasting
- Thread starter Virandell
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greenjeans
Well-Known Member
That is why I got hold of the alfala pellets - I see that all the soil recipies call for alfalfa meal so I figured if the worms eat it first it should be ready to go!! Same for the seaweed - I'm hoping it is somewhat like kelp??!!?? And anything that is plant based - in it goes!!!
I am going to make some of Emilyas fermented dandelion fertilizer but now I'm thinking I should try a few bins concentrating on dandelions.
I am going to make some of Emilyas fermented dandelion fertilizer but now I'm thinking I should try a few bins concentrating on dandelions.
Kelp is one of the brown seaweeds, but there are many others that are very beneficial to our gardens. Seaweeds
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
I should probably clarify that my "seaweed" is actually a fresh water pond weed - actually "Coontail" I think.
Ah, OK. That won't have all of the trace elements found in seaweeds and sea water, but probably has some good stuff nonetheless.
Odjob
Well-Known Member
I have lots of beach wrack available to me and lately I've been wondering about heavy metals and other stuff. It comes in on the tides and storms. There was a time when it was virtually clean, it's almost heartbreaking the amount of garbage and shit in it today.
I hear ya. Kind of like the warnings on eating too much tuna. And don't get me started on the Japanese dumping their excess stored radioactive cooling water from their nuclear plant disaster a few years back.
Odjob
Well-Known Member
I'm not well versed at anarobic composting. One thing I do is fill a bag with scraps and and throw it in the corner of the bin. When it turns to wet slime I feed it to the pile. They gravitate to it right away. I also soak it with nettle tea and go by the stink. I listened to a podcast lately wich said homemade casting where inferior...... near gaged me. 
There seem to be both aerobic and anaerobic microbes in my worm bin. The bottom of the bin, especially in a nearly finished one, is mucky, wet, and dense. Certainly not much aerobic activity there. But I use those castings to help break down some Jadame fertilizers I make with various things and it works better than leaf mold soil and LAB.
Kind of surprised me actually as I figured the aerobic microbes would all die in the water ferment but the anaerobic ones must have taken over and went to town.
Can you point me to a link? I'm always interested in hearing more about that process.I also soak it with nettle tea and go by the stink. I listened to a podcast lately wich said homemade casting where inferior...... near gaged me.
It dependents on what you feed the worms both for food and bedding. Most home gardeners just use kitchen scraps which are mostly water. I was listening to a podcast with Clackamas Coot and he described his worm bin and what he felt went into making superior castings.
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
Hey guys - Do you think it is better, when you are starting over after processing a bin, to fill it to the top with bedding - paper, leaves, whatever - or adding a little at a time. Do they wander all over?? I have been adding a slurry of alfalfa pellets as a supplement. They love it.
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
I guess that whatever they are eating would change what they put out so it makes some sense. That's why I add alfalfa pellets.
When I harvest a bin, I try to separate the worms and add them and a little bedding at the bottom of the new bin. Then I progressively fill the new one with vegetative matter and kitchen scraps until it gets full. I add a fresh layer of kitchen scraps and cover that with a thin layer of leaves.
I know some people fill the bin with bedding and then bury the scraps in a grid pattern over time but I just dump the stiff in, spread it to an even layer, add my leaf layer and call it good. My bins stack and the worms are free to move up and down through the holes in each bin.
Clackamas Coot uses his castings as a third of his mix, and he runs all of his amendments (neem meal, basalt rock dust, alfalfa meal, malted barley, etc) through the worm bin first.
Odjob
Well-Known Member
Coot is top notch, the podcast i referred to is industrial based and on working horse turd for profit. I've never seen neem but I have soak them with home brew, I wonder if they got loaded. My comfrey is out of control already and going in. Just one big sloppy happy mess!
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
This is the first year that I've really got serious about this. I think I will make another tumbler for my trommel using 1/2 inch mesh. The 1/4'' mesh makes really nice stuff but I think it is being way too fussy. If the material is the least bit wet, which it always is, my return is maybe about 20% - what doesn't get thru the mesh goes back in to keep working but is a lot of shoveling.
The trommels work best with dry material and that's how the castings producers make it. Often in a "bottomless" bin which allows the castings to dry and then get scraped off.
I think there is more value in castings that haven't dried out so I use them fresh. Harvesting is a different process that doesn't lend itself all that well to sorting or screening except by hand.
I think there is more value in castings that haven't dried out so I use them fresh. Harvesting is a different process that doesn't lend itself all that well to sorting or screening except by hand.
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
I've tried just about everything and this trommel is so fun to use!!! Hardly any worms get thru altho I think the 1/2" will allow more but no big deal - They are probably getting ahead of me now. With 8 bins I'm not going back...
Did you build it yourself, or is it a commercial version?I've tried just about everything and this trommel is so fun to use!!! Hardly any worms get thru altho I think the 1/2" will allow more but no big deal - They are probably getting ahead of me now. With 8 bins I'm not going back...
And 8 bins! That's some serious worming going on! I've got three, 7 gallon totes that I cycle between. If I were ever to rebuild it I'd probably add one more, but 8?! Wowsa.
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
Didn't even have to go to town to get stuff - scrounged up everything... I love it when that works out!!!
I've made some tweaks since, added wheels and more rollers to hold the belt tight - it is sooo quiet. I have another drum like that so I want to try the 1/2" mesh - it also does a good job on leaf mold and soil. Changing drums would take less than 5 minutes.
And yes, I believe I got carried away with eight bins but I don't know how to stop the worms!!!
This is my first time trying compost tea - I just throw a few tomato canfuls in a five gallon pail and stir from time to time and cut it, usually, 1/2 n 1/2 with rain water. Someone mention that it would go Anaerobic - how would I tell?? Seems OK so far.
That's awesome! Do you have a 'how-to' by chance?
When you try to brew them either aerobically with an airstone, or anaerobically without, you really don't know which microbes you are growing. For all you know, it could be the bad ones. You'd have to look at it under a microscope and be trained to know what you're looking at to tell.
Plus, unless you're growing in dwc, the microbes that outcompete the others while in your bucket are not the ones that would thrive in coco or soil, so you're changing something that was built for soil to your disadvantage. And the microbes are supposed to double every 20 minutes in an ideal set-up so it doesn't take long for the out-competers to get the upper hand.
I use my castings a few different ways. They are 6.25% of my mix and they are mixed into equal parts of charred wood to make biochar. I also put a 1" or so layer on top of my soil which then gets covered with mulch. And then I use it as an innoculant when I water with my organic plant fertilizers by throwing a tablespoonful or two into a gallon of water. I usually put that through a wire mesh strainer to screen out the stuff that hasn't broken down all the way.
I also use them as a seed soak and to inoculate the soil I'm going to put the seed in from 'damping off' disease, and as a catalyst to speed the breakdown of my Jadam fertlizers.
This really is good stuff!
Ha ha. They are self-regulating based on bin size and available food. But you already knew that. Come on. Admit you have a problem. You may be a worm horder!
Honestly, unless you are trying to multiply your castings, and with 8 bins I'm guessing that's really not an issue for you, you'd be better off just mixing them in water and using them right away. Doing it this way, the water is simply a carrier to distribute the existing microbes.This is my first time trying compost tea - I just throw a few tomato canfuls in a five gallon pail and stir from time to time and cut it, usually, 1/2 n 1/2 with rain water. Someone mention that it would go Anaerobic - how would I tell?? Seems OK so far.
When you try to brew them either aerobically with an airstone, or anaerobically without, you really don't know which microbes you are growing. For all you know, it could be the bad ones. You'd have to look at it under a microscope and be trained to know what you're looking at to tell.
Plus, unless you're growing in dwc, the microbes that outcompete the others while in your bucket are not the ones that would thrive in coco or soil, so you're changing something that was built for soil to your disadvantage. And the microbes are supposed to double every 20 minutes in an ideal set-up so it doesn't take long for the out-competers to get the upper hand.
I use my castings a few different ways. They are 6.25% of my mix and they are mixed into equal parts of charred wood to make biochar. I also put a 1" or so layer on top of my soil which then gets covered with mulch. And then I use it as an innoculant when I water with my organic plant fertilizers by throwing a tablespoonful or two into a gallon of water. I usually put that through a wire mesh strainer to screen out the stuff that hasn't broken down all the way.
I also use them as a seed soak and to inoculate the soil I'm going to put the seed in from 'damping off' disease, and as a catalyst to speed the breakdown of my Jadam fertlizers.
This really is good stuff!
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
Oh Gawd - if it was only worms!!!!!!You may be a worm horder!
I'm going to try just putting it straight in the water. I don't notice any smell or anything from the tea but putting a scoop in each time is no problem.