Do Red Wigglers Love Vegetable Powder? Plus Grow Out Bin Feed and Refresh
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- Hello! I’ve started introducing my homemade vegetable powder more and more into my worm bins. This last feed I gave them ONLY vegetable powder as their food source. How did it go?? Come along and see for yourself ❤️
Many of my bins need sifting and bedding refreshment/replacement so I do a bit of that too 😎.
Please like and subscribe to help me grow my channel and get the word out to lots more worm keepers that there’s new ways to do things!
Thanks for all your support 🪱❤️🪱.
Yours in the dirt,
Jayne
#worms #redwigglers #vermicompost #composting
Ordered my sifters! Thanks for the tip! And I have a dehydrator so I’ll make dry food for my worries and save space in the freezer! Thank you!
Excellent on all counts! The sifters are great! Hold up really well to daily use. The only thing I wish was different and I don’t know how to change it is the seam where the sifter and mesh meet. Little worms crawl in there and are impossible to get out. Or at least I haven’t come up with a good idea on that yet! Anyway, they won’t come out and the dry out and….death. Grr.
Dehydration is a great tool! Some don’t like using the electricity for worms but ultimately it’s for us right? And using the tool and electricity for our benefit is why we bought the dehydrator to begin with, right?! So I say use it!😆😊❤️🪱
😂 Good evening my fellow worm friend from Jesus and me!
Thought you might like to know the following.
I have a gas stove and have been dehydrating fruit and vegetable bits and pieces and peelings and chopped melon rinds in it. I set the temperature at 200°F for a few hours until everything is dried out completly.
I use parchment paper on the cookie sheets then put the food on that. I also reuse the parchment paper MANY times.
I want to find out how to calculate the cost for having the oven on for an hour.
Thank you ever so very much for sharing all you have learned over the years (and are continuing to learn) with all of us. I am very thankful for your shared wisdom!
Hello Victoria! Thank you! I love hearing what you’re doing and it’s fantastic that it can help others decide what to do too 👍.
I do have some insight into what you’re doing as I do similar things as well 😊.
I want to clarify that you’re not technically dehydrating the foods. You’re cooking them. That’s not bad! It’s just different and means different reactions are happening that effect storage in particular. Cooking starts at 170F, which is why standard ovens do not allow temperatures below that. I have a gas stove too (love it!) and my lowest temp is 175F. My dehydrator highest temp is 165F. Cooking also breaks down fibers making digestion easier/faster, which is what we’re also doing by freezing and thawing foods for the worms. Dehydration doesn’t breakdown fibers per se. It’s main benefit is shelf stable storage.
I look forward to hearing from you how the storage of the items you cooked (🤗) last without molding. Now of course the worms love mold so that’s not an issue of itself but you may not want to store moldy foods. If your cooking did remove enough water you can try powdering it so it takes up less storage space. I’d also toss in some moisture absorber packs too. I use them in my dehydrated veggie powder also.
I also use and reuse parchment paper many times! It’s handy stuff 👍.
Thank you again for sharing what you’re doing! Again, what you’re doing is perfectly fine for making worm food. You’ll just have to see how it works for longer storage if you’re trying to accomplish that. ❤️🪱🪱
Oh, for calculating costs. I did it for dehydrating and posted that on this thread (I think!).
Google your stove gas usage rate. If you have a named brand the info should be available. From there you can run the numbers, plugging in your gas cost per unit for the time used. Let us know!!
@@RockinWorms Good afternoon my new worming friend from Jesus and me!
I am actually dehydrating the peelings etc. because I set the oven at 235 and let them go till crisp. Then I let them cool and process into powder. So far I've had no problems with storage in large plastic jars with tight fitting lids.
@@RockinWorms Thanks for the tip on calculating gas stove costs. Will be trying that sooner rather than later.
@@vickibee8451 I’m glad it’s working! This info can help others that don’t have a dehydrator 👍❤️. It’s still cooking because the temp is above 170F but that doesn’t mean it’s not drying the food out too. I have to heat wheat bran at 200F for 20-30 minutes to dry out and kill grain mites before adding the wheat bran into my mealie bins. It’s cooking and drying at the same time. Dehydration in a dehydrator does not cook food. It only removes the water. Fortunately as this food is for worms it really doesn’t matter. The important part is finding an easy way to shelf store excess foods for later use and you’ve done that! Excellent! ❤️🪱🪱
For egg shells ask McDonald's or other fast rood breakfast places that maysepate the shells before tossing in garbage. I pick up shells and coffee grounds right after the breakfast run with manager permission
@@GidgeLudwig Great idea Gidge! It’s always worth the ask if you have that type of place near by or on route when running errands. Thanks for sharing that tip! 🥰🤩🪱
I need help. I just started a small 3 worm bins. With about 400 red wrigglers each. I was keeping them in the house with temp about 78degrees. I had to be taken to the hospital , diagnosed with pneumonia and E. coli and left lung. My daughter hauled my worms on the rheumatoid arthritis porch. Told me to get rid of them! No way, I fixed their bins and they are ok. I just have to leave them on the porch. I have been trying to keep them cool. So far it’s been 88 to 91. Is this too hot for them, and is there any thing else I can do. I want to keep them.😂I live in Vero Beach Florida.
Can u dehydrate veggies in the oven 3:25
@@susanodonnell3236 Hi Susan. Technically any temperature above 170F is cooking, not dehydrating. One person here has a setting that is 130F on her oven so she could dehydrate using that temperature. I have a multi function toaster oven that claims to dehydrate but I haven’t tried it yet as I simply use my dehydrators 😊
Back to the oven. While cooking and dehydrating are different and there will be nutritional differences between the two methods, I’m not sure it’ll really effect the worms significantly. I wonder is how the purée will actually dry, what its consistency will be. If it’ll stick to the pan.
If you want to dry the veggies in the oven I’d go right ahead and give it a try! I’d use parchment paper liner at least for the first time as a safety measure 😝. I hate scrubbing pan! Please let us know how it goes!! 🤩🪱
Isn't the cost too high to dehydrate and grind up the fruits and vegetables? It seems to me you use quite a bit of electricity to do so. Or am I mistaken? Love your video's, keep them coming.
Hi Wally! That’s a good question! Here’s an fairly good (??) approximation of cost to do what I do. Of course electricity costs vary by location so I’m using 23 cents per watt which is the average in the USA as if February 2023.
I use my vitamix to blend the veggies. It’s a high wattage machine. It uses about 1440 watts an hour. So if I run it for one hour it costs me 33.12 cents. I’ve never timed how long it takes me to purée up a batch of veggies that fills one 9 tray Excalibur dehydrator but let’s say it’s a total of one hour run time. 33 cents.
The Excalibur dehydrator is indeed what I use. It uses 600 watts per hour. Dry time for the purée varies but let’s use 36 hours to get the material nice and dry, suitable for powdering. .23x36= $8.28.
Now I do loser the dried purée sheets so use my vitamix again. It definitely does not take me an hour to do that! I’ve found new ways of hacking the process so I’m down to less than 15 minutes. That’s 33.12/4= $.0828 to powder the sheets.
Total cost for one 9 tray batch is:
.3312+8.28+.0828 = $8.694.
I haven’t measured lately how many cups of powder I end up with and the amount does vary by how thick the sheets are but it’s several several cups. I can try to remember to measure the next time I make a batch which is generally at least once every two weeks - otherwise I run out of room in the fridges!
For breeder bins I use 1/3 cup over the 3 week cycle. For grow out bins I use a generous sprinkle. A little goes a long way as it’s concentrated vegetable matter.
So there you have it 😊. We each have to make the decision if it’s worth it or not. For me it is as I have a stock of shelf stable veggie food for the worms, I’m diverting a lot of waste from the landfill, and I’m using what I already have on hand.
I’m really really glad you asked about this! I think I’ll make a video on it very soon! 🪱❤️❤️
Sorry no sooner did I comment you revealed your source
No worries Stephanie 🤗. If you need the link other than what’s on my community page just let me know 🪱🪱🪱
What is the web site of company sells the screens
Unfortunately they don’t sell them anymore 🥲😩. Maybe they sold out from all the worm wranglers buying the sifters at the good price 🤷♂️. The website is CALRanch.com
You can check periodically to see if they come back. The sifters are called SE stackable sifters.
Good luck! 🪱
out of curiosity why do you dehydrate the puree. I have been keeping a puree in the freezer.
Hi Shaun! I dehydrate the purée to make it shelf stable for long term storage. Exactly the same idea as having dry powdered milk vs fresh milk. I can store the dehydrated veggie powder I. Plastic bags, jars, cans, etc anywhere as opposed to taking up limited freezer space. It also allows me to stockpile veggies during times of plenty (garden harvests, random scores of free food, etc) to have on hand during leaner times. If you have a smaller steady supply that matches your needs and freezer availability then frozen purée is perfectly fine. 👍❤️🪱
How do you powder vegetable?
Hi Paula! Here’s a video I made that shows you how I make veggie powder step by step:
Making Dehydrated Veggie Powder From Start to Finish
th-cam.com/video/_0XoDyn2w6Q/w-d-xo.html
If you have any questions please ask 🤗🪱
I cant even find 1/8 screen at the hardware store
Hi! What city do you live in/near?
Brilliant! I have been chopping/freezing/thawing/pureeing and draining my veggie matter. Then I was refreezing into cubes so we have plenty of food this winter (just 2 of us). My effort has been to get as much volume (read: moisture) removed to save freezer space. I have a new oven with a 130º sous vide setting that is perfect for dehydrating! I have been giving my worms the leaves and stems from my zucchini as the plants are pretty much done. They seem to love it prepared my old way...can't wait to try dehydrating! Do you think healthy leaves from my cucumber vine would be okay to process for my worms? (Note: I have a mini CFT bin and know about managing moisture. I just would rather mist as needed and use a drier food than try to keep it in the freezer.) Thoughts?
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! Yes, getting the moisture out not only saves space for all storage methods but can also make the food shelf stable as well 🤩.
The sous vide temperature setting is perfect for dehydration for the veggie slurry! That’s awesome!
You can dehydrate veggies for you too this way. Especially great to use when making soups and stews as the veggies rehydrate in the broth.
Related to this I made onion powder the other day using garden onions that I had dehydrated a while ago and just got around to running thru the nutribullet. Smelled so good! 🤩😎🪱
I have sweet pepper plants that are giving up the ghost in this heat and I’m going to be harvesting any leaves that still look ok for my worm bins. I’m absolutely sure your cucumber leaves will be a real treat for your worms - dehydrated or air dried 👍😎🪱
@@RockinWorms You are a font of vermi-knowledge! Thanks for this reply. I did dehydrate the chopped and frozen zucchini leaves & stems. It will make amazing powdered food. I am accumulating the liquid I pre-sieve before dehydrating in a gallon jug. Trying to make your biota for composted bedding. Do I need to let that ferment? Refirgerate? Not sure how to get it ready to add to the coffee/cardboard shred. Excited to try that 5 gal bucket experiment!
@@marytalcott1531 I save all the food liquids I can (juices from canned goods, pasta/potato/rice water, water from pressure cooking foods, etc) to use in making pre-compost. These liquids are full of nutrients that will feed the biota and eventually the worms.
I store the jugs of liquid wherever I have to 😝. I start in the fridge but when I run out of space I fill the jugs 7/8 of the way up and store on the patio. In my heat! The contents get yucky but that’s great! 😃. It’s fermenting and growing biota. I’m not doing it ‘on purpose’ but out of storage space necessity but wow! Double prizes! And seriously I should be doing this on purpose! And it’ll be a frugal worm wrangler tip in an upcoming video 😊🪱
Hi , nice work
What is the size of this bin plz L×W×H ?
Hungarian! Welcome to the Castings Crew 😍. The bins are from Walmart - the Sterilite brand. They measure:
23.5”L x 16.875W x 5.875H
I like them a lot! 😍🪱🤩
Thanks for watching 😎
@@RockinWorms thanks
What type of bins do you use?
@@earlcruz1001 Hello Earl! I use Sterilite brand 28 quart storage bins from Walmart. They’ve been out of stock online for a while now 😩. But here’s the link so you can see what they are and perhaps find similar bins either in store or at another store.
Sterilite 28 Qt. Storage Box Plastic, Titanium, Set of 8
🪱🪱🪱
Thank you❤
I love your worm style .😊
Hi Diane! Thanks! I believe there’s as many ways to keep worms as there are worm keepers ❤️. We all need good solid information in order to find our own style 🤗.
I appreciate you watching 🪱❤️
Love your idea of squishing out the water after the scraps defrost to minimize the water content going into your bin! We've been eyeing a dehydrator for a while now, and this is really making me chomp at the bit to get one just to play around with more worm food ideas. 😁 Very informative video as always!
Hi Evelyn! I watch other videos where they put in a ton of still mostly frozen food scraps plus a decent amount of raw shredded cardboard and I still think ‘my bin would be swimming!’ I don’t know how they manage it 🤷♂️. But apparently they do! I’ve just started the squishing as I came across the idea by accident. But I do think it’ll help keep the bin at a better overall moisture level for both the worms and for sifting out castings 🤞.
I bought all my dehydrators off of marketplace for good to great prices. My only tip is if you decide to buy a 2nd one at some future point, buy the same manufacturer and make sure the trays are compatible. I have Excalibur brand - a 9 tray, then a 5 tray and lastly another 9 tray that only had 8 trays :). I can just run the 5 tray for small batches. And if I end up with 6 or more trays unexpectedly I can just move the 5 trays into the 9 tray machine and not have to move the 5 tray items to new trays, would would be a major PIA.
I have a new experiment I want to try using the veggie powder in a worm bin 😊. Once I get a little more caught up I’m going to set it up and share the idea… then we’ll see together if it ‘works’! 🪱❤️😆
Yr so pretty, I love the beautiful smiling face that greets every time I view Yr vids. Gorgeous goddess
Oh Natalie! You’re so sweet! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the videos ❤️🪱
Have you ever tried meat powder? I'm curious if that'll help with it going bad to fast
Hi! No, I haven’t tried meat of any kind. Ann at Plant Obsessed did an experiment with meat last year. The worms ate it just fine BUT she developed a terrible fly problem if I remember correctly. I’m not sure I want to take that chance inside my living space (her wormery is mainly in the basement).
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘if that’ll help with it going bad too fast’…? Could you clarify please?
🪱🪱
@RockinWorms Thank you for the response, I don't normally get them if a video is over a month old. What I meant by going bad to quick was will the worms eat it before any issue show up, like a bunch of flies. I was thinking by dehydrating the meat into a powder it give a way to add meat to the worm food while eliminating any issues. But it appears to not be the case. Thanks again.
@@andrewsusen3154 I read all my comments. Benefit of a smaller channel 😆.
I think adding meat powder could work if it’s not too much, the worms are hungry, and you add some extra carbon (?) as insurance..? I do think the powder vs a chunk of meat is a way better way to go! Are you going to try it??
@RockinWorms Yes I intend to try it. Just need to convince my wife to save scrapes haha. I also wanted to get other opinions before I attempt it incase it's been done before. But seems like an experiment is warranted.
@@andrewsusen3154 We save the trimmings off of steak for the chickens. It’s mostly excess fat. They get it raw. I wonder if it’s cooked first it would dehydrate better and then grind into a powder? What are your thoughts on how to get the meat into powder form?
Maybe you could do a video on just making the vegetable powder :)
I have! Here is the link to that video:
Making Dehydrated Veggie Powder From Start to Finish
th-cam.com/video/_0XoDyn2w6Q/w-d-xo.html
And this one might interest you too:
7+ Ways To Use Veggie Powder For Your Worms
th-cam.com/video/LXpGK0w-XwI/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for asking! 👍🪱😎
Hi Jayne, I often use aged horse or cow manure as the only bedding. Could you use that if you get into a situation when you run out of your pre-compost?
~ Sandra
Hi Sandra! I guess I could 👍. I think I’m just a little hesitant to use 100% manure, reconstituted, in my living room 🤣. Mixing it in with the pre-compost somehow makes it acceptable in my mind 🙄. I’ll definitely keep it in mind if I get pushed for bedding again 🪱🪱❤️. Thanks for stopping by!
@@RockinWorms I've used it in several (lid-less) indoor bins without without issue, Jayne. But I suppose Florida manure may have a different critter profile! We don't have black soldier flies, for instance.
~ Sandra
@@NanasWorms Well then I’ll definitely keep it as an option going forward! Thanks for the suggestion ❤️
Where do you buy your screens?
Hi Stephanie! Welcome! I see you found my source 👍. If you need the link, it’s in my community tab or just let me know and I’ll post it in your comment here too. ❤️🪱
What can I use instead of azomite?? Just there isn’t such thing in the uk apparently and to get some it’s gonna cost £30+ like $50+
So not getting that lol
Managed to order lime at an ok price as that will help buffer if the ph goes the wrong way with too much water. I’ve also got some sticky things that test the ph for a good price coming so that should help. As I don’t wanna be messing with the breeder buckets and fluffing and check the moisture too much so can only go by the top and the last 2 days I’ve had too spray the top as dried out quite a lot.
Hi Cheryl! Rock dust is a substitute. It won’t be exactly the same but it’s close enough. Are you adding a calcium source?
Yes, you don’t want to be disturbing the breeder bins if you can avoid it. Funny enough my breeder bins went really dry this cycle too. I made a video about it last night that will post next Friday 👍😎.
The pH slides to acidic due to food decomposition, fermentation, etc. Excess water will aid in anaerobic activity developing, which will make a bad situation worse 😫. Of the tops of breeder bins are dry and you catch it (I didn’t 😖) then a good spritz is a big help. Good job! ❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms my mum thinks the radon some were dry is coz where they are they get sunlight or daylight- can’t change that and she said with the back door open and the warm air at 20c it may have dried it off. Atm they have nothing covering them as I found out before they stay very vet with lids.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll cut some bubble wrap to go on them and just leave a gap round the edges of the buckets so they still get air.
I’m adding egg shell as grit
@@RockinWorms xx forgot thst
@@cherylhowker1792 Can you add a newspaper type covering on top of the bedding and then the bubble wrap on top of the newspaper? That could help retain some moisture but not too much. Managing moisture in bins is an ongoing challenge. Everyone has to make adjustments on a regular basis.
Eggshells are great! I wouldn’t worry about adding rock dust at all unless it’s easy to get. It’s not something your bin or worms will miss. ❤️🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms ok won’t worry on the dust stuff as confusing me lol
Yea I can add news paper and the bubble wrap.
I’m ware that coz it was wet I added water but obviously didint mix it in as you said best not to disturb them. Usually I fluff the bins every 5-7 days and feed.
What I’m gonna do is try them in the buckets for the 3 weeks and if it gets smelly due to water I will move all 500 into a tote like you have and try that instead of the buckets and then use the buckets as grow up bins instead of doing the wedge type method… as that was my plan to try to use up more of the fruit and veg scraps.
Atm it’s a learning curve as I don’t know the best way to work it in the space I have with out too much problem and without stressing care team- that care for me.
So will ssee how it goes. Now I have paid for both sets of containers we can just work with it and go from there. Lol
But the more I can learn the more I can improve too.
Hi Jayne, I understand how you followed Captain Matt as "the bible" of worms 🪱
And I agree with variety is the Spice of Life of all animals ❤
Take care and have a great weekend 👍
❤Peggy❤
Hi Peggy! He has a lot of great info on his channel! I’m grateful for what I learned from him ❤️. But he’s also so far beyond what many of us can do as far as space and money 😳. I needed to learn how to dial it back and make things workable on my scale. So far, so good 🤣👍🪱
@@RockinWormsthat’s been my huge problem. I went from 0-100 having watched his stuff and coz I can’t get what he gets- I’m down hatted and feel useless. But having watched yours I realise everyone is different.
I started worming after watching Marty’s gardens from Australia last year and I loved the idea but he’s now gone all outside and can in his environment but here in the uk it’s 10c outside at night already. So for breeding that won’t wirk. So I went looking for others that may have tips and tricks.
@@cherylhowker1792 Exactly! We all have different circumstances and the trick is finding what works best for us. Being able to pick and choose from lots of idea sources is awesome! I’m glad you found me and everyone else here and we will work together to improve everyone’s experience ❤️🪱🪱