It has been over a 100 for weeks . I'm near Boise Idaho. I was in the worm composting business in Nevada about 9 years ago and I moved here at that time, I had a flow through system . I like the way you do your process better now that I'm older. I haven't used Boi-char yet but I'm interested because of how it seems to work with the roots of plants. It is a real pleasure to communicate with you.
@@johnwood1099 Yikes! You’re as hot as we are. Lots of places are nowadays 😳😩. We literally get a heat advisory every single day. I think the bin systems are easier than cfts in many ways. Every time I want to combine bins into a mega bin I hesitate over how much it’s going to save me, if anything, overall. And aging is a part of that. Captain Matt changed all his cfts. He built racks for bins and then rather quickly reduced the height of the racks. We have to work within our limits. Getting hurt should be a part of worm wrangling! It was the @northernthaiguy who expressed some reservations about biochar in one of his videos that first made me aware that there ever were potential drawbacks to biochar. I haven’t researched it much so would be trying to learn about it like you are. It’s been a pleasure chatting with you too 😍. I hope to hear more from you along the way 🤩🪱
Hi Jayne, this was really clear and helpful - thank you! The closest I came to pre-composting is when I tried to make an aged bedding bin. I started with cardboard shred and added a few other amendments and kick started it with some living material (worm castings). Well, wouldn't you know it but the castings contained cocoons and eventually I had a worm bin! Actually I had two worm bins. Those are now my Eat My Shorts and Peekaboo bins. So my weakness is anytime I find myself with an empty tote, I seem to end up with a new worm bin! ~ Sandra
Hi Sandra! Thanks for stopping by! I’d argue that you were exactly pre-composting that cardboard and got a lovely surprise out of it 🤣. I’m glad it didn’t heat up too much and destroy the cocoons. Do you know how how high a temp cocoons can survive? I know they can withstand freezing but haven’t found yet the heat tolerance side of their capabilities.
No, I don't know the upper range of survival. Our compost right now is really cooking and the live worms are finding cooler pockets to survive. Maybe we will find the answer about cocoons when the pile finally cools down and I can see if there any cocoons in the middle. ~ Sandra
I "kind-da" do the same thing. I use a cement mixer (Harbor Freight $100), Put rain - water in, add hardwood pellets, coffee grounds, shredded cardboard, Soy pellets for horses, cooked shredded carrots (5 pounds) with the liquid that they were lightly cooked in, some coir, a lot of coffee grounds and finally some chicken crumbles. I mix it up real well - and let it sit for a day. If it is heating up I run the mixer for five minutes - I do this every day until it has stopped heating up. I put it in three gallon containers with a cover and let it sit outside for a few weeks. Works great. I take a gallon of it, a gallon of coir and a few of gallons (+ - ) of shredded cardboard (judgement call) and rain water - mix it all up and that is my bedding.
Hi Angus! That really is a compost pile recipe and a half! Have you tried it as an indoor method? I have a harbor freight cement mixer too - bought used off marketplace of course 😆. I used it once to mix my table top bins but loading and unloading from the bins was a hassle and not worth the mess. When I get the time (haha) I want to figure out a good way to use the mixer for the table top bins - mixing by hand sometimes makes my elbow very not happy. Thanks for sharing what you put into what end up being your worm bedding. I’m sure the worms ❤️ it!
Correction on above - it is Alfalfa Horse Pellets - not Soy. The main reason that I use this mix is that there is nothing to attract bugs - the bins (20) are all in the cellar. I use 16 quart Sterilite bins - they don't get very heavy to lift - ninety-three years old - have to be careful. I empty the mixer into the Gorilla cart and then use a small shovel to fill the buckets. I separate the worms like you do: Bloom and Gray does it that way - I enjoy her channel - when I can understand her - have to use CC, but I'm getting better at it - at least it isn't Gaelic.
A correction on the above - alfalfa pellets not soy pellets. I have all of my bins (20 - small 6 gallon Sterilite ) inside in the cellar. I freeze all of my food scraps and use them outside. I don't have any bugs - I think most of them come in on shredded leaves. I separate the worms the same way that you do - learned that from a blog from England - it is so easy and fast.
@@angusmacduff3471 Hi Angus! Thanks for for the correction. People do read the comments and if someone wants to try your mix recipe, it’s good to have the right ingredients 👍. I’ve not used alfalfa - I did use timothy hay pellets once, that a friend gave me, in my worm chow mixture. I hear that they can heat up pretty good - which would be a great add to a pre-composting bin. Hmmm…. so if I’ve got this right, you’re mixing the ingredients in the cement mixer dry and then putting it into buckets - when do you add the in the liquid? It’s the liquid that makes my bins get heavy and become a workout! It’s very inspiring that you’re doing what you’re doing! My hat is off to you!!
Hi Jane, I didn’t have any screening available so while looking around the house I found 5 gal paint strainer bags . Yup stuffed them. Tide them up and covered the bin with pillows. It worked and no mess.
Thanks for a great tutorial! My first batch is now "cooking", 12 hours in already at 114F. I was able to get my hands on a used 36 gallon Rubbermaid tote for next to nothing, and used it to blend/work all the ingredients. Lots of room to blend and turn the content around. At first I thought to put it all in a smaller tote once blended, but decided to leave it for now in the big one. The burrito cover works well, insulating but still not air tight. Found some rather old veggies in the back of my freezer that came to very good use, ground them down to a mush in food processor, with some ancient bananas, blended with water for a thick concentrate. Have some of that "concentrate" saved to be further diluted and used when adding more material in phase II of this bin later on. I found the rhubarb to be a bit "stringy", so I cooked it on low heat for a while to break it down a bit before grinding further, it worked well. Thanks for the tip about the gloves! They provide great grip and I am able to massage and work the material much more effectively than with my bare hands. Also, hands not covered in coffee grounds another plus. Very excited to start this new chapter of pre-composted bedding. I used to add dry cardboard shred directly to the bin and found when harvesting castings that there was a lot of cardboard pieces still partially intact. They were a nuisance to pick out, as they went right through my DIY screen of 1/4 hardware cloth. This new type of bedding will certainly address that issue by providing partially broken down cardboard. Also thanks to your earlier tip, now with my new sifting pans I have a second remedy for the screening problem. Question1: Do you use all raw veggies or is there anything that you purposely heat/cook before using in your pre-composted mix? About how many pounds of veggies do you use in a batch the size in this. Question2: Do you ever add your cow manure to the pre-composted mix (while it is "cooking"), or do you only add it directly to the worm bins when adding new bedding or preparing a new bin? Many Thanks Malin
Hi Malin! WOW! 🤩! You are doing amazing 🪱❤️. The bigger bin helps (good on you for finding a bargain!). I had the same issue with adding raw cardboard shred too. Don’t like it at all 😡. I’ve seen it work for others but not for me. In 2 worm bins I added it in to try quite a few weeks ago, it’s still there! Less but still obviously there. I do get a few random pieces with the new pre-compost but only when I’m pushing harvesting on the really early side. Like you said there being only a few are easy to sift out 👍. I have not purposefully cooked any veg or fruit. If it is, fine, but it’s basically all raw, mostly already soft, going to rot vegetables and fruits from my veg guy. I think your cooking very stringy veggie like the rhubarb was smart - otherwise it’ll wrap your blades and be a PIA. I do not added the sifted cow manure into the pre-compost. I stripped the recipe back to bare bones so it would be more accessible to more people. Both in resources and time commitment. But once you’ve got the basics down, start playing with it 😎. The manure certainly could be added into the heating process. I guess the main reason I don’t add the manure in up front is habit. I didn’t start that way and old dogs change slowly 😆. That said by keeping it separate I could add it in directly to the bin if I needed to. In fact, I could have done that when I ran out of pre-compost and potentially avoid my over processed castings 😡. Of course then I would have run out of manure - I’m getting close to that now. It’s been raining constantly for weeks and weeks so drying it down to prep for sifting simply hasn’t been an option. And now it’s so freaking hot to go out into the pasture to collect it. Whine, whine 🤣. In fact now that I’ve got lots of pre-compost in the pipeline, I am cutting back a bit on the manure to stretch it out. It’s always one resource or another that’s in short supply it seems! Thanks so much for sharing your process and results! It’ll encourage others to give it a go!🪱❤️🪱
I absolutely use the thicker gloves when I mix the pre-compost. I keep 2 pairs on the tables where the totes are. It’s the perfect middle thickness to help my hands but thin enough that I can easily manipulate the shred pieces to better coat them with the veg slurry. Don’t hesitate to make the slurry any consistency that works for you. Sometimes mine is kinda thick and other times it’s simply potatoes or pasta water. I store my ready to use slurry in reused gallon jugs - easy to store in fridge until needed. 🪱❤️
I appreciate you making this video, and look forward to seeing your update video on it! When I'd asked in the past what precomposting was all about, it seemed like all the advise I got involved piles and whatnot that I could not do in my apartment. This however looks perfectly acheivable for apartment living! Though my partner might not allow for it... 🥴 Maybe when we get a bigger space I'll just go for it and beg for forgiveness if I get caught! 😂
Hi Evelyn! This IS perfect for apartment dwellers! I have land and outdoor piles but wanted something I could control better. I live in SE Florida and have enough critters in my house already, thank you very much. I had all the materials needed but was stuck on where and how to make compost that would be ‘clean’. And then I thought ‘a big bin!’ And here we are 😂. It’s worked amazingly well. It takes a bit longer and won’t heat up as much (less mass working in our favor) but what we can achieve with a little effort, very little money, and several weeks of time - with NO SMELL and NO BUGS- is fantastic. Good for the worms, good for the plants, good for the earth. Love it! I can’t in good conscience encourage you to not share with your living space companion(s) about giving this a try but….. 😊. If you do talk to your companion first, make a deal - if it smells (it won’t) or brings in bugs (it won’t) you’ll throw it out immediately. I am posting another update today. It goes quick in the beginning- that’s why the rapid updates. I want to keep it close to real times! Thanks for watching and commenting!!
@@RockinWorms Love that! I think I would be nervous about doing piles anyway and introducing that to my worms, for the same reasons as you. I'm okay with springtails and small amounts of mites or even pot worms, but I might lose my cool over a BSF larva, grub, or centipede! 😣 I even baked/boiled the leaves that I had acquired before I would put them in my bins. About convincing my partner, I'll probably go that very route. In our upcoming move I'll have my own worm room/basement where I can tuck everything out of sight, out of mind... So I imagine he'll be much easier to convince then! Very encouraging that you are not getting any smells out of this, thus far. ☺
@@evelynknight5627 Hey Evelyn! You can just put boiling or very hot water over the leaves (takes less time and less energy usage). That’ll encourage anything in there to move on. I usually crush my leaves very finely (by hand or blender) and that also eliminates any bigger bugs. Oooh! Your own wormery? Heaven! Yes, the out of sight thing works well 😂. All I’m smelling now when I walk by the bins is coffee. I think it’s from the plastic bag covered bin. I’ve had time to think about that bin. I’m going to make another video tomorrow and address it. I think it’s helpful to show how it’s not always ‘perfect’ first time around but it’s not too hard to figure out what the problem is and fix it. That’s the kind of project I like!
Just found your site after subscribing to every worm breeding site known to man. This video is exactly the one I've been looking for. Thank you so much for passing on your knowledge. New subscriber, now to get through all the rest of your videos.
Welcome! I’m so glad you found me 👍. And thanks for subscribing ❤️❤️. You’re in for a treat as I have quite a few vids on breeder worms specifically, even a few where I messed up 😳🙄🤣. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 🪱❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms Here we are 4 mo later (July 24-2023) and you are just 18 subscribers shy of 1000!! I bet that you will break the 1K threshold in no time. A testament to the great content that you create on your channel!
@@malingoodwin7867 Thanks! It’s been a joyful ride 😊. I’m awed and amazed and grateful for all the support people have shown me. Not only subscribers but other worm channel folks too. It’s a fantastic community 🪱❤️🪱
Hi Jane. I feel that I’m being a pest now but just have to share this with you. I started my first pre-compost bin yesterday. I had limited supplies so I decided to use a 28 quart stearlight bin which is easier for my 78 year old body to deal with. I did two layers of 3 gallons of shred half a gallon of coffee grounds and half a gallon of slop trying to stay with your 3:1 ratio. When I checked it today the ambient temperature was 75. When I put the thermometer in it was 115°! Is that possible?! In 24 hours?I could feel the heat immediately. I think I will be able to do another layer in in a few days. My son has a grow room in our garage n anxiously awaiting castings from my grow out bins which I started in September. They have a while to go my thought is to use the pre-compost in a shoebox container and pull out some breeders so that in 21 days I should be able to give him a small amount of castings from there. Am I thinking this through correctly he was with me to feed and fluff the grow out bins and when we did the temperature check on the pre-compost bin he was so excited he’s 45 years old and really into his gardening and I’m so excited to be able to help him. Thank you for all of your help. I don’t know how you do it and you even bake banana muffins. I don’t know how you find the time. Suzi
@@susanodonnell3236 Hi Suzi! First off you are not being a pest at all! We are learning from you and your experiences. You’re proof that limited supplies can be quite successful 😍. Secondly and specifically …Congratulations! That’s fantastic! It’s very possible and if you’ve got the mixture right it’s what to expect. Heat up happens usually within the first 24 hours. It can peak within 48 hours for these small container systems and then cool just as quickly. Bigger totes and troughs take much longer to cool down. How fun that you and your son are doing this together and are having a great time 🤩. As I said above, the temperature will drop within a few days as will the volt you can aerate and add your next layer then as you go for cycle #2. Exciting! You’ll need to make sure the more-compost cools enough to be worm safe. Below 90F if not closer to 85F. Starting a small shoe box will certainly give you some nice castings within 3 weeks, whether you use breeder worms or mixed ages. If you do use breeders you’ll need to decide what to do with the inevitable cocoons they’ll make. Have you given that any thought? If you don’t really want cocoons you can slightly overcrowd the small bin to slow down the number of cocoons the worms will make. I’m very glad to have helped you out! I appreciate you coming on and sharing your journey with us 🥰. Hopefully you’ll encourage a few more worm wranglers to give making pre-compost a try! 👍🪱
@@susanodonnell3236 Hey Susan! Yes you can use cereal boxes, color print and all. I too tend to stay away from glossy finished packaging and papers for my worm related activities, including making pre-compost. I’m looking forward to you starting too! 🥰🤩🪱
This is the bedding I use as well. Except I use a small tumbler I found on CL for $20. By far the best bedding I’ve used in my 5 years of raising worms and I’ve tried lots. The closest would be rabbit manure but I had to buy that. Only downside is they love it so much they go through it very fast but they grow fast, mature fast and reproduce like crazy.
Hello! $20 on Craigslist - totally excellent! My daughter calls me a Facebook marketplace menace 🤣. I’m so glad you posted as I’ve forgotten to check CL lately for deals. There’s other lists now like swip swap, neighborhood lists, etc. They are all worth checking out! Thanks for sharing how well rabbit manure has worked for you! I just bet the worms loved it and grew very fast and healthy ❤️. I’m eager to give rabbit manure a try. We have lots of wild rabbits here but I’m not chasing them down 😂. So I’ll stick with the 3 cows in my pasture for now. Horse manure is often available for free. A 5 gallon bucket goes a long way. A few phone calls to a riding academy or similar can net a great bedding component for FREE. Thanks for commenting! I hope to see you back for the updates - I’m posting one in an hour or so!
@@RockinWorms I watched all three of the series. I think the lack of heat in your second actually your first tub is not enough mass. When they shrink I would add them together. If someone gives you some rabbit manure then absolutely take it but the bedding you are using now is the best I’ve used in my 5 years. Plus my worms told me so.
@@itsasickness4939 😆 You’ve stolen my thunder! Not enough mass is exactly the conclusion I’ve come to. I’m planning on making another video on that tonight so others can see what’s ‘wrong’ with this bin and how easy it’ll be to fix. I’ve combined some of my prior table top bins into a large tote on the patio. Works a charm! Despite not giving a spoiler alert warning ⚠️, I hope you comment more! ❤️
Hi Jenn! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! This is a fun project with lots of uses. Not only for worms but for adding to the garden and I actually throw a few handfuls of the pre-compost, once it’s full of biology, to the chickens. They love digging thru it ❤ Thanks for watching!
I'm here to tell you a story of a disaster I followed all of Jane's video's some twice. I spoke to jane and asked if Banana puree was O.K. she said yes so, I proceeded. I pureed the whole banana's using water saved from items that were boiled. Being late I filled a jug with the banana puree and put it in the screen porch. The next morning, I went to the porch. The gallon of banana puree had exploded and there was puree all over the porch, everywhere. Plus, therenwas a million fruit flies everywhere. I spent the best part of the day cleaning the mess. Just remember if you do the same thing use the puree right away or leave the lid off the water bottle. They say you learn by your mistakes. I never want any of you to make this mistake. Lou
Oh Lou! I’m so sorry this happened 🥲. I had one gallon jug of thick purée burp out and it was enough pressure to get my face as well as a lot on my shirt. I don’t recall what mix was in the jug but it also was out on the warm patio for several hours. I think the super thickness played a part too. I’ll be sure to talk about this in future videos so others don’t experience the big mess you did and the little mess I did. Again, I’m really sorry and I thank you for telling us what happened! I hope it won’t put you off pre-composting entirely! ❤️🪱🪱
My my my, I have learned a lot! I think the most important thing I learned: Have all your ingredients! I thought I had enough, enough of everything for a small batch….a practice batch-you know. A 5 gallon tub of shredded cardboard, is how much cardboard? Is that compacted, is it loose? Add water, add coffee grounds, add vegetable soup. What was a little over a half a bucket, is a little more than a third of a bucket, the next day. The temperature went up 20 degrees the first day, but by the second day, it lost 10 degrees. I really think the problem is; volume and it’s mostly likely, nitrogen. Now I’m digging out frozen vegetables and frozen bananas out of my freezer, to make a slurry. I hope that I don’t end up with a big stinky mess!
Oh my Peggy! I have to admit I’m chuckling a bit 😊. It’s a bit of a leap of faith the first time making the pre-compost. My demo here was with an 18 gallon tote. You do have to adjust based on that and of course how humid it is, how loose your veggie slurry is, even the moisture content in the coffee grounds can make each batch different. You can thin out the veggie slurry and add more nitrogen in the form of coffee grounds to make things work. I’m sorry to say you just have to play with it until you get the hang of it. The cardboard shred is loose, not packed. I have batches that need a lot of liquid added and batches where it’s not so much. 🤷♂️. Getting the quick heat jump is so satisfying! But always always keep in mind that anything over ambient temperature shows that the biota is working 👍❤️. Adding more nitrogen will speed things up but it’s also the thing that can indeed turn a batch, at least initially, into a stinky mess. It happens (add tons of carbon!). Having some volume is really helpful as you point out. I haven’t done less than an 18 gallon tote (with about 15 gallons of material in it) so I can’t say what a minimum amount would be that works well. I have seen someone using a 13 gallon kitchen garbage can filled most of the way up and that worked well. I think a key to that one is the vertical space that keeps the composting action very contained. A tote is more square and therefore more spread out so to speak. I don’t know how far in the series you’ve watched but there’s a secret ingredient coming up (baking yeast) that can give your compost a big boost if needed. I encourage you to stick with it during this learning phase and before you know it - batch 2-3 - you’ll be throwing this together without a thought! And your worms will thank you with amazing castings! 🪱👍❤️
@@RockinWorms it’s a 5 gallon, Home Depot bucket. Too hard to mix in the bucket, so I dump most of it in a 7 gallon tote and stir well before dumping it back in the bucket. I thought it would heat up better with less surface area. I thought I could handle a 5 gallon bucket better than a large tote. I also use the buckets to sift my castings.
Hey Jane love the videos, have put any thought into adding some worm tea as an inoculant to kick start the process. I used some rabbit manure on the outside bags
@@StrawberryRiverRedWigglers Hello! I haven’t used castings as an inoculation myself but others have done so and say it works great! Once you get the first batch of pre-compost, even one that had only a modest heat up, save some and use it in the next batch. That works really well! Rabbit manure is great stuff! I don’t have that available to me (yet!) but I understand you can add it directly to a worm bin without aging it. It doesn’t need to go thru a composting process first 🤩🪱
Update.. Hi Jane, I mixed up my precompost "recipe" yesterday afternoon in the 5 gallon bucket. The temperature is at 93º this morning. The bucket is in the garage, which is 71º but heats up during the day. (I used shred and all the coffee I could snag (about 4:1 ratio) puree & strained veggie liquid, some powdered oyster shell, about 2.5 c of fresh castings and 1 packet of activated yeast. I got the moisture level to what you showed--thank you for sharing the sound of a good moisture when squeezed. I put a loose fitting piece of cardboard on top and a netted "pillow" of shred on top of it all. I am thinking to let it ride and see if I get more heat, but I am wondering if there is anything I should be doing? My only big concern is having it go anaerobic.
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! A 22F degree rise is great! It’s in the mesophilic bacterial range and now the question is if the heat cycle will sustain itself for several days. Your ingredients sounds very good. I do think you could have used a carbon to nitrogen ratio close to 55:45 to increase the temperature increase opportunity. A higher carbon ratio like 4:1 tends to run cooler and take longer for material breakdown. So you may want to consider adding more nitrogen when the bucket stops heating and starts cooling to re-boost it. Anaerobic on the bottom and corners is common - darn gravity 🤣. Just mix the contents up - no big deal at all 😎. Keep us posted! 😍🤩🪱
@@nancyobrien2854 Do you grocery shop? Go to any retail shops at all? 🙂. I’ve got all the cardboard I wanted at Publix, Walmart, warehouse clubs, etc. for FREE. Your brand of stores may be different but I bet they’d be happy to load you up. It’s all waste to them that they have to bundle and ship out or pay to have picked up. Ask a stock clerk. Take the empty boxes off the shelves. Cruise the neighborhood or go into town on garbage pick up days. I always see lots and lots of Amazon boxes on the curb waiting for the garbage guys. Too many for me to take. I do suggest that you pay attention to the thickness of the cardboard. Too thick is hard to rip, hard to cut, hard to shred. Thicker pieces if you can cut them are great to line the bottom of your worm bins if you like to do that. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Mostly it depends on if I’m making a new bin and I remember 😂 I hope you give this a try real soon! It really is an easy process, with a little effort here and there, that uses time - and biota - to do the really hard work. The payoff is so worth it!
@@RockinWorms I have a bad ankle that makes it hard for me to do a lot of walking. Therefore, I have pretty much become a home body. The paper shredder I have access to will not shred standard shipping boxes. I have jammed it trying to shred both amazon and what the local grocery store has (my hubby works in the meat market and has brought home boxes before). I will have to try the actual boxes used for packaging pasta and cereal. If I could get my dad to stop shredding up charge card offers (with the plastic cards in them), I would probably have enough paper. He was taught to shred anything that anyone could possibly use to steal your identity.
@@nancyobrien2854 Mobility issues are challenging for sure 😒. Do you have a public library in town? Could your husband stop in? Mine gets the bigger newspapers as part of their services. I’ve asked and received the old newspapers from them a few times to make paper planting cups. They may be willing to hold a weeks worth for one pick up. I’ve had the paper shredder issue too. I finally got a new one that takes more sheets (get at least 10 sheet capability) at a time so it handles cardboard easily. Since I’m all about saving money and reusing, I bought mine used off Facebook marketplace for a super price! And I mean cheap. It is totally worth investing a few dollars, especially if it’s used and heading for the trash, to make your life easier and achieve great benefits. I hope you can figure this out. Put on the McGuyver hat 🤣
@1DutchKiwi-omafaraway Hello! I saw your post on my friend Peggy’s channel 😊. If you’re interested in composting your kitchen food scraps indoors, the playlist that this video starts off gives step by step directions on how to do this ❤🪱🪱
Hi Jayne, Very interesting video. Very easy to follow. I will have to have a go at this for my worm bins. Any suggestion for using something other than coffee grounds? Looking forward to watching the rest of this pre-compost play list. Have fun, Mark : )
Hi Mark! Welcome! The worms love this bedding! If you’re looking for lots of castings and cocoons, then this bedding is a game changer 👍😎. The coffee grounds are the nitrogen component. You can play with other nitrogen ingredients such as fresh cut grass, green leaves, alfalfa and blood meal, etc. I like the coffee grounds because they are free but also east to work with. They don’t mat like grasses and fresh leaves can. It’s less likely to get anaerobic and stinky. The veggie slurry is also nitrogen as well as liquid so make it thicker 😊. Ok? 🪱🪱
Thanks for the video. I'm running a tray system and have a tray of raw cardboard that sits at the bottom of my system for 90-180 days before I start using it as a feeding tray to inoclate. Do you remcomend using the pre-compost in the inoculation tray instead of raw cardboard?
Hi Shaun! Welcome 🤗. Pre-compost would certainly work wonders on all of your trays. That said you’re making at a minimum prepared bedding doing what you’re doing, which is a great step vs adding raw bedding into your trays. I guess which is better comes down to how much that inoculation tray breaks down the bedding and gets loaded with biota prior to it being rotated into a full on worm tray. And that depends on how you run your system aka how much castings and moisture fall into the inoculation tray during that 90-180 day period. Also there’s a definite space savings using your bottom tray to make prepared or pre-compost vs using separate totes. But if you do have the space, or are thinking of expanding your worm wrangling beyond the tray system, making pre-compost in totes is a great way to go. This probably isn’t the cut and dried answer you were expecting 😆. But what’s best/better really depends on your individual circumstances and I hope the above will help you decide what to do 😎. Thanks for asking and watching 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms Thank you for the response. Thats actually makes a perfect sense. I do see a good bit of breakdwon on the inocculation tray and by the time It becomes the feeding tray I see almost 0 cardboard. That being said I'm sure it wouldnt hurt to mix in some additional bedding like leaves, coier and coffee. I have been putting coffee in with the feedings but adding it to the bedding doesnt sound bad.
@@shaunnichols8170 Adding coffee into the raw bedding, along with any decent amount of moisture will start actively (as opposed to cold) composting. Be sure to keep an eye on temperatures in that tray and how it might affect the upper trays. The trays have good ventilation but you don’t want it to turn into an oven! I should have said that in my first response 😬. Be sure to report back your experiences with trying this if you do try it. I don’t have a tray system but many people do and the feedback would be beneficial 👍🪱🪱
Hi, I was watching this video and want to start pre-composting but I need the amounts. You said that the cardboard was supposed to be 10 gallons done with a milk jug and the coffee you said was 3 pounds but it was more like five and when you get to the slurry, you show us what we can use and then you just show a pot full of liquid, but not, the amount so I’m kinda confused on how to get started on this. I’m not a very good eye ball it person so exact amounts would be great 😊.
Hey there. I understand wanting a recipe that’s a little more specific. I’ll do my best as long as you do realize that you are going to have to do some tweaking regardless. It’s impossible for me to know how dry or wet your ingredients are 😊. I’ve also updated the ‘recipe’ a bit so will give that to you here: For an 18 gallon tote you can use 8 gallons of carbon (shredded cardboard is easiest) and 5-6 gallons of coffee grounds. Mix it well. Then added enough veggie slurry to coat the dry ingredients. I’d suggest starting with 1 gallon of slurry and add from there. The thickness of the slurry will greatly affect the amount you need to use. You want everything coasted but no excess that will settle to the bottom of you can do that. It’s hard to judge when you’re first trying this so don’t be discouraged if the mix is too wet or too dry the first go around. If it’s too wet then you’ll get anaerobic pockets that smell a little - a good mixing solves that nicely 👍. If it’s too dry you won’t get a good heat up - just add more slurry, mix, and see what happens. Rinse and repeat as necessary 🤣. Honestly, the best thing to do is just go for it! How bad can it be? The worst result would be if your tote is sopping wet and stinks. And even that’s fixable! Don’t be too critical on yourself. Any result will be better than doing nothing so you’re guaranteed success! 🪱🪱
Hi Jane. As I said my first pre compost bin went up to 115 degrees. Second round only went to 105. It’s on its way down now n hope to start shoebox breeder bin on Friday. But just want to check… you said 50percent cow manure. So only half a box of pre compost n half box of manure? So the worms will eat all that manure as well as pre compost to make 100 percent pure castings? Certainly not be selling it yet but just want to be sure if n when I do sell it I can list it as pure. I bout dehydrated cow manure from Walmart. It’s black not brown like I think yours was. And not dry. It looks like damp compost. Just want to be sure not to mislead anyone as I move forward. As always in awe of you and how helpful u are. 😊
@@susanodonnell3236 Hey Suzi! Your pre-compost is doing great. No worries with it at all. Let it cool to below 90F, closer to 85F is safer. Yes I do about half and half of pre-compost and cow manure. Since you’re using a bagged manure and we don’t know how it’s going to react I’d play it safe and go with more pre-compost this time. Just moving some manure in a corner for example and see what happens. Go very light with any worm chow as well until you see how the ecosystem is doing. Every once in a while a new breeder bin will heat up on me, even when the other 5 I made at the same time don’t! 🤷♂️😩😡. I always check the breeder bins the next morning to make sure everything is ok. If it’s not then I pull the worms out and place in a holding bin for a few hours while I mix the hot bin and try to determine what set it off so I can fix it. Whatever the worms eat and then poop out is castings. It doesn’t matter what the food was for the castings to be pure. In a silly example, if the worms ate a button and it was digested and pooped out, that button poop is just as much castings as if it had been a carrot. In other words, castings are what comes out the back end regardless of what went in the front end 👍🤩🪱
So interesting and I gonna start… but why wouldn’t your coffee grounds be ok within what we call “the yuck bucket” where my kitchen scraps go? I guess this method takes much more grounds than veggies at this point, is that it?
@@pamjenkinson5718 Hi Pam! Welcome! I think we have a bit of misunderstanding here. The nitrogen coffee grounds are balanced against the carbon cardboard. The video here demonstrates the standard C:N ration of 70:30. It’s a good safe starting ratio for beginners 😊. After a few successful batches we start to tweak that ration a bit 🤩. The yuck bucket (love the name!) of veggies is great to use! Absolutely! Just purée it up and that’s what you’ll use to moisten the cardboard and coffee grounds. The yucky stuff will also have working biota to help get the composting process underway. The amount of veggies made into liquid is only related to the coffee grounds (and cardboard) in that there needs to be enough liquid to coat everything. I’m so glad you’re going to give pre-composting a try! Rewatching the video as you go thru the steps will be very helpful 🤩. Post any questions you have! 👍🪱
Hi Jane! Have learned so much from you.. I have access to 5 gallon buckets and have been making cool damp bedding with shredded cardboard, coffee grounds, water and coir. It has not heated up, but is nice "cool" damp bedding. I turn it using a long drill auger that works great for turning/aerating. What I have not added is any veggie matter--other than the coffee grounds nitrogen. I do have garden material that I freeze and blend for worm food and it is a pretty wet slurry (lots of chopped zucchini "arms" and leaves. I want to get the bedding buckets to hot precompost and am wondering if I can use that slurry as biota. Hope this makes sense.
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! Welcome! Yes you make perfect sense 😊. Bonnie has been experimenting with hot composting in 5 gallon buckets. It seems to me her trick is to super load the bucket with active biota right from the start. Activated yeast is always quick, easy and cheap. Bonnie used a homegrown slurry of yucky stuff to get a good load of biota growing before adding into the 5 gallon materials. Perhaps you can do the same thing with your zucchini etc veggies. Let them get really nasty and then add to the bucket. I think because the bucket is so small and the mass so challenged for keeping a heat cycle going that it needs to be started off high and hard with biota vs the slower growth that’s ok in a larger system where mass plays a larger role. Ok? If you try it please report back! I’d love to get more feedback on 5 gallon hot composting so more people can learn to do it successfully 😎😍🪱
@@RockinWorms Just had a (hopefully) aha! moment. I made Greek Yogurt and have 2-3 cups of whey. Would this work as biota for my hot compost bucket attempt? Do I also need to add rotted vegetable matter?
@@marytalcott1531 YES! That would be a great add to the pre-compost mix to get it going or for a 2nd cycle. Great use for something that might otherwise get tossed out. No you don’t have to use vegetables. They are an easily accessible composting ingredient we all generally have. And as they rot they grow that biota we need. And lastly it’s a great use for them vs another potential garbage item. Basically you need carbon and nitrogen and the biota with some moisture. What sinuses to get that mix can very much be what you have on hand or can get cheap or free. Cardboard, coffee grounds and rotty veg is what I have Sonia what I use. Others have a different mix of materials available to them. Go for it!! Yes you may have to tweak yours differently than I do but that’ll be the case for everyone and every batch. I look forward to hearing from you on how it goes! 😍🤩🪱
Hello Singapore! Thanks so much for watching ❤️. The gloves are from Home Depot. I was in there last week and they had a special price on them so I bought 3 packs 😊. It was something like $11 for 10 pairs. A very good deal. I hope you can find something similar. I find thicker gloves are better than latex gloves for working the compost - my hands cramp less. Thanks for your question and I hope you come back for more videos! Take care!
My next pre compost try once the bedding has cooled down. Going to use a PVC pipe and dig holes throughout the bedding and leave these holes open while the compost ages to allow sufficient oxygen throughout specially the bottom to avoid anaerobic conditions. See how this works.
Hi Kyle! Using pvc pipe with holes drilled into it to bring more air throughout the composting pile is a Mathis used by lots of people. Works well I understand! For these small table top bins and totes, it’s really not necessary. A good hand mixing on a regular basis is sufficient. Please let us know how your experiment goes! 🪱❤️😎
@@kylewestrom7849 That’s not lazy. That’s smart! I think that’s why this method was developed - it’s a lot of work to turn a decent sized compost pile if you don’t have equipment and space - and adding air in thru perforated pipes eliminates the need to turn the compost. Mostly anyway. I hope it’s effective for you! Please report back!! 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms I will! I had success on a small scale doing the PVC method with holes but figured why can’t I just dig a pipeline hole and leave it, assume it acts the same with. Oxygen penetrates a foot in from the tunnel so hoping it creates a healthy aerobic environment. Once I’m done with the heating stage I’ll let it age as cold compost with this method until it’s ready to be used. I’ll report back on my progress.
Hey back! 😍. Yes! Pineapple has been part of my purée liquid in the past so I know it’s a good add 👍. Moldy bread I haven’t used but the mold is an inoculant so that’s good too. Are you thinking of puréeing that too or chunking it up and mixing it in to the cardboard and coffee ground mix? Not sure it would matter - just curious on what you plan to do 😎🪱👍
@@johnwood1099 Oh John, it’s hot hot hot 🥵. Some days are just brutal. And it doesn’t cool off much at night either. We go thru multiple sets of work clothes every day. But it is what it is and we need to take care of the animals and the homestead. Sucking it up is a daily requirement 🤣. How is it for you?? Biochar. I don’t know enough to render a true opinion. I have read both positives and negatives and feel I need to learn a LOT more before I’d make a decision to add it to my soil or pre-compost. I’m sorry to not be more helpful on the biochar topic. Are you thinking of doing it? 🪱
Hello, is it also possible to close the bin with a lid? By the way I really like your video's. I started a wormbin 2 months ago and it is my new favorite hobby! Greetings from the Netherlands:)
Hi Rianne! Welcome aboard the worm train! Congratulations on starting a worm bin 👍🤩. Excellent! And thank you for the kind words 🥰 I don’t recommend closing a pre-compost bin with a solid lid. It’s really necessary to get good air into the mix. If you haven’t watched part 2 yet you’ll see that the experiment with using a plastic bag cover was a failure 😞. A solid lid would be just as bad. Now if you have a lid with plenty of air holes or cut out with screening over the opening that would work. It also wouldn’t be that much different from eliminating the lid and just using the just the screening after all! The cardboard shred on top serves a few functions. It keeps heat and moisture in and also bugs out as the mix cools down later on without cutting off the air circulation. Ok? 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you so much Jayne for the explaination. I know what to do now and also why. :) I am going to buy some screen later this weekend and get started. I havent got the time to watch the whole series but I got them saved to watch later today. :) have a nice weekend
Hello! Purple egg cartons are fine for the worms 👍. I’ve used them myself with no issues. I think the best way to shred cardboard is to buy a used shredder if you can. Be sure to test it before buying as having it turn in and the motor run isn’t a guarantee it’ll take and shred cardboard. Even if you have to buy a shredder new I think it’s worth it as you’ll save yourself so much time and physical labor. If you can’t get your hands on a shredder then you can soak cardboard to soften it to make ripping it into pieces easier. Wet corrugated cardboard will separate and become easier to rip up. Does anyone have tricks they use to shred cardboard?? 🪱🤩
Hi Marjorie! Good question! Since the liquid is going into the pre-compost bin to be processed by microbial organisms it’s not an issue. I wouldn’t put in a block of salt of course, but the amounts in canned veggies, diluted over much more water or other non-salted fruits and veggies won’t negatively effect anything. I would NOT add it directly to worm bins though, just to be on the safe side. It’s one of the benefits of making pre-compost. You can add large amounts of organic material that you would never add directly to a worm bin. Yea! Thanks for watching and asking - others probably wondered too! I hope you give this process a try. I’m starting to realize there’s even more benefits, which I’ll share once I’m sure of what I’m seeing 😊.
@RockinWorms asking mostly because I don't buy many canned vegetables but I remember canning and the salt I used.....been an organic farmer all of my life...
Hi Jayne, you mentioned onions and oranges go into the vegetable liquid. I learned not to give worms citrus or onions. Does the pre-composting mean those rules do not apply any more?
Hi! Yes that’s exactly what it means. Pre-compost totes and worm bins are 2 very different things and can NOT be equated. The pre-compost process - both the biota doing their magic and the chemical reactions due to the heat generation - changes toxic or harmful or not great items into perfectly good/super foods for the worms! Woo-hoo! Not to mention that hot composting, which is what we’re doing here on a smaller scale - gets too hot and will cook the worms 😳😬. Ok? 🪱🪱❤️
Rethinking bucket pre-compost... We were gone for 10 days and I returned to logical consequences. The pre-compost had gone anaerobic. I have been adding shredded cardboard and augering air into it...will see if that settles it. Meanwhile, I did get a plastic bin like you recommend. I have watched your video several times and have a question about the yeast "booster". How much yeast and water do you use to get the starter going before adding to the bin? (I have lots of blended slop to wet the mix and some grounds. Unfortunately local Starbies don't like to save for us gardeners.) My tomatoes are a total bust this year. Green and hard and no way going to ripen. Do you think it would be okay to freeze and blend and add to the pre-compost? One forum I belong to had several folks say no tomatoes as they are too acidic. Of course most are talking about ripe tomatoes. As always, thanks for your wisdom!
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! Oh no! That stinks 😝. Literally! 🤣. You’re doing the right thing by adding air first and then dry shred as needed, if it’s sopping wet, to soak up the excess liquid. Once you get that taken care of you can figure out if you need the yeast booster and/or a bit more nitrogen to get the mix cooking. If I buy the 3 packet strip of yeast I use it all. I’ll mix it with about 1 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon of sugar - all in a big bowl. Give it a good 20 minutes to activate. You can mix it into the pre-compost mix from there 👍. I buy my yeast in bulk so I am a bit more generous by using 1 tablespoon of yeast, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and maybe 2 cups of warm water. Since we’re not baking with the yeast, eyeballing is good enough 🤩 Any fruit or veggie can be used in the pre-compost - you don’t even need to freeze it first as the composting heat will kill off insect eggs more effectively than freezing does. The acidic nature of any ingredient will be neutralized by the biota eating it and breaking it into its sub components. I do recommend pureeing with whatever liquid you have on hand to make the purée go farther in coating the pre-compost mixture 👍😎 That’s disappointing about the Starbucks. I’ve come across only 2 so far that don’t participate in the corporate program 😡. Don’t have other local stores that sell coffee? Damian gets a alot of his from a 7-11 type of store. 🪱
@@RockinWorms Thank you so much Jane! Yes, the failed bucket has calmed down and is way less fragrant. I think I will use it with my new bin. Will add in shred, coffee, yeast and puree. I have lots of veggie liquid I drained off when I made the veggie powder. (THAT was a great lesson from your channel!) I will probably freeze those sad, green tomatoes otherwise they will be rocks, they are that hard! You and Cameraman have been in my thoughts. I hope you did not suffer from Helene. (Patrick from "Learn by Doing" seems to be okay.) I read there is another looming large on the horizon, be safe! My sister is in Boone, NC. That town is hurting. Who would have thought a mountain town in western NC would sustain such damage from a hurricane.
@@marytalcott1531 I’m glad the fragrance has lessened 😳😝😊. Absolutely use it as part of setting up the new bin. There’s nothing wrong with it as far as future composting or use in a worm bin is concerned. Oh those poor little green tomatoes 🥲. Could you steam or pressure cook them to soften them up? Thank you for thinking of Cameraman and me 🥰. We are doing fine with the storms. We’ve got lots of practice dealing with hurricanes. Of course only takes one to be a big problem but so far damages have been quite manageable. We’ve mostly been dealing with some flossing (not devastating like your sister’s area 😱) and high winds. I am watching with horror the complete disaster that so many are dealing with. And taken by surprise too just adds to the nightmare. Otherwise we’ve been dealing with a family health crisis at that’s what has taken me offline for the past several weeks. I can keep up with the chores and care giving and my small worm business and comments/emails but video making had to be put aside for awhile. 😩. I’ll be back as soon as I can! 🥰🪱🪱 PS: so glad your veggie powder making worked out!! It’s great stuff to have on hand 👍😎
Hi Suzette! Yes! You are exactly right 👍. Adding in vermitea , a handful or 2 of castings, etc. will also act as the inoculate when setting up a new pre-compost bin. If you already have an pre-compost bin active you can also use some of that to start the new bin. In this series I’m specifically trying to help people that may be just starting out and not even have worms yet, let alone castings, but want to get prepared, as well as current worm owners that want to get started as simply as possible 👍❤️🪱 Thanks for reminding everyone of another option to use! Are you going to pre-compost??
Question about the liquid from cooking potatoes or pasta, and canned foods: what about the salt?! I have been discarding instead of using in my bins. I'd rather not!
Hi Juanita! The amount of salt going into the pre-composting process is moderate - unless you are a super salt user! The biota in the pre-compost will breakdown that salt just like they will the other organic compounds. Remember - pre-composting totes are NOT THE SAME as worm bins. Pre-composting will break down to compounds organic material BEFORE it hits the worm bin. What comes out of one cycle and certainly two cycle pre-compost totes are completely safe for your worms. Thanks for asking! ❤️🪱👍
@@RockinWorms so, water from my cooking but not hubby's. Got it! LOL I'm so used to the "salt will sterilize your soil" thing that I'm going to do a small trial batch and test it out, just to convince myself. So, pre-compost, cycle it through a small population of worms, then add it to some soil and try to grow something in it that hates salt. Thanks for the inspiration.
@@juanitanoble3190 salting the earth into infertility is definitely a thing. It does take ‘quite a bit’ of salt to become toxic however. I’d think hubby would experience salt toxicity before touching saw negative effects in your compost bins flowing thru to the worm bins. If you’re diluting salted water with non-salted liquids (water or other liquids) you’re going a long way to reducing concentrations. But I’m no soil expert for sure! I’d you conduct the experiment I’d love to hear about what you find. The cycle you outline sounds perfect 👍🪱🪱
Hi, Jayne! Another question. I have some very, very expired soy milk hubby bought, not realizing I'd never use it. Can it be added to what's used to moisten the cardboard? (Not having a lot of success reprogramming the family to save the usual ingredients but anxious to give this a try!)
@@juanitanoble3190 Hi Juanita! I’ve not ever used soy milk but I have almond milk. They both can be composted 👍. The same ‘rules’ apply - make sure it gets mixed into the carbon really well and cover the tote with a deep layer of shred (burrito style!) to keep creepy crawlies out. I’d really appreciate you reporting back how it goes using it 😎. Thanks for asking a great question regarding a common ingredient worm wranglers might have on hand! ❤️🪱🪱
I just need to get some flexible screening from somewhere and I'm ready to go! Screen doors aren't a thing where I live but I'm sure there will be something I can use😊
I wonder if the nylon bags onions and potatoes or similar items come in would work? Maybe not as convenient to make the burrito from but they could be sewed together maybe? Shade cloth from a garden shop? That has a tight woven weave…?
@@RockinWorms hi! I got a bit keen and already started mixing stuff together so due to lack of other plans it's going to be the curtain, pretty sure it's synthetic...wish me luck! I will let you know when I get a temperature rise!
@@RockinWorms hiya! Been all excitement around here, I've got a muntjac deer in my garden and I live in the city centre! Anyway it somehow eclipsed my fantastic 10°C rise in temperature! I went down this morning and it had risen a little, about 3° but looked volume wise like only half the bin I'm using so I added more of everything plus the yeast and plus a very generous cup and a half of kombucha because it seemed like a good idea at the time. At 6pm it had risen by ten degrees! So off to a great start I'm super happy with it❤
@@eleanoraddy4683 Hey. Had to look up the muntjac deer :). Apparently they are becoming a real nuisance even in urban areas. Fantastic start to your pre-composting!!give it a few days and then mix it all up so any pockets of moisture get reincorporated. I’ve found it’s ALOT less work if you have another bin at least the same size you can off load the material into, mixing it to separate cardboard clumps or whatever. This way the too goes to the bottom and the bottom to the top and the moisture will automatically redistribute. You may not have to add any liquid at all or just a small amount. My blue bin I made on the videos is still cooking at over 110F on the center. I can use the edges in my worm bins 👍 Keep posting updates please!!
When I was brand new at this, it scared me to see orange (looked like webbing) spreading across the cardboard on top of my bin. I got rid of it as quick as I could.
Jayne - I'm mostly interested in creating worm castings for my garden. Will this pre-compost bedding be good for that? (I know you said it was best for breeding bins) If not pre-compost like this, what should I use? Thanks!!
Hi Allan! Welcome to the Castings Crew! This pre-compost will give your worms great food and bedding - period! Whether they are set up as breeders or a mixed grow out bin that’s main job is making rich castings for your garden. One of many great things about this pre-compost is how fast your worms turn it into castings. You don’t have to wait 6 months to get gallons of castings like with many ‘normal’ bedding materials. You can get 2-3 gallons of castings every 3 weeks from approximately 800 adult worms in a standard bin by using pre-compost as the bedding. 👍 I have not tested this out as frankly I have plenty of castings for my garden, but I suspect the pre-compost could be used directly into the garden as well. 👍❤️🪱😎 Thanks for watching and asking questions 😊
Hi Chuck! Welcome! You’re are right - there’s no exact time frame for pre-compost being ready to be used but I can give you guidelines 😎. The first heat and cool cycle generally takes about a week to 10 days for an 18 gallon tote. This includes giving it a least one mixing to add air into the system and redistribute moisture. Peak temps are around day 4-5. Then it starts to cool down. This is when you have a decision to make. The pre-compost can be used in worm bins successfully at this point. The materials aren’t as broken down so it serves as bedding and longer term food. It will continue to breakdown in the worm bin but at a slow pace, not causing any heating up issues. I use this one cycle pre-compost when I want to slow down a bin. Sometimes I simply need or want more time between harvests. Using one cycle pre-compost gives me that time. The other option is to do a second heat and cool cycle. This jumps the biota back into action. There’s a few ways to make this second cycle happen. If you watch the next videos in the series I talk about at least 2 ways to make the cycle start up again 😊. 2 cycle pre-compost is much more broken down and the worms eat it up fast! I use 2 cycle in my breeder bins and they turn 2.5-3 gallons of pre-compost into 99% castings that will sift thru a 1/4” mesh screen (I show that in a video but can’t recall which one 🙄). Additionally it’s so fine of castings that I really get almost 2 gallons of castings that sift thru a 1/8” mesh screen and about 3/4 of a gallon that sift thru a 1/12” screen!! If I use one cycle pre-compost in my breeder bins (which I have) I don’t get as much of the finer 1/12” castings, which makes sense 😊. The other thing to remember is that the pre-compost that’s still in the tote waiting to be used is continuously break down more every day. At a slow rate but still doing it. It’s always ready to go! I hope this gave you some general insight and you can play with it and manage it to get the results that best for your desired outcome 👍🪱🪱
Can I make lots of biota and store it in fridge or is it meant to be used immediately? Im just starting out with a tower system and need to get some compost made before I add worms
@@sandeewright11 Hi Sandee! Welcome to the Castings Crew 🤩. I ‘store’ biota in the fridge occasionally in that I have veggie slurry made ahead of time and that develops a thick layer of biota on top. I scoop it off, add water to thin it and stretch out the amount. Then I use it when making the pre-compost mix. Dried baking yeast is ‘stored biota’ but I don’t know how they do that. I don’t know if instead of scooping off the fresh biota on the veggie slurry and using it right away if instead I dehydrated that scooped off stuff if the biota would remain alive and in a deactivated state …🤷♂️. It would be a fun experiment to try at some point! You’re very smart to get pre-compost started now👍😎. The sooner the better. It doesn’t go bad and your worms will thrive in it 🪱🪱
Hi Jayne, How many time will you add more material to reactivate the breakdown ? Do you have to wait for it to cool down completely before adding more material ? Thank You
Hi J. I now do a modified material addition. As I move the pre-compost from one tote to the next in an assembly line fashion it gets turned and the tote gets filled back up. It’s not new material in the totes until the last tote which gets all the new material. Often I need to add moisture to the totes during the turning. This addition of air and moisture reactivates the biota. The refill gives the biota more material to process (even if the material isn’t new as it’s not fully broken down either) as well as more mass to keep moisture and heat in which also give the composting process a boost. If I feel it’s needed I add a yeast/bacteria booster like bakers yeast, worm castings or tea, beer, moldy fruits/veggies, etc. No, you don’t have to wait until the tote completely cools. In fact it’s more productive to add in any new material (whether new-new or new-already semi processed) when the tote is still somewhat active - usually around temperatures of 100F-105F. Is that clear at all?? 🤣👍❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms I watch 7 parts videos , and read 3, 4 times . It is not clear yet, but I will watch and read again and again , hopefully 1 day I will understand . Thank You very much for making videos so we can make compost in the winter inside
@@jtran7517 Hi J. I’m sorry you’re struggling with the the steps 😢. Would having the videos in another language help? I can add subtitle languages now 👍. Here are the steps in a very brief overview: - mix 2 parts carbon (cardboard) with 1 part nitrogen (used coffee grounds). This ratio can be modified closer to 1:1 as you gain experience. - add liquid and mix until materials are very damp. I use veggie and fruit liquid. Water, worm tea, beer, etc can be used also. - add a bacteria source if your liquid doesn’t have active bacteria already. Worm tea, castings, soil from the yard, compost you already have on hand, etc. - mix again to ensure no pockets of dry material. If material is drippy wet, add more carbon and/or nitrogen to soak up excess liquid. - cover tote with a oversized piece of fine screen and then cover the screen with a thick layer of dry cardboard shred. These keep bugs out and heat and moisture in. - in a few days you should see the temperature rise well above ambient temperature. This means bacteria is working to breakdown the carbon and nitrogen materials that when the processing done and the materials are no longer hot, can be added as bedding to your worm bins. Does this helps you? 👍🪱❤️
Hello! I use regular white copy paper, junk mail letters and envelopes, etc. EXCEPT I do remove any cellophane (or whatever it is) mailing windows, glossy paper (although I do think it’s ok to use, I choose to not to use it mostly 🙄🤷♂️). I take off sticky labels and packing tape. Sometimes I rip off the part of an envelope that has the glue on it. The bottom line is that it takes a lot of chemical processing to make the paper products we use today. A little bleaching agent isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference 😎. Even recycled paper and cardboard has gone thru extensive processing to be reformed into new usable materials. I’ll go a step further. Any of the paper products I put into my composting system I’d be ok with putting uncomposted into my worm bins. 👍. Thanks for asking 👍🪱❤️
@@franckelatter9829 Also worms are being tested for toxic spill clean ups. I don’t know what species specifically but I’d wager that worms that can take that level of toxicity- including heavy metals - are not going to be phased by chemicals that we are exposed to in our household usage. Its a broad statement and I’m willing to be wrong of anyone does have information and data on this 👍😊
Hello! Coffee grounds are a high nitrogen source. They are easily available for most people and either cheap or free. I am sharing how a regular person with access to regular easy to get ingredients in a small space can effectively make pre-compost worm bedding and food. Coffee grounds fits that bill nicely! Ok? 😊🪱
Hi again! The bin lid could be used IF you drill lots of air holes in it. The biota needs air. If you haven’t watched the next video yet, spoiler alert (🤣), I tried using a plastic bag covering and it failed completely. Due to lack of air I believe. A closed plastic lid would act too much like the plastic bag. Not good. The burrito top serves a couple of functions. It allows air flow as already mentioned plus it helps keep the heat and moisture in that the biota love. We are essentially making a very scaled down version of a standard hot composting pile. 👍🪱🪱 Several Castings Crew have developed their own versions of the burrito: mainly using some type of breathable bag (pillowcase kind of thing or tight mesh bag from say onions or citrus fruits) filed with the shred. This gives the breathability and limits the mess.
Thanks so much for the great information! Just one more question, how long will veg liquid be safe to use and does it need refrigerated? Or can I just let it sit in the basement with my other supplies?
@@traceybier1128 Ask as many questions as you have! The veggie slurry/liquid is good forever for using in the pre-compost mix. That doesn’t mean you’ll WANT to keep it forever, just that it going yucky only makes it a better add to the mix. I just made a video that sorta mentions this and it’ll be uploaded Tuesday! I show a jug that has obvious floating mold pieces in it that I use 👍. I store most of it in the garage fridge, especially the thicker stuff. When I run out of space - I’ll literally have up to 10 gallons in there at one time - I will just keep the thinner liquid ones on the patio. I choose the thinner ones as they don’t build up the decomposition gases as much so less tendency to explode 😳. Which only happened to me once, on camera, as I opened the jug , and I got a face full of the yuck 😱😆. So bottom line, if you need to store jugs of the liquid/slurry in the basement where it’s probably cooler anyway, you’ll be good. Maybe try to open the jugs once a month to relieve any built up gas. Ok? 🪱🪱😎
I'm so grateful for all the support. This is a new venture for me after 30 yrs running an animal rescue on my farm. My health won't allow that any longer so this is a way of contributing for me.
@@traceybier1128 You are more than welcome! Worms and composting are a great way to contribute to the earth! I salute you for finding a new way that fits your circumstances. We all have to make changes as life progresses - that doesn’t mean we have to give up! 😍🪱🪱
Hi Annie! I have (cough cough) 3 paper shredders. 2 bought used and one new. If you can find or afford a shredder, it’s a great investment that pays off in several ways. It saves time and work and increases the turn around time for bedding to be consumed by worms and made into castings - either thru composting the paper/cardboard first or directly adding it into a worm bin. If a shredder is not possible, then soaking the cardboard first before ripping into smaller pieces can at least make the job less difficult. Here is the link to the unboxing of my brand new shredder so you can see what features I look for: UNBOXING Micro Shredder th-cam.com/video/ccZqdLwTlcU/w-d-xo.html I also suggest reading the comments as additional helpful information on what to look for is given 🪱❤️
Hi again! I dont think my first compost bin was successful and I’m guessing it’s because it’s in the garage and too cold. I’ve rewatched the videos and the ambient temp and total volume are the two things I think could be keeping me from success. Im going to double the volume of materials in my bin and then move it into a spare bathroom. Is there a preferred ambient temp? Any other ideas. Not giving up and appreciate you and your videos ❤
Hi Monica! I’m sorry it’s been a struggle 😢. Don’t throw that trouble maker bin of material out though. Once you get a tote working you can feed this stuff to it. Or to your worms- they’ll eat it just fine even if it does take them a bit longer to chew thru it all. Don’t add all at once though!! My first many totes where inside my house as you may remember. 77F to 85F at night. South Florida, gotta love it. 😳🙄. Normal house temps are fine. Mesophilic bacteria works at normal human temps. Volume helps keep moisture and heat in which the biota love. Remind me, what did you use for the starter biota? 🪱🤗
I’m not sure I have anything I’d call starter biota. I guess I thought greens took care of that but they were frozen prior to being blended up so maybe they’ve got nothing really going on. My recipe was 5G chipped leaves, 3G coffee from Starbucks (thanks for that tip) 1Q puréed scraps and 2Q filtered water. I’ve put a heating pad under it so if there is anything living maybe it’ll help them out. Being a new worm farmer I don’t have much in the way of castings I can add but I can get horse manure if you think that’s a good idea.
@@monicawallace9582 The leaves may have biota on them but overall it doesn’t seem like you’ve got much going on as you said. Manure will work although I don’t do that with my pre-composting. Give it a try and see what happens! Or go more traditional with yeast - not more than a few dollars for 3 packets. Someone suggested beer as that has yeast in it too. A decent amount of soil from around the base of a healthy plant will have lots of biota in it too. Even letting a few veggies go rotten for several days can do the trick if that easier. The rottier the better! Purée them up with water or juice and mix it in. Do you think you can do one of these ideas?
So I added more bulk to my bin by doubling up with more chipped leaves, coffee grounds and pureed fruits and vegetables. I also added a yeast packet per your recommendation and about 1.5 gallons of compost from our garden/grass pile. I then put the whole bin on a seed mat for warmth to hopefully help get things moving along. Fast forward 3 days and my bin is maintaining about 100f without the heat mat for the last 11 hours. So happy I didn’t give up and really appreciate your coming along side me to help get the hang of this. Never thought I’d be so excited about a bin of “stuff” cluttering up my kitchen table 😂
@@monicawallace9582 That’s fantastic! I’m so happy for your success 🤗. Sometimes things are slow to take off or there’s just something off in the balance and we need to do some serious tweaking. Good on you for sticking with it and getting the success you deserve 🎊 Tanks you so much too for coming back and sharing your trials and tribulations and final win! I’m sure it’ll help and inspire a few others that are struggling too. It happens! I’m looking forward to hearing how your worms like the pre-compost when you decide to add it into your bins ❤️🪱🪱
Hi Rose Anne! Yes! Coffee grounds is the primary nitrogen source for the pre-compost mix. Any alternative nitrogen source will basically work. Worm wranglers here have reported using grass clippings, chicken manure, alfalfa pellets (I’d grind them up), etc. if I didn’t have coffee grounds I’d be using grass clippings or chicken/cow manure. You can post here what nitrogen sources you have and we can talk about them if you’d like 👍😎
@@roseannejacquette9347 Well, you have a free source of nitrogen but most don’t like using it - human urine! Seriously good source of nitrogen 😳🙄😎. Human hair - ask your local barber or salon. It may have some chemical in it which we’d like to avoid though. To be sexist, I’d try the barber first. Of course you can use fruit and veggie scraps but that’ll slow down the time to get to a decent pre-compost. Depending on how much pre-compost you want to make you may have to break down and buy (gasp!) a cheap nitrogen source if you’ve tried all the coffee places, neighbors, etc. just had another thought. Maybe a florist for their greens? Wilted flowers, ferns, arrangements that didn’t sell, etc? We will keep brainstorming! 🪱
@@roseannejacquette9347 Just as a reminder, you do NOT want dog or cat manure. Do you have cacti? Could you cut off sections, let dry and shred it up? Prickly pear cactus comes to mind. I have that. Grows crazy well so would have lots to use if I needed it by cutting off a few paddles. 🤷♂️🪱
Hello! I get sheets of cardboard as well as boxes from various stores that I then cut into strips using electric scissors. I then feed the strips into a shredder. I have 2 shredders. The main one is a 12 page micro cut shredder by Aurora. The other shredder is 12 page cross cut shredder by Mailmate, which is a Staples brand. I bought mother shredders used off of Facebook marketplace. I understand that the Amazon Basics brand is very good too. It’s very important that if you want to buy a used shredder that you test it before buying, to make sure it’ll take whatever your usual cardboard thickness is. I did call a few places about getting pre-shredded cardboard or paper but no place would allow it to be taken, due to customer security reasons (aka I could potentially reassemble documents). I get that! 👍😎🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you so much for your response. I got one off of Walmart. 12 sheet and it didn’t begin to cut the cardboard. I’ll keep trying. I called staples but they didn’t have one in our local store. So the downside of that is I can’t try it. It was a 20 sheet. 👍 thanks for your time.
@@roseannejacquette9347 Not all X number of sheets shredders are the same. There’s no uniformity unfortunately 😡. I hope you can return the Walmart one 🤞. Staples online has a 12 page micro sheet shredder for $70. It says free shipping too. ??
@@RockinWorms I tried to return the Walmart one and they refunded my cost. They said I didn’t have to return it. I have Walmart plus so there was no shipping. I look on market place also.☝️one more question I did veg powder after blending everything. Can reconstitute that?
@@roseannejacquette9347 Sometimes that happens - the store just says keep the item instead of retuning it. 🤷♂️. Does the shredder work on thinner cardboard or paper? Yes you can reconstitute the veggie powder. I don’t think it’s necessary if you’re using it in a worm bin though. If you’re using it as part of making pre-compost then that makes sense to me 😊. What are you wanting it for? 🪱
Hi Kathleen! I’m So sorry to take this long to answer - somehow I missed seeing it 🥲. I use a variety of ingredients that include rolled oats (I’m experimenting with using horse rolled oats instead of people rolled oats), wheat or rye flour (whichever one I happen to grab off the shelf), any stale crackers/croutons/ non sugary cereals, cornmeal if I have it. About 2 cups each of oatmeal and flour, 1 cup other grains/dry breads/cereal/etc. Then I add 1/2 cup wild bird seed, 1/2 cup chicken layer feed, and 1/4 cup dried herbs (I have a lot of wild cilantro, moringa, etc). I put the seeds and coarse grains (cereal, crackers) and layer feed in my blender and powder them up as best I can. Then I mix it all up in a big bowl. Store in an airtight container- one with a spout or shaker features is nice 😊. Lots of people also add in the powdered eggshell, dolomite lime, azomite, etc so they don’t have to add them in as a separate item into the worm bin. I don’t as I like to adjust those amounts depending on how big a feed I’m giving, how many worms are in the bin, etc. Both ways work just fine! I will be adding more/different ingredients into my worm chow as my garden comes in - dried beets, powdered peas, that stuff :) I don’t know for sure but I believe it’s the grains - oatmeal, flour, cereals - that are most responsible for fattening up the worms. I hope this helps. Sorry again for the delayed response!!
I smell the pre-compost several times throughout the series. iIt smells like the coffee grounds to me until it becomes fairly broken down, at which point it doesn’t smell at all or smells like clean dirt. I will say that if anaerobic pockets develop, mainly in the corners on the bottom, that can smell a bit funky. It’s not overwhelming or sustained. You mix the material up and air gets added and it’s gone. One way to avoid this to a large extent is by having the material moist but not at all wet. It’s the pooling liquid that causes the anaerobic environment. In full disclosure there was one crew member that did have a bad anaerobic situation develop and she said it stunk pretty bad 🤩. She got the batch rebalanced but it took some time to achieve it. She’s not reported any issues since 👍
Hi Jayne, it’s me again, the Dutchie from Hungary! So, I made my first batch of pre-composed bedding. I hope it will be a successful first attempt. Ingredients: 1 part coffee grounds, 1 part vermicompost, 1 part homemade compost, 1 part greens from the garden (grass clippings, nettles), 1 part moisted coconut coir, 2 parts of spent wheatbran --a failed attempt to make my own Bokashi starter: it was too wet and started to get moldy-- 1/2 cup EM-1 and 2 tbsp of molasses mixed in warm veggie water and lots of shredded cardboard. Yes, I have my own paper shredder now! I also ordered an electric pair of scissors, but it hasn't been delivered yet. So I went out of the box as you suggested and used a mini version of a chain saw. It's the size of a very big handgun and just rips to multiple layers of cardboard to make strips for the shredder. Who knows, it might become my favorite tool! I'll check the temperature tomorrow and just hope it has risen. Fingers crossed!
Hi Millie! OMG! There’s so much to unpack here! First off - excellent!! Taking the leap is the hardest part. Your use of castings and compost is a wonderful way to jazz up the microbial life in the bin and get it cooking. Pay attention to the carbon to nitrogen balance and overall moisture to keep any potential bad bacteria from making a home :). If they do - you’ll smell a sour or vomit smell - it’s almost always at the bottom of the bin which you won’t smell unless it gets really bad - which means you ignored your part in the process by not it over after several days. And the way to solve it is…. Turn the compost over and get air in there and then if needed add a bit more carbon to soak up any pooling water. The mini chainsaw!! I have one too and never ever thought to try it on the cardboard! It doesn’t gum up the chainsaw blade? I bought the electric scissors about 10 days ago. Took me a few hilarious tries to figure them out 😆. But got them working now and it’s great! Really saves my elbow joint.
@@millyzwezereijn9177 haha! The cross outs made total sense to me so I didn’t give it a thought. It’s great to change a ‘failure’ into a total success! You go girl!
Hi Jayne! It’s a shame I can’t post pics here or I could have shown you the temp in my pre-compost bin: currently at 133.9F / 56.6C. 😊 After an initial very modest rise yesterday to 90.3F / 32.4C I concluded it was a bit too dry and lacked a sufficient amount of nitrogen, so I amended that. I also added some lavameal. This morning the bin felt warm on the outside and inside it was pretty warm! I fluffed it all up to aerate it and added a little more water to keep it moist. So far, so good. I’ll keep it this way until temperature drops. I’m not sure how to proceed next: let it cure or add more cardboard and nitrogen. Any suggestions?
@@millyzwezereijn9177 Wow! 139 degrees?! I want to try YOUR recipe! Excellent!! I’m actually posting a video in a few hours about next steps for the bins as I’m wrapping up the series and it’ll answer your question. With such great heat rise you’ve got lots of time to decide what route you want to take next 😊. Thanks SO MUCH for posting how it’s going! I think it’s really helpful to others to get independent verification that the whole indoor pre-composting is entirely doable and an effective way to provide bedding and food for worms - and plants. THANKS!! Keep updating us!!
Hi John! My chickens will eat them but it’s not a favorite. And definitely not the hot ones. Same with the cows. I try to use in the veggie slurry the things they’d rather not eat. As picky as toddlers 🤣.
Hi! You definitely need airflow. I used a plastic sheet (which is in the next video I think) and it didn’t work at all 😫. There’s also moisture transfer from the biota to the surrounding air and if they gets trapped in you’re going to have a really wet composting bin and the chance for anaerobic stink is going to go way up. If there was a large gap between the top of the material and the lid AND you aerated it every day you might be able to make it work. But that’s alot of time and energy/work commitment. Let me ask you, why are you thinking about a locking lid? Spills? Smells? Bugs?
@@matthewgriffin9104 Ok I get that. I still don’t think a lid is the way to go if we can come up with another idea. So you buy any produce in bigger net bags? Like onions? Or those huge bags of peanuts? 😎. Or you have a fabric store that sells tulle? Which is nylon. How about mosquito netting? Loose weave cotton fabrics like burlap would work too but would disintegrate over time and I don’t know what timeframe that really would be. Weeks? Months? If you have some old cotton towels or sheets or canvas you could use that and see how long it holds up. The bottom line is you do need the air flow and moisture exchange. Some type of synthetic material weave will hold up a long time. A natural loose weave will work but for a shorter time. But if the natural material is free, what you have on hand, and heading for the garbage, I’d use it for sure! What do you think?
Hhmm? I have old coolers that I don't use. They would probably work as good or better. Is there mold? Is it safe to have indoors close to where you sleep?
I think old coolers would be perfect. I love it! And they can make good worm bins in the future too! Watch out that you have air exchange /ventilation. Otherwise go for it! Congratulations on thinking outside the box, uh, bin 😂.
Hi again MJ - As for mold, yes there will be mold in the composting material. I add mold in directly - remember those oranges?! Mold, fungus, other micro organisms will grow in the bin and do the work of breaking the materials down into worm approved food 😊. The screening and thick shred on top of that will do a lot to keep bin contents, including any potential odors, inside. I don’t feel comfortable telling you if sleeping near (how near? My bins are maybe 30 feet from my bed, in the next room) them is safe for you or not. I don’t know your medical condition and am not a doctor in any case. Sorry I can’t help you on that topic.
Hi Corwin! Yes you absolutely can use castings and worm tea both into making pre-compost! The castings would be counted as ‘other solids’ so you’d still need liquid. I suggest you super charge the microbes in the worm tea by aerating it and feeding it directly with sugar or unsulfered molasses to be the best biota boost into the raw bedding ingredients to jump start the composting process as much as possible. I uploaded this video a few days ago and I use worm tea as the liquid: Making Prepared Bedding Instead Of Pre-Composted Bedding Plus 3 Pre-Compost Bins Comparison th-cam.com/video/LA-C_BBKeIk/w-d-xo.html You need quite a lot of liquid so keep that in mind. Also if you do have at least some veggie liquid I’d still add that in to give good food variety to the the biota 👍. Thanks for asking! ❤️🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms I have a bag of rabbit manure that a friend gave me (it has hay mixed in), so I decided to use that as my nitrogen source along with some coffee grounds and worn castings. Hopefully that along with cardboard shreds will heat up and break down in my garage in a 18 gal tote. I don’t have the screen or cardboard on top yet though. Need to find some screen.
@@corwin81 Rabbit manure is great for worms! You don’t even need to compost or age it first like you should other manures. So running it thru the pre-compost cycle isn’t necessary. However, if the rabbit manure is what you’ve got on hand for nitrogen for composting then by all means use it 👍. The screen is used to separate the top dry shred from the active composting for easy removal to work the pile over time. If you don’t have any screen right now, still out the dry shred on top to deter bugs from moving in. When you get some screen, scrape off the dry shred as best you can, mixing in any bits that remain, then place the screening and reapply the dry shred on top. I look forward to hearing how the rabbit manure works in the pre-composting process! 🪱❤️👍
Hi Candy! No worries! Ask away! I get my cardboard mainly from a warehouse store. They use sheets of cardboard as separators between layers of cases of water, paper towel packs, etc. They also have several large bins of boxes products came in. I help myself to what I want as all shoppers can. It helps the store lessen their garbage output too. Regular grocery stores are the same for product boxes. I’ve gotten them there too. I get boxes that don’t have a lot of stickers on them (cause I’m lazy and don’t want to pull off a lot of tape) and aren’t too thick for my shredder. Liquor boxes and appliance boxes tend to be too thick. As an added tip, if your store has a bakery ask them for empty icing buckets. Especially before holidays. I don’t always score but I do often enough to keep me asking 😆.
@@jeffrey6019 Ho Jeffrey! I would advise against it as air getting to the pre-compost thru the surface area is critical. If you haven’t watched past 2 yet it shows that the bin with the plastic covering did not heat up even though made at the same time with the same materials. Air availability is important. In some outdoor composting methods ‘reactors’ are added to the pile to add in even more air to the center of the pile. I guess if you fill your bin halfway so the top empty part is air it might work. But that seems like a waste of space to me 😝. Is there a particular reason you want to have a lid? 🪱
@RockinWorms hi, really appreciate your reply... I'm doing vermicomposting in a round 20L bin, and I created air vent at the top covered with fine screen. I met problem with BSF infestation. I know they are good for compost but I wish not having them as they can bring problem to my family. For this i realise the BSF are attracted to the fermenting smell and they come to lay eggs around the bin and the larvae climb in as they hatch. So I came across precomposting, knowing that after precomposted the smell is not gonna attract them. But I'm worried that when I do precomposting and the BSF might be attracted and lay larvae.
@@jeffrey6019 quite a few worm wranglers have had the same problem as you do with the BSF larvae getting into composting containers. This happens after the mixture has cooled down. A screen will not stop the females from laying eggs around the container and the larvae hatching and moving into the finished pre-compost. The just hatched larvae are little spots and the covering would have to be micro fine. A better, more effective way to keep BSFL out of the pre-compost is the deep dry cardboard shred on top of the cooling pre-compost with the screening underneath. This is the burrito 🤩. The deep dry cardboard is not hospitable to BSF and their larvae. The cardboard also helps mute or contain the smell of the pre-compost, reducing the allure to the females. Therefore I strongly suggest you give the burrito top a try 👍. May I ask what problem BSF can bring to your family? Any flying insect can be annoying and/or scary! At least BSF don’t bite or transmit diseases! 😍
Hi. My shreds come out really small and I fear because of the denser quality that I’m putting way too many shreds per coffee grounds. Plus, it’s taking over 3 gallons of liquid to wet to the squishy stage. What does 5 gallons of your shreds weigh and maybe I can make a comparison? Thanks!
Hi Denise! I’ll try to weight it out tonight for you 😊 Heavy on the carbon will slow the process down. It’ll still Compost, just take more time. If you have the bin space and coffee grounds (maybe make a quick dash to a local Starbucks?) add in more to balance the cardboard. As long as the liquid isn’t forming a pool on the bottom of the bin - which will get smelly - don’t worry about how much liquid goes in. I wish mine took more liquid as I have so much stored in the fridge 😆. What’s your temperature movement look like? Is it heating up?
Hi Denise! 5 gallons of my micro shred weighs 3lbs 2.5 oz. That’s without packing it into the 5 gallon bucket. I wouldn’t worry too much about the weight compared to the weight of coffee grounds. Most recipes including my own are more volume based. As I suggested in my previous comment I’d just add more nitrogen in. Mix it all up. Give it a day or two. See if the temperature starts to rise. If it does then you’re on your way! You can add in more nitrogen or yeast after the initial rise. If you don’t get the initial temperature rise then add in even more nitrogen. Of the bin your using becomes awkwardly full - that’s happened to me - take a bunch out and store in a plastic bag. It’s not cooking anyway so it won’t kill bacteria that’s not in there anyway 😊. You’ll simply add this material back in later on as the volume reduces and you do a second heating round. No big deal. If you happen to go overboard with the nitrogen trying to kick start the process, simply add carbon in until you get the balance right. You’ll get a feel for it 👍. Let me know how it goes!
Hi Corrine! I have several shredders 🤣. All are at least 10 page capacity shredders. One is a cross cut which I now use mainly for paper or non corrugated cardboard and 2 are micro cut shredders for all other/corrugated cardboards. The best idea I found is to literally take whatever cardboard you normally use with you and test out any shredder you’re considering. A Royal brand shredder’s 10 or 12 page slot is different than Ativa’s slot is different than Office Depot’s slot, etc. I bought 2 shredders off Facebook marketplace and 1 brand new from Sam’s Club. I might return the Sam’s Club one - it works great - now that I got the similar one for half the price off of marketplace. I actually did an inboxing video of the Sam’s Club shredder but haven’t posted it yet. Maybe I’ll do that this coming week 😊.
I recommend against it. Lots of air flow works best. The biota needs it. Also they put out a lot of respiration which adds condensation to the mixture if there’s a lid. That leads to too much liquid and the anaerobic environment we talked about in your last question. On the good side a lid keeps in the heat generated and the biota like that. But the trade off benefit isn’t there. The shred burrito top gives you all the good benefits without any bad bits. 👍 You’re asking good questions! 🪱
It has been over a 100 for weeks . I'm near Boise Idaho. I was in the worm composting business in Nevada about 9 years ago and I moved here at that time, I had a flow through system . I like the way you do your process better now that I'm older. I haven't used Boi-char yet but I'm interested because of how it seems to work with the roots of plants. It is a real pleasure to communicate with you.
@@johnwood1099 Yikes! You’re as hot as we are. Lots of places are nowadays 😳😩. We literally get a heat advisory every single day.
I think the bin systems are easier than cfts in many ways. Every time I want to combine bins into a mega bin I hesitate over how much it’s going to save me, if anything, overall. And aging is a part of that. Captain Matt changed all his cfts. He built racks for bins and then rather quickly reduced the height of the racks. We have to work within our limits. Getting hurt should be a part of worm wrangling!
It was the @northernthaiguy who expressed some reservations about biochar in one of his videos that first made me aware that there ever were potential drawbacks to biochar. I haven’t researched it much so would be trying to learn about it like you are.
It’s been a pleasure chatting with you too 😍. I hope to hear more from you along the way 🤩🪱
Hi Jayne, this was really clear and helpful - thank you! The closest I came to pre-composting is when I tried to make an aged bedding bin. I started with cardboard shred and added a few other amendments and kick started it with some living material (worm castings). Well, wouldn't you know it but the castings contained cocoons and eventually I had a worm bin! Actually I had two worm bins. Those are now my Eat My Shorts and Peekaboo bins. So my weakness is anytime I find myself with an empty tote, I seem to end up with a new worm bin!
~ Sandra
Hi Sandra! Thanks for stopping by! I’d argue that you were exactly pre-composting that cardboard and got a lovely surprise out of it 🤣. I’m glad it didn’t heat up too much and destroy the cocoons. Do you know how how high a temp cocoons can survive? I know they can withstand freezing but haven’t found yet the heat tolerance side of their capabilities.
No, I don't know the upper range of survival. Our compost right now is really cooking and the live worms are finding cooler pockets to survive. Maybe we will find the answer about cocoons when the pile finally cools down and I can see if there any cocoons in the middle.
~ Sandra
@@NanasWorms Please share what you find out with the class!
I "kind-da" do the same thing. I use a cement mixer (Harbor Freight $100), Put rain - water in, add hardwood pellets, coffee grounds, shredded cardboard, Soy pellets for horses, cooked shredded carrots (5 pounds) with the liquid that they were lightly cooked in, some coir, a lot of coffee grounds and finally some chicken crumbles. I mix it up real well - and let it sit for a day. If it is heating up I run the mixer for five minutes - I do this every day until it has stopped heating up. I put it in three gallon containers with a cover and let it sit outside for a few weeks. Works great. I take a gallon of it, a gallon of coir and a few of gallons (+ - ) of shredded cardboard (judgement call) and rain water - mix it all up and that is my bedding.
Hi Angus! That really is a compost pile recipe and a half! Have you tried it as an indoor method?
I have a harbor freight cement mixer too - bought used off marketplace of course 😆. I used it once to mix my table top bins but loading and unloading from the bins was a hassle and not worth the mess. When I get the time (haha) I want to figure out a good way to use the mixer for the table top bins - mixing by hand sometimes makes my elbow very not happy.
Thanks for sharing what you put into what end up being your worm bedding. I’m sure the worms ❤️ it!
Correction on above - it is Alfalfa Horse Pellets - not Soy. The main reason that I use this mix is that there is nothing to attract bugs - the bins (20) are all in the cellar. I use 16 quart Sterilite bins - they don't get very heavy to lift - ninety-three years old - have to be careful. I empty the mixer into the Gorilla cart and then use a small shovel to fill the buckets. I separate the worms like you do: Bloom and Gray does it that way - I enjoy her channel - when I can understand her - have to use CC, but I'm getting better at it - at least it isn't Gaelic.
A correction on the above - alfalfa pellets not soy pellets. I have all of my bins (20 - small 6 gallon Sterilite ) inside in the cellar. I freeze all of my food scraps and use them outside. I don't have any bugs - I think most of them come in on shredded leaves. I separate the worms the same way that you do - learned that from a blog from England - it is so easy and fast.
Hey "Old Man" your repeating yourself (Don't tell my son)
@@angusmacduff3471 Hi Angus! Thanks for for the correction. People do read the comments and if someone wants to try your mix recipe, it’s good to have the right ingredients 👍. I’ve not used alfalfa - I did use timothy hay pellets once, that a friend gave me, in my worm chow mixture. I hear that they can heat up pretty good - which would be a great add to a pre-composting bin.
Hmmm…. so if I’ve got this right, you’re mixing the ingredients in the cement mixer dry and then putting it into buckets - when do you add the in the liquid? It’s the liquid that makes my bins get heavy and become a workout!
It’s very inspiring that you’re doing what you’re doing! My hat is off to you!!
Hi Jane, I didn’t have any screening available so while looking around the house I found 5 gal paint strainer bags . Yup stuffed them. Tide them up and covered the bin with pillows. It worked and no mess.
Hi Jocelyn! Perfect solution! Great innovation! 😍 🥰🪱
Thanks for a great tutorial!
My first batch is now "cooking", 12 hours in already at 114F. I was able to get my hands on a used 36 gallon Rubbermaid tote for next to nothing, and used it to blend/work all the ingredients. Lots of room to blend and turn the content around. At first I thought to put it all in a smaller tote once blended, but decided to leave it for now in the big one. The burrito cover works well, insulating but still not air tight. Found some rather old veggies in the back of my freezer that came to very good use, ground them down to a mush in food processor, with some ancient bananas, blended with water for a thick concentrate. Have some of that "concentrate" saved to be further diluted and used when adding more material in phase II of this bin later on. I found the rhubarb to be a bit "stringy", so I cooked it on low heat for a while to break it down a bit before grinding further, it worked well.
Thanks for the tip about the gloves! They provide great grip and I am able to massage and work the material much more effectively than with my bare hands. Also, hands not covered in coffee grounds another plus. Very excited to start this new chapter of pre-composted bedding.
I used to add dry cardboard shred directly to the bin and found when harvesting castings that there was a lot of cardboard pieces still partially intact. They were a nuisance to pick out, as they went right through my DIY screen of 1/4 hardware cloth. This new type of bedding will certainly address that issue by providing partially broken down cardboard. Also thanks to your earlier tip, now with my new sifting pans I have a second remedy for the screening problem.
Question1: Do you use all raw veggies or is there anything that you purposely heat/cook before using in your pre-composted mix? About how many pounds of veggies do you use in a batch the size in this.
Question2: Do you ever add your cow manure to the pre-composted mix (while it is "cooking"), or do you only add it directly to the worm bins when adding new bedding or preparing a new bin?
Many Thanks
Malin
Hi Malin! WOW! 🤩! You are doing amazing 🪱❤️. The bigger bin helps (good on you for finding a bargain!). I had the same issue with adding raw cardboard shred too. Don’t like it at all 😡. I’ve seen it work for others but not for me. In 2 worm bins I added it in to try quite a few weeks ago, it’s still there! Less but still obviously there. I do get a few random pieces with the new pre-compost but only when I’m pushing harvesting on the really early side. Like you said there being only a few are easy to sift out 👍.
I have not purposefully cooked any veg or fruit. If it is, fine, but it’s basically all raw, mostly already soft, going to rot vegetables and fruits from my veg guy. I think your cooking very stringy veggie like the rhubarb was smart - otherwise it’ll wrap your blades and be a PIA.
I do not added the sifted cow manure into the pre-compost. I stripped the recipe back to bare bones so it would be more accessible to more people. Both in resources and time commitment. But once you’ve got the basics down, start playing with it 😎. The manure certainly could be added into the heating process.
I guess the main reason I don’t add the manure in up front is habit. I didn’t start that way and old dogs change slowly 😆. That said by keeping it separate I could add it in directly to the bin if I needed to. In fact, I could have done that when I ran out of pre-compost and potentially avoid my over processed castings 😡. Of course then I would have run out of manure - I’m getting close to that now. It’s been raining constantly for weeks and weeks so drying it down to prep for sifting simply hasn’t been an option. And now it’s so freaking hot to go out into the pasture to collect it. Whine, whine 🤣. In fact now that I’ve got lots of pre-compost in the pipeline, I am cutting back a bit on the manure to stretch it out. It’s always one resource or another that’s in short supply it seems!
Thanks so much for sharing your process and results! It’ll encourage others to give it a go!🪱❤️🪱
I absolutely use the thicker gloves when I mix the pre-compost. I keep 2 pairs on the tables where the totes are. It’s the perfect middle thickness to help my hands but thin enough that I can easily manipulate the shred pieces to better coat them with the veg slurry.
Don’t hesitate to make the slurry any consistency that works for you. Sometimes mine is kinda thick and other times it’s simply potatoes or pasta water. I store my ready to use slurry in reused gallon jugs - easy to store in fridge until needed. 🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms Agree, the gallon jugs are very handy. I borrowed a few from my collection of jugs tucked away for future winter-sowing activities.
I appreciate you making this video, and look forward to seeing your update video on it! When I'd asked in the past what precomposting was all about, it seemed like all the advise I got involved piles and whatnot that I could not do in my apartment. This however looks perfectly acheivable for apartment living! Though my partner might not allow for it... 🥴 Maybe when we get a bigger space I'll just go for it and beg for forgiveness if I get caught! 😂
Hi Evelyn! This IS perfect for apartment dwellers! I have land and outdoor piles but wanted something I could control better. I live in SE Florida and have enough critters in my house already, thank you very much. I had all the materials needed but was stuck on where and how to make compost that would be ‘clean’. And then I thought ‘a big bin!’ And here we are 😂. It’s worked amazingly well. It takes a bit longer and won’t heat up as much (less mass working in our favor) but what we can achieve with a little effort, very little money, and several weeks of time - with NO SMELL and NO BUGS- is fantastic. Good for the worms, good for the plants, good for the earth. Love it!
I can’t in good conscience encourage you to not share with your living space companion(s) about giving this a try but….. 😊. If you do talk to your companion first, make a deal - if it smells (it won’t) or brings in bugs (it won’t) you’ll throw it out immediately.
I am posting another update today. It goes quick in the beginning- that’s why the rapid updates. I want to keep it close to real times!
Thanks for watching and commenting!!
@@RockinWorms Love that! I think I would be nervous about doing piles anyway and introducing that to my worms, for the same reasons as you. I'm okay with springtails and small amounts of mites or even pot worms, but I might lose my cool over a BSF larva, grub, or centipede! 😣 I even baked/boiled the leaves that I had acquired before I would put them in my bins.
About convincing my partner, I'll probably go that very route. In our upcoming move I'll have my own worm room/basement where I can tuck everything out of sight, out of mind... So I imagine he'll be much easier to convince then! Very encouraging that you are not getting any smells out of this, thus far. ☺
@@evelynknight5627 Hey Evelyn! You can just put boiling or very hot water over the leaves (takes less time and less energy usage). That’ll encourage anything in there to move on. I usually crush my leaves very finely (by hand or blender) and that also eliminates any bigger bugs.
Oooh! Your own wormery? Heaven! Yes, the out of sight thing works well 😂.
All I’m smelling now when I walk by the bins is coffee. I think it’s from the plastic bag covered bin. I’ve had time to think about that bin. I’m going to make another video tomorrow and address it. I think it’s helpful to show how it’s not always ‘perfect’ first time around but it’s not too hard to figure out what the problem is and fix it. That’s the kind of project I like!
Just found your site after subscribing to every worm breeding site known to man. This video is exactly the one I've been looking for. Thank you so much for passing on your knowledge. New subscriber, now to get through all the rest of your videos.
Welcome! I’m so glad you found me 👍. And thanks for subscribing ❤️❤️. You’re in for a treat as I have quite a few vids on breeder worms specifically, even a few where I messed up 😳🙄🤣. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 🪱❤️🪱
Congratulations! You’re almost at 200 subscribers!!!
I’m quite surprised there’s been such a positive reaction to my videos! I’m thrilled!
Thank you everyone!!
@@RockinWorms #295, I love your channel so much!
I really hope more people will begin to see the value in vermiculture
@@CF39D4FB4A Hello! Thank you SO MUCH for your kind words! It means a lot to me that people are enjoying my videos ❤️. Thanks for watching!!
@@RockinWorms Here we are 4 mo later (July 24-2023) and you are just 18 subscribers shy of 1000!! I bet that you will break the 1K threshold in no time.
A testament to the great content that you create on your channel!
@@malingoodwin7867 Thanks! It’s been a joyful ride 😊. I’m awed and amazed and grateful for all the support people have shown me. Not only subscribers but other worm channel folks too. It’s a fantastic community 🪱❤️🪱
Hi Jane. I feel that I’m being a pest now but just have to share this with you. I started my first pre-compost bin yesterday. I had limited supplies so I decided to use a 28 quart stearlight bin which is easier for my 78 year old body to deal with. I did two layers of 3 gallons of shred half a gallon of coffee grounds and half a gallon of slop trying to stay with your 3:1 ratio. When I checked it today the ambient temperature was 75. When I put the thermometer in it was 115°! Is that possible?! In 24 hours?I could feel the heat immediately. I think I will be able to do another layer in in a few days. My son has a grow room in our garage n anxiously awaiting castings from my grow out bins which I started in September. They have a while to go my thought is to use the pre-compost in a shoebox container and pull out some breeders so that in 21 days I should be able to give him a small amount of castings from there. Am I thinking this through correctly he was with me to feed and fluff the grow out bins and when we did the temperature check on the pre-compost bin he was so excited he’s 45 years old and really into his gardening and I’m so excited to be able to help him. Thank you for all of your help. I don’t know how you do it and you even bake banana muffins. I don’t know how you find the time. Suzi
@@susanodonnell3236 Hi Suzi! First off you are not being a pest at all! We are learning from you and your experiences. You’re proof that limited supplies can be quite successful 😍. Secondly and specifically …Congratulations! That’s fantastic! It’s very possible and if you’ve got the mixture right it’s what to expect. Heat up happens usually within the first 24 hours. It can peak within 48 hours for these small container systems and then cool just as quickly. Bigger totes and troughs take much longer to cool down.
How fun that you and your son are doing this together and are having a great time 🤩.
As I said above, the temperature will drop within a few days as will the volt you can aerate and add your next layer then as you go for cycle #2. Exciting!
You’ll need to make sure the more-compost cools enough to be worm safe. Below 90F if not closer to 85F. Starting a small shoe box will certainly give you some nice castings within 3 weeks, whether you use breeder worms or mixed ages. If you do use breeders you’ll need to decide what to do with the inevitable cocoons they’ll make. Have you given that any thought?
If you don’t really want cocoons you can slightly overcrowd the small bin to slow down the number of cocoons the worms will make.
I’m very glad to have helped you out! I appreciate you coming on and sharing your journey with us 🥰. Hopefully you’ll encourage a few more worm wranglers to give making pre-compost a try! 👍🪱
Love your videos. Questions: can you use cereal boxes etc that have color but not real shiny for your cardboard shred? Anxious to get started. Thanks
@@susanodonnell3236 Hey Susan! Yes you can use cereal boxes, color print and all. I too tend to stay away from glossy finished packaging and papers for my worm related activities, including making pre-compost.
I’m looking forward to you starting too! 🥰🤩🪱
This is the bedding I use as well. Except I use a small tumbler I found on CL for $20. By far the best bedding I’ve used in my 5 years of raising worms and I’ve tried lots. The closest would be rabbit manure but I had to buy that. Only downside is they love it so much they go through it very fast but they grow fast, mature fast and reproduce like crazy.
Hello! $20 on Craigslist - totally excellent! My daughter calls me a Facebook marketplace menace 🤣. I’m so glad you posted as I’ve forgotten to check CL lately for deals. There’s other lists now like swip swap, neighborhood lists, etc. They are all worth checking out!
Thanks for sharing how well rabbit manure has worked for you! I just bet the worms loved it and grew very fast and healthy ❤️. I’m eager to give rabbit manure a try. We have lots of wild rabbits here but I’m not chasing them down 😂. So I’ll stick with the 3 cows in my pasture for now. Horse manure is often available for free. A 5 gallon bucket goes a long way. A few phone calls to a riding academy or similar can net a great bedding component for FREE.
Thanks for commenting! I hope to see you back for the updates - I’m posting one in an hour or so!
@@RockinWorms I watched all three of the series. I think the lack of heat in your second actually your first tub is not enough mass. When they shrink I would add them together. If someone gives you some rabbit manure then absolutely take it but the bedding you are using now is the best I’ve used in my 5 years. Plus my worms told me so.
@@itsasickness4939 😆 You’ve stolen my thunder! Not enough mass is exactly the conclusion I’ve come to. I’m planning on making another video on that tonight so others can see what’s ‘wrong’ with this bin and how easy it’ll be to fix.
I’ve combined some of my prior table top bins into a large tote on the patio. Works a charm!
Despite not giving a spoiler alert warning ⚠️, I hope you comment more! ❤️
@@itsasickness4939I have rabbits but haven't separated the urine from the feces. Can I still use that?
Incredible how helpful this is and right in line with what I was wanting from composting.
Thank you!
Found this so informative and fascinating! Thanks so much for sharing. I look forward to following this process along❤
Hi Jenn! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! This is a fun project with lots of uses. Not only for worms but for adding to the garden and I actually throw a few handfuls of the pre-compost, once it’s full of biology, to the chickens. They love digging thru it ❤
Thanks for watching!
Thank you
I'm here to tell you a story of a disaster I followed all of Jane's video's some twice. I spoke to jane and asked if Banana puree was O.K. she said yes so, I proceeded. I pureed the whole banana's using water saved from items that were boiled. Being late I filled a jug with the banana puree and put it in the screen porch. The next morning, I went to the porch. The gallon of banana puree had exploded and there was puree all over the porch, everywhere. Plus, therenwas a million fruit flies everywhere. I spent the best part of the day cleaning the mess. Just remember if you do the same thing use the puree right away or leave the lid off the water bottle. They say you learn by your mistakes. I never want any of you to make this mistake. Lou
Oh Lou! I’m so sorry this happened 🥲. I had one gallon jug of thick purée burp out and it was enough pressure to get my face as well as a lot on my shirt. I don’t recall what mix was in the jug but it also was out on the warm patio for several hours. I think the super thickness played a part too. I’ll be sure to talk about this in future videos so others don’t experience the big mess you did and the little mess I did. Again, I’m really sorry and I thank you for telling us what happened! I hope it won’t put you off pre-composting entirely! ❤️🪱🪱
“Time flies like the wind.
Fruit flies like bananas.”
Sorry. I can resist anything except temptation.
My my my, I have learned a lot!
I think the most important thing I learned:
Have all your ingredients! I thought I had enough, enough of everything for a small batch….a practice batch-you know. A 5 gallon tub of shredded cardboard, is how much cardboard? Is that compacted, is it loose? Add water, add coffee grounds, add vegetable soup. What was a little over a half a bucket, is a little more than a third of a bucket, the next day. The temperature went up 20 degrees the first day, but by the second day, it lost 10 degrees. I really think the problem is; volume and it’s mostly likely, nitrogen. Now I’m digging out frozen vegetables and frozen bananas out of my freezer, to make a slurry. I hope that I don’t end up with a big stinky mess!
Oh my Peggy! I have to admit I’m chuckling a bit 😊. It’s a bit of a leap of faith the first time making the pre-compost. My demo here was with an 18 gallon tote. You do have to adjust based on that and of course how humid it is, how loose your veggie slurry is, even the moisture content in the coffee grounds can make each batch different. You can thin out the veggie slurry and add more nitrogen in the form of coffee grounds to make things work. I’m sorry to say you just have to play with it until you get the hang of it.
The cardboard shred is loose, not packed. I have batches that need a lot of liquid added and batches where it’s not so much. 🤷♂️.
Getting the quick heat jump is so satisfying! But always always keep in mind that anything over ambient temperature shows that the biota is working 👍❤️.
Adding more nitrogen will speed things up but it’s also the thing that can indeed turn a batch, at least initially, into a stinky mess. It happens (add tons of carbon!).
Having some volume is really helpful as you point out. I haven’t done less than an 18 gallon tote (with about 15 gallons of material in it) so I can’t say what a minimum amount would be that works well. I have seen someone using a 13 gallon kitchen garbage can filled most of the way up and that worked well. I think a key to that one is the vertical space that keeps the composting action very contained. A tote is more square and therefore more spread out so to speak.
I don’t know how far in the series you’ve watched but there’s a secret ingredient coming up (baking yeast) that can give your compost a big boost if needed.
I encourage you to stick with it during this learning phase and before you know it - batch 2-3 - you’ll be throwing this together without a thought! And your worms will thank you with amazing castings! 🪱👍❤️
@@RockinWorms Jayne, I’ve watched the whole series, twice! The “secret” will be my next option…I don’t want my bucket to explode! 😮
@@peggywaters2589 So to be clear, what sized bucket/tote are you making pre-compost in? I may be able to give you some measurement advice. Maybe! 🪱
@@peggywaters2589 So to be clear, what sized bucket/tote are you making pre-compost in? I may be able to give you some measurement advice. Maybe! 🪱
@@RockinWorms it’s a 5 gallon, Home Depot bucket. Too hard to mix in the bucket, so I dump most of it in a 7 gallon tote and stir well before dumping it back in the bucket. I thought it would heat up better with less surface area.
I thought I could handle a 5 gallon bucket better than a large tote. I also use the buckets to sift my castings.
Hey Jane love the videos, have put any thought into adding some worm tea as an inoculant to kick start the process. I used some rabbit manure on the outside bags
@@StrawberryRiverRedWigglers Hello! I haven’t used castings as an inoculation myself but others have done so and say it works great! Once you get the first batch of pre-compost, even one that had only a modest heat up, save some and use it in the next batch. That works really well!
Rabbit manure is great stuff! I don’t have that available to me (yet!) but I understand you can add it directly to a worm bin without aging it. It doesn’t need to go thru a composting process first 🤩🪱
Update.. Hi Jane, I mixed up my precompost "recipe" yesterday afternoon in the 5 gallon bucket. The temperature is at 93º this morning. The bucket is in the garage, which is 71º but heats up during the day. (I used shred and all the coffee I could snag (about 4:1 ratio) puree & strained veggie liquid, some powdered oyster shell, about 2.5 c of fresh castings and 1 packet of activated yeast. I got the moisture level to what you showed--thank you for sharing the sound of a good moisture when squeezed. I put a loose fitting piece of cardboard on top and a netted "pillow" of shred on top of it all. I am thinking to let it ride and see if I get more heat, but I am wondering if there is anything I should be doing? My only big concern is having it go anaerobic.
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! A 22F degree rise is great! It’s in the mesophilic bacterial range and now the question is if the heat cycle will sustain itself for several days.
Your ingredients sounds very good. I do think you could have used a carbon to nitrogen ratio close to 55:45 to increase the temperature increase opportunity. A higher carbon ratio like 4:1 tends to run cooler and take longer for material breakdown. So you may want to consider adding more nitrogen when the bucket stops heating and starts cooling to re-boost it.
Anaerobic on the bottom and corners is common - darn gravity 🤣. Just mix the contents up - no big deal at all 😎.
Keep us posted! 😍🤩🪱
thank you.
You’re very welcome! Is it easier or harder than you thought it would be?
@@RockinWorms easier. Just have to find a source of shredded paper. Could I make a smaller batch like a 5 gallon bucket?
@@nancyobrien2854 Do you grocery shop? Go to any retail
shops at all? 🙂. I’ve got all the cardboard I wanted at Publix, Walmart, warehouse clubs, etc. for FREE. Your brand of stores may be different but I bet they’d be happy to load you up. It’s all waste to them that they have to bundle and ship out or pay to have picked up. Ask a stock clerk. Take the empty boxes off the shelves. Cruise the neighborhood or go into town on garbage pick up days. I always see lots and lots of Amazon boxes on the curb waiting for the garbage guys. Too many for me to take. I do suggest that you pay attention to the thickness of the cardboard. Too thick is hard to rip, hard to cut, hard to shred. Thicker pieces if you can cut them are great to line the bottom of your worm bins if you like to do that. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Mostly it depends on if I’m making a new bin and I remember 😂
I hope you give this a try real soon!
It really is an easy process, with a little effort here and there, that uses time - and biota - to do the really hard work. The payoff is so worth it!
@@RockinWorms I have a bad ankle that makes it hard for me to do a lot of walking. Therefore, I have pretty much become a home body.
The paper shredder I have access to will not shred standard shipping boxes. I have jammed it trying to shred both amazon and what the local grocery store has (my hubby works in the meat market and has brought home boxes before). I will have to try the actual boxes used for packaging pasta and cereal. If I could get my dad to stop shredding up charge card offers (with the plastic cards in them), I would probably have enough paper. He was taught to shred anything that anyone could possibly use to steal your identity.
@@nancyobrien2854 Mobility issues are challenging for sure 😒. Do you have a public library in town? Could your husband stop in? Mine gets the bigger newspapers as part of their services. I’ve asked and received the old newspapers from them a few times to make paper planting cups. They may be willing to hold a weeks worth for one pick up.
I’ve had the paper shredder issue too. I finally got a new one that takes more sheets (get at least 10 sheet capability) at a time so it handles cardboard easily. Since I’m all about saving money and reusing, I bought mine used off Facebook marketplace for a super price! And I mean cheap. It is totally worth investing a few dollars, especially if it’s used and heading for the trash, to make your life easier and achieve great benefits.
I hope you can figure this out. Put on the McGuyver hat 🤣
@1DutchKiwi-omafaraway Hello! I saw your post on my friend Peggy’s channel 😊. If you’re interested in composting your kitchen food scraps indoors, the playlist that this video starts off gives step by step directions on how to do this ❤🪱🪱
Hi Jayne, Very interesting video. Very easy to follow. I will have to have a go at this for my worm bins. Any suggestion for using something other than coffee grounds? Looking forward to watching the rest of this pre-compost play list.
Have fun, Mark : )
Hi Mark! Welcome! The worms love this bedding! If you’re looking for lots of castings and cocoons, then this bedding is a game changer 👍😎.
The coffee grounds are the nitrogen component. You can play with other nitrogen ingredients such as fresh cut grass, green leaves, alfalfa and blood meal, etc. I like the coffee grounds because they are free but also east to work with. They don’t mat like grasses and fresh leaves can. It’s less likely to get anaerobic and stinky. The veggie slurry is also nitrogen as well as liquid so make it thicker 😊. Ok? 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms Hi Jayne, Thank you for the reply, very helpful : )
Subbed. I got started 2 months ago. Eisenia Fetida and Perionyx Excavatus with Eudrilus Eugeniae on the way.
I'm not addicted 😂
Hello! Me neither.
@@RockinWorms I'm in Polk County so You're my Local inspiration. Free worms I haven't found yet but I'm looking.
@@crapton9002 If you find a source for free red wigglers be sure to share with the class!
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know if *I*would 😆
Thanks for the video. I'm running a tray system and have a tray of raw cardboard that sits at the bottom of my system for 90-180 days before I start using it as a feeding tray to inoclate. Do you remcomend using the pre-compost in the inoculation tray instead of raw cardboard?
Hi Shaun! Welcome 🤗. Pre-compost would certainly work wonders on all of your trays. That said you’re making at a minimum prepared bedding doing what you’re doing, which is a great step vs adding raw bedding into your trays. I guess which is better comes down to how much that inoculation tray breaks down the bedding and gets loaded with biota prior to it being rotated into a full on worm tray. And that depends on how you run your system aka how much castings and moisture fall into the inoculation tray during that 90-180 day period.
Also there’s a definite space savings using your bottom tray to make prepared or pre-compost vs using separate totes. But if you do have the space, or are thinking of expanding your worm wrangling beyond the tray system, making pre-compost in totes is a great way to go. This probably isn’t the cut and dried answer you were expecting 😆. But what’s best/better really depends on your individual circumstances and I hope the above will help you decide what to do 😎. Thanks for asking and watching 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms Thank you for the response. Thats actually makes a perfect sense. I do see a good bit of breakdwon on the inocculation tray and by the time It becomes the feeding tray I see almost 0 cardboard. That being said I'm sure it wouldnt hurt to mix in some additional bedding like leaves, coier and coffee. I have been putting coffee in with the feedings but adding it to the bedding doesnt sound bad.
@@shaunnichols8170 Adding coffee into the raw bedding, along with any decent amount of moisture will start actively (as opposed to cold) composting. Be sure to keep an eye on temperatures in that tray and how it might affect the upper trays. The trays have good ventilation but you don’t want it to turn into an oven! I should have said that in my first response 😬. Be sure to report back your experiences with trying this if you do try it. I don’t have a tray system but many people
do and the feedback would be beneficial 👍🪱🪱
Hi, I was watching this video and want to start pre-composting but I need the amounts. You said that the cardboard was supposed to be 10 gallons done with a milk jug and the coffee you said was 3 pounds but it was more like five and when you get to the slurry, you show us what we can use and then you just show a pot full of liquid, but not, the amount so I’m kinda confused on how to get started on this. I’m not a very good eye ball it person so exact amounts would be great 😊.
Hey there. I understand wanting a recipe that’s a little more specific. I’ll do my best as long as you do realize that you are going to have to do some tweaking regardless. It’s impossible for me to know how dry or wet your ingredients are 😊. I’ve also updated the ‘recipe’ a bit so will give that to you here:
For an 18 gallon tote you can use 8 gallons of carbon (shredded cardboard is easiest) and 5-6 gallons of coffee grounds. Mix it well. Then added enough veggie slurry to coat the dry ingredients. I’d suggest starting with 1 gallon of slurry and add from there. The thickness of the slurry will greatly affect the amount you need to use. You want everything coasted but no excess that will settle to the bottom of you can do that. It’s hard to judge when you’re first trying this so don’t be discouraged if the mix is too wet or too dry the first go around. If it’s too wet then you’ll get anaerobic pockets that smell a little - a good mixing solves that nicely 👍. If it’s too dry you won’t get a good heat up - just add more slurry, mix, and see what happens. Rinse and repeat as necessary 🤣.
Honestly, the best thing to do is just go for it! How bad can it be? The worst result would be if your tote is sopping wet and stinks. And even that’s fixable! Don’t be too critical on yourself. Any result will be better than doing nothing so you’re guaranteed success! 🪱🪱
Hi Jane. As I said my first pre compost bin went up to 115 degrees. Second round only went to 105. It’s on its way down now n hope to start shoebox breeder bin on Friday. But just want to check… you said 50percent cow manure. So only half a box of pre compost n half box of manure? So the worms will eat all that manure as well as pre compost to make 100 percent pure castings? Certainly not be selling it yet but just want to be sure if n when I do sell it I can list it as pure. I bout dehydrated cow manure from Walmart. It’s black not brown like I think yours was. And not dry. It looks like damp compost. Just want to be sure not to mislead anyone as I move forward. As always in awe of you and how helpful u are. 😊
@@susanodonnell3236 Hey Suzi! Your pre-compost is doing great. No worries with it at all. Let it cool to below 90F, closer to 85F is safer.
Yes I do about half and half of pre-compost and cow manure. Since you’re using a bagged manure and we don’t know how it’s going to react I’d play it safe and go with more pre-compost this time. Just moving some manure in a corner for example and see what happens. Go very light with any worm chow as well until you see how the ecosystem is doing.
Every once in a while a new breeder bin will heat up on me, even when the other 5 I made at the same time don’t! 🤷♂️😩😡. I always check the breeder bins the next morning to make sure everything is ok. If it’s not then I pull the worms out and place in a holding bin for a few hours while I mix the hot bin and try to determine what set it off so I can fix it.
Whatever the worms eat and then poop out is castings. It doesn’t matter what the food was for the castings to be pure. In a silly example, if the worms ate a button and it was digested and pooped out, that button poop is just as much castings as if it had been a carrot. In other words, castings are what comes out the back end regardless of what went in the front end 👍🤩🪱
😮😂
So interesting and I gonna start… but why wouldn’t your coffee grounds be ok within what we call “the yuck bucket” where my kitchen scraps go? I guess this method takes much more grounds than veggies at this point, is that it?
@@pamjenkinson5718 Hi Pam! Welcome! I think we have a bit of misunderstanding here. The nitrogen coffee grounds are balanced against the carbon cardboard. The video here demonstrates the standard C:N ration of 70:30. It’s a good safe starting ratio for beginners 😊. After a few successful batches we start to tweak that ration a bit 🤩.
The yuck bucket (love the name!) of veggies is great to use! Absolutely! Just purée it up and that’s what you’ll use to moisten the cardboard and coffee grounds. The yucky stuff will also have working biota to help get the composting process underway. The amount of veggies made into liquid is only related to the coffee grounds (and cardboard) in that there needs to be enough liquid to coat everything.
I’m so glad you’re going to give pre-composting a try! Rewatching the video as you go thru the steps will be very helpful 🤩. Post any questions you have! 👍🪱
I a SO grateful!!! THANK YOU!!! 👍🏼
Hi Jane! Have learned so much from you.. I have access to 5 gallon buckets and have been making cool damp bedding with shredded cardboard, coffee grounds, water and coir. It has not heated up, but is nice "cool" damp bedding. I turn it using a long drill auger that works great for turning/aerating. What I have not added is any veggie matter--other than the coffee grounds
nitrogen. I do have garden material that I freeze and blend for worm food and it is a pretty wet slurry (lots of chopped zucchini "arms" and leaves. I want to get the bedding buckets to hot precompost and am wondering if I can use that slurry as biota. Hope this makes sense.
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! Welcome! Yes you make perfect sense 😊.
Bonnie has been experimenting with hot composting in 5 gallon buckets. It seems to me her trick is to super load the bucket with active biota right from the start. Activated yeast is always quick, easy and cheap. Bonnie used a homegrown slurry of yucky stuff to get a good load of biota growing before adding into the 5 gallon materials. Perhaps you can do the same thing with your zucchini etc veggies. Let them get really nasty and then add to the bucket.
I think because the bucket is so small and the mass so challenged for keeping a heat cycle going that it needs to be started off high and hard with biota vs the slower growth that’s ok in a larger system where mass plays a larger role. Ok? If you try it please report back! I’d love to get more feedback on 5 gallon hot composting so more people can learn to do it successfully 😎😍🪱
@@RockinWorms Just had a (hopefully) aha! moment. I made Greek Yogurt and have 2-3 cups of whey. Would this work as biota for my hot compost bucket attempt? Do I also need to add rotted vegetable matter?
@@marytalcott1531 YES! That would be a great add to the pre-compost mix to get it going or for a 2nd cycle. Great use for something that might otherwise get tossed out.
No you don’t have to use vegetables. They are an easily accessible composting ingredient we all generally have. And as they rot they grow that biota we need. And lastly it’s a great use for them vs another potential garbage item.
Basically you need carbon and nitrogen and the biota with some moisture. What sinuses to get that mix can very much be what you have on hand or can get cheap or free. Cardboard, coffee grounds and rotty veg is what I have Sonia what I use. Others have a different mix of materials available to them. Go for it!!
Yes you may have to tweak yours differently than I do but that’ll be the case for everyone and every batch.
I look forward to hearing from you on how it goes! 😍🤩🪱
Greetings from Singapore.., where to buy the gloves u r wearing? How much is it ? Thanks
Hello Singapore! Thanks so much for watching ❤️. The gloves are from Home Depot. I was in there last week and they had a special price on them so I bought 3 packs 😊. It was something like $11 for 10 pairs. A very good deal. I hope you can find something similar. I find thicker gloves are better than latex gloves for working the compost - my hands cramp less. Thanks for your question and I hope you come back for more videos! Take care!
My next pre compost try once the bedding has cooled down. Going to use a PVC pipe and dig holes throughout the bedding and leave these holes open while the compost ages to allow sufficient oxygen throughout specially the bottom to avoid anaerobic conditions. See how this works.
Hi Kyle! Using pvc pipe with holes drilled into it to bring more air throughout the composting pile is a Mathis used by lots of people. Works well I understand!
For these small table top bins and totes, it’s really not necessary. A good hand mixing on a regular basis is sufficient.
Please let us know how your experiment goes! 🪱❤️😎
@@RockinWorms I’m just lazy and thinking of ways to compost this pile without turning lol.
@@kylewestrom7849 That’s not lazy. That’s smart! I think that’s why this method was developed - it’s a lot of work to turn a decent sized compost pile if you don’t have equipment and space - and adding air in thru perforated pipes eliminates the need to turn the compost. Mostly anyway. I hope it’s effective for you! Please report back!! 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms I will! I had success on a small scale doing the PVC method with holes but figured why can’t I just dig a pipeline hole and leave it, assume it acts the same with. Oxygen penetrates a foot in from the tunnel so hoping it creates a healthy aerobic environment. Once I’m done with the heating stage I’ll let it age as cold compost with this method until it’s ready to be used. I’ll report back on my progress.
Hey Jane! Pineapple peels, molded bread ok for the slop?
Hey back! 😍. Yes! Pineapple has been part of my purée liquid in the past so I know it’s a good add 👍. Moldy bread I haven’t used but the mold is an inoculant so that’s good too. Are you thinking of puréeing that too or chunking it up and mixing it in to the cardboard and coffee ground mix? Not sure it would matter - just curious on what you plan to do 😎🪱👍
How are you doing with the weather? What do you think of biochar for the pre-composting?
@@johnwood1099 Oh John, it’s hot hot hot 🥵. Some days are just brutal. And it doesn’t cool off much at night either. We go thru multiple sets of work clothes every day. But it is what it is and we need to take care of the animals and the homestead. Sucking it up is a daily requirement 🤣. How is it for you??
Biochar. I don’t know enough to render a true opinion. I have read both positives and negatives and feel I need to learn a LOT more before I’d make a decision to add it to my soil or pre-compost. I’m sorry to not be more helpful on the biochar topic. Are you thinking of doing it? 🪱
Hello, is it also possible to close the bin with a lid? By the way I really like your video's. I started a wormbin 2 months ago and it is my new favorite hobby! Greetings from the Netherlands:)
Hi Rianne! Welcome aboard the worm train! Congratulations on starting a worm bin 👍🤩. Excellent! And thank you for the kind words 🥰
I don’t recommend closing a pre-compost bin with a solid lid. It’s really necessary to get good air into the mix. If you haven’t watched part 2 yet you’ll see that the experiment with using a plastic bag cover was a failure 😞. A solid lid would be just as bad. Now if you have a lid with plenty of air holes or cut out with screening over the opening that would work. It also wouldn’t be that much different from eliminating the lid and just using the just the screening after all!
The cardboard shred on top serves a few functions. It keeps heat and moisture in and also bugs out as the mix cools down later on without cutting off the air circulation. Ok? 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you so much Jayne for the explaination. I know what to do now and also why. :) I am going to buy some screen later this weekend and get started.
I havent got the time to watch the whole series but I got them saved to watch later today. :) have a nice weekend
@@rianne9236 I look forward to hearing how your pre-compost goes! 👍😎🪱❤️
Is purple egg cartons bad for the worms.? Is there a cheap way of shredding cardboard?
Hello! Purple egg cartons are fine for the worms 👍. I’ve used them myself with no issues.
I think the best way to shred cardboard is to buy a used shredder if you can. Be sure to test it before buying as having it turn in and the motor run isn’t a guarantee it’ll take and shred cardboard. Even if you have to buy a shredder new I think it’s worth it as you’ll save yourself so much time and physical labor.
If you can’t get your hands on a shredder then you can soak cardboard to soften it to make ripping it into pieces easier. Wet corrugated cardboard will separate and become easier to rip up.
Does anyone have tricks they use to shred cardboard?? 🪱🤩
❤
You said add liquid from canned vegetables...I am wondering about the salt???????
Hi Marjorie! Good question! Since the liquid is going into the pre-compost bin to be processed by microbial organisms it’s not an issue. I wouldn’t put in a block of salt of course, but the amounts in canned veggies, diluted over much more water or other non-salted fruits and veggies won’t negatively effect anything. I would NOT add it directly to worm bins though, just to be on the safe side.
It’s one of the benefits of making pre-compost. You can add large amounts of organic material that you would never add directly to a worm bin. Yea!
Thanks for watching and asking - others probably wondered too! I
hope you give this process a try. I’m starting to realize there’s even more benefits, which I’ll share once I’m sure of what I’m seeing 😊.
@RockinWorms asking mostly because I don't buy many canned vegetables but I remember canning and the salt I used.....been an organic farmer all of my life...
Hi Jayne, you mentioned onions and oranges go into the vegetable liquid. I learned not to give worms citrus or onions. Does the pre-composting mean those rules do not apply any more?
Hi! Yes that’s exactly what it means. Pre-compost totes and worm bins are 2 very different things and can NOT be equated. The pre-compost process - both the biota doing their magic and the chemical reactions due to the heat generation - changes toxic or harmful or not great items into perfectly good/super foods for the worms! Woo-hoo!
Not to mention that hot composting, which is what we’re doing here on a smaller scale - gets too hot and will cook the worms 😳😬. Ok?
🪱🪱❤️
Rethinking bucket pre-compost... We were gone for 10 days and I returned to logical consequences. The pre-compost had gone anaerobic. I have been adding shredded cardboard and augering air into it...will see if that settles it. Meanwhile, I did get a plastic bin like you recommend. I have watched your video several times and have a question about the yeast "booster". How much yeast and water do you use to get the starter going before adding to the bin? (I have lots of blended slop to wet the mix and some grounds. Unfortunately local Starbies don't like to save for us gardeners.) My tomatoes are a total bust this year. Green and hard and no way going to ripen. Do you think it would be okay to freeze and blend and add to the pre-compost? One forum I belong to had several folks say no tomatoes as they are too acidic. Of course most are talking about ripe tomatoes. As always, thanks for your wisdom!
@@marytalcott1531 Hi Mary! Oh no! That stinks 😝. Literally! 🤣. You’re doing the right thing by adding air first and then dry shred as needed, if it’s sopping wet, to soak up the excess liquid. Once you get that taken care of you can figure out if you need the yeast booster and/or a bit more nitrogen to get the mix cooking.
If I buy the 3 packet strip of yeast I use it all. I’ll mix it with about 1 cup warm water, 1 tablespoon of sugar - all in a big bowl. Give it a good 20 minutes to activate. You can mix it into the pre-compost mix from there 👍. I buy my yeast in bulk so I am a bit more generous by using 1 tablespoon of yeast, a couple of tablespoons of sugar and maybe 2 cups of warm water. Since we’re not baking with the yeast, eyeballing is good enough 🤩
Any fruit or veggie can be used in the pre-compost - you don’t even need to freeze it first as the composting heat will kill off insect eggs more effectively than freezing does. The acidic nature of any ingredient will be neutralized by the biota eating it and breaking it into its sub components. I do recommend pureeing with whatever liquid you have on hand to make the purée go farther in coating the pre-compost mixture 👍😎
That’s disappointing about the Starbucks. I’ve come across only 2 so far that don’t participate in the corporate program 😡. Don’t have other local stores that sell coffee? Damian gets a alot of his from a 7-11 type of store. 🪱
@@RockinWorms Thank you so much Jane! Yes, the failed bucket has calmed down and is way less fragrant. I think I will use it with my new bin. Will add in shred, coffee, yeast and puree. I have lots of veggie liquid I drained off when I made the veggie powder. (THAT was a great lesson from your channel!) I will probably freeze those sad, green tomatoes otherwise they will be rocks, they are that hard!
You and Cameraman have been in my thoughts. I hope you did not suffer from Helene. (Patrick from "Learn by Doing" seems to be okay.) I read there is another looming large on the horizon, be safe! My sister is in Boone, NC. That town is hurting. Who would have thought a mountain town in western NC would sustain such damage from a hurricane.
@@marytalcott1531 I’m glad the fragrance has lessened 😳😝😊. Absolutely use it as part of setting up the new bin. There’s nothing wrong with it as far as future composting or use in a worm bin is concerned.
Oh those poor little green tomatoes 🥲. Could you steam or pressure cook them to soften them up?
Thank you for thinking of Cameraman and me 🥰. We are doing fine with the storms. We’ve got lots of practice dealing with hurricanes. Of course only takes one to be a big problem but so far damages have been quite manageable. We’ve mostly been dealing with some flossing (not devastating like your sister’s area 😱) and high winds. I am watching with horror the complete disaster that so many are dealing with. And taken by surprise too just adds to the nightmare.
Otherwise we’ve been dealing with a family health crisis at that’s what has taken me offline for the past several weeks. I can keep up with the chores and care giving and my small worm business and comments/emails but video making had to be put aside for awhile. 😩. I’ll be back as soon as I can! 🥰🪱🪱
PS: so glad your veggie powder making worked out!! It’s great stuff to have on hand 👍😎
By adding some vermitea can also increase the microbes/fungi.
Hi Suzette! Yes! You are exactly right 👍. Adding in vermitea , a handful or 2 of castings, etc. will also act as the inoculate when setting up a new pre-compost bin. If you already have an pre-compost bin active you can also use some of that to start the new bin.
In this series I’m specifically trying to help people that may be just starting out and not even have worms yet, let alone castings, but want to get prepared, as well as current worm owners that want to get started as simply as possible 👍❤️🪱
Thanks for reminding everyone of another option to use! Are you going to pre-compost??
Question about the liquid from cooking potatoes or pasta, and canned foods: what about the salt?! I have been discarding instead of using in my bins. I'd rather not!
Hi Juanita! The amount of salt going into the pre-composting process is moderate - unless you are a super salt user! The biota in the pre-compost will breakdown that salt just like they will the other organic compounds.
Remember - pre-composting totes are NOT THE SAME as worm bins. Pre-composting will break down to compounds organic material BEFORE it hits the worm bin. What comes out of one cycle and certainly two cycle pre-compost totes are completely safe for your worms.
Thanks for asking! ❤️🪱👍
@@RockinWorms so, water from my cooking but not hubby's. Got it! LOL I'm so used to the "salt will sterilize your soil" thing that I'm going to do a small trial batch and test it out, just to convince myself. So, pre-compost, cycle it through a small population of worms, then add it to some soil and try to grow something in it that hates salt. Thanks for the inspiration.
@@juanitanoble3190 salting the earth into infertility is definitely a thing. It does take ‘quite a bit’ of salt to become toxic however. I’d think hubby would experience salt toxicity before touching saw negative effects in your compost bins flowing thru to the worm bins. If you’re diluting salted water with non-salted liquids (water or other liquids) you’re going a long way to reducing concentrations. But I’m no soil expert for sure! I’d you conduct the experiment I’d love to hear about what you find. The cycle you outline sounds perfect 👍🪱🪱
Hi, Jayne! Another question. I have some very, very expired soy milk hubby bought, not realizing I'd never use it. Can it be added to what's used to moisten the cardboard? (Not having a lot of success reprogramming the family to save the usual ingredients but anxious to give this a try!)
@@juanitanoble3190 Hi Juanita! I’ve not ever used soy milk but I have almond milk. They both can be composted 👍. The same ‘rules’ apply - make sure it gets mixed into the carbon really well and cover the tote with a deep layer of shred (burrito style!) to keep creepy crawlies out. I’d really appreciate you reporting back how it goes using it 😎.
Thanks for asking a great question regarding a common ingredient worm wranglers might have on hand! ❤️🪱🪱
I just need to get some flexible screening from somewhere and I'm ready to go! Screen doors aren't a thing where I live but I'm sure there will be something I can use😊
I wonder if the nylon bags onions and potatoes or similar items come in would work? Maybe not as convenient to make the burrito from but they could be sewed together maybe? Shade cloth from a garden shop? That has a tight woven weave…?
@@RockinWorms hi! I got a bit keen and already started mixing stuff together so due to lack of other plans it's going to be the curtain, pretty sure it's synthetic...wish me luck! I will let you know when I get a temperature rise!
@@eleanoraddy4683 How exciting! Good luck! Waiting to hear!
@@RockinWorms hiya! Been all excitement around here, I've got a muntjac deer in my garden and I live in the city centre! Anyway it somehow eclipsed my fantastic 10°C rise in temperature! I went down this morning and it had risen a little, about 3° but looked volume wise like only half the bin I'm using so I added more of everything plus the yeast and plus a very generous cup and a half of kombucha because it seemed like a good idea at the time. At 6pm it had risen by ten degrees! So off to a great start I'm super happy with it❤
@@eleanoraddy4683 Hey. Had to look up the muntjac deer :). Apparently they are becoming a real nuisance even in urban areas.
Fantastic start to your pre-composting!!give it a few days and then mix it all up so any pockets of moisture get reincorporated. I’ve found it’s ALOT less work if you have another bin at least the same size you can off load the material into, mixing it to separate cardboard clumps or whatever. This way the too goes to the bottom and the bottom to the top and the moisture will automatically redistribute. You may not have to add any liquid at all or just a small amount.
My blue bin I made on the videos is still cooking at over 110F on the center. I can use the edges in my worm bins 👍
Keep posting updates please!!
When I was brand new at this, it scared me to see orange (looked like webbing) spreading across the cardboard on top of my bin. I got rid of it as quick as I could.
Hi Peggy! Ah, when we were new and young! 😆😎. Thanks for watching 🪱❤️👍
Jayne - I'm mostly interested in creating worm castings for my garden. Will this pre-compost bedding be good for that? (I know you said it was best for breeding bins) If not pre-compost like this, what should I use? Thanks!!
Hi Allan! Welcome to the Castings Crew! This pre-compost will give your worms great food and bedding - period! Whether they are set up as breeders or a mixed grow out bin that’s main job is making rich castings for your garden. One of many great things about this pre-compost is how fast your worms turn it into castings. You don’t have to wait 6 months to get gallons of castings like with many ‘normal’ bedding materials. You can get 2-3 gallons of castings every 3 weeks from approximately 800 adult worms in a standard bin by using pre-compost as the bedding. 👍
I have not tested this out as frankly I have plenty of castings for my garden, but I suspect the pre-compost could be used directly into the garden as well.
👍❤️🪱😎
Thanks for watching and asking questions 😊
@@RockinWorms thanks so much for answering my question and thanks so much for making g me aware of pre-composting!!
I may have missed this info but how long should you wait before using the pre compost. I realize it is not exact but is there an approx average time?
Hi Chuck! Welcome! You’re are right - there’s no exact time frame for pre-compost being ready to be used but I can give you guidelines 😎.
The first heat and cool cycle generally takes about a week to 10 days for an 18 gallon tote. This includes giving it a least one mixing to add air into the system and redistribute moisture. Peak temps are around day 4-5. Then it starts to cool down. This is when you have a decision to make. The pre-compost can be used in worm bins successfully at this point. The materials aren’t as broken down so it serves as bedding and longer term food. It will continue to breakdown in the worm bin but at a slow pace, not causing any heating up issues. I use this one cycle pre-compost when I want to slow down a bin. Sometimes I simply need or want more time between harvests. Using one cycle pre-compost gives me that time.
The other option is to do a second heat and cool cycle. This jumps the biota back into action. There’s a few ways to make this second cycle happen. If you watch the next videos in the series I talk about at least 2 ways to make the cycle start up again 😊.
2 cycle pre-compost is much more broken down and the worms eat it up fast! I use 2 cycle in my breeder bins and they turn 2.5-3 gallons of pre-compost into 99% castings that will sift thru a 1/4” mesh screen (I show that in a video but can’t recall which one 🙄). Additionally it’s so fine of castings that I really get almost 2 gallons of castings that sift thru a 1/8” mesh screen and about 3/4 of a gallon that sift thru a 1/12” screen!! If I use one cycle pre-compost in my breeder bins (which I have) I don’t get as much of the finer 1/12” castings, which makes sense 😊.
The other thing to remember is that the pre-compost that’s still in the tote waiting to be used is continuously break down more every day. At a slow rate but still doing it. It’s always ready to go!
I hope this gave you some general insight and you can play with it and manage it to get the results that best for your desired outcome 👍🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you for taking the time to write so much in detail. It was a very logical and interesting read. 😊
Can I make lots of biota and store it in fridge or is it meant to be used immediately? Im just starting out with a tower system and need to get some compost made before I add worms
@@sandeewright11 Hi Sandee! Welcome to the Castings Crew 🤩.
I ‘store’ biota in the fridge occasionally in that I have veggie slurry made ahead of time and that develops a thick layer of biota on top. I scoop it off, add water to thin it and stretch out the amount. Then I use it when making the pre-compost mix.
Dried baking yeast is ‘stored biota’ but I don’t know how they do that. I don’t know if instead of scooping off the fresh biota on the veggie slurry and using it right away if instead I dehydrated that scooped off stuff if the biota would remain alive and in a deactivated state …🤷♂️. It would be a fun experiment to try at some point!
You’re very smart to get pre-compost started now👍😎. The sooner the better. It doesn’t go bad and your worms will thrive in it 🪱🪱
Thank you ! I've learned so much by watching only a few of your videos, so far. I can't wait to learn more from you 🪱 @RockinWorms
@@sandeewright11 🪱💕🪱😎💕🪱
Hi Jayne, How many time will you add more material to reactivate the breakdown ? Do you have to wait for it to cool down completely before adding more material ? Thank You
Hi J. I now do a modified material addition. As I move the pre-compost from one tote to the next in an assembly line fashion it gets turned and the tote gets filled back up. It’s not new material in the totes until the last tote which gets all the new material. Often I need to add moisture to the totes during the turning. This addition of air and moisture reactivates the biota. The refill gives the biota more material to process (even if the material isn’t new as it’s not fully broken down either) as well as more mass to keep moisture and heat in which also give the composting process a boost. If I feel it’s needed I add a yeast/bacteria booster like bakers yeast, worm castings or tea, beer, moldy fruits/veggies, etc.
No, you don’t have to wait until the tote completely cools. In fact it’s more productive to add in any new material (whether new-new or new-already semi processed) when the tote is still somewhat active - usually around temperatures of 100F-105F.
Is that clear at all?? 🤣👍❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms I watch 7 parts videos , and read 3, 4 times . It is not clear yet, but I will watch and read again and again , hopefully 1 day I will understand . Thank You very much for making videos so we can make compost in the winter inside
@@jtran7517 Hi J. I’m sorry you’re struggling with the the steps 😢. Would having the videos in another language help? I can add subtitle languages now 👍.
Here are the steps in a very brief overview:
- mix 2 parts carbon (cardboard) with 1 part nitrogen (used coffee grounds). This ratio can be modified closer to 1:1 as you gain experience.
- add liquid and mix until materials are very damp. I use veggie and fruit liquid. Water, worm tea, beer, etc can be used also.
- add a bacteria source if your liquid doesn’t have active bacteria already. Worm tea, castings, soil from the yard, compost you already have on hand, etc.
- mix again to ensure no pockets of dry material. If material is drippy wet, add more carbon and/or nitrogen to soak up excess liquid.
- cover tote with a oversized piece of fine screen and then cover the screen with a thick layer of dry cardboard shred. These keep bugs out and heat and moisture in.
- in a few days you should see the temperature rise well above ambient temperature. This means bacteria is working to breakdown the carbon and nitrogen materials that when the processing done and the materials are no longer hot, can be added as bedding to your worm bins.
Does this helps you? 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms Yes, it's easier to understand now . Thank YOU 😀😘
Do u use unbleached paper, I was told too! But it’s a bit hard to come by or using junk mail, should I leave out the shinny brochures?
Hello! I use regular white copy paper, junk mail letters and envelopes, etc. EXCEPT I do remove any cellophane (or whatever it is) mailing windows, glossy paper (although I do think it’s ok to use, I choose to not to use it mostly 🙄🤷♂️). I take off sticky labels and packing tape. Sometimes I rip off the part of an envelope that has the glue on it.
The bottom line is that it takes a lot of chemical processing to make the paper products we use today. A little bleaching agent isn’t going to make a whole lot of difference 😎. Even recycled paper and cardboard has gone thru extensive processing to be reformed into new usable materials.
I’ll go a step further. Any of the paper products I put into my composting system I’d be ok with putting uncomposted into my worm bins. 👍. Thanks for asking 👍🪱❤️
Thankyou yes I can see your logic with paper and cardboard!
@@franckelatter9829 Also worms are being tested for toxic spill clean ups. I don’t know what species specifically but I’d wager that worms that can take that level of toxicity- including heavy metals - are not going to be phased by chemicals that we are exposed to in our household usage. Its a broad statement and I’m willing to be wrong of anyone does have information and data on this 👍😊
What do coffee grounds bring to the mix?
Hello! Coffee grounds are a high nitrogen source. They are easily available for most people and either cheap or free.
I am sharing how a regular person with access to regular easy to get ingredients in a small space can effectively make pre-compost worm bedding and food. Coffee grounds fits that bill nicely! Ok? 😊🪱
Would it be ok to use the lid for the bin instead of the screen and such?
Hi again! The bin lid could be used IF you drill lots of air holes in it. The biota needs air.
If you haven’t watched the next video yet, spoiler alert (🤣), I tried using a plastic bag covering and it failed completely. Due to lack of air I believe. A closed plastic lid would act too much like the plastic bag. Not good.
The burrito top serves a couple of functions. It allows air flow as already mentioned plus it helps keep the heat and moisture in that the biota love. We are essentially making a very scaled down version of a standard hot composting pile. 👍🪱🪱
Several Castings Crew have developed their own versions of the burrito: mainly using some type of breathable bag (pillowcase kind of thing or tight mesh bag from say onions or citrus fruits) filed with the shred. This gives the breathability and limits the mess.
Thanks so much for the great information! Just one more question, how long will veg liquid be safe to use and does it need refrigerated? Or can I just let it sit in the basement with my other supplies?
@@traceybier1128 Ask as many questions as you have! The veggie slurry/liquid is good forever for using in the pre-compost mix. That doesn’t mean you’ll WANT to keep it forever, just that it going yucky only makes it a better add to the mix.
I just made a video that sorta mentions this and it’ll be uploaded Tuesday! I show a jug that has obvious floating mold pieces in it that I use 👍.
I store most of it in the garage fridge, especially the thicker stuff. When I run out of space - I’ll literally have up to 10 gallons in there at one time - I will just keep the thinner liquid ones on the patio. I choose the thinner ones as they don’t build up the decomposition gases as much so less tendency to explode 😳. Which only happened to me once, on camera, as I opened the jug , and I got a face full of the yuck 😱😆.
So bottom line, if you need to store jugs of the liquid/slurry in the basement where it’s probably cooler anyway, you’ll be good. Maybe try to open the jugs once a month to relieve any built up gas. Ok? 🪱🪱😎
I'm so grateful for all the support. This is a new venture for me after 30 yrs running an animal rescue on my farm. My health won't allow that any longer so this is a way of contributing for me.
@@traceybier1128 You are more than welcome! Worms and composting are a great way to contribute to the earth! I salute you for finding a new way that fits your circumstances. We all have to make changes as life progresses - that doesn’t mean we have to give up! 😍🪱🪱
Thanks for video. Definitely want to try this. What do you use to shred so much cardboard?
Hi Annie! I have (cough cough) 3 paper shredders. 2 bought used and one new. If you can find or afford a shredder, it’s a great investment that pays off in several ways. It saves time and work and increases the turn around time for bedding to be consumed by worms and made into castings - either thru composting the paper/cardboard first or directly adding it into a worm bin.
If a shredder is not possible, then soaking the cardboard first before ripping into smaller pieces can at least make the job less difficult.
Here is the link to the unboxing of my brand new shredder so you can see what features I look for:
UNBOXING Micro Shredder
th-cam.com/video/ccZqdLwTlcU/w-d-xo.html
I also suggest reading the comments as additional helpful information on what to look for is given 🪱❤️
Thanks, just watched the unboxing, very helpful. I’ll check it out.
Hi again! I dont think my first compost bin was successful and I’m guessing it’s because it’s in the garage and too cold. I’ve rewatched the videos and the ambient temp and total volume are the two things I think could be keeping me from success. Im going to double the volume of materials in my bin and then move it into a spare bathroom. Is there a preferred ambient temp? Any other ideas. Not giving up and appreciate you and your videos ❤
Hi Monica! I’m sorry it’s been a struggle 😢. Don’t throw that trouble maker bin of material out though. Once you get a tote working you can feed this stuff to it. Or to your worms- they’ll eat it just fine even if it does take them a bit longer to chew thru it all. Don’t add all at once though!!
My first many totes where inside my house as you may remember. 77F to 85F at night. South Florida, gotta love it. 😳🙄. Normal house temps are fine. Mesophilic bacteria works at normal human temps. Volume helps keep moisture and heat in which the biota love.
Remind me, what did you use for the starter biota? 🪱🤗
I’m not sure I have anything I’d call starter biota. I guess I thought greens took care of that but they were frozen prior to being blended up so maybe they’ve got nothing really going on. My recipe was 5G chipped leaves, 3G coffee from Starbucks (thanks for that tip) 1Q puréed scraps and 2Q filtered water. I’ve put a heating pad under it so if there is anything living maybe it’ll help them out. Being a new worm farmer I don’t have much in the way of castings I can add but I can get horse manure if you think that’s a good idea.
@@monicawallace9582 The leaves may have biota on them but overall it doesn’t seem like you’ve got much going on as you said. Manure will work although I don’t do that with my pre-composting. Give it a try and see what happens! Or go more traditional with yeast - not more than a few dollars for 3 packets. Someone suggested beer as that has yeast in it too. A decent amount of soil from around the base of a healthy plant will have lots of biota in it too. Even letting a few veggies go rotten for several days can do the trick if that easier. The rottier the better! Purée them up with water or juice and mix it in. Do you think you can do one of these ideas?
So I added more bulk to my bin by doubling up with more chipped leaves, coffee grounds and pureed fruits and vegetables. I also added a yeast packet per your recommendation and about 1.5 gallons of compost from our garden/grass pile. I then put the whole bin on a seed mat for warmth to hopefully help get things moving along. Fast forward 3 days and my bin is maintaining about 100f without the heat mat for the last 11 hours. So happy I didn’t give up and really appreciate your coming along side me to help get the hang of this. Never thought I’d be so excited about a bin of “stuff” cluttering up my kitchen table 😂
@@monicawallace9582 That’s fantastic! I’m so happy for your success 🤗. Sometimes things are slow to take off or there’s just something off in the balance and we need to do some serious tweaking. Good on you for sticking with it and getting the success you deserve 🎊
Tanks you so much too for coming back and sharing your trials and tribulations and final win! I’m sure it’ll help and inspire a few others that are struggling too. It happens! I’m looking forward to hearing how your worms like the pre-compost when you decide to add it into your bins ❤️🪱🪱
Is there anything you can use instead of coffee grounds.
Hi Rose Anne! Yes! Coffee grounds is the primary nitrogen source for the pre-compost mix. Any alternative nitrogen source will basically work. Worm wranglers here have reported using grass clippings, chicken manure, alfalfa pellets (I’d grind them up), etc. if I didn’t have coffee grounds I’d be using grass clippings or chicken/cow manure.
You can post here what nitrogen sources you have and we can talk about them if you’d like 👍😎
I’m in the desert. No grass, no chickens or cows. I may be able to source something. I’m not giving up. ❤
@@roseannejacquette9347 Well, you have a free source of nitrogen but most don’t like using it - human urine! Seriously good source of nitrogen 😳🙄😎.
Human hair - ask your local barber or salon. It may have some chemical in it which we’d like to avoid though. To be sexist, I’d try the barber first.
Of course you can use fruit and veggie scraps but that’ll slow down the time to get to a decent pre-compost.
Depending on how much pre-compost you want to make you may have to break down and buy (gasp!) a cheap nitrogen source if you’ve tried all the coffee places, neighbors, etc.
just had another thought. Maybe a florist for their greens? Wilted flowers, ferns, arrangements that didn’t sell, etc?
We will keep brainstorming! 🪱
@@RockinWorms good thought. My daughter lives out in the county so she may know someone with something in the manure area.
@@roseannejacquette9347 Just as a reminder, you do NOT want dog or cat manure.
Do you have cacti? Could you cut off sections, let dry and shred it up? Prickly pear cactus comes to mind. I have that. Grows crazy well so would have lots to use if I needed it by cutting off a few paddles. 🤷♂️🪱
Do you get your cardboard shredded or do you shred it at home. If so what is the shredder you use. Thank you so much. ❤
Hello! I get sheets of cardboard as well as boxes from various stores that I then cut into strips using electric scissors. I then feed the strips into a shredder. I have 2 shredders. The main one is a 12 page micro cut shredder by Aurora. The other shredder is 12 page cross cut shredder by Mailmate, which is a Staples brand. I bought mother shredders used off of Facebook marketplace. I understand that the Amazon Basics brand is very good too.
It’s very important that if you want to buy a used shredder that you test it before buying, to make sure it’ll take whatever your usual cardboard thickness is.
I did call a few places about getting pre-shredded cardboard or paper but no place would allow it to be taken, due to customer security reasons (aka I could potentially reassemble documents). I get that! 👍😎🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you so much for your response. I got one off of Walmart. 12 sheet and it didn’t begin to cut the cardboard. I’ll keep trying. I called staples but they didn’t have one in our local store. So the downside of that is I can’t try it. It was a 20 sheet. 👍 thanks for your time.
@@roseannejacquette9347 Not all X number of sheets shredders are the same. There’s no uniformity unfortunately 😡. I hope you can return the Walmart one 🤞.
Staples online has a 12 page micro sheet shredder for $70. It says free shipping too. ??
@@RockinWorms I tried to return the Walmart one and they refunded my cost. They said I didn’t have to return it. I have Walmart plus so there was no shipping. I look on market place also.☝️one more question I did veg powder after blending everything. Can reconstitute that?
@@roseannejacquette9347 Sometimes that happens - the store just says keep the item instead of retuning it. 🤷♂️. Does the shredder work on thinner cardboard or paper?
Yes you can reconstitute the veggie powder. I don’t think it’s necessary if you’re using it in a worm bin though. If you’re using it as part of making pre-compost then that makes sense to me 😊. What are you wanting it for? 🪱
How do make your worm food that you use?
Hi Kathleen! I’m
So sorry to take this long to answer - somehow I missed seeing it 🥲.
I use a variety of ingredients that include rolled oats (I’m experimenting with using horse rolled oats instead of people rolled oats), wheat or rye flour (whichever one I happen to grab off the shelf), any stale crackers/croutons/ non sugary cereals, cornmeal if I have it. About 2 cups each of oatmeal and flour, 1 cup other grains/dry breads/cereal/etc. Then I add 1/2 cup wild bird seed, 1/2 cup chicken layer feed, and 1/4 cup dried herbs (I have a lot of wild cilantro, moringa, etc).
I put the seeds and coarse grains (cereal, crackers) and layer feed in my blender and powder them up as best I can. Then I mix it all up in a big bowl. Store in an airtight container- one with a spout or shaker features is nice 😊.
Lots of people also add in the powdered eggshell, dolomite lime, azomite, etc so they don’t have to add them in as a separate item into the worm bin. I don’t as I like to adjust those amounts depending on how big a feed I’m giving, how many worms are in the bin, etc. Both ways work just fine!
I will be adding more/different ingredients into my worm chow as my garden comes in - dried beets, powdered peas, that stuff :)
I don’t know for sure but I believe it’s the grains - oatmeal, flour, cereals - that are most responsible for fattening up the worms. I hope this helps.
Sorry again for the delayed response!!
How does it smell?
I smell the pre-compost several times throughout the series. iIt smells like the coffee grounds to me until it becomes fairly broken down, at which point it doesn’t smell at all or smells like clean dirt.
I will say that if anaerobic pockets develop, mainly in the corners on the bottom, that can smell a bit funky. It’s not overwhelming or sustained. You mix the material up and air gets added and it’s gone. One way to avoid this to a large extent is by having the material moist but not at all wet. It’s the pooling liquid that causes the anaerobic environment. In full disclosure there was one crew member that did have a bad anaerobic situation develop and she said it stunk pretty bad 🤩. She got the batch rebalanced but it took some time to achieve it. She’s not reported any issues since 👍
Hi Jayne, it’s me again, the Dutchie from Hungary!
So, I made my first batch of pre-composed bedding. I hope it will be a successful first attempt.
Ingredients: 1 part coffee grounds, 1 part vermicompost, 1 part homemade compost, 1 part greens from the garden (grass clippings, nettles), 1 part moisted coconut coir, 2 parts of spent wheatbran --a failed attempt to make my own Bokashi starter: it was too wet and started to get moldy-- 1/2 cup EM-1 and 2 tbsp of molasses mixed in warm veggie water and lots of shredded cardboard.
Yes, I have my own paper shredder now! I also ordered an electric pair of scissors, but it hasn't been delivered yet. So I went out of the box as you suggested and used a mini version of a chain saw. It's the size of a very big handgun and just rips to multiple layers of cardboard to make strips for the shredder. Who knows, it might become my favorite tool!
I'll check the temperature tomorrow and just hope it has risen. Fingers crossed!
I do not know why some of the words were crossed out. It WAS spent wheat bran after a failed attempt to make Bokashi starter ;)
Hi Millie! OMG! There’s so much to unpack here! First off - excellent!! Taking the leap is the hardest part. Your use of castings and compost is a wonderful way to jazz up the microbial life in the bin and get it cooking. Pay attention to the carbon to nitrogen balance and overall moisture to keep any potential bad bacteria from making a home :). If they do - you’ll smell a sour or vomit smell - it’s almost always at the bottom of the bin which you won’t smell unless it gets really bad - which means you ignored your part in the process by not it over after several days. And the way to solve it is…. Turn the compost over and get air in there and then if needed add a bit more carbon to soak up any pooling water.
The mini chainsaw!! I have one too and never ever thought to try it on the cardboard! It doesn’t gum up the chainsaw blade? I bought the electric scissors about 10 days ago. Took me a few hilarious tries to figure them out 😆. But got them working now and it’s great! Really saves my elbow joint.
@@millyzwezereijn9177 haha! The cross outs made total sense to me so I didn’t give it a thought. It’s great to change a ‘failure’ into a total success! You go girl!
Hi Jayne! It’s a shame I can’t post pics here or I could have shown you the temp in my pre-compost bin: currently at 133.9F / 56.6C. 😊 After an initial very modest rise yesterday to 90.3F / 32.4C I concluded it was a bit too dry and lacked a sufficient amount of nitrogen, so I amended that. I also added some lavameal. This morning the bin felt warm on the outside and inside it was pretty warm! I fluffed it all up to aerate it and added a little more water to keep it moist. So far, so good. I’ll keep it this way until temperature drops. I’m not sure how to proceed next: let it cure or add more cardboard and nitrogen. Any suggestions?
@@millyzwezereijn9177 Wow! 139 degrees?! I want to try YOUR recipe! Excellent!!
I’m actually posting a video in a few hours about next steps for the bins as I’m wrapping up the series and it’ll answer your question. With such great heat rise you’ve got lots of time to decide what route you want to take next 😊.
Thanks SO MUCH for posting how it’s going! I think it’s really helpful to others to get independent verification that the whole indoor pre-composting is entirely doable and an effective way to provide bedding and food for worms - and plants. THANKS!! Keep updating us!!
My chickens love peppers.
Hi John! My chickens will eat them but it’s not a favorite. And definitely not the hot ones. Same with the cows.
I try to use in the veggie slurry the things they’d rather not eat. As picky as toddlers 🤣.
Would it be ok to use a locking lid? Or would that now allow for enough air flow?
Hi! You definitely need airflow. I used a plastic sheet (which is in the next video I think) and it didn’t work at all 😫. There’s also moisture transfer from the biota to the surrounding air and if they gets trapped in you’re going to have a really wet composting bin and the chance for anaerobic stink is going to go way up.
If there was a large gap between the top of the material and the lid AND you aerated it every day you might be able to make it work. But that’s alot of time and energy/work commitment.
Let me ask you, why are you thinking about a locking lid? Spills? Smells? Bugs?
@rockinworms Mostly because that is what I had and not a screen.
@@matthewgriffin9104 Ok I get that. I still don’t think a lid is the way to go if we can come up with another idea. So you buy any produce in bigger net bags? Like onions? Or those huge bags of peanuts? 😎. Or you have a fabric store that sells tulle? Which is nylon. How about mosquito netting?
Loose weave cotton fabrics like burlap would work too but would disintegrate over time and I don’t know what timeframe that really would be. Weeks? Months? If you have some old cotton towels or sheets or canvas you could use that and see how long it holds up.
The bottom line is you do need the air flow and moisture exchange. Some type of synthetic material weave will hold up a long time. A natural loose weave will work but for a shorter time. But if the natural material is free, what you have on hand, and heading for the garbage, I’d use it for sure! What do you think?
Thanks for all the suggestions. I did find an old window screen and followed what you did.
@@matthewgriffin9104 Oh excellent!! 👍🪱❤️
Hhmm? I have old coolers that I don't use. They would probably work as good or better.
Is there mold? Is it safe to have indoors close to where you sleep?
I think old coolers would be perfect. I love it! And they can make good worm bins in the future too! Watch out that you have air exchange /ventilation. Otherwise go for it! Congratulations on thinking outside the box, uh, bin 😂.
Hi again MJ - As for mold, yes there will be mold in the composting material. I add mold in directly - remember those oranges?! Mold, fungus, other micro organisms will grow in the bin and do the work of breaking the materials down into worm approved food 😊. The screening and thick shred on top of that will do a lot to keep bin contents, including any potential odors, inside. I don’t feel comfortable telling you if sleeping near (how near? My bins are maybe 30 feet from my bed, in the next room) them is safe for you or not. I don’t know your medical condition and am not a doctor in any case. Sorry I can’t help you on that topic.
@@RockinWorms Great advice! Thanks so much!
Could worm casting or compost tea be used for the liquid?
Hi Corwin! Yes you absolutely can use castings and worm tea both into making pre-compost! The castings would be counted as ‘other solids’ so you’d still need liquid.
I suggest you super charge the microbes in the worm tea by aerating it and feeding it directly with sugar or unsulfered molasses to be the best biota boost into the raw bedding ingredients to jump start the composting process as much as possible.
I uploaded this video a few days ago and I use worm tea as the liquid:
Making Prepared Bedding Instead Of Pre-Composted Bedding Plus 3 Pre-Compost Bins Comparison
th-cam.com/video/LA-C_BBKeIk/w-d-xo.html
You need quite a lot of liquid so keep that in mind. Also if you do have at least some veggie liquid I’d still add that in to give good food variety to the the biota 👍.
Thanks for asking! ❤️🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms thanks! I have some store(well, locally produced) bought castings that I figured I’d use to help get some better castings in the future.
@@corwin81 Awesome! Please report back on how it goes so we can all learn from your experience 🪱❤️👍
@@RockinWorms I have a bag of rabbit manure that a friend gave me (it has hay mixed in), so I decided to use that as my nitrogen source along with some coffee grounds and worn castings. Hopefully that along with cardboard shreds will heat up and break down in my garage in a 18 gal tote. I don’t have the screen or cardboard on top yet though. Need to find some screen.
@@corwin81 Rabbit manure is great for worms! You don’t even need to compost or age it first like you should other manures. So running it thru the pre-compost cycle isn’t necessary. However, if the rabbit manure is what you’ve got on hand for nitrogen for composting then by all means use it 👍.
The screen is used to separate the top dry shred from the active composting for easy removal to work the pile over time. If you don’t have any screen right now, still out the dry shred on top to deter bugs from moving in. When you get some screen, scrape off the dry shred as best you can, mixing in any bits that remain, then place the screening and reapply the dry shred on top.
I look forward to hearing how the rabbit manure works in the pre-composting process! 🪱❤️👍
Where do you get your shredded cardboards from? Sorry if you mentioned and I missed.
Hi Candy! No worries! Ask away!
I get my cardboard mainly from a warehouse store. They use sheets of cardboard as separators between layers of cases of water, paper towel packs, etc. They also have several large bins of boxes products came in. I help myself to what I want as all shoppers can. It helps the store lessen their garbage output too. Regular grocery stores are the same for product boxes. I’ve gotten them there too. I get boxes that don’t have a lot of stickers on them (cause I’m lazy and don’t want to pull off a lot of tape) and aren’t too thick for my shredder. Liquor boxes and appliance boxes tend to be too thick. As an added tip, if your store has a bakery ask them for empty icing buckets. Especially before holidays. I don’t always score but I do often enough to keep me asking 😆.
Can i use an enclosed bin to do this?😊
@@jeffrey6019 Ho Jeffrey! I would advise against it as air getting to the pre-compost thru the surface area is critical. If you haven’t watched past 2 yet it shows that the bin with the plastic covering did not heat up even though made at the same time with the same materials. Air availability is important.
In some outdoor composting methods ‘reactors’ are added to the pile to add in even more air to the center of the pile.
I guess if you fill your bin halfway so the top empty part is air it might work. But that seems like a waste of space to me 😝. Is there a particular reason you want to have a lid? 🪱
@RockinWorms hi, really appreciate your reply... I'm doing vermicomposting in a round 20L bin, and I created air vent at the top covered with fine screen. I met problem with BSF infestation. I know they are good for compost but I wish not having them as they can bring problem to my family. For this i realise the BSF are attracted to the fermenting smell and they come to lay eggs around the bin and the larvae climb in as they hatch.
So I came across precomposting, knowing that after precomposted the smell is not gonna attract them. But I'm worried that when I do precomposting and the BSF might be attracted and lay larvae.
@@jeffrey6019 quite a few worm wranglers have had the same problem as you do with the BSF larvae getting into composting containers. This happens after the mixture has cooled down. A screen will not stop the females from laying eggs around the container and the larvae hatching and moving into the finished pre-compost. The just hatched larvae are little spots and the covering would have to be micro fine.
A better, more effective way to keep BSFL out of the pre-compost is the deep dry cardboard shred on top of the cooling pre-compost with the screening underneath. This is the burrito 🤩. The deep dry cardboard is not hospitable to BSF and their larvae. The cardboard also helps mute or contain the smell of the pre-compost, reducing the allure to the females. Therefore I strongly suggest you give the burrito top a try 👍.
May I ask what problem BSF can bring to your family? Any flying insect can be annoying and/or scary! At least BSF don’t bite or transmit diseases! 😍
Anybody know what the UK term might be for indoor tabletop bins might be?
Hi Chris! Are you asking about what plastic bins are called in the UK? Maybe totes?
You’d be looking for 68 liter totes.
Hi. My shreds come out really small and I fear because of the denser quality that I’m putting way too many shreds per coffee grounds. Plus, it’s taking over 3 gallons of liquid to wet to the squishy stage. What does 5 gallons of your shreds weigh and maybe I can make a comparison? Thanks!
Hi Denise! I’ll try to weight it out tonight for you 😊
Heavy on the carbon will slow the process down. It’ll still
Compost, just take more time. If you have the bin space and coffee grounds (maybe make a quick dash to a local Starbucks?) add in more to balance the cardboard.
As long as the liquid isn’t forming a pool on the bottom of the bin - which will get smelly - don’t worry about how much liquid goes in. I wish mine took more liquid as I have so much stored in the fridge 😆. What’s your temperature movement look like? Is it heating up?
Hi Denise! 5 gallons of my micro shred weighs 3lbs 2.5 oz. That’s without packing it into the 5 gallon bucket.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the weight compared to the weight of coffee grounds. Most recipes including my own are more volume based.
As I suggested in my previous comment I’d just add more nitrogen in. Mix it all up. Give it a day or two. See if the temperature starts to rise. If it does then you’re on your way! You can add in more nitrogen or yeast after the initial rise.
If you don’t get the initial temperature rise then add in even more nitrogen. Of the bin your using becomes awkwardly full - that’s happened to me - take a bunch out and store in a plastic bag. It’s not cooking anyway so it won’t kill bacteria that’s not in there anyway 😊. You’ll simply add this material back in later on as the volume reduces and you do a second heating round. No big deal.
If you happen to go overboard with the nitrogen trying to kick start the process, simply add carbon in until you get the balance right. You’ll get a feel for it 👍. Let me know how it goes!
What do you use to shred your cardboard? My family wasn’t happy for me to shreds in our home office shredder
Hi Corrine! I have several shredders 🤣. All are at least 10 page capacity shredders. One is a cross cut which I now use mainly for paper or non corrugated cardboard and 2 are micro cut shredders for all other/corrugated cardboards.
The best idea I found is to literally take whatever cardboard you normally use with you and test out any shredder you’re considering. A Royal brand shredder’s 10 or 12 page slot is different than Ativa’s slot is different than Office Depot’s slot, etc.
I bought 2 shredders off Facebook marketplace and 1 brand new from Sam’s Club. I
might return the Sam’s Club one - it works great - now that I got the similar one for half the price off of marketplace.
I actually did an inboxing video of the Sam’s Club shredder but haven’t posted it yet. Maybe I’ll do that this coming week 😊.
There is a great micro shredder at Sam's club it's about $60 and makes amazing shred that is also smaller than typical shredders
Can you Use the tote lid?
I recommend against it. Lots of air flow works best. The biota needs it. Also they put out a lot of respiration which adds condensation to the mixture if there’s a lid. That leads to too much liquid and the anaerobic environment we talked about in your last question. On the good side a lid keeps in the heat generated and the biota like that. But the trade off benefit isn’t there. The shred burrito top gives you all the good benefits without any bad bits. 👍
You’re asking good questions! 🪱
👍🪱👍💞🌸🥀
Promo-SM ☝️
Hi Cody! Sorry? I don’t understand.