Thanks Ken! I appreciate your kind words 🤗. I’m so happy you’re enjoying them and maybe learning a trick or 2 to make your worm wrangling more fun! 🪱🪱❤️
Been raising worms for about 4 years now in totes and grow bags. Upping my game this winter. Forced retirement due to Covid, looking to supplement my income selling worm products at the farmers market next year. Building a continuous flow through bin, and starting several breeder bins. Thanks for the terrific information. Enjoy your videos! Stay Well!!!!
Hi Brian! I’m sorry to hear about the forced part of the retirement 😢. Worm related products can be a good income source as the business grows. Good for you for giving this a go 🤗. CFTs are great systems. Be sure to consider more than your immediate ability to manage one though. They tend to be more physically demanding than ‘regular’ bin and tote systems. I hope you keep us posted on your progress with both the business and the CFT! Thanks for your kind words 🤗. I look forward to more comments from you😎❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms It was time for me to give up killing bugs for a living. Had my business for almost 25 years, had a good run. I do sell seedlings in the spring, but the worm products, along with some other composting materials, plus some odds and ends, sure it will be worth it. Here is a link to my last video th-cam.com/video/YpH16ktXrFs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=a36VVoPG_bK6ukif My channel has been down since, a friend is going to help me get it back after the New Year. Plan on more videos in the future. Happy New Year! Stay Well!!!!
@@brianseybert192 Hi Brian! It was a very good video! Downward migration can be very effective and easy. I’ve subscribed 👍❤️. Do you know what your channel problem is? You’ve got some good synergy products happening - seedlings, worms, castings, tea, etc. I wish you best with this 🤗.
@@RockinWorms Our computers got hacked, had to get rid of the browser my channel was hooked into, I am grateful my videos are still up, want my channel back. Really miss posting. Stay Well!!!!
@@brianseybert192 Oh no! That’s terrible! I’ve got nothing nice to say about hackers that go after regular people. I hope you get it resolved soon. I think once a video is uploaded, unless you delete it, TH-cam would need to be hacked for it to be in jeopardy. I use chrome as my browser. What do you use, out of curiosity?
Hi Jane Thanks for all the valuable information you give us worm loving folk. I've just recently amalgamated 3 small worm farms I had in totes, and they are now in an old bath tub i got from the tip shop for $40. At present I've just set it up on cement blocks. I plan to put a hinged lid on it, but I want to see how it goes before I spend too much time on it. So far I love it, and more importantly the worms seem happy. I'd love to send you a few photos, but I don't know how to. Cheers from Queensland Australia. Stan.
Hi Stan! So you went with the bathtub! That’s exciting! $40, not bad at all 👍😎. You can send me pics at my email: RockinWFamilyFarm@gmail.com I’d love to see how you set it up!! How did you deal with the drain? Is it outside or under cover? What are you using for bedding? 🪱🪱❤️
Hi Leo! Thanks! I let it run until I need it, which is generally in the 2-3 week range. I’ve only had time to turn it once lately. Basically this is how it goes :) I need pre-compost so I empty the blue tote into 3 5 gallon buckets. This is now my working supply. I then empty (aka turn) the green tote into the blue tote. I then empty (aka turn) the dark blue tote into the green tote. Then I turn big boy into the dark blue tote. Then I make brand new pre-compost in big boy. Sometimes if there’s more than what the dark blue tote can take I also fill up a clear tote. Other times I’ll pile all the ‘left over’ in big boy to one side and fill up the empty side with new raw materials. Bottom line is it’s a rotation thru the totes with the most composted material coming out of the blue tote and the new raw materials going into big boy. It’s been working pretty well! If you can turn more often that speeds things up but if you can’t, oh well 🙄😆. I have cut back on liquid going into the totes. Just enough to reduce anaerobic pooling somewhat. It still happens and I don’t want to cut back too much and slow down the overall process - which I did once already trying to tweak it. Oh well again! 😳🙄😎. I’ve also moved closer to 50/50 on the carbon to nitrogen ratio. I’ve only added yeast once and that wasn’t even necessary and it didn’t seem active to begin with so I’m not sure it made any difference. If it had been active it would have made a difference! Otherwise I use the same basic steps as always, keeping it simple and not messing with success too much ❤️🪱🪱
I noticed that black bins stay a degree or two cooler. But if they are indoors it doesnt matter much i dont guess. But I started out with the black sterlite bins that were shallow and wide. Cant find them anymore so i switched to buckets and use the bins as nurseies.
Hi Esmy! I never saw the black shallow Sterilite bins you’re referencing. I would have definitely checked them out! But yes, being indoors, it’s moot. I’ve heard that some people who use the white IBC totes outside spray paint them black. I don’t recall if it’s for heat management or light management or both 🤷♂️. The black mortar trays do seem more sturdy for sure and are what I’d look into if these bins ever start deteriorating but so far so good!! I liked the buckets I used for 9 months starting out. They did a great job, especially when in already very humid conditions. Less so when it was normal ambient humidity- they dried out faster. I however much prefer the bins for ease of working in due to much larger surface area. It’s great to have options to fit everyone’s preferences!! ❤️🪱🪱
Hi! I haven’t counted. I’m in denial as to how many I have!! I’ve been adding new breeder bins, consolidating grow out bins, and splitting baby bins. So the number is a moving target. 😳🙄😎❤️🪱
Hey back! Red wigglers what I started out with. A friend gave me 2 handfuls of worms that happened to be red wigglers and I was off to the races! If it had been a mix of worms my journey may have been different 🤷♂️. However I have chosen to stick with just the red wigglers. I like that they are very adaptable to a wide range of temperatures, moisture levels, foods, etc. I like that they can take a fair amount of neglect! I like that they are easy to identify and their cocoons easy to see. I like that they are calm worms and don’t try to escape every chance they get. I like that they aren’t too small or too big (ANCs creep me out honestly 🤣). I like that they are a great composting worm for both experienced worm wranglers and the newbie. I like that red wigglers are interesting without being too complex or difficult. If I ever choose to expand my species it would be into ENCs, which are actually the same species as red wigglers! They are both of the esenia species. Kissing cousins as the saying goes. I also wanted to really learn about one type of composting worm at a time. That’s just me though! There’s nothing wrong with- and a lot right - about having mixed species bins. We all get to make that choice which is awesome! I’ve decided for the above reasons to go with and stay with red wigglers 🪱❤️🪱. For now!
i changed my bedding about a year ago. i stopped using cardboard & paper. that goes directly to the outdoor compost now. what i am using instead of cardboard & paper is my mature, finished compost & coir. i am still adding all of the other goodies, molasses, azomite, ground up grains, alfalfa pellets and whatever is around the house that is going bad (they love strawberry preserves too). my outdoor compost texture feels much better to me now and my worms are so flippin fat now, reproducing at an astronomical rate and the babies seem to be maturing faster. before the change i was getting 5# or so a month of castings. it's over 10# now and i don't think it's only because of reproduction. i only have a bucket tower in my bedroom closet but is it producing !!!
Hi Ron! Welcome! That’s amazing! Good for you and your worms! Great bedding is an important foundation for healthy chonky happy worms ❤️. It seems like you’re using coir whereas I’m using cow manure but definitely in the same vein. I’m sure the high calorie content of strawberry preserves doesn’t hurt either 😆. How many buckets are in your tower? How many worm and what kind do you have? Thanks for sharing what you’re doing so others can think about it. ❤️🪱🪱
i am 6 buckets high now. i am trying to bait the little guys up so there is not too much trauma & disturbance with sifting. i only keep the buckets deep enough so that when there is enough material in a bucket to start baiting the worms up i usually harvest then start a new bucket. although my worms have never tried to make a run for it i really don't want to present opportunity either and the buckets are cheap. i was 5 high but discovered babies in my storage tote at last harvest out in my garden shed and don't want the little guys to starve and i am in kansas with our extreme seasons i don't want them to freeze this winter. i started off 3 yrs ago with 250 red wigglers and i have no idea how many i have now but i'm sure it's in the 10s of thousands.
@@roncatlin7271 Thanks Ron for sharing your story! I love hearing how people start this crazy worm journey ❤️. Your another testament to starting small and building up over a relatively short period of time if that’s what someone wants to do. You’re also using buckets as your worm housing - just how I started too! Buckets are a great way to get started and as you show, they can work well for years, even with a whole lotta worms! I agree that worms in a confined space during cold season is not a good thing unless specific action is taken to protect them. In the wild the worms will dive down below the frost line to survive. We have to provide them with that sort of protection if they can’t do that themselves. Are you raising your worms for personal use or are you in or starting or thinking of a business? ❤️🪱
good heavens, no. i am 3 1/2 years retired and when covid got crazy in denver i moved across country then started worming and gardening. keeping my compost hot (i have to trash can compost due to hoa), keeping my garden taken care of & seeing to my worms i stay as busy as i want to be. i am into worming just for the castings. i have kept a log of the amount of castings i've added to my vegetables & compost and in 3 years it's 218#. that a lot of worm poop !!!
@@roncatlin7271 It sounds like heaven! Good for you! The only thing I’d object to is a HOA. But it’s really hard to find places without them these days. Grr. anyway I’m glad you’re working and using your castings! Have you seen a big difference in your garden? I certainly have! Like shockingly better results once I started using castings and also frass (mealworm poop). 🪱❤️
Hi Linda! Yes you can use ground up alfalfa as worm food. However it has a tendency to heat up so you need to be very careful using it until you see how it’s acting in your particular worm ecosystem. Use a small test amount in a corner type section of a worm bin. See how it goes and then adjust accordingly. You can also add it to worm chow with the same caveat. O haven’t used alfalfa in a worm bin so I’d appreciate you sharing your experience if you do add it 👍😊🪱
@@RockinWorms Thank you for the great suggestion. I'm a newbie. This is my first attempt at red wigglers. I only ordered 50 worms because I wanted to see if I can keep them alive. I would have liked to have more but they are expensive and I figured if I could keep 50 alive I would get more so I could get more castings faster. I may hold off on the alfalfa until I see if I can get this first bin going. Thanks again for all the good advise you share.
@@lindafreeman1687 Starting small is often a really good idea! And you are absolutely right- if you take decent care of your worms, they will reward you with plenty of castings and cocoons! I started with 2 handfuls! I did buy some worms later on but again, a modest amount. Quality worms can cost a few dollars for sure. It takes time and effort and at least a little money to raise and care for them properly. With your 59 worms you should be feeding them relatively small amounts of food. A light sprinkle of worm chow or a few small pieces of food scraps. Only feed again or increase feeding amounts when you see that the worms are eating it all up within several days. Overfeeding is probably the biggest mistake newbies make. I hope you’ll continue to ask questions! That’s what we are here for after all - sharing the journey! 👍😍🪱
How long do you leave your breeder worms in the bin until you do something with them? Seems like a future date on the bin would be easier than the date you prepared the bin. Just need to know when the bin is ready for the next step. Thanks
Hi Albert! Welcome! 21 days is the standard length of a breeder bin cycle. I sometimes even manage to reset the bins on the 21st day 😍. Often however it’s a few days later 🙄. You are absolutely right - it would make more sense to put the ‘due date’ on the sticky. I should make an effort to switch over to doing that. 👍🪱🪱
Hi Jane. I enjoyed your video about setting up a breeder bin and I plan to do this soon. I’m enjoying trying different things: bedding, food, housing… I started with a tower which I’m still managing, but I’ve added two bins and they’re doing really well. I’ve just purchased an Urban Worm Farm. I have yet to add any worms. As I sort my worms to start a breeder bin - what age worms (all of my worms are Red Wigglers) would do best in my new urban worm bag? The teenagers? I want to save the adults for my breeder bin and I also have a lot of babies throughout all of my bins and tower trays. Feedback from anyone else with opinions or experience would be welcome. I appreciate you all!
Hi Amy! Welcome to the comment section of a video - 🤣. I’m glad the copy and paste worked 👍. Now to your question. I think it depends on what your overall worm usage plan is. If you’re looking to mainly generate castings, keep personal waste out of landfills, etc. then it probably doesn’t matter as much what worms go where. All castings generated will be pretty equal. If however you’re looking to actively grow your clew (a fun word to describe a group of worms) or prepare for potentiality selling worms then you want to ask yourself some questions like ‘what’s easiest for me to collect new breeders so I can set them up in breeder bins’ or ‘what’s the easiest way to collect worms for how I plan to package them for sale’. I went thru this thought exercise when setting up Orange Julius. I originally was going to use him for teenagers as a ‘finishing’ bin. A place to actively work to size up worms for sale. I thought having them in one big bin would make feeding and collecting easier. THEN I realized as I thought this thru that in effect I’d be decreasing the population in my biggest bin steadily over time while simultaneously not knowing how many worms remained in there for both feeding and selling purposes. And if I repopulated the bin as I went along, I’d make collecting worms of similar size and age increasingly more difficult as well. Not good! So what happens if I make Orange Julius a baby bin and use the regular bins as finishing bins? I’d have a better easier time knowing bin populations and worm sizes, plus collecting worms would be easier as well. When an empty bin happens I can easily either keep it as a finishing bin or switch to a breeder bin. I do have to manage backfilling the baby bin but I have a plan for that as well I’m working on 👍😊😎. I should mention too that if I want to keep/not sell worms in the finishing bins and promote them to breeders, that’s also easier to do if they’re in the regular bins. I can combine and shift bin populations as needed better. For you, this would translate into using the urban bag for babies and your towers and trays as finishing spaces for teenagers. Breeder bins would be their own thing as well. To reiterate, if I was not selling I’d keep everyone together willy nilly and not give it a second thought. I’d appreciate feedback on my thought plan as well! I do plan on covering my decision process of who goes where in an upcoming Orange Julius video soon 🤗. Did I give you things to think about or make a mess?? 🤣
@@RockinWormsThis was super helpful. I hadn’t really considered the opportunity to keep everybody willy nilly, but that makes perfect sense I’m really only in it for casting and reducing waste. I appreciate your thought process and that you always seem to have a plan which is super helpful. You’re the best!
@@amywaggoner822 Glad to be of help! It’s so nice to be able to work thru ideas with someone! It’s easy to quickly get sucked into complicated solutions that aren’t really needed to achieve our personal goal. Keep us Posted on what you decide to do and how it works. Be open to change things up as needed too! 🪱🪱❤️
Do you check your cow manure for herbicides or pathogens prior to using in your worm bins? I bio assay my horse manure prior to adding it into my compost piles and worm bin (only have 1 right now, still learning). All my composts in my various systems are too integrated to forgo testing before use in any 1 of them. Better safe than sorry, I also allow some weeds to grow around my compost piles as another potential warning of issues if broadleaf weeds show damage or strange growth between being chopped and added to compost for nitrogen.
@@BigWillDogg82 Hi! The answer is no, I do not test for herbicides or pesticides other than what you’re doing as far as watching for surrounding plant issues that signal a problem. These are my own cows on my own property and that limits potential issues EXCEPT, and you just made me really think about this, I do get a huge amount of tree waste (aka rough mulch) most years. I can’t reasonably expect that at least some of this plant material wasn’t treated with something 😩. The cows eat very little of the tree waste (green leaves) but certainly as the mulch decomposes into the ground chemicals are released as well. And that can and will affect the grazing forage the cows have. I really don’t know what to do about these types of issues we all face. I don’t think there’s a truly clean source of food for anything anymore. Land is contaminated , water is, the air is. But we limit where we can and do the best that we can. Man, now I’m depressed! 😝. I started off answering your question with a much more positive thought on how I was doing on the topic of toxins and such but then I did remember the mulch 😳🙄. Well, on the positive side, I’ve been getting mulch and running my land for many years now as so far so good but we also know that a lot of these nasty things take decades to build up and cause harm. Darn. I’m back to being less happy. 🙄. Ok. I’m sticking with I’m doing the best I can with what I have, as you are too! How’s that? 😍🪱
@@RockinWorms sorry for being a bummer for you, it really wasn’t my intention honestly. I was mostly curious seeing how much inputs you have to make and go through as is. I remember seeing your cows in videos, but thought I also remembered you bringing in limited outside inputs as well. Yes you are correct that contaminants are everywhere, but what I’ve learned is it’s not all about the poisons (as you alluded to in your response), but the dose of said poisons. Composting does concentrate what’s there, but seeing as we both try and limit what we use to what we control or grow ourselves, we’re trying to practice safe and responsible composting. If possible, I’d suggest trying to do an assay on those tree chips, but outside of that, no need being bummed because it sounds like you’re doing the best you can with what you’ve got!
@@BigWillDogg82 Oh I know it wasn’t your intention 😍. And I actually appreciate you bringing the topic up. Camerman and I talked about this over lunch. We both think (hope!) that since the vast bulk of the mulch we get is indeed scrub and tree removals/trimmings that the amount of herbicides and pesticides used is low. If it was fruit trees and lawn waste it’d be more contaminated. Certainly levels/dosage plays a part as well. As you say we can do what we can but need to be clear eyed on the realities. I’m also thinking that I have relatively short lived animals - chickens. And I hatch my own chicks. They get the mulch all the time to dig thru for bugs. If there was really bad toxins in the mulch I’d see deformed and dead chicks, chicken deaths, etc. and I don’t. Thankfully!! I’ll have to look into doing an assay. I don’t know how to do that. Something new to learn! Sincerely, thanks for this conversation 😍👍🪱
@@RockinWorms an assay is very easy to do and with you being in Florida (way up in Indiana, but did live in Orlando for 4 years as a kid) you have nothing but time! Just take finished castings and some native soil and plant beans in some and tomatoes in others. Let them grow for a while and if nothing looks off you’re likely good! You can do the same with the wood chips, just get a bucket put water in with the wood and let it sit. Get native soil or promix and only water with the wood chip/bucket water. When it gets low add more water and observe how they grow. Beans and tomatoes are pretty sensitive.
Hi Jayne, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b ❤🪱❤️ Glad info, as always. I think people are intimidated by the "right" way to do it. You always show us that doing your best is the right way to go 🪱👍🪱
There’s certainly more than one way to raise a happy healthy worm! Lots of options so people can find what works best for them and fits into their lifestyle. Otherwise it’s no fun and who needs that?! ❤️🪱🪱
Hi! They are the chip bags from the warehouse club I mainly shop at. You get 2 bags of chips for one price and the one price is on the plastic bag you put the 2 chip bags into. They fit the bins perfectly!! However I have also used the plastic bags they have in the meat section that you out your raw chicken or pork chops or whatever I go to keep it from yucky up everything else in your cart. The produce bags are too thin to hold up. I’ve also used old ‘space bags’ but they curled up on the edges so that was a fail. If these chip bags become unavailable my plan is to use heavyset weight black plastic from either cut down garbage bags or a roll I already have that we used for gardening and chicken stuff. I’m sure there are other options if you keep your eyes open! ❤️❤️🪱
Hello, RockinWorms! What an advantage it must be to have cow manure that is herbicide and insecticide-free- truly a sparse commodity these days, especially anything related to horses. On another note: just to comment on containers somewhat, an area that is way more important than many consider, what if all your containers were stationary and you moved worms and castings in and out instead of moving containers on and off the shelves? You would have to totally rethink things, but your workload would decrease by many factors, and you might even better utilize your space, for the most part. Which was good for me because I'm an old fart with less than what it requires to lift things. You are doing great the way it is, just thought I'd give you more to think about as space becomes more and more of a factor. Great video and thanks for posting.
Hi VermiCast! I’m very lucky in many ways! The cows on my property that I know what they eat and are treated, having a veg guy, having a mulch guy, having the space that I do. I don’t take any of that lightly!! To be honest, I can’t even picture right now how what your suggesting would even look like inside my house. Are you taking CFT types of containers? How would moving the worms and castings and not the bins work if it’s not a CFT set up? I need more clues 🤗.
@@VermiCast_Garden Yes it does help me to understand the system your describing. Thanks for that! So basically a rack system? Captain Matt has one, I think Meme is building rows and rows of racks in her expanded space, Rey at pachamama has racks for his breeders too. There must be something to it 😆👍. It’ll definitely something I’ll explore soon as I continually run out of space. One thing you mention is a high worm density. I’m finding that my high worm density in the nursery bins and into the grow out bins is slowing down the maturation process and also just raw size and weight growth per worms as well. Which is fine if the goal is castings but if it’s to sell then the bigger, heaviest the worm is the better. Do you find you worms are smaller in the packed bins? If not, why aren’t they?? Thanks for this convo! ❤️🪱🪱
Helo.. can you mind list the thing? 1) worm chow 2) green thing is what? 3) is dolomite? 4) ? Question, do your bedding after you put all these, ur bedding become hot(overheat)?
Hi! Welcome! In the breeder bins I put the basic bedding (which is pre-compost and sifted cow manure), worm chow, veggie powder, dolomite lime (also known as agricultural lime) and azomite. I’m not sure what the green thing is you’re referencing…? Can you give me a time stamp? Please note that ground or powdered eggshells can be used instead of the dolomite lime. Also the azomite is an optional addition but good for both the worms and plants if you want to add it. I have found that this particular mixture of bedding and food does not heat up, or on the rare occasion it does, it’s only a few degrees. Your are absolutely right that it could be an issue - as any feeding can be - so I suggest 2 things: 1) when starting out using this method I use, go slow. Maybe don’t add quite as much chow and veggies powder at first. See how your worms and your bins react and adjust as needed 2) take a 1/2 or 3/4 bin approach the first time. Mix in all the ingredients as I show but contain only part of the bin. Place the breeders in the area that only has the bedding in it. This way the worms can move into the food stocked section when they’re ready. If you check on the worms in a day or two, by gently peeking and not disturbing them too much, you can see if they’re hanging back or moving right in. Worm wrangling involves looking at your worms and assessing what’s happening. Then make changes as needed! And continue to ask questions!! 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms ohh the green one is veggie powder.. note it.. the reason why i ask on overr heat part is, i using alfafla powder and my binnn over heat.. same as you did, combine all thing.. but i apply to shredder cardboard.. 😅😅😅
@@vinsmokebetta672 Ahhh. The veggie powder is more reddish brown in real life lol. Alfalfa is notorious for overheating so I’m not surprised it happened in your bin 🥲. Were you able to catch it in time and save the worms??🪱
@@RockinWorms if i remake the bin, i will let them stay for few hour.. if condition is good.. so i let the worm inside.. but if over heat i will not.. so any veggie podwer should be good?
@@vinsmokebetta672 My veggie powder is raw fruits and vegetables that have been puréed and then dehydrated turn out into a blender to powder it. It is 100% food scraps in essence. So it should be treated as any food scrap - it has the potential to heat up especially if concentrated. I use a sparse amount in my bins as food so the heat up potential is small. I use the veggie powder mainly as a way to give a varied diet easily and also a bit for its water absorption properties as it is dehydrated and will therefore rehydrate in the bin. 🪱🪱
Hi Terry! Welcome to the Castings Crew! These bins are 23 1/2”L x 16 7/8”W x 5 7/8” D. I buy them from Walmart online Sterilite brand. They’re often in the store too, for $1 more for the 2 set. 👍❤️🪱
Hello! Welcome! Works like a neutral to slightly acidic pH level but they tolerate a wider range. If you can keep pH between 5.5-8 on the pH scale, your worms will thank you 👍❤️🪱
Hi! Nice to hear from you again ❤️. I don’t feed eggshells because I don’t have that many and what I do have goes back to the chickens. A neighbor buys almost all my eggs. I can’t even get them to return the empty egg cartons let alone asking for the eggshells 🙄😆. Funny enough I actually get eggshells from a different neighbor who has a few chickens. I trade her some of my mealworms for her eggshells. She’s got a lot of young hens coming up. I’m hoping once they start laying I can get more eggshells and indeed start adding them into the worms bins too. Good question! 👍😎❤️🪱
@@ginkat1318 They are GREAT to use!! Patrick at @vermicompositinglearnbydoing did a little experiment and it showed the worms eating the eggshells first. I postulated that the worms ate the eggshells first because they knew they needed both the grit and the calcium the eggshells provide in order to best process all the other yummy food provided. So feel free to add eggshells generously into your bins! 🪱🪱❤️
Hi Lawrence! It’s been a while 😊. How are your clear bins working out? Did you stick with them? As for biota, that means all the micro organisms in the worm ecosystem. Bacteria gets named the most but there’s fungi and viruses too. And also little critters show up once in a while - like tiny spiders, the mites and springtails. I guess even the gnats and fruit flies can count as they’ll lay eggs in the bin. All these life forms play a role in the worm bin 👍. I read the term biota at one point and thought it was a really good word for ALL the life small life forms that play a crucial role 👍😎🪱
@@zods1964 No worries on spelling as long as I can figure it out 🤩. I get caught by autocorrect all too often to cast stones at anyone 🤣. The big boy 50 gallon totes are nice! Good for worms as well as making pre-compost. We cleaned out a shed last weekend and found 2 big boy totes I forgot I had! I haven’t given them a job yet but I’m thinking on it! What do you mean start over? If you want to share your story that is 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms well when you were saying biota I knew what you were talking about I just wanted to actually look it up so as I had an explanation of what it actually meant. Thank you much for your response. I do love your videos and the way you explain all the processes that go into vermiculture and vermicomposting. There is one more question I have It’s on the precomposted bedding. Do you turn the beading once it reaches 140 degrees so as not to kill the beneficial bacteria?
@@zods1964 My pre-compost doesn’t get that hot. My recall is that 129F has been my hottest achieved temperature in a pre-compost tote. In fact, based on a few reported bad outcomes from some of the Castings Crew, I now don’t recommend going above 133F for pre-compost. 133F is the upper temperature for thermophilic bacteria. Mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria are the good bacteria you are referring to that we want for our worms and therefore in the pre-compost. Of your pre-compost does start to go above 133F I suggest immediately turning it to get air in there and lower the temperature. Also adding in a lot of carbon will cool the tote down. We have to remember that our main goal is to make great bedding and food for our worm. Not to kill weed seeds or sterilize the compost. Generally turning the tote after cool down starts is easiest. Then you can wait a few days and decide if you want to do a second heat/cool cycle or not. Does this answer help? 🪱🪱😊
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Love to follow your video's! Can't thank you enough for continuing to educate us all. The presentations are top notch.
Thanks Ken! I appreciate your kind words 🤗. I’m so happy you’re enjoying them and maybe learning a trick or 2 to make your worm wrangling more fun! 🪱🪱❤️
Been raising worms for about 4 years now in totes and grow bags. Upping my game this winter.
Forced retirement due to Covid, looking to supplement my income selling worm products at the farmers market next year.
Building a continuous flow through bin, and starting several breeder bins.
Thanks for the terrific information.
Enjoy your videos! Stay Well!!!!
Hi Brian! I’m sorry to hear about the forced part of the retirement 😢.
Worm related products can be a good income source as the business grows. Good for you for giving this a go 🤗.
CFTs are great systems. Be sure to consider more than your immediate ability to manage one though. They tend to be more physically demanding than ‘regular’ bin and tote systems.
I hope you keep us posted on your progress with both the business and the CFT!
Thanks for your kind words 🤗. I look forward to more comments from you😎❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms It was time for me to give up killing bugs for a living. Had my business for almost 25 years, had a good run.
I do sell seedlings in the spring, but the worm products, along with some other composting materials, plus some odds and ends, sure it will be worth it.
Here is a link to my last video th-cam.com/video/YpH16ktXrFs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=a36VVoPG_bK6ukif
My channel has been down since, a friend is going to help me get it back after the New Year.
Plan on more videos in the future.
Happy New Year!
Stay Well!!!!
@@brianseybert192 Hi Brian! It was a very good video! Downward migration can be very effective and easy. I’ve subscribed 👍❤️. Do you know what your channel problem is?
You’ve got some good synergy products happening - seedlings, worms, castings, tea, etc. I wish you best with this 🤗.
@@RockinWorms Our computers got hacked, had to get rid of the browser my channel was hooked into,
I am grateful my videos are still up, want my channel back.
Really miss posting.
Stay Well!!!!
@@brianseybert192 Oh no! That’s terrible! I’ve got nothing nice to say about hackers that go after regular people. I hope you get it resolved soon. I think once a video is uploaded, unless you delete it, TH-cam would need to be hacked for it to be in jeopardy. I use chrome as my browser. What do you use, out of curiosity?
Breeding bins are my favourite 🎉
Me too! ❤️🪱
Hi Jane
Thanks for all the valuable information you give us worm loving folk. I've just recently amalgamated 3 small worm farms I had in totes, and they are now in an old bath tub i got from the tip shop for $40.
At present I've just set it up on cement blocks. I plan to put a hinged lid on it, but I want to see how it goes before I spend too much time on it. So far I love it, and more importantly the worms seem happy. I'd love to send you a few photos, but I don't know how to. Cheers from Queensland Australia. Stan.
Hi Stan! So you went with the bathtub! That’s exciting! $40, not bad at all 👍😎.
You can send me pics at my email: RockinWFamilyFarm@gmail.com
I’d love to see how you set it up!! How did you deal with the drain? Is it outside or under cover? What are you using for bedding? 🪱🪱❤️
Okay.. 😂❤
Your precomposted is so pretty! How long do you typically let it go and how many times do you turn it? Any tip for best results?
Hi Leo! Thanks! I let it run until I need it, which is generally in the 2-3 week range. I’ve only had time to turn it once lately.
Basically this is how it goes :)
I need pre-compost so I empty the blue tote into 3 5 gallon buckets. This is now my working supply. I then empty (aka turn) the green tote into the blue tote. I then empty (aka turn) the dark blue tote into the green tote. Then I turn big boy into the dark blue tote. Then I make brand new pre-compost in big boy. Sometimes if there’s more than what the dark blue tote can take I also fill up a clear tote. Other times I’ll pile all the ‘left over’ in big boy to one side and fill up the empty side with new raw materials. Bottom line is it’s a rotation thru the totes with the most composted material coming out of the blue tote and the new raw materials going into big boy. It’s been working pretty well!
If you can turn more often that speeds things up but if you can’t, oh well 🙄😆. I have cut back on liquid going into the totes. Just enough to reduce anaerobic pooling somewhat. It still happens and I don’t want to cut back too much and slow down the overall process - which I did once already trying to tweak it. Oh well again! 😳🙄😎.
I’ve also moved closer to 50/50 on the carbon to nitrogen ratio. I’ve only added yeast once and that wasn’t even necessary and it didn’t seem active to begin with so I’m not sure it made any difference. If it had been active it would have made a difference!
Otherwise I use the same basic steps as always, keeping it simple and not messing with success too much ❤️🪱🪱
For Chloramine add Vitamin C powder to the bucket @1 tsp per 5 gal
Great information! Thanks for sharing that ❤️🪱🪱
I noticed that black bins stay a degree or two cooler. But if they are indoors it doesnt matter much i dont guess. But I started out with the black sterlite bins that were shallow and wide. Cant find them anymore so i switched to buckets and use the bins as nurseies.
Hi Esmy! I never saw the black shallow Sterilite bins you’re referencing. I would have definitely checked them out! But yes, being indoors, it’s moot. I’ve heard that some people who use the white IBC totes outside spray paint them black. I don’t recall if it’s for heat management or light management or both 🤷♂️. The black mortar trays do seem more sturdy for sure and are what I’d look into if these bins ever start deteriorating but so far so good!!
I liked the buckets I used for 9 months starting out. They did a great job, especially when in already very humid conditions. Less so when it was normal ambient humidity- they dried out faster. I however much prefer the bins for ease of working in due to much larger surface area. It’s great to have options to fit everyone’s preferences!! ❤️🪱🪱
another great video! so informative! Thanks.....!🪱😃
Thanks for watching!!
Nice! How many bins you got going on now of each?
Hi! I haven’t counted. I’m in denial as to how many I have!! I’ve been adding new breeder bins, consolidating grow out bins, and splitting baby bins. So the number is a moving target. 😳🙄😎❤️🪱
Hey, Jayne! Just curious as to why you are focused on red wigglers as opposed to a mix of species such as Reds, ENC and blues? THANKS!
Hey back! Red wigglers what I started out with. A friend gave me 2 handfuls of worms that happened to be red wigglers and I was off to the races! If it had been a mix of worms my journey may have been different 🤷♂️.
However I have chosen to stick with just the red wigglers. I like that they are very adaptable to a wide range of temperatures, moisture levels, foods, etc. I like that they can take a fair amount of neglect! I like that they are easy to identify and their cocoons easy to see. I like that they are calm worms and don’t try to escape every chance they get. I like that they aren’t too small or too big (ANCs creep me out honestly 🤣).
I like that they are a great composting worm for both experienced worm wranglers and the newbie. I like that red wigglers are interesting without being too complex or difficult.
If I ever choose to expand my species it would be into ENCs, which are actually the same species as red wigglers! They are both of the esenia species. Kissing cousins as the saying goes.
I also wanted to really learn about one type of composting worm at a time. That’s just me though!
There’s nothing wrong with- and a lot right - about having mixed species bins. We all get to make that choice which is awesome! I’ve decided for the above reasons to go with and stay with red wigglers 🪱❤️🪱. For now!
i changed my bedding about a year ago. i stopped using cardboard & paper. that goes directly to the outdoor compost now. what i am using instead of cardboard & paper is my mature, finished compost & coir. i am still adding all of the other goodies, molasses, azomite, ground up grains, alfalfa pellets and whatever is around the house that is going bad (they love strawberry preserves too). my outdoor compost texture feels much better to me now and my worms are so flippin fat now, reproducing at an astronomical rate and the babies seem to be maturing faster. before the change i was getting 5# or so a month of castings. it's over 10# now and i don't think it's only because of reproduction. i only have a bucket tower in my bedroom closet but is it producing !!!
Hi Ron! Welcome! That’s amazing! Good for you and your worms! Great bedding is an important foundation for healthy chonky happy worms ❤️. It seems like you’re using coir whereas I’m using cow manure but definitely in the same vein. I’m sure the high calorie content of strawberry preserves doesn’t hurt either 😆.
How many buckets are in your tower? How many worm and what kind do you have?
Thanks for sharing what you’re doing so others can think about it. ❤️🪱🪱
i am 6 buckets high now. i am trying to bait the little guys up so there is not too much trauma & disturbance with sifting. i only keep the buckets deep enough so that when there is enough material in a bucket to start baiting the worms up i usually harvest then start a new bucket. although my worms have never tried to make a run for it i really don't want to present opportunity either and the buckets are cheap. i was 5 high but discovered babies in my storage tote at last harvest out in my garden shed and don't want the little guys to starve and i am in kansas with our extreme seasons i don't want them to freeze this winter. i started off 3 yrs ago with 250 red wigglers and i have no idea how many i have now but i'm sure it's in the 10s of thousands.
@@roncatlin7271 Thanks Ron for sharing your story! I love hearing how people start this crazy worm journey ❤️. Your another testament to starting small and building up over a relatively short period of time if that’s what someone wants to do. You’re also using buckets as your worm housing - just how I started too! Buckets are a great way to get started and as you show, they can work well for years, even with a whole lotta worms!
I agree that worms in a confined space during cold season is not a good thing unless specific action is taken to protect them. In the wild the worms will dive down below the frost line to survive. We have to provide them with that sort of protection if they can’t do that themselves.
Are you raising your worms for personal use or are you in or starting or thinking of a business? ❤️🪱
good heavens, no. i am 3 1/2 years retired and when covid got crazy in denver i moved across country then started worming and gardening. keeping my compost hot (i have to trash can compost due to hoa), keeping my garden taken care of & seeing to my worms i stay as busy as i want to be. i am into worming just for the castings. i have kept a log of the amount of castings i've added to my vegetables & compost and in 3 years it's 218#. that a lot of worm poop !!!
@@roncatlin7271 It sounds like heaven! Good for you! The only thing I’d object to is a HOA. But it’s really hard to find places without them these days. Grr.
anyway I’m glad you’re working and using your castings! Have you seen a big difference in your garden? I certainly have! Like shockingly better results once I started using castings and also frass (mealworm poop). 🪱❤️
Hi Jane, I use alfalfa pellets in my raised beds. Can ground up alfalfa be used to feed red wigglers? Thank you for the informative video's.
Hi Linda! Yes you can use ground up alfalfa as worm food. However it has a tendency to heat up so you need to be very careful using it until you see how it’s acting in your particular worm ecosystem. Use a small test amount in a corner type section of a worm bin. See how it goes and then adjust accordingly. You can also add it to worm chow with the same caveat. O haven’t used alfalfa in a worm bin so I’d appreciate you sharing your experience if you do add it 👍😊🪱
@@RockinWorms Thank you for the great suggestion. I'm a newbie. This is my first attempt at red wigglers. I only ordered 50 worms because I wanted to see if I can keep them alive. I would have liked to have more but they are expensive and I figured if I could keep 50 alive I would get more so I could get more castings faster. I may hold off on the alfalfa until I see if I can get this first bin going. Thanks again for all the good advise you share.
@@lindafreeman1687 Starting small is often a really good idea! And you are absolutely right- if you take decent care of your worms, they will reward you with plenty of castings and cocoons! I started with 2 handfuls! I did buy some worms later on but again, a modest amount. Quality worms can cost a few dollars for sure. It takes time and effort and at least a little money to raise and care for them properly.
With your 59 worms you should be feeding them relatively small amounts of food. A light sprinkle of worm chow or a few small pieces of food scraps. Only feed again or increase feeding amounts when you see that the worms are eating it all up within several days. Overfeeding is probably the biggest mistake newbies make.
I hope you’ll continue to ask questions! That’s what we are here for after all - sharing the journey! 👍😍🪱
How long do you leave your breeder worms in the bin until you do something with them? Seems like a future date on the bin would be easier than the date you prepared the bin. Just need to know when the bin is ready for the next step. Thanks
Hi Albert! Welcome! 21 days is the standard length of a breeder bin cycle. I sometimes even manage to reset the bins on the 21st day 😍. Often however it’s a few days later 🙄.
You are absolutely right - it would make more sense to put the ‘due date’ on the sticky. I should make an effort to switch over to doing that. 👍🪱🪱
Well I did it! Reset a breeder bin today and put on the END date of the cycle. Felt weird 😂. 🪱🪱
Hi Jane. I enjoyed your video about setting up a breeder bin and I plan to do this soon. I’m enjoying trying different things: bedding, food, housing… I started with a tower which I’m still managing, but I’ve added two bins and they’re doing really well. I’ve just purchased an Urban Worm Farm. I have yet to add any worms.
As I sort my worms to start a breeder bin - what age worms (all of my worms are Red Wigglers) would do best in my new urban worm bag? The teenagers? I want to save the adults for my breeder bin and I also have a lot of babies throughout all of my bins and tower trays.
Feedback from anyone else with opinions or experience would be welcome. I appreciate you all!
Hi Amy! Welcome to the comment section of a video - 🤣. I’m glad the copy and paste worked 👍. Now to your question.
I think it depends on what your overall worm usage plan is. If you’re looking to mainly generate castings, keep personal waste out of landfills, etc. then it probably doesn’t matter as much what worms go where. All castings generated will be pretty equal.
If however you’re looking to actively grow your clew (a fun word to describe a group of worms) or prepare for potentiality selling worms then you want to ask yourself some questions like ‘what’s easiest for me to collect new breeders so I can set them up in breeder bins’ or ‘what’s the easiest way to collect worms for how I plan to package them for sale’. I went thru this thought exercise when setting up Orange Julius. I originally was going to use him for teenagers as a ‘finishing’ bin. A place to actively work to size up worms for sale. I thought having them in one big bin would make feeding and collecting easier. THEN I realized as I thought this thru that in effect I’d be decreasing the population in my biggest bin steadily over time while simultaneously not knowing how many worms remained in there for both feeding and selling purposes. And if I repopulated the bin as I went along, I’d make collecting worms of similar size and age increasingly more difficult as well. Not good! So what happens if I make Orange Julius a baby bin and use the regular bins as finishing bins? I’d have a better easier time knowing bin populations and worm sizes, plus collecting worms would be easier as well. When an empty bin happens I can easily either keep it as a finishing bin or switch to a breeder bin. I do have to manage backfilling the baby bin but I have a plan for that as well I’m working on 👍😊😎. I should mention too that if I want to keep/not sell worms in the finishing bins and promote them to breeders, that’s also easier to do if they’re in the regular bins. I can combine and shift bin populations as needed better.
For you, this would translate into using the urban bag for babies and your towers and trays as finishing spaces for teenagers. Breeder bins would be their own thing as well.
To reiterate, if I was not selling I’d keep everyone together willy nilly and not give it a second thought.
I’d appreciate feedback on my thought plan as well! I do plan on covering my decision process of who goes where in an upcoming Orange Julius video soon 🤗.
Did I give you things to think about or make a mess?? 🤣
@@RockinWormsThis was super helpful. I hadn’t really considered the opportunity to keep everybody willy nilly, but that makes perfect sense I’m really only in it for casting and reducing waste. I appreciate your thought process and that you always seem to have a plan which is super helpful. You’re the best!
@@amywaggoner822 Glad to be of help! It’s so nice to be able to work thru ideas with someone! It’s easy to quickly get sucked into complicated solutions that aren’t really needed to achieve our personal goal. Keep us
Posted on what you decide to do and how it works. Be open to change things up as needed too! 🪱🪱❤️
Do you check your cow manure for herbicides or pathogens prior to using in your worm bins? I bio assay my horse manure prior to adding it into my compost piles and worm bin (only have 1 right now, still learning). All my composts in my various systems are too integrated to forgo testing before use in any 1 of them. Better safe than sorry, I also allow some weeds to grow around my compost piles as another potential warning of issues if broadleaf weeds show damage or strange growth between being chopped and added to compost for nitrogen.
@@BigWillDogg82 Hi! The answer is no, I do not test for herbicides or pesticides other than what you’re doing as far as watching for surrounding plant issues that signal a problem. These are my own cows on my own property and that limits potential issues EXCEPT, and you just made me really think about this, I do get a huge amount of tree waste (aka rough mulch) most years. I can’t reasonably expect that at least some of this plant material wasn’t treated with something 😩. The cows eat very little of the tree waste (green leaves) but certainly as the mulch decomposes into the ground chemicals are released as well. And that can and will affect the grazing forage the cows have.
I really don’t know what to do about these types of issues we all face. I don’t think there’s a truly clean source of food for anything anymore. Land is contaminated , water is, the air is. But we limit where we can and do the best that we can. Man, now I’m depressed! 😝. I started off answering your question with a much more positive thought on how I was doing on the topic of toxins and such but then I did remember the mulch 😳🙄.
Well, on the positive side, I’ve been getting mulch and running my land for many years now as so far so good but we also know that a lot of these nasty things take decades to build up and cause harm. Darn. I’m back to being less happy. 🙄. Ok. I’m sticking with I’m doing the best I can with what I have, as you are too! How’s that? 😍🪱
@@RockinWorms sorry for being a bummer for you, it really wasn’t my intention honestly. I was mostly curious seeing how much inputs you have to make and go through as is. I remember seeing your cows in videos, but thought I also remembered you bringing in limited outside inputs as well. Yes you are correct that contaminants are everywhere, but what I’ve learned is it’s not all about the poisons (as you alluded to in your response), but the dose of said poisons. Composting does concentrate what’s there, but seeing as we both try and limit what we use to what we control or grow ourselves, we’re trying to practice safe and responsible composting. If possible, I’d suggest trying to do an assay on those tree chips, but outside of that, no need being bummed because it sounds like you’re doing the best you can with what you’ve got!
@@BigWillDogg82 Oh I know it wasn’t your intention 😍. And I actually appreciate you bringing the topic up. Camerman and I talked about this over lunch. We both think (hope!) that since the vast bulk of the mulch we get is indeed scrub and tree removals/trimmings that the amount of herbicides and pesticides used is low. If it was fruit trees and lawn waste it’d be more contaminated.
Certainly levels/dosage plays a part as well.
As you say we can do what we can but need to be clear eyed on the realities.
I’m also thinking that I have relatively short lived animals - chickens. And I hatch my own chicks. They get the mulch all the time to dig thru for bugs. If there was really bad toxins in the mulch I’d see deformed and dead chicks, chicken deaths, etc. and I don’t. Thankfully!!
I’ll have to look into doing an assay. I don’t know how to do that. Something new to learn! Sincerely, thanks for this conversation 😍👍🪱
@@RockinWorms an assay is very easy to do and with you being in Florida (way up in Indiana, but did live in Orlando for 4 years as a kid) you have nothing but time! Just take finished castings and some native soil and plant beans in some and tomatoes in others. Let them grow for a while and if nothing looks off you’re likely good! You can do the same with the wood chips, just get a bucket put water in with the wood and let it sit. Get native soil or promix and only water with the wood chip/bucket water. When it gets low add more water and observe how they grow. Beans and tomatoes are pretty sensitive.
@@BigWillDogg82 Got it! The garden will be going in soon and I can do that with a plant or two 👍. Thanks! 😍🪱
Hi Jayne, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b ❤🪱❤️
Glad info, as always.
I think people are intimidated by the "right" way to do it. You always show us that doing your best is the right way to go 🪱👍🪱
There’s certainly more than one way to raise a happy healthy worm! Lots of options so people can find what works best for them and fits into their lifestyle. Otherwise it’s no fun and who needs that?! ❤️🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms That's absolutely my point. There's many ways to get the job done ✔️
Where do you get your plastic bags to go over the bins???
Hi! They are the chip bags from the warehouse club I mainly shop at. You get 2 bags of chips for one price and the one price is on the plastic bag you put the 2 chip bags into. They fit the bins perfectly!!
However I have also used the plastic bags they have in the meat section that you out your raw chicken or pork chops or whatever I go to keep it from yucky up everything else in your cart. The produce bags are too thin to hold up. I’ve also used old ‘space bags’ but they curled up on the edges so that was a fail. If these chip bags become unavailable my plan is to use heavyset weight black plastic from either cut down garbage bags or a roll I already have that we used for gardening and chicken stuff.
I’m sure there are other options if you keep your eyes open! ❤️❤️🪱
Hello, RockinWorms! What an advantage it must be to have cow manure that is herbicide and insecticide-free- truly a sparse commodity these days, especially anything related to horses. On another note: just to comment on containers somewhat, an area that is way more important than many consider, what if all your containers were stationary and you moved worms and castings in and out instead of moving containers on and off the shelves? You would have to totally rethink things, but your workload would decrease by many factors, and you might even better utilize your space, for the most part. Which was good for me because I'm an old fart with less than what it requires to lift things. You are doing great the way it is, just thought I'd give you more to think about as space becomes more and more of a factor. Great video and thanks for posting.
Hi VermiCast! I’m very lucky in many ways! The cows on my property that I know what they eat and are treated, having a veg guy, having a mulch guy, having the space that I do. I don’t take any of that lightly!!
To be honest, I can’t even picture right now how what your suggesting would even look like inside my house. Are you taking CFT types of containers? How would moving the worms and castings and not the bins work if it’s not a CFT set up? I need more clues 🤗.
@@VermiCast_Garden Yes it does help me to understand the system your describing. Thanks for that! So basically a rack system? Captain Matt has one, I think Meme is building rows and rows of racks in her expanded space, Rey at pachamama has racks for his breeders too. There must be something to it 😆👍. It’ll definitely something I’ll explore soon as I continually run out of space.
One thing you mention is a high worm density. I’m finding that my high worm density in the nursery bins and into the grow out bins is slowing down the maturation process and also just raw size and weight growth per worms as well. Which is fine if the goal is castings but if it’s to sell then the bigger, heaviest the worm is the better. Do you find you worms are smaller in the packed bins? If not, why aren’t they??
Thanks for this convo! ❤️🪱🪱
Helo.. can you mind list the thing?
1) worm chow
2) green thing is what?
3) is dolomite?
4) ?
Question, do your bedding after you put all these, ur bedding become hot(overheat)?
Hi! Welcome! In the breeder bins I put the basic bedding (which is pre-compost and sifted cow manure), worm chow, veggie powder, dolomite lime (also known as agricultural lime) and azomite. I’m not sure what the green thing is you’re referencing…? Can you give me a time stamp?
Please note that ground or powdered eggshells can be used instead of the dolomite lime. Also the azomite is an optional addition but good for both the worms and plants if you want to add it.
I have found that this particular mixture of bedding and food does not heat up, or on the rare occasion it does, it’s only a few degrees. Your are absolutely right that it could be an issue - as any feeding can be - so I suggest 2 things:
1) when starting out using this method I use, go slow. Maybe don’t add quite as much chow and veggies powder at first. See how your worms and your bins react and adjust as needed
2) take a 1/2 or 3/4 bin approach the first time. Mix in all the ingredients as I show but contain only part of the bin. Place the breeders in the area that only has the bedding in it. This way the worms can move into the food stocked section when they’re ready.
If you check on the worms in a day or two, by gently peeking and not disturbing them too much, you can see if they’re hanging back or moving right in.
Worm wrangling involves looking at your worms and assessing what’s happening. Then make changes as needed!
And continue to ask questions!! 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms ohh the green one is veggie powder.. note it.. the reason why i ask on overr heat part is, i using alfafla powder and my binnn over heat.. same as you did, combine all thing.. but i apply to shredder cardboard.. 😅😅😅
@@vinsmokebetta672 Ahhh. The veggie powder is more reddish brown in real life lol.
Alfalfa is notorious for overheating so I’m not surprised it happened in your bin 🥲. Were you able to catch it in time and save the worms??🪱
@@RockinWorms if i remake the bin, i will let them stay for few hour.. if condition is good.. so i let the worm inside.. but if over heat i will not.. so any veggie podwer should be good?
@@vinsmokebetta672 My veggie powder is raw fruits and vegetables that have been puréed and then dehydrated turn out into a blender to powder it.
It is 100% food scraps in essence. So it should be treated as any food scrap - it has the potential to heat up especially if concentrated. I use a sparse amount in my bins as food so the heat up potential is small. I use the veggie powder mainly as a way to give a varied diet easily and also a bit for its water absorption properties as it is dehydrated and will therefore rehydrate in the bin. 🪱🪱
What size are these Bins Please.
Hi Terry! Welcome to the Castings Crew!
These bins are 23 1/2”L x 16 7/8”W x 5 7/8” D. I buy them from Walmart online Sterilite brand. They’re often in the store too, for $1 more for the 2 set. 👍❤️🪱
What is a good ph level
Hello! Welcome! Works like a neutral to slightly acidic pH level but they tolerate a wider range. If you can keep pH between 5.5-8 on the pH scale, your worms will thank you 👍❤️🪱
Since you have chickens, why dont you feed egg shells?
Hi! Nice to hear from you again ❤️. I don’t feed eggshells because I don’t have that many and what I do have goes back to the chickens. A neighbor buys almost all my eggs. I can’t even get them to return the empty egg cartons let alone asking for the eggshells 🙄😆. Funny enough I actually get eggshells from a different neighbor who has a few chickens. I trade her some of my mealworms for her eggshells. She’s got a lot of young hens coming up. I’m hoping once they start laying I can get more eggshells and indeed start adding them into the worms bins too. Good question! 👍😎❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms oh I understand. I have a source for sheĺls and feared there may be a reason to not use them.
@@ginkat1318 They are GREAT to use!! Patrick at @vermicompositinglearnbydoing did a little experiment and it showed the worms eating the eggshells first. I postulated that the worms ate the eggshells first because they knew they needed both the grit and the calcium the eggshells provide in order to best process all the other yummy food provided. So feel free to add eggshells generously into your bins! 🪱🪱❤️
Can you please explain bioda?
Hi Lawrence! It’s been a while 😊. How are your clear bins working out? Did you stick with them?
As for biota, that means all the micro organisms in the worm ecosystem. Bacteria gets named the most but there’s fungi and viruses too. And also little critters show up once in a while - like tiny spiders, the mites and springtails. I guess even the gnats and fruit flies can count as they’ll lay eggs in the bin. All these life forms play a role in the worm bin 👍. I read the term biota at one point and thought it was a really good word for ALL the life small life forms that play a crucial role 👍😎🪱
@@RockinWorms thank you. I guess I was spelling it wrong. Actually have grey bins. The bus boy type. Looking to start up again.
@@zods1964 No worries on spelling as long as I can figure it out 🤩. I get caught by autocorrect all too often to cast stones at anyone 🤣.
The big boy 50 gallon totes are nice! Good for worms as well as making pre-compost. We cleaned out a shed last weekend and found 2 big boy totes I forgot I had! I haven’t given them a job yet but I’m thinking on it!
What do you mean start over? If you want to share your story that is 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms well when you were saying biota I knew what you were talking about I just wanted to actually look it up so as I had an explanation of what it actually meant. Thank you much for your response. I do love your videos and the way you explain all the processes that go into vermiculture and vermicomposting. There is one more question I have It’s on the precomposted bedding. Do you turn the beading once it reaches 140 degrees so as not to kill the beneficial bacteria?
@@zods1964 My pre-compost doesn’t get that hot. My recall is that 129F has been my hottest achieved temperature in a pre-compost tote. In fact, based on a few reported bad outcomes from some of the Castings Crew, I now don’t recommend going above 133F for pre-compost. 133F is the upper temperature for thermophilic bacteria. Mesophilic and thermophilic bacteria are the good bacteria you are referring to that we want for our worms and therefore in the pre-compost.
Of your pre-compost does start to go above 133F I suggest immediately turning it to get air in there and lower the temperature.
Also adding in a lot of carbon will cool the tote down.
We have to remember that our main goal is to make great bedding and food for our worm. Not to kill weed seeds or sterilize the compost.
Generally turning the tote after cool down starts is easiest. Then you can wait a few days and decide if you want to do a second heat/cool cycle or not.
Does this answer help? 🪱🪱😊