New Worm Bin Rack for Big Boy Tote Check In
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.ค. 2024
- Hello!
Trash day in my daughter’s neighborhood has provided me with a new (to me!) bin rack! Yes
Come see how handy this rack is while I do a Big Boy Tote check in and breeder feed to keep the hungry little worms busy as I start prepping for a shift out of gorgeous castings 🪱🪱
Thanks for watching, liking and sharing my videos!
Yours in the dirt,
Jayne
![ภาพนี้ก็ฮาเหมือนกันนะเนี้ย #1 SS8 [ พากย์นรก MEME.EXE ] | easy boy](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ytc50m91QK8/mqdefault.jpg)
Jayne, those castings are droolworthy! Will be really interested in the complete refresh and set up of Big Boy. Shout out to Camera Man!
Hey Katie! They are lovely! I’m actually resetting breeder bins right now but will start sifting out Orange Julius next 👍. Remember him? 😂. I did a quick test sift out and removed lots of the larger sticks and stuff which then went as mulch/castings combo under a pink guava tree. Big Boy is going to have to wait his turn 😆👍🪱.
Thanks for stopping by 🥰
Hi Jayne, Nice find off the road. 👍
Big boy is a bruiser!
Thanks so much for all of your help.
I hope everyone watches your videos and ads, too!
❤Peggy❤
Hi Peggy! I’m so happy that you’ve reached the monetization threshold! Congratulations! You’re welcome for the help - like worm wrangling, if we can share tips with each other it’s good for everyone 😊.
Yeah, the said truth is people putting up with and watching the ads is what helps offset the time and effort we put into sharing our knowledge and experience. I do it to support the channels I watch too! 👍🤩🪱
Hi Jayne, another good video. That rack was a lucky find, very useful. Have fun, Mark : )
Hi Mark! It’s very handy! I’ve got it inside now with all racks filled with breeder bins 🙄🤩. I’m so proud of my girl for her good sense to keep an eye out for good garbage pickings! 🥰
Score with that bakers rack!! I love your huge Big Boy Tote!! It was amazing how it looked so uniformly full of castings!! Great idea on drying out the castings on that rack indoors!! Excellent video Jayne & great shots camera man!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick! I was very happy when my daughter called to tell me she’d seen it out for garbage and had U-turned back to get it for me 🤗. She’s a good girl to her mom 😍🤩. I have the rack inside right now with bins on it drying down for sifting. It’s working great!
Big Boy has the same great castings that the 45 gallon tote had. Beautiful fine grained low moisture ready to sift castings ❤️. Makes my heart beat fast 😝😂.
I’m almost at a break point with my cocoon order so I can rewatch your tower system set up videos again. I bought a 3 tiered Vermihut system off marketplace a few weeks ago and it’s still sitting on the patio awaiting some attention 🙄. All the great filming by your XP will be a lot of help to me! I’ll tell Cameraman you say Hi! 😎🪱
Great looking castings in big boy my friend 🇳🇿🪱
Thanks! I need to get him sifted and refreshed! I just put 3.5 5 gallon buckets of castings on the mango, banana, grape vines and peach trees as well as some frass this morning. So I have some empty buckets to fill back up! 🪱🤩
Love that you use these deeper bins. I see so many people say that deep is bad, but I have several that produce amazing castings and they never go anaerobic since I do mix them up a bit whenever I feed…if I have time haha!
Those deep bins make some amazing castings too! They are great for overflow worms that my trays can’t handle when getting the ENC’s to bait sized!
Hi Brooke! I love the big troughs as well. They hold so many worms and make feeding so much more time efficient for me. I’m still learning how to manage them to get the castings results I want though. My biggest issue right now is thermos getting super hot out and I’m not sure how the troughs and totes are going to handle the heat and keep the worms cool enough 😳😬. It’s all an adventure! 🤩🪱😊
@@RockinWorms have you tried adding wood chips to the deeper bins? It’s a pain to sift out, but if you sift the worms anyway it’s not a big deal. If I migrate the worms out I don’t mind adding the aged chips to garden, but won’t sell them that way.
Just something else to try!
Thanks for sharing! Truly enjoy watching you guys!
I enjoy your videos. Very informative. Thanks.
Hello! Thanks for checking in 😊. How did the leaves you collected in the fall work out in your worm bins? 🪱🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms Oh, the worms ate them. They are all gone.
@@thaddeusdombrowski2241 I bet they did! Were the castings nice and rich? 🪱🪱🤩
@@RockinWorms Yes. The leaves give the castings a beautiful dark color.
@@thaddeusdombrowski2241 Nice!!
I have one of those restaurant wheeled racks too! Hubby found one on Craigslist for a steal and he converted it to a 5 worm bin shelf system for me, love it.
Hi! You and I are the same wavelength 😍. The wolverine gardening gloves and now the rack! Very cool 😎. When Cameraman gets back I need him to modify the racks too. I can get 4 bins on - I have 3 on right now! - but I’d like to have a few more 🤩🪱. Did you husband re-weld the shelf arms or use some other method? I’m all ears 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms I think he drilled holes through the rack into a fitted piece of plywood.
@@wormweirdo340 Thanks for that info. I’ll keep it in mind when we look at it ❤️
Hi Jayne, what a find by your daughter! I assume it's on wheels? I need one of those!
~ Sandra
Hi Sandra! Yes it’s on wheels. I had almost bought one off marketplace several months ago but decided to wait. Glad it did! Free and out of the garbage is so much better 👍🤩. I am really using it too. Once Camerman gets back from his trip I want to see if he can unweld some of the rack holders to space them so I can get more bin in. The vertical use of space is awesome! 👏 🪱
Hi Jane! I have learned a lot from your videos so thank you very much! I do have a question for you. Have you ever opened a precompost and found a ant nest? If so how did you handle that fiasco? Not sure if I should just toss the batch and try again. Thanks again, love your videos
Hi Frank! Ants are a big pain in the patootie. I have not (yet!) had an ant takeover of any bin of mine - worm or pre-compost. 🙏🤞
For pre-compost it can happen after it cools down if you don’t have some type of deterrent as the pre-compost is ideal living conditions for many pests. That why I use a deep dry layer of cardboard shred on top of my pre-compost totes. It’s not flawless (.you may have seen those beetles in Big Boy but overall it works pretty well. I have had ants set up shop outside the bottom edge of pre-compost totes, using the cool shadow and spilled pre-compost as a home. So if you haven’t been using deep dry shredded cardboard aka burrito give it a try after you get rid of the ants.
To get rid of the ants this is what I’d do: first thank my lucky stars it in the pre-compost and not a work bin! 2nd I’d move the pre-compost outside if it’s not there already and also away from doors to living spaces and 3rd I’d heat that pre-compost right back up to either cook the ants (good worm food once broken down!) or make them hightail it out of the tote as it heats up.
Doing another heat cycle on the pre-compost means adding some carbon and nitrogen and perhaps liquid depending on starting moisture levels and I’d throw in some activated yeast, fresh manure, fresh grass clippings, stuff like that as I want it to get as close to 133F as quickly as I can.
I definitely would NOT throw it out!
Let me also say that I would layer the nitrogen down first then the carbon next. If I’m using activated heat or a liquid I’d then pour that over the top. I simply would not want to put my hands into the ants nest. If it happens to be a pile I would try to scoop it out and throw it very quickly into the yard. Otherwise it stays and the ants get buried. They’ll crawl out or stay and cook. Their choice 🙄.
Ok?
And thanks for the love! ❤️. I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos as much as we love making them 🪱🤩😍
Thanks Jane & cameraman for another great video. I have a question or two about protein poisoning - I’ve finally had a bin go sour 😕 unfortunately it was my original huge chubby adult breeders - about 800 of them. The worms that seem fine (only a handful) have been removed & totally quarantined from any other worm bins with new pre compost & they appear to be doing fine. The contaminated old bedding (& deceased worms) has been disposed of. Is this condition specifically in the soil or in the worms or on the worms? As in, does the soil go sour then the worms either eat or wiggle through & ‘catch’ something? I’m closely watching the other bins & making sure I’ve got my balances of pre compost/feeding/airating the bedding etc in check. I think I may have had too many adults, too much food & not enough bedding for the volume of the container & amount of worms which created a bad environment for them.
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. It happens to everyone soon or later it seems. You did the right thing - save who you can, toss the rest and figure out what probably went wrong.
I’m not a protein poisoning expert by any means and I’ll defer to anyone with more information.
It’s usually cascade of events that finally tips over into a situation the worms simply can’t tolerate any more 😩.
Most of the time it starts with overfeeding. The worms can’t eat it fast enough, the food started to ferment, pH drops to a quite acidic level, anaerobic pockets form (worms will eat anaerobic bacteria just fine) which lessens the air within the bin (worms need oxygen), and then if the worms have not enough calcium to offset the low pH of the foods they’re eating, that makes it all worse.
I don’t think too many worms is the problem. Unless there’s almost no bedding/carbon to also offset the nitrogen of the food. I find generally speaking that more worms (within reason) in a bin gives me better results. I haven’t tested this out as much as i want to yet though.
Best thing to do is back off the food scraps for awhile. Feed more of the pre-compost with a little food scraps or chow.
The good news is you did save some and you can breed them back into full strength pretty quickly. 👍😎.
Thank you so much for sharing what happened. We need to share when things go bad so we can learn from each other what to watch for and how to fix problems. Please let us know what you decide to do and how it works out 😊😎🪱
The theory I follow is that protein poisoning happens due to a buildup of ammonia and other gasses in the bedding. It’s not contagious.
It’s not a bad idea to save that leftover material next time since it’s probably full of cocoons. Adding about the same amount of bedding as what’s leftover is enough to balance out a bin that has too much buildup.
Overfeeding is the primary culprit but other things can contribute as well. When the food breaks down it releases gasses. In a closed bin, even one with holes in the lid, the gas has no place to go, so it just sits there and builds. Adding goo sized holes in the lid and also the side lip area helps, but leaving the lid off helps even more! The side holes will draw in air and the top holes allow old out.
I prefer open systems for this reason but also the worms stay down better, even blues during a thunder storm. When the lid is off the sides stay dry so the worms don’t want to climb out.
For anyone else who sees this please don’t toss your bin!!! Just add more damp bedding, remove extra food and leave off the lid. They should bounce back in 2-3 months.
I hope that’s helpful.
@@brookeonyx6271 hi again! It’s very helpful what you shared 👍. Thank you for that 🤗. There’s lots of ways to manage work bins and since we all have our own situations and challenges having lots of information and options is very valuable 😎.
I agree that overfeeding is a key culprit in bins going anaerobic. It starts a cascade of bad things happening 😡. I have to be mindful of overfeeding when I making new breeder bins as the grow out bins can become sparsely populated. If I forget and give a regular sized feeding… it could go bad. I’ve added a blue sticky note to my bins with the worm population status on it so I know at a glance. The note simply says ‘good on worms’ or ‘needs more worms’ or even ‘has a lot of worms’ so I can feed or move worms more appropriately.
That’s also sound advice you give - don’t toss out the old bedding if a bin does go bad. Mix in carbon heavy new bedding and give it a chance for any cocoons to hatch 👍🪱. Thanks for sharing your wisdom 🤩🪱
@@RockinWorms This is a great idea! I made “feeding logs” that I’d add notes to but like this idea better since it’s quick and effective! Going to snag this one and see how that works out. Thanks!
@@brookeonyx6271 You are welcome! I know a few worm wranglers that use spreadsheets to track bin activity. While I think that’s great, I prefer to be able to glance at a bin and have the critical info I need: when’s the last time I fed and what it was, when was the last time I refreshed bedding, how dense is the worm population, and what general age are the worms. It’s really just dates and a handful of words. Of course since all I have are Esenia worms I don’t need to know what species are in each bin as they’re all the same! 👍.
Post it notes are cheap, I use both the front and the backs, and I add a small strip of tape to adhere the notes to the bins as I found the sticky part of the post it isn’t enough to hold on to the smooth plastic bin side 🙄.
I also have a bunch of ‘drying down’ notes that get reused a gazillion times and move from bin to bin as needed. This way I know at a glance what bins need to be mixed up to aide drying or need to be checked to see if ready to sift. It’s a low tech cheap system that works for me 😎. I’d be interested in hearing if you try it and what you think 😍🪱👍
What is the Big Burrito?
Hi Jerome! The big burrito is a deep layer of dry cardboard shred laid on top of an oversized piece of window screen. Its purpose is to keep moisture in the worm tote, allow for good air flow onto the tote, and discourage creepy critters from invading the worm tote and making it their home. It works pretty well too - although not 100%. Big Boy did have a small invasion of beetles 🙄.
Setting the top as a burrito makes removing it so I can work in tote easy. Some worm wranglers have shared that they use a pillow case design instead of the burrito and that works for them. I like the cardboard exposed as I think it’s a bit more effective in stopping bugs but as always, if it works for you then full steam ahead! 👍🤩
Thanks for asking 😎🪱
Is it possible those beetles came from within? I started some precompost and I noticed some white larvae in it.
Hi Paula! My guess is no. The bedding is pre-compost and sifted cow manure. It was it in all my bins so I would have seen them pop up in at least one other bin or tote. It could have been in food I’ve fed them but is that technically from within the bin? 😝🙄🤷♂️. And again I think I would have had the bugs show up in other bins if that was the case. I did find a few cockroaches in Black Beauty - like 4. I’m pretty sure they came from outside and found a gap and crawled in.
It’s a very good question!
In your pre-compost was the larvae before or after it cooked? What was the max temperature it reached? Did you have some type of top cover (shred or other) to keep bugs out after it cooled to ambient? I’m very interested to know 😎🪱
@@RockinWorms It is my first time doing pre-compost and no it had not gotten hot enough. I did have it covered with shred. I removed most of the contents of that bin to an outdoor compost area and started a new. I have watched your videos 3 times through on pre-composting and now it heating up nicely. I have no idea where those little white wormy looking larvae came from or what they would have become. I enjoy your videos!!
@@paulathomas1106 White thin wormy looking things in a worm bin are often pot worms. I don’t know if pot worms would show up in a pre-compost bin…? I’ve not seen them but 🤷♂️. Or like you said they could have been larvae from who knows what insect.
Yea! You’ve got good heat going now! It takes a few batches to get the hang of it but once you do, it’s very easy to make 🤩. Keep us posted! 🪱😎
Hi Jayne, just a quick question. I started a large bin with pre compost about 5 days ago. I followed the same recipe, did all the usual stuff, but I haven't had any reaction or heat generated. It all looks fine, but will it be ok for my new breeding bin? I don't want to put a lot of breeders in there if they're not going to be happy.
Hmmm. That strange. Each batch is unique but if you’ve gotten heat previously and now nothing 🤷♂️. You’re sure you’ve added enough moisture and aren’t temperature checking a dry pocket?
To be on the safe side I’d definitely add quite a bit of moisture, add whatever breeder feed you use and then mix thoroughly Wait 48 hours and then temperature check again. What we’re trying to avoid is a sudden temperature spike once the bin is all ready except for the breeder worms. If after the 48 hours the temp is ok then go ahead and add the worms. Obviously if the temperature has increased then whatever composting element was initially missing has been added and you can dump this bin’s contents into the large pre-compost bin. The biota activity from the test breeder bin will kick start the larger pre-compost tote.
Let’s see what happens with this safety approach before we go any further into problem solving. Ok? 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms thanks Jayne, I'll do that now. I don't understand it at all, I've done a few pre compost mixes and all have cycled perfectly. I checked the whole bin and it was freezing cold, and I'd brought it indoors. I'll report back with results in 48 hours.🥰🥰
Just started my pre-compost a few days ago based on your recipe. It isn't getting above 92 degrees :(. What am I doing wrong?
Hi! It can be frustrating the few times until you get the hang of it.
What ratio C:N did you use? What was your inoculant?
Check to make sure you don’t have dry pockets. Make sure there’s enough liquid to make a clump when you medium squeeze a handful.
Lastly keep in mind that the mesophilic bacteria is working at 92F. It may not be as actively and quickly growing as preferred, but it’s still getting the job done 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms use worm casting water coffee grounds and blended food waste. I think it needs more nitrogen and water. Seems a little dry.
@@arakanelite what carbon did you use? You didn’t list any 🤷♂️
@@RockinWorms oh micro shredded cardboard
@@arakanelite Ok! Whew! I was worried for a minute 😳😎.
Sure, up the nitrogen a bit and moisture too. Not too much as don’t want the C:N to go over 50/50. Damp is ok. You don’t need or want it wet. Let me know if you get a bigger temperature rise after the changes 😊🪱