new worm bin! :)

[Droopy Dog]

I use Thuricide Concentrate and Amazon carries it.

Wet

 

[Sweetmansticky]

Nice thanks all

 

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well i made it home to check on things.. the top bit of shredded paper was a little crispy, but it is about 3" thick and the middle was still moist so I think it did its job. Wow at the worm castings, looks like coffee grounds in there. I didn't disturb them too much, but I did steal one to feed to my Oscar.


I poured about half a liter of water in the bin, then I added another pound or two of zucchini, and some freezer burnt peaches n strawberries. I just poured it on top of the soil,and covered it back up with the newspaper. Heres hoping!

 

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Hey guys, been busy lately...

Just thought I'd give a quick update, worms are doing great and they LOVE pumpkin.. I put 7ish pounds in for them and when I checked 3-4 days later it was all gone!

The tiny white Springtails are chowing down on some apples on the opposite side. Finally managed to eat thru the newspaper on the bottom, and had some droppings fall into the Tupperware. Then I added a lil too much water and had some leachate come out the bottom. When it pooled in the bottom of the Tupperware I seen the hundreds of tiny white bugs.. I added some more water to try and drown them, but they are just hanging out in there, wiggling, grouping together making rafts the size of golf balls. I don't like them! Not sure if they are Springtails, I never seen them jump and they are quite small. They don't seem to bother the worms, but some of the food is coverered with them.

I'm nervous about using the ewc, or leachate because of the little white bugs. Maybe a sprinkle of neam cake on top of them will kill em?

 

[Droopy Dog]

Sorry you don't like them, but they belong there, part of the process of getting the food right for the worms.

A light sprinkle of Neem will be fine. Doesn't seem to bother the *good* bugs annnd the worms love it.

DD

 

[pcduck]

The only bugs I worry about are millipedes and centipedes. One of the two are really bad. I can't remember which one, but I remove both when seen.

 

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ok i can accept the little guys.. but it does bother me that they fall thru the screen and into the tupperware. They died eventually.. tough buggers tho.

So now my tupperware contains 50% castings and 50% small white bug carcasses. Im assuming they are safe to use as fertilizer or in a tea?

 

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I took the castings / dead springtails and mixed them back into the bin.

The newspaper on the very bottom felt like hard rock, a combination of leachate and water evaporating caused it go rock solid. The only castings falling down are from the edges.. i will try and spray the bottom with a spray bottle to encourage the decomposition process. I really dont want to dump it and start over.

With that being said.. I haven't mixed up the bedding since I started it.. they just do their thing and I add and mix on the top few inches. Could they benefit from being placed into a new bin? More or less dump the contents into the other bin, would it help or hinder the worms and the castings?

 

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did a little digging.. looks like this is what remains of hallowens pumpkins

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