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wendrew8_gw

removing food

wendrew8
13 years ago

I started my bin with too much food and it is now kind of stinky. When I remove the excess food, should I save it in the freezer for later use or should I toss it? Seems like I have so much food to go in there and it can't take that much. We are a family of 8 so we have a pretty large volume kitchen. I will eventually start another bin, I think, to handle the volume but I want to make sure I know what I'm doing first.

Comments (6)

  • 11otis
    13 years ago

    Your freezer will eventually get too small or the rest of the family will revolt because there aren't any people food in the freezer, lol.
    What kind of system do you have and how many worms?
    You might want to set up a "pre-rot" bin, once you cannot find room in the freezer.

  • wendrew8
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I have the COW and I ordered 2000 worms, although I am pretty sure that there weren't that many but I can't be positive. I have contacted Uncle Jim's but haven't heard back. Anyway, I know that some have died also. What is a "pre-rot" bin? I went to Barnes and Noble today to find Worms Eat my Garbage, but of course, they didn't have it. Nor did they have ANY books about vermicomposting. SO I will be ordering it today.

  • 11otis
    13 years ago

    "pre-rot" bin: it's basically a container where you put your kitchen scrap etc. that will eventually become wormfood. It can start from a small bucket to whatever size you want. I use one of those 5 or 6 gal. buckets. Some people drill holes in them to prevent the scrap food to become anaerobic, but I didn't. If it does get anaerobic, I just let it air for a while to get rid of the smell before I feed it to the worms.

    Another reason to prerot the wormfood is so that it becomes available to the worms right away. The worms won't attack fresh food; they wait till the MO (micro organism) are at it.
    Also, if your worm bin tends to get too wet, with pre-rotting, you can get rid of the access moisture before you feed it to your "brood". I feed that extra liquid to my house-plants. Not sure whether that did any good or not, but it hasn't done any harm so far.

    I think 2000 (give or take a few hundred) is OK. I started with 1.5 lb. but doubt there were that much worms there but they multiplied so, I'm happy now.
    Considering the prices fo worms (I live in Canada) I have bought 5000 cocoons from a company in US so that helps.

  • antoniab
    13 years ago

    Wendrew, Yeah, Uncle Jim is rather stingy with his worm counts, if you ask me. I have a big family too, and would love to know how many worms and bins it would take to handle all the waste (food, cardboard, paperboard, junk mail) my family produces. Right now I hate that I have to regular compost/recycle so much when I could be feeding the worms!

  • mendopete
    13 years ago

    Can you start an outdoor compost bin to store the excess? Mix it with lots of cardboard and cover with straw or mulch. You should be patient, as I started with about 2,000 worms last June,and have plenty to handle your load of scraps now. The herd and I are contantantly expanding!
    If you can't pre-compost the excess food, then freeze it for another day.
    Pete

  • wendrew8
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I do want to start an outdoor compost...I've been reading Let it Rot. I will try to be patient with the worms and their population!! Thanks, everyone for all the great tips!

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