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chuckiebtoo

Worming with Watermelons.....Gangnam Style Day I

chuckiebtoo
10 years ago

This is gonna be posted in real-time, as stuff happens.

Step 1: Eat a watermelon saving the worm bin.

Comments (12)

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Step 2:

    Throw in a handful of worms and bedding from another bin. The moisture content was a little on the dry side and no paper/cardboard was added.

    I didn't count the worms, but I'm guessing 50 or 60.

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Step III:

    Make a top for it cause gnats, bugs, and flies love watermelon almost as much as me.

    As you can see, my top has a lot of holes.

  • iLoveLawn
    10 years ago

    cool! keep posting!

  • Shaul
    10 years ago

    Back in the days when I fed my worms real food (now I just try and feed them Bokashi), I used to do something similar. I'd buy a large watermelon, cut it in half and scoop out the inside. Then I'd fill it full of banana peels and other fruit & veg waste; and bury it in the worm bin. Within 1 - 2 months, it was gone. Only problem was that as the stuff decomposed, it created a lot of liquid which remained trapped inside the watermelon, so that after 2 - 3 weeks I'd have to remove the upper layer of food scrap, add shredded cardboard to absorb the liquid and then put the food scraps back on top. That usually did the trick.

    Shaul

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Day 2
    Step IV:

    Very timely, Shaul.

    Today I solved that excess liquid by punching a hole in the bottom of the melon rind to drain the juice into that sherbet tub.

    Also added a cover to HELP keep gnats and light away from the wormies.

    Chuckiebtoo

    BTW, within 3 hours of punching that one Wonderstick TM sized hole, there was about an inch of liquid in the tub.

  • Shaul
    10 years ago

    I like that cover idea, with what looks like an escape hatch or a skylight (but is most likely for air flow (because while worms can breathe through their skins, watermelons can't)).

    Shaul

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Day 3

    Had to put the setup into a gnat/fly protective device. They were getting in due to the shrinkage of the melon rind.

    Man, those critters love some watermelon. So do the worms.

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Day 4:

    Had to add some dry tea bags and dry horse biscuits. After just 3 days, the liquidity....even with the drain hole....was overwhelming the worms and the smell of decomposing watermelon rind was overwhelming me.

    Shoulda overwhelmed the melon rind with a lot more worms.

    Next step if this doesn't work, bury it in a bin.

    Chuckiebtoo

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I buried it in a bin, but the worms are loving it.

  • hummersteve
    10 years ago

    My worms love watermellon rinds . I put about half a mellon worth of rind in my worm tub and it was completely dissolved in 7-10 days. I do have about 2000 worms in my 9gal tub, but boy do they ever love water mellon rinds, cantalope not so much.

  • Shaul
    10 years ago

    2000 worms in a 9 gal tub is too tight, there's no room for them to expand. You need to either go to a larger size, or divide the squirm and add an extra bin.

    Shaul

  • chuckiebtoo
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Divide!

    Diversify! Minimize your (possible) losses! Don't put all your eggs in one basket! Compartmentalize your portfolio!

    Make bin separation, and feeding, and moisture control, and relocating bins, and maintenance all easier. Lessen CBD....Catastrophic bin disaster!!
    Every time I separate a bin, I divide it. Except sometimes I merge some bins depending on what's going on in them.

    I've never understood the huge, immovable things that are just waiting there for that BSF infestation that'll probably make a lotta less-than-totally committed wormers give it up and go back to Ortho.

    Chuckiebtoo

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