A Tale of Two Composts

13 years ago

It wasn't the best of days, it wasn't the worst of days. It was just an ordinary day. My wife and I were having sweet corn for supper. Two ears for me and one for her. I husked the three ears of corn and wrapped the husks in newspaper about 3 layers thick. I took them out to the compost heap, one of three I have going at present. I dug a hole about 18 inches deep, put the package in and covered it up. After supper I took the three cobs down to the basement and deposited them in the top layer of #3 COW. Fast forward about 6 days, I took some garbage out to the heap where I had put the corn husks and dug in to deposit some more garbage. There were the corn husks, looking as fresh as the day I put them there but the newspaper in which I had wrapped them was gone. One small piece about the size of the palm of my hand was all that I could recognize. Meanwhile, back at the worm ranch I went down to the basement just to look around. I lifted the lid of the bin in which I had put the cobs and there they were, looking just the way I had put them in. No surprise there, but then I took the fork and rolled on over. It was swarming, a solid mass of worms underneath the cob. I checked the other 2. Same thing. As good as watermelon. In another post I estimated my worm population at about 6000. Using this latest intelligence I would raise that estimate to 10,000. This from my original 1000 in early December last year.

Dave Nelson

Comments (15)

steamyb
13 years ago
1K to 10K in 8 months.
Based on intelligence gathered from turning over 3 corn cobs.
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
No, it's not just the 3 corncobs Steamy. I have 3 COW towers with three trays each, all active and well supplied with food. Does a 10 fold increase sound excessive in that situation? Maybe so.

Dave Nelson
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PRO
equinoxequinox
13 years ago
Great Title!

The best time I ever had with my outdoor compost was sitting in my car watching the wildlife attracted to it. No need to buy birdfood. The birds and squirels seemed to like the 4by2 inch wire 3 foot round.

My mature worms are celibate. They got bigger but the population has not increased since spring. It does not seem possible. But that is what I am seeing. Luckily I am happy with the size of my family, maybe about a pound, so am not looking to add on at the moment.

I'm pretty sure worms breed about like elephants.

I should print off M's worm breeding calculator and put that in their bin.

~ I will not be happy until every container I own is filled with wiggling goodness.
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
" I will not be happy until every container I own is filled with wiggling goodness."

In that case EE I highly recommend corn cobs and watermelon. Avoid peanut shells.

Dave Nelson
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
Using the calculator kindly provided for us by Jay Middleton, I think that my estimate of 10,000 total in my 3 COWs is not at all excessive. Given enough corn cobs and watermelon I think I can hit 30,000 by Thanksgiving.

Dave Nelson
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
testing some more
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
Added two new corncobs yesterday. Standing by for population explosion.

Dave Nelson
steamyb
13 years ago
ROFL
You da MAN!
pjames
13 years ago
Yep , better stand back when you drop those cobs in. Best you'll get is a face full of worm slime, worst could be an eye put out!!
PRO
equinoxequinox
13 years ago
You guys better be right about these corn cobs. I broke a few into 5 pieces each. Along with the hard wood charcoal I expect these will be long term items rotating a few times through the bin. I expect they will be islands of wee beastie bio diversity that I can filter out of the castings, toss on top of the bin and they will jump start the new materials with life. They also should absorb and release moisture to the bin as needed which is a key element for me.
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
Well, a little bit of humor never hurts.

Dave Nelson
steamyb
13 years ago
Anyone that answers to 'Wormer', better have a sense of humor.
bigtexworms
13 years ago
rehydrated cracked corn gives me the same squirmy results.
fam62cc
Original Author
13 years ago
Bigtex;

Thanks, good knowledge. However, in general I don't buy anything for my worms. That would defeat my original purpose which is to get rid of the garbage in the most environmentaly efficient way.

Dave Nelson
antoniab
13 years ago
Leftover cornbread will do it too. It overheats, but the worms will brave the heat to eat it.