Am I doing this right?

10 years ago

So I converted a 40 gallon blue rubbermaid container into a worm bin. I took the lid and drilled tons of holes in it and added one drainage hole to the bottom. I then bought a bag of coconut fiber from Petco and added that. Then I mixed in a small shovel full of finished compost from my outdoor bin. After that I watered it down until it was moist. I then threw in the peels of 1 dragonfruit and 2 passionfruits and some half composted brown paper bags. I ordered one pound of worms and should be getting those today. When I looked in the bin today I noticed mold all over the fruit peels and some ants. Is the mold okay, I read on some other forums that it was normal? What should I do about the ants? What kind of bedding should I add and how much? When should I add the worms? Thanks.

This post was edited by greenthumbzdude on Mon, Oct 21, 13 at 11:28

Comments (3)

11otis
10 years ago
Is the bin outdoors? Would be nice if you have some more kitchen scraps to add. How big a bag of coco fiber? (you know you don't need to buy more of this in the future, right? Just use newspaper & CCB) Adding compost is a smart move. So, how thick is all this?
40 gal. is quite big for 1 lbs. of worms and the scraps you have in there. When the worms arrive, I would add them to the bin right away. However, I would push most or all the contents to occupy 1/2 side of the bin and add the worms to that side. Make a temporary divider with corr. CB or the like. I usually start adding shredded newspaper and kitchen scraps to the other half w/o worry about overfeeding since the worms are on the other side and you have tons of holes in the lid (how big are the holes, btw.). If you have dry leaves, you could add that too. I usually shake them down before adding to the bin, trying to rid them from bugs. I don't like pill bugs/millipedes/centipedes (one of this is a worm predator) in my worm bins. I harvest dandelions from the side walks and empty properties.

Some people do not like using shredded paper/newspaper because of matting/clumping. If you spray water a little at a time and repeat this a couple of times in several hours, giving the paper time to absorb the water and fluff them after, it works just fine. DO NOT use the method of soaking newspaper/paper in a bucket and then wring the water out. This is when you can't fluff them anymore, they'd just stick together.
Once you added the worms to the bin, depending how dry the medium is they.re shipped in, sprinkle them LIGHTLY and let them work down on their own. Cover them with shredded newspaper.
Have fun and good luck.
greenthumbzdude
Original Author
10 years ago
This is an indoor bin. The substrate (coconut fiber and finished compost) is about 1 foot thick. How much food will 1 pound of worms eat in a day or week? I read that overfeeding is bad and I don't want to overdo it. Also, what foods should I avoid?. Read about citris and pineapples being not good for the worms. I have also read about papaya but some people seem to have mixed results.
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11otis
10 years ago
Oh, OK. If you have about 1 ft. thick bedding it's OK, no need to push all to 1 side. Do not believe what has been advertised about the amount of food worms will eat. There are so many variables in the calculation. That is also why it is said "under ideal condition". Then there is the "quality" of the worm food. How much of the poundage is water? There is a difference whether you feed them .5 lb. of juice pulp or .5 lb. of melon rind.
With only 1 hole at the bottom of your bin, you do have to be careful with your feeding and moisture management but it is do-able, even w/o any hole at the bottom as several of my RM bins.
Once you've got the hang of it, you'd know how much you can feed w/o "over"feeding. As long as there is a large area the worms can retreat to if conditions get unfavourable, they would be OK.
I do not feed the bins with citrus and pine-apples. However, I do have an open composter that has local worms in it and I dumped lots of orange peels (from juicing, no pine-apples, don't eat them) in there. Once they break down, worms will attack them.
No personal experience with papaya, don't eat them either. What I've read so far, it's the seed that you have to avoid as they will render the worms temporary infertility. Didn't say how long.
What I do know for sure, papaya leaves are used as meat tenderizer, I suspect because of the sap they contain. Therefore, I will also avoid young papaya (if you happen to live in the tropics), since they also contain that sap.
If you're not sure about other food than the no-no, moderation is the word. It looks like once everything breaks down, it's OK.
There are more no-nos for indoor bins out of concern for humans, the worm keepers, therefore, no oinions and cabbage family because of the smell. True, there's also the gases that will harm the worms but with lots of holes on the lid, it's no biggie. In a worm bin, everything except solids like rock, plastic, glass and metal will be converted into black gold, eventually. We have a lot to thank the worms for..