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hummersteve

I wonder whats going on.

hummersteve
9 years ago

In checking my bottom tray of a triple stacked plastic bin I find the material to be mostly done but maybe not as dark as it could be, but the thing that strikes me odd is Im seeing little to no worms in that tray, are my worms dieing or have they all just moved up.

Im thinking that instead of harvesting that tray Im thinking I need to move it back to the top again as a feeding tray, maybe mixing in a good bit of shredded paper. Seems to be a lot of worms in the top two trays. Ive not run into a situation where all worms seems to have moved out of said tray.

Comments (14)

  • renais1
    9 years ago

    This is a great situation to be in: you material has been processed, and the worms have moved themselves to the next material. This saves you the sometimes considerable bother of fishing worms out of the finished product. I would harvest the bottom bin, letting it sit in another container for a while if you want it to decompose more, and then keep doing what you are doing: it seems to be working well.
    Renais

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Renais1

    Thanks for your vote of confidence, I will do as you suggested.

  • Jasdip
    9 years ago

    Hey, you seem to have a self-harvesting system Steve!
    I wouldn't worry either. Just harvest the bottom tray and set it aside for any worms to hatch etc.

    I harvested a couple of bins last week and I now have a pail of compost that I'm not sure what to do with :-)

    I left my bins alone for a few weeks, and the compost is definitely "cleaner" than in the past. No clumps of shredded paper or bits of food to take out. Castings and worms.

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    When I harvested that bottom tray there were 4 worms and very alive in that tray. That was a first for me to have that, usually no less than 100-200 worms still in the tray. Nice to see that kind of efficient use of the bins and worm movement as if I directed them to do such, haha.

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    9 years ago

    "I now have a pail of compost that I'm not sure what to do with :-)" In New England you would have a couple of months for it to age before using it for indoor seed starting. For some reason dumping the bucket into a second bucket is fun to do periodically. I think because it flips the dry top with the damp bottom. Plus I can peek and see if any worms have congregated in the bottom of the bucket. Last years harvest I put into containers and remoistened and put into the fishroom. There looks to be lots of tomato, pepper, etc. seeds to sprout first so as not compete with my purchased tomato seeds. The buckets are never empty, I just keep needing more buckets. Or have a great vermicompost purge some spring. Vermicomposting is like having a pot of soup always simmering at the back of the stove and the days catch goes into it for a bit different soup every day. It feels good and makes me feel richer. Like the cupboard is never bare as a wee bit more is produced every day.

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    9 years ago

    hummersteve, I think the situation you are describing is what I have read is the perfect way things should be. Possibly tree leave tannin would dye the paper bedding darker. I do not see that running it through again would improve your product as it does not need improvement. I do see how running it through again would be beneficial for seeding new bedding and food with nice starter. I let my smaller bits of vermicompost be called done and the larger pieces I put through the mill again helping them to have more time to break down and seed the top of the bin with a bit of shelter for the worms.

  • Jasdip
    9 years ago

    I have the compost in a plastic-bag lined bucket, and the bag is opened sightly to let air in without, hopefully drying out the compost. It can get hard as cement.

    I'll use it to top-dress my houseplants, but if I can keep it over the winter, it gets given to the landlords to use in their garden, here at the building. I also benefit from the riches of the garden, plus they let me use a piece of the garden.

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    9 years ago

    I'd be pretty happy if somebody gave me finished vermicompost.

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I agree it is a good thing to have "finished compost'. Its just the first time Ive run into it since Ive been worm farming. I generally consider it a bit of a pain to weed out the worms from the harvest tray as there is usually a lot of worms. Brings up another question-why all of a sudden do the worms move up- you say its because its been processed and no food is left in that tray. Its not like I have made a major switch in what I feed or the way I feed. It also has not been like 6mo or a year either, at most 2-3mo cooking. I did make what I consider a minute change I covered up the windows I made in each bin with duct tape to make it darker and help deter gnats. The trays in this particular bin are 24x17x7 3 each. Is it possible that the 1/4" hardware cloth bottoms Ive made in each helps the worms to migrate, maybe , maybe not. Whatever the change I surely do hope it continues in this manner but doubt the particular vacating method the worms used that I refer to will continue, but I wont complain if it does.

    One other method Ive found online to deter gnats or lure and trap them whether it be for inside bins or fruit laying around on the counter. "Apple cider vinegar" usually comes in a quart container. Pour some in dish and add a couple drops of dish soap. The soap cuts the tension of the vinegar and the gnats will drown in the mix rather than stay on top. I put some plastic wrap to cover the dish/bowl , poke some holes in the wrap just big enough for them to enter and they wont come back out. This works really well, my sis also uses this method to capture these annoying pests

  • 11otis
    9 years ago

    Hmmm. Vinegar traps don't work for "my" gnats, only for fruit flies.
    I think your worms are starting to learn that good eats are upstairs. Word got around in your worm world. :-)

  • Jasdip
    9 years ago

    Otis is right. Fungas gnats aren't attracted to vinegar traps like fruit flies are.

    Equinox, I have given away my vermicompost on Freecycle, and had repeat "customers"

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Sorry but I beg to differ by the amount of gnats I have captured with the vinegar and I know the difference between fruit flies and gnats.

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Just an update on my previous post which I said I have gnats. When I uncovered the dishes of vinegar I found that what I have are indeed "fruit flies" sorry my bad.

  • hummersteve
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Well Here I am again same situation as when I started this thread about 6 weeks ago. After checking the bottom tray of [17x24x7] I find no worms in that bottom tray. So maybe soon I will harvest again. So either Im doing something right or my herd is growing or /and Im not feeding enough or some of my worms are dying which I doubt.

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