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Beth & Dave
- Antioch, CA
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Eisenia Hortensis Wormers
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eudrillus eugeniea wor...
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Worms in the White House
Replied Nov 28
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Dwight,
Check out this article that we have on our website. I think that it has all the information that you are looking for.
http://www.monsterworms.com/culture-of-earthworms-for-bait-or-fish-food.html
Beth
Profile Information
- What do your worms like to eat?
- Fruit & vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, newspaper, horse manure.
- What kinds of worms do you have?
- Red wigglers, European Nightcrawlers, African Nightcrawlers
- What worm bins do you use?
- Cement mixing tubs and a Gusanito Worm Farm Bin
- How many pounds of garbage do your worms recycle each week?
- 70 pounds and growing
- My Vermicomposters.com Map Entry URL:
- http://www.MonsterWorms.com
- About Me:
- We are worm farmers in Antioch, CA. We collect fruit and vegetable scraps and coffee grounds from local merchants to feed our worms. We also collect manure from a nearby horse stable. We love turning all that stuff into beautiful castings!!
- Website:
- http://www.MonsterWorms.com
Comment Wall (30 comments)
- At 10:20am on December 7, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Hi, Beth. Wow! The red looks tiny compared to the other 2 species. Is the Gusanito in your garage or outdoors? Have you ever checked bin temps? I had the impression that Eudrilus eugeniae preferred warmer temps, especially for reproduction. How many pounds of each species did you start with?
~Andrew
- At 1:54pm on December 5, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Beth, I look forward to your post. I started subscribing to RSS feeds a long time ago, but then simply got deluged with stuff I ended up not reading. So I decided it was easier for me to organize my web reading priorities through easy to edit clickable links. I've since started reading lots of stuff on my iPod touch, so I'm going to re-visit using RSS feeds again.
~Andrew
- At 5:55pm on December 4, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Beth, I think the post about the school will work as a reference, but I'm pretty sure there was another post or comment about it somewhere else. Of course you could always write a blog post just about that bin - with photos of the 3 worms living happily together. Right...as if you didn't have enough to do. :-) Thanks for digging up the blog link. I'll just refer to that and anyone really interested can contact you guys directly.
- At 4:50pm on December 3, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Hi, Beth. That was me at gardenweb (plumiebear) referring to monsterworms' multi-species bin. I knew I'd read it in your blog, but I couldn't find it when I went back to search. Can you send me the direct link to that particular blog? I like to keep notes of things that I may need to use later on.
Thanks,
~Andrew
- At 7:01pm on November 28, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Sorry, Beth. I'd forgotten about your power outage/solar blog post. The solar setup I was suggesting involves a small battery bank so the lights and fans would keep on going regardless of power outages. With LEDs it may even be possible to keep the lights burning on those rare overcast days in Antioch.
- At 2:01pm on November 28, 2009,
James Campbell said…
- Thanks for your response. I like Rubbermaid bins because of its design. Large surface area. I have to keep the lid cover on because I have four young children, all under 7. The bin is on the top of staircase landing off by kitchen to the basement. We use the staircase all day everyday. I do not want my kids putting their hands there and play... I think my biggest problem is that I didn't put few inches of newspaper at the top. There is nothing cover that... hence fungus gnats are having a party there.
- At 1:30pm on November 28, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Hi, Beth. Windy but not too cold. Really clear skies! Noticed tons of leaves everywhere on our morning walk...I'm tempted to pull a Rom-like move and rake some neighbor's leaves. :-) Bear says "thanks!".
Have you ever considered a small, off-grid solar system to power your vermi operations? I think there was a mention in Bentley's blog recently about someone who used LEDs to light his worm bins. It wouldn't take a very big solar system to keep that going along with small fans in the summer if needed. I just mention it in case either you or Dave are handy with building those kinds of things.
~Andrew
- At 6:30pm on November 27, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Beth, the only significant shower came through Berkeley just this past hour. My dog demands his daily walk earlier in the day, so we missed the 'fun' of getting drenched. He's a fuzzy fur-ball who doesn't mind getting wet, but he's a pain to dry out. Bear's a 13 yr. old Chow, but he was only a couple of month's old in the photo...just a leetle beeet bigger now, but his tongue is just as purple. :-)
Your website notes that you use scraps from sandwich shops along with rabbit droppings. Do you pre-compost or otherwise prepare the scraps before giving it to the worms? A local pet shop offers free droppings, but they're mixed in with newspaper bedding slightly wet with urine. I may try to put that into my regular compost bin, but hesitate to put that directly into a worm bin.
Thanks for the invite - I may take you up on it next time I need to head out your direction. It would be interesting to see a professional setup. Last question: do you use lights to discourage adventurous worms from peeking out beyond the burlap?
Andrew
- At 3:59pm on November 27, 2009,
Andrew said…
- Hi, Beth. I "overheard" your comment to James about using the shallow trays instead of a Rubbermaid bin. I understand the shallow trays make harvesting easier for you as a worm farmer. Since I don't need to harvest the worms, wouldn't one of the flow through designs work just as well in providing airflow? Or are there other benefits of the trays that I'm missing?
My current priorities are:
1. increase worm population so that I have enough worms to...
2. process most my fruit & veggie scraps (some will still go to compost bin)
3. maximize worm density to be able to produce compost faster
4. allow for easier harvesting of compost (few cocoons & worms)
Do you think it would be better to use 2 or 3 shallow trays or 1 small (6 sq. ft.) flow through to accomplish those priorities?
Thanks,
Andrew
- At 8:36am on November 27, 2009,
James Campbell said…
- Beth,
Many thanks for excellent tips to manage fungus gnats. I changed the bin design from stacked bins system into a single bin, reducing the number of holes from 200 to 25. With this change, the number of fungus gnats was reduced by 80 percent. My single bin has no drainage holes. 10 holes on sides and 15 holes on the lid for air movement. Yes, fungus gnats are the problem, they usually mate under the bin, between bin and the tray, I think they are using the side holes to lay eggs. Putting old cotton shirt on the top is excellent but what about side holes? I am thinking putting the bin inside the big cotton sack and tie it up so everything is covered. What do you think? Will gnats get thru the cotton threads/cloth?
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