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Nathan Scholten
- 42, Male
- Scottsdale AZ
- United States
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Nathan Scholten's Discussions
Two Questions ?
Replied Apr 3
800 Worm Casualties
Replied Sep. 15, 2008
keeping them in the box
Replied Sep. 7, 2008
Nathan Scholten's Page
Latest Activity
Here are my answers:
1a) I expect my worms to self-regulate their population, so I don't anticipate having this problem. However, once my worms have reached a capacity where they can process all my kitchen waste, I would be happy to give some away...
Before telling what what I am going to do with the worms, I thought it might be appropriate to explain what am I doing with worms in the first place.
I have a garden, fruit trees and house plants that weren't as healthy and productive as I would ...
a) I plan to start more totes for others to compost with. I recently harvested an 18 gal. Rubbermaid tote and got 40 pounds of castings and started 4 totes with the worms. Gave away 3 of them and so we roll on!
b) VC goes in the garden.
Profession...
Where can I learn more about your soil cooling system? I live in Florida and it looks like something I can use since it gets so hot here.
That is so neat...where did you get it if you don't mind? Thanks! Rachel
Thats true.
I raise the worms to make more worms and to use a bait.
I use the vermicompst almost exclusively to fertilize my small organic garden.
I am a small animal veterinarian.
Yes it did. It continued to produce well into the winter.
No problems.
I think they work quite well.
Thanks for the interst.
Have a great day.
Comment Wall (16 comments)
- At 8:05am on July 5, 2008,
Asha said… - Hi Nathan, I was wondering whats happening with your worms. Is your cooling system back in action?
I have uploaded some pics showing details of my pot system ('kambha') in case you would like to have a look.
- At 6:22pm on June 30, 2008,
Nathan Scholten said…
- oops hit the enter button too soon. The concept has been around thousands of years.
It is believed that some of the plants at the hanging gardens of Babylon were grown this way as well. I first say it in Iowa (long way from Babylon and not nearly as hot) at my wifes uncles farm.
If you have any other questions please feel free to write.
Nathan J.
- At 6:19pm on June 30, 2008,
Nathan Scholten said…
- Hello,
Its called upside down tomatoes :) Seriously. There is a company online that you can buy the green planter from it runs about $20.00 and has the pretty floral design.
The red one I made myself (for $6.00) to see if there was any difference. Really there has not been a whole lot (they are two diff tomatoe plants) both have survived and produced fruit and set fruit even in 100+ temps.
The concept is pretty simple. You drill a hole/slot in the bottom of the pot for the roots to go into. You secure the roots in placed with heavy dense foam circle with a slice in it to "clamp" the stalk in placed (foam is larger x 2 than the hole). you then put soil in the top like you normally would to cover the roots.
Just below the rim and sitting close to the top of the soil is a water baffle. This acts to slow the flow of water as you water the plants. The baffle covers approx 85% of the inner circumference of the pot. I suppose you could also drill lots of holes in the top and that would work just as well. I was too lazy at the time and just use my hands to break the fiber board to size.
You also drill 3-4 holes in the bottom of the pot around the stalk so that extra water can drain out. I have placed other plants below them to catch the water that drips out.
The company calls it the "topsy turvey".
- At 4:38pm on June 30, 2008,
Susan Bolman said… - Hi Nathan. I saw your photo of upside down tomatos and was fascinated. I'm in a 20th floor studio apt. I'm using my vermicompost on cherry tomatos, snap peas and lettuce. I think if I could hang things I'd be able to expand a bit. What's it called and how does it work?
- At 2:12pm on June 10, 2008,
Anne Juliet said… - i'm officially inspired to look into a cooling system. i LOVE getting crafty...
- At 9:26am on June 3, 2008,
Daniel said… - Hi,
Thanks for your comments. ALL manure piles must reach a temperature between 131 degrees Fahrenheit and 170 degrees Fahrenheit for at least three consequtive days. This will guarantee that pathogens such as salmonella and e. coli will get destroyed. I keep good records of this in order to maintain my OMRI status.
Hope that answer your question.
Daniel
- At 12:08pm on May 18, 2008,
Nathan Scholten said…
- Good morning!
I have a small animal practice in snottsdale az.
The web site is http://www.hopianimalhospital.com.
She is my pride and joy the culmination of 20+ years of work and study.
We are slowly trying to "go green" as much as possible.
I looked at solar but the cost was around 170K and that would only generate around 40% of my electrical needs.
So instead we turn lights off, unplug every other light, and run the AC at 82-85 deg if we can.
I havn't looked at putting a clothsline in yet for the animal bedding and towel.
I am not sure what the city ordinace is on such a thing.
Have a great weekend.
Nathan J.
- At 9:46am on May 17, 2008,
Amanda said… - I've tried rock climbing in a gym, but there are a lot more trees around here than there are rocks. And tree climbing is something I can do without having to round up a partner.
What kind of veterinary medicine do you practice?
- At 8:58am on May 17, 2008,
Amanda said…
- Hi Nathan. An environmental regulator can be many things. I work for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. My position focuses on surface water quality, especially storm water. I inspect construction sites for compliance with the Clean Water Act and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. I also provide compliance assistance to municipalities trying to meet the conditions of their storm sewer permits. A large portion of my work is educating the public about the dangers of polluting storm sewers, creeks, lakes and wetlands. I also get called out on a lot of compliants where someone has observed a change in their waterbody, or has observed illegal dumping of pollutants.
I don't get to climb trees at work, but I do get to tromp around in the mud quite a bit.
My brother is an arborist - he climbs trees to trim them, rather than using lifts. He was teaching me to climb. In my photo, we were climbing in a public park in Denver.
- At 9:07pm on May 11, 2008,
Steven Chow said… - Sorry about the missing tabs, I'm still working out the kinks in the site. I just updated it to try to fix the problem. Can you try it again? Also out of curiosity what browser and computer os are you on? Thanks.
Profile Information
- How were you introduced to vermicomposting?
- I started reading about it on the net
- What do your worms like to eat?
- coffee, bannana, all the good stuff
- What kinds of worms do you have?
- E. fetidia, E. hortensis (aka:Dendrobena veneta)
- What worm bins do you use?
- worm farm
- How many pounds of garbage do your worms recycle each week?
- 5
- About Me:
- 41 yrs old, father of two, happily married.
Veterinarian.
Interests include: collecting museum grade fossils, lapidary, leather work, turning pens, cast metal figure making, meteorite hunting, fossil hunting, hydro-ponics, aqua-ponics, and of course vermiculture.
Nathan Scholten's Photos
Nathan Scholten's Blog
Cooling Weather
Well it is the first of September and the weather is finally starting to cool off here in AZ.
I have taken the cooling system off line to see how the worms do. With the increased humidity I am getting much more worm lechate.
I hope that everyone else is doing well.
The worms seem to be doing well and are on auto pilot so there is not much to report.
Nathan J.
I have taken the cooling system off line to see how the worms do. With the increased humidity I am getting much more worm lechate.
I hope that everyone else is doing well.
The worms seem to be doing well and are on auto pilot so there is not much to report.
Nathan J.
Posted on August 31, 2008 at 8:36pm —
I AM BACK!
HELLO EVERYONE!
I have been gone for the last two weeks on vacation.
As many of you know I live in AZ where the weather is HOT.
So I decided to put my worms in a boarding facility for the two weeks to keep them cool and comfortable.
They spent two weeks in an air conditioned 48" stainless steel dog kennel.
Today I go back and find out how they have done.
While I was on vacation I went fishing in MN and used some Canadian Night Crawlers. (Boy they are big). The fish did not really like th… Continue
I have been gone for the last two weeks on vacation.
As many of you know I live in AZ where the weather is HOT.
So I decided to put my worms in a boarding facility for the two weeks to keep them cool and comfortable.
They spent two weeks in an air conditioned 48" stainless steel dog kennel.
Today I go back and find out how they have done.
While I was on vacation I went fishing in MN and used some Canadian Night Crawlers. (Boy they are big). The fish did not really like th… Continue
Posted on August 11, 2008 at 9:03am — 4 Comments
Mid July 2008
Well we are nearing the end of July here and starting to enter the monsoon season so the humidity is starting to pick up. With the increase in humidity I am seeing more worm lechate from the spigot.
My worms are making a great comeback after the disaster of '08.
I have started to work the vermicompost into my garden system and hope to see improved growth. I have been adding a teaspoon of vermipost as a top dressing to each plant on a weekly basis.
I will also be working on creating my own vemico… Continue
My worms are making a great comeback after the disaster of '08.
I have started to work the vermicompost into my garden system and hope to see improved growth. I have been adding a teaspoon of vermipost as a top dressing to each plant on a weekly basis.
I will also be working on creating my own vemico… Continue
Posted on July 18, 2008 at 8:47pm —
Disaster July 2008
Well we have entered the first week of July in in hot AZ.
The cooling system failed on the worms and the soil temp got up to 130F.
I took 3 days to get the temperature re-regulated.
Out of several thousand worms I am probably down to around 400 + eggs.
That should be enough to get me started again.
I started making my own planting plugs for seedlings using vermicompost, coconut coir, and peat moss. For the binding agent I am using knox unflavored gelatin.
I plan on using most of the vermicompost… Continue
The cooling system failed on the worms and the soil temp got up to 130F.
I took 3 days to get the temperature re-regulated.
Out of several thousand worms I am probably down to around 400 + eggs.
That should be enough to get me started again.
I started making my own planting plugs for seedlings using vermicompost, coconut coir, and peat moss. For the binding agent I am using knox unflavored gelatin.
I plan on using most of the vermicompost… Continue
Posted on July 5, 2008 at 2:37pm — 3 Comments
End of June 2008
Well the month of June is coming to an end here in hot AZ.
So far I have been able to keep my worm bin at 80F +/- 1-2 deg.
I added food to the upper working tray today and turned over the compost in both trays.
The lower tray was a uniform dark black moist color just like it should be. There were still a significant number of worms in the lower tray so it can't be too toxic to them yet or else according to what I have read they would migrate out of the bin into the upper tray.
Tomorrow I will ad… Continue
So far I have been able to keep my worm bin at 80F +/- 1-2 deg.
I added food to the upper working tray today and turned over the compost in both trays.
The lower tray was a uniform dark black moist color just like it should be. There were still a significant number of worms in the lower tray so it can't be too toxic to them yet or else according to what I have read they would migrate out of the bin into the upper tray.
Tomorrow I will ad… Continue
Posted on June 28, 2008 at 4:00pm —
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