Tips on Vermicompost

have been reading up on tea manures an vermicompost
trying to grow organic
any tips on vermicomposting I have made teas got bat guano. but want to try vermi
i'm aware it will be about 3months before i have results.

What exactly are your questions?

upthearsenal said:

What exactly are your questions?

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what do we use as bedding material?
what does the actual feeding material consist of? do u need to use peat moss?
any storage tips??

I store mine in a big tupperware container, like ones hydro growers use for reservoirs. I get a lot of newspaper (never used peat moss), leafs, and some clean dirt (usually left over rootballs from my grow) and toss that into the tupperware bin. I then put the worms in and spray it a little bit with water, not too much though but a quick spray. You can feed them veggie and fruit matter, and corn meal as well. That's what mine get and they love it.

love organic tea, i dont make it but a buddy does

was planing on doing a dIY worm box
was looking in a pound shop can get 35l tubes, but there clear plastic would they do?
how many tubes do you use?
and do they breed?
how much vermi would you use when planting?

Clear is bad, they need to be in an opaque bin. I don't know what you mean by tubes... I use about 25%, this will make the soil heavy though, so I also add about 30-40% coco (perlite will work as well)

my bad ment to spell tubs
how many do you use could you discribe how yours works.
also r u growing blue widow? i got 1 as a free seed from attitude how far on you with it?

green gurilla said:

my bad ment to spell tubs
how many do you use could you discribe how yours works.
also r u growing blue widow? i got 1 as a free seed from attitude how far on you with it?

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If you use a lot of soil, you could do with 2 wormbins - one you add vegetable scraps to, and one you remove VC (Wormcastings) from.
I only have one, and do alternating sides - feed in one side, and dig out processed VC in the other side, works pretty well.

I just feed my worms plant material and scraps from the kitchen, but i've seen videos of the big timers using peatmoss, manure and some lime to take the edge off the peatmoss. Let that sit with the worms munching through it for a month or two, and presto - pretty decent soil.

As for bedding, most moist organic materials will do - Straw, paper, cardboard, coco coir, peat, rootballs. Just make sure it can "breathe" (an anarobic bin smells like death and cancer)

as for breeding: Under optimal conditions, worms can double their number in 90 days and you'll prolly find loads of coocons (i spend most time seperating those >.<) They automagically adjust their breeding to their population, so they'll stop doing the naughty when they reach a certain density (measured in surface area, not volume)

They can eat over half their own weight in food a day, but settling into a new bin they start out slow, and so should feeding - you wont want a smelly bin, but one that smells like fresh dirt. Don't worry about not feeding them, they'll just eat the bedding

green gurilla said:

my bad ment to spell tubs
how many do you use could you discribe how yours works.
also r u growing blue widow? i got 1 as a free seed from attitude how far on you with it?

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Well stealthydane pretty much nailed it, and I don't want to write up a similar paragraph... I'd go with alternating sides, and cardboard, rootballs, and shreds of newspaper as bedding. If it smells bad, it's going bad and you should dump it.

And yes, I finished a BW a few weeks ago, did a report on it and such in my journal, its excellent smoke.

Hehe, kinda 'sperging it when i get into new stuff. ^^

Good site for vermicomposting is redwormcomposting.com - there are lots of videos on youtube on both worms and composting. Should cover all the basics

were do you keep yours?
could i use organic matter from my compost heap?
how many worms should i get then for 35-45litre tubs? weight?

green gurilla said:

were do you keep yours?
could i use organic matter from my compost heap?
how many worms should i get then for 35-45litre tubs? weight?

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I keep mine in a rubbermaid'ish bin. Drilled holes for ventilation (lots of 5mm are fine - they wont escape) - and placed it inside an identical bin to catch leachate (this is not tea, can be anarobic)

Organic matter from the compost heap is great, but can contain weed weeds, and critter eggs (One of the reasons i like my bin, is that i have total control of what goes in and comes out, also nutrient wise)

Just get a pound, as i mentioned, they will adapt their numbers

ryt good to no 1 final question i think
I was on youtube watched a redworm compost video was really helpful thanks,
but egg shell make the soil more alkline, citrus fruit make it more acidic,
the redworm video said to put starchy foods in in moderation, the likes of bread and pasta.
How does this affect the bin?

green gurilla said:

ryt good to no 1 final question i think
I was on youtube watched a redworm compost video was really helpful thanks,
but egg shell make the soil more alkline, citrus fruit make it more acidic,
the redworm video said to put starchy foods in in moderation, the likes of bread and pasta.
How does this affect the bin?

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Cannabis plants like calcium, which is what eggs are made of - the worms also secrete calcium bi-carbonate to help with their digestion. They have a gizzard for grinding down coarser particles and microbes to a paste. So adding some calcium is a good thing, will work as a ph buffer in the resulting soil/VC.

Starchy foods tend to get slimy as fuck as they break down, and it's not something i wanna put my fingers in when messing with the bin - worst case scenario it will create a small anarobic pocket which will kill some of your squirm. No problem feeding them small amounts of say, pasta, spread over a larger area of the bin, but half a pound in a corner will create havoc. If in doubt, leave it out.

Things to avoid, even in small concetrations: Oils, fats and salts
Things that can technically be used, but can really stink things up: Meat, dairy, starchy stuff and large amounts of green matter in one sitting.

If the worms get hungry, they'll just munch off the bedding (They'll turn skinny and pale, but survive)

Just start out slow with the feeding, and remember to bring in some dirt from the garden to help colonize the bin with beneficial microbes

cant wait till get started.
have you any tips on what i can use organic for the flowering stage?
i have made a N rich tea for veg (chicken/sheep shit)

If your ordering your worms now I would start keeping a little food scrap now. Not that you need to have a lot but they like food starting to break down a little. I have a 5 gallon buck that I dump from the kitchen to. I sprinkle a little compost on top and keep it until its full. You can put a brick with a piece of screen on top and place this in the bottom, this will let the water drain out so that its not to wet for the worms. When its full I feed the worms from the bottom above the screen and place the rest of the food and the liquid from the bottom in my compost pile outside.
I have a make shift bokashi bucket going with meat scraps, bones and other normal composting matter. I covered it with yogurt whey (I make my own yogurt) and closed the lid. Its had about a month now, I opened it to check it. Its a stinker alright. I'm going to give it another 4-6 weeks and see how its done. They sell bokashi buckets to compost animal waste claiming its good for gardening. If this works I may try that. Anything I can do

green gurilla said:

cant wait till get started.
have you any tips on what i can use organic for the flowering stage?
i have made a N rich tea for veg (chicken/sheep shit)

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Me and my gf spent a few hours at the beach today collecting seaweed actually. I blend it, and then filter it through coffee filters - Use it when watering, dilluted of course. Seaweed and algea comes in three flavours, red, green and brown - The green is high in Nitrogen, can't remember what the others are but google can help there (there are also videos about making seaweed extract on youtube)
If there's no water nearby, you can throw nettles in an airtight container along with some water and let it ferment for a week or two for a high Nitrogen soup (haven't tried this one on my babies yet, so you'll have to do a little research yourself )

Avoid getting anything from polluted areas of course

StealthyDane said:

Me and my gf spent a few hours at the beach today collecting seaweed actually. I blend it, and then filter it through coffee filters - Use it when watering, dilluted of course. Seaweed and algea comes in three flavours, red, green and brown - The green is high in Nitrogen, can't remember what the others are but google can help there (there are also videos about making seaweed extract on youtube)
If there's no water nearby, you can throw nettles in an airtight container along with some water and let it ferment for a week or two for a high Nitrogen soup (haven't tried this one on my babies yet, so you'll have to do a little research yourself )

Avoid getting anything from polluted areas of course

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This is some great info!!! I'm going to research this stuff, thanks for the ideas

It takes ages to filter through the coffee filters though, FYI - i need something coarser to filter it through if i do this regularly >.<