From lynx@eagle.cc.ukans.eduMon May 6 17:54:16 1996 Date: Sat, 3 Jun 95 16:03 CDT From: Anonymous Lynx Account To: steved@ncatfyv.uark.edu Subject: gvcathom.htm VERMI COMPOSTING AT HOME INSTRUCTIONS FOR VERMI COMPOSTING RECYCLER & RAISING EARTHWORMS These instructions are included with our worm bins and live worms. They are reproduced here to help out those with a serious interest in worms. CONGRATULATIONS! You have taken a giant step towards helping yourself and the world recycle its organic wastes. By recycling wastes mother natures way, you are putting the most beneficial possible ecological forces to work on all of our behalfs. No need to worry about it working, recycling organic wastes into plant food via worms is a time tested technology, now many millions of years old. In the agricultural world it is known as Vermi Composting. These instructions are for the single or double bin, the following simple guidelines will help you use your recycler to help convert your organic wastes into the worlds greatest plant food, castings. The castings can be used to feed any type of plant at any stage of its life; from seeds to giant trees.. Click here to return to Green Hut Home Page. Click on any of the following items to see more: + Bedding + Vermiculture In Bins + Materials To Vermi Compost + What Not To Vermi Compost + Feeding the worms + Temperature + Atmospheric Humidity + Casting Cycle + Worm Growth + Harvesting Castings + Castings + Using Castings + Top Dressing + History + Specialized Information _________________________________________________________________ Bedding Bedding material for startup and future re-starts can be; Canadian peat moss (US peat is too tough & stringy), yard clippings, animal manure, (not fresh), dead leaves, wood shavings, newspaper (torn up and soaked in water). Garden and yard clippings should have "aged" beyond the green stage. Any moistened organic material can be used for bedding. Look around, there is usually plenty nearby, inside or outside of your house. Just use your imagination. The bedding and worm food (organic wastes) should be kept damp, almost wet. When you first place the worms into their new home, (their bedding) they will burrow into the bedding in a short time, 5 to 15 minutes. They may arrive in a clump and may clump from time to time in your bin. This is nothing to worry about. They will still go about the business of recycling your wastes, reproducing and producing castings as expected. Vermiculture In Bins These instructions are for either the single or double bin. Now, getting down to it, the following simple guidelines will help you use your recycler featuring Lumbricus rubellus worms to help convert your organic wastes to the worlds greatest plant food, castings. The castings can be used to feed any type of plant at any stage of its life; from seeds to giant trees. Bedding: Bedding material for startup and future re-starts can be; Canadian peat moss (US peat is too tough & stringy), yard clippings, dead leaves, wood shavings, newspaper (torn up and soaked in water). Garden clippings should have "aged" beyond the green stage. Any moistened organic material can be used for bedding. Look around, there is usually plenty nearby, inside or outside of your house. Just use your imagination. The bedding and worm food (organic wastes) should be kept damp, almost wet. When you first place the worms into their new home, (their bedding) they will burrow into the bedding in a short time, 5 to 15 minutes. They may arrive in a lump and may clump from time to time in your bin. This is nothing to worry about. They will still go about the business of recycling your wastes as expected. Their desire for large family meetings is nothing to be concerned about. Double bins: Follow above bedding instructions but remove the top bin first. Put the bedding into the bottom, (main) bin. Put the top bin back into the bottom bin when the castings have reached a point that they can touch the bottom of the top bin with only a small amount of compression. Then feed the Wiggles family by placing the food into the top bin. The family will work their way up into the top bin, and by the time it is full of castings, harvesting of the castings in the bottom bin will be extremely easy. Just dump those castings into whatever container you will use for castings storage or put the castings to use immediately. Then dump the material, including the worms, from the top bin into the bottom bin. Leave the top bin aside and continue to recycle normally. Materials To Vermi Compost Your little recyclers can be fed all forms of food waste, animal waste, (yes, dog & other pet droppings too), yard & garden waste, paper, cardboard too wet to recycle otherwise, (plant and root material are OK but not too much dirt),etc. Don't worry about how nasty some waste matter may seem to be, worms have strange tastes. In fact, they are at their highest level of activity, consuming and procreating with glee when recycling cow manure or sewage sludge. What Not To Vermi Compost Do not feed the worms; onions, citrus & other acidic foods, metals, foils, plastics, chemicals, oils, solvents, insecticides, soaps, paint, etc. Also, avoid oleanders and other poisonous plants,(if you are unsure about a plant species, ask a nurseryman). All these things are toxic to worms. Note; Onions are so bad the earthworms will actually crawl away under any horrible conditions to get away from them. Feeding the worms The worms will need a little help from you in the preparation of some of the materials. Be sure the overall mix, (or any individual waste), is moist, about like a blueberry muffin or sponge cake. Most food waste can be put directly onto the worm bed just as it comes from the table. Just scatter it around the top of the bed. Before feeding, the waste matter can be mixed together or not, whichever is easier for you. Avoid soaking or flooding and by all means keep the worms out of the rain. They will drown and/or scatter all over under rainy or humid conditions. Under conditions of high humidity, it is best to place a 40 watt light bulb over the bed to prevent fleeing. The earthworms "crawl" whenever the atmospheric humidity is high. Sautéed mushrooms, watermelon and cherries topped with bread, beef, herring, candy and banana peels make a scrumptious meal for the versatile little creatures. Coffee grounds too, they love the grounds. Grinding (via a blender or food processor) or cutting things up to 1/4" size particles or smaller will speed recycling time by up to 50%. Don't bother to bury the waste since they will come up for it, plus, it is easier for you to see when it is all recycled, and thus, feeding time again. Spread the material around, but not too evenly, leave the little recyclers room to "pull back" from the food when they feel like it. A loose coat of food up to 2" high is OK. Temperature It is best to keep your recycler in the garage, or anywhere else that will protect it from high & low temperatures, rain and other inclement weather conditions. The worms are at their best in productivity and virility between 60 & 70 degrees F. They slow down just as we do when it is 99 degrees or 45 degrees in their house. This is not necessarily a problem. It may not matter to you whether they finish a banana peel in 2 days, 7 days, or 3 weeks. Note: Earthworms will freeze and die if the temperature is near or below freezing. Open the cover of the recycler when it is necessary to feed the clan and to provide more ventilation during warm periods of the day. Leave the cover off when it is 80 degrees or more inside the recycler bed. Don't worry about "escapees", they will burrow down to get out of the light since they like the darkness. Nor will they flee at night if they are in comfortable conditions. If an occasional stray takes off, well, an ingrate is an ingrate. He will soon find out how harsh the real world is. Atmospheric Humidity It is best to always leave the cover on during periods of high humidity, such as when it is raining outside. A small light, (40 W) over the cover will keep them contained whether the cover is on or off. The light can also serve as a partial heat source during cold weather. Increase the wattage as necessary to maintain 60 to 70 degrees F. in the bed. Leave a light on, (40W minimum), any time you are unsure about the humidity. Electricity is less expensive than repurchasing worms. Castings Cycle In single bins, try not to let the castings accumulate beyond 90% full point since there will be too little ventilation inside. The speed of recycling waste matter to castings is a function of the total weight of the worms, their comfort level, (temperature & moisture), vs. the amount of matter to recycle. By reducing the size of the waste particles, the recycling time will be reduced substantially. Generally speaking, 2 lbs. of worms will recycle 1 lb. of organic waste in 24 hours. In absolutely ideal conditions of comfort and ground up, moist food, they will recycle their own weight in wastes every 24 hours. Note: You may not want to feed them much wood, twigs, sawdust, etc. Those things will require a long time to break down. Grass clippings, leaves and such are fine. Again, remember the moisture requirements. Worm Growth The more matter you wish to recycle the more worms you need. There are two ways to increase the size of the herd. The first is by letting nature take its course and they may double in overall weight approximately every 12 weeks. If you do the arithmetic for a 2 year period, you find that the herd can grow at an astounding rate. A 1 lb. starter pack can expand to approx. 21 lbs. That will be a combination of count and individual growth. The second way to add to the herd is to purchase additional Lumbricus rubellus species of worms. Order directly from us. Harvesting Castings If you have a single bin recycler, follow these instructions. When your single bin recycler has filled about half to two thirds full of nice, dark castings it is time to harvest them out. This is a simple process; just put scoops of the castings into an old household strainer or colander,(with holes 1/4" to 3/16" dia.), and strain out the castings. You will want to catch them in a plastic or metal container for ease of further handling. As you go along, dump each strainer of earthworms into a separate container until you are done harvesting. After taking all the castings out of the recycler, dump the herd back into the bin, along with some new bedding and "food", (any handy wastes). An easier way is to scoop off the top 6" of material for re-use since it will contain most of the worms, eggs, etc. What is left is castings, ready to make all of your plants flourish. If a few worms, egg capsules, etc., wind up in your plants, don't worry, they can only do good things. If you have a double bin setup, harvesting is simplicity itself; just remove the top bin, put the castings from the bottom bin into a storage container or directly to use as a plant food or soil amendment. Then put some fresh bedding into the bottom bin and start feeding again. Castings Castings are the droppings produced by the worms as a result of the recycling process taking place inside the worms intestines. Castings are the best soil amendment known to man compared to any other natural or man made fertilizer or plant food. They do not have an offensive smell, in fact they resemble a fresh, rich planting soil, which is just what they are. Castings contain beneficial bacteria and these will go to work breaking down the nutrients in the dead organic material around the roots of your plants. The earth worms intestines are one of the best sterilizers in all of nature. On this point, if you wish to be certain of the sterility of the castings, they can be heated in an oven in a metal container to 200 degrees F. until completely dry. Any lingering germs and weed seeds will have been killed. Sterilization via heat is recommended if you are going to use the castings on food plants. There is a bit of controversy on this point in the agricultural world. By sterilizing the castings the beneficial bacteria are also killed. There is no pat answer, just use your judgment. Using Castings For Potting; The castings can be mixed with any general purpose potting soil in the ratio of 1/4 castings to 3/4 potting soil. The mix can be used to plant anything at all in, from seeds to started plants to flowers, to trees. They will not burn even the most delicate of seeds and plants. When plants are transplanted into this mix they show almost no transplant shock. Do not use any other plant food for approximately six to eight weeks after planting anything in a castings mix. When the time comes to feed the plants again, use castings as a top dressing. Top Dressing Castings can be used as a plant food by putting one quarter inch to one half inch thick top dressings on your plants, lawn and garden about every six weeks. You will be surprised at the vigor, growth and health the plants derive from the castings. Do not go over one half inch since it would only be wasteful, it isn't necessary. Castings help the soil retain water thereby reducing the amount of watering needed. For accurate changeover of watering schedules, monitor the plants' soil for moisture by whatever method you have been using and water when they need it. If you use castings continuously, the need for insecticides will be reduced substantially. Vigorous, healthy plants are able to shake off the effects of most insects. That doesn't mean you should be any less vigilant, its just that you will end up using 50% to 85% less insecticide than you are used to. History The first known recorded results of earthworms effectiveness was in Egypt about five thousand years ago, the historic fertility of the Nile basin was due to the huge presence of earthworms. Aristotle was the first to point out the importance of earthworms to the earth's ecology & to man. Many years later, Charles Darwin spent 25 years researching earthworms and confirmed Aristotle's writings. Today there are earthworm "writings" in every agricultural university library and major public library, as well as Vermi Composting projects all over the world. Check under agricultural and horticultural listings. Specialized Information For specialized applications contact us directly. If you need to recycle small or large amounts of any organic waste, any single residential or commercial component such as manure, bread, fat, grass, food waste, leaves, tree cuttings, sewage sludge, waste paper fibers, etc., we can help. We have instructions, equipment, and management plans available for the most efficient and economical methods of Vermi Composting any volume of any type of organic waste. GOOD RECYCLING, GOOD GROWING & GOOD LUCK! Go to The Catalog or return to Green Hut Home Page ____________________________________________________________________ Copyright 1995 Green Hut Produced by Net Sales, LLC netsales@cts.com 1719 Tacoma Lane, Vista, CA 92084 USA orders (800) 388-7800 phone (619) 631-2890 fax (619) 631-1687