This is a picture of my grow box soil pile when I was refitting the garden for HID. It was the third "refresh" for this soil. The soil in the picture is 3 years old and you can see the wood shavings in it. I believe in long term Carbon. I add things like alfalfa meal, kelp meal, bone, coffee, wood shavings and other things then pile it up, water it and it heats up. I turn it every day and after about 2 weeks it cools down. I believe the result is top quality medium. Today, 2 years later it's more black and Humus like. I added a lot of perlite this year because it held water too well last year. So low scale/pasive is possible in place. It's not easy but it's classy organic growing imo. NOTE people this isn't for everyone I'm one of the Organic Nuts. Randy
QUOTE Quote: from smotpoker on 4:04 pm on Mar. 1, 2005 solid as **** i bet your pot is tasty man Nothing is cured yet so I don't know exactly. It's always been harsh b4. I'm slow drying in hopes to make it smooth. I sure hope for all the effort I have made reading and learning that I have come close to "great" this time out. So one can do low scale in a box like I have. BTW I would build a much better box next time.. Randy
i;m in the process of building a couple worm bins. I only have access to about a lb. of red wigglers, which will suit my needs well. I live in an apartment, which doesnt facilitate a composting bin very well. with worms, i can keep them inside a small bin and slowly gain experience with vermicomposting. right now most of my knowledge about composting comes from a seminar i took about composting for the commerical farm. I learned a ton of info about wind rows and the actual biological process involved. However what they didnt share was economical ways to compost at home. I figure to share the concepts of composting to let people know what its all about and its not just for dirty hippies. you stepped up and showed how its applicable to household. i hope people can check it all out and be inspired to start a pile.
I stole this from ---- " target="_blank">http://www.edmonton.ca/portal....---- Vermicomposting is a clean, odourless way to transform food waste into a rich fertilizer. Simply put red worms into a plastic or wood bin with moist shredded newspaper, peat moss, brown leaves or straw and add food scraps like apple cores, vegetable peelings and coffee grounds. The worms eat the scraps and produce a great compost that can be used to enrich the soil of your house plants, gardens and flower beds. It’s usually done indoors, so worm composting is great for apartment dwellers as well as those backyard composters who want to continue composting during the winter months. Worm composting also provides a great lesson in ecology. Red Worms….Not Earth Worms Vermicomposting is done by red worms, also known as red wrigglers. They thrive on organic materials like food scraps. They are not the same as common earth worms, which prefer to live and burrow in soil. Red worms are smaller and prefer a dark, warm, moist environment. They work best at temperatures from 15 - 25 degrees Celsius. Under these conditions, they are voracious eaters. One pound (456g) of worms can eat ½ pound (228g) of food waste every day. But worms? In my house? Don’t worry. They don’t smell and they don’t roam around. Red worms are content to stay right in their little bin happily chewing away on your food scraps. Remember, they will not survive below freezing temperatures, so they must stay inside during the winter. The Bin Opaque plastic storage bins are ideal for vermicomposting. They have lids, they are moistureproof, inexpensive and they come in several sizes. Packing crates and foam plastic chests are also fine. Whether it’s made from wood or plastic, your container should have air holes in the top or the sides. It should also be no more than 12 to 18 inches (30cm - 46cm) deep. The size of the bin depends on the amount of waste food being produced. A worm bin should have about one square foot of surface area for each pound of food waste added each week. A 2’ x 4’ box, for example, is large enough for eight pounds of kitchen scraps a week. The Bedding Proper bedding for your worms is very important. It gives them a damp place to live, a balanced diet and prevents odour problems. Shredded newspaper or cardboard, potting soil (with no chemical additives), garden soil, peat moss, fall leaves, straw or a combination of any of these can be used. Simply fill the bin almost to the top with loose bedding. Sprinkle the bedding with water until it’s all as wet as a wrung out sponge. It should form a "mud ball" when a handful is squeezed. Feeding the Worms Worms are fed by burying food scraps in the bedding. To discourage flies and odours always cover the scraps with a few inches of bedding or vermicompost. Bury the scraps in a different spot each time to evenly distribute the food for the worms. They especially like melons, lettuce and apples, but you can feed them any vegetable scraps. Try to give them a variety of foods and only a small amount of citrus fruits, so that the pH stays fairly neutral. The smaller you cut up your food scraps the faster they will disappear. The chart below shows what else they eat and what they dislike: Yum! Yuck! Vegetable scraps Meat Grains Fish Fruit rinds and peels Cheese Breads Oily foods Tea bags Butter Coffee grounds, filters Animal products Harvesting Worms and Worm Castings Usually about three to six months after starting a new bin, the worms will have digested not only the food you gave them but most of their bedding as well. What is left is primarily black worm castings or vermicompost. This is the soil-like material that makes a very good additive to your house plants or flower beds. You must harvest the castings in order to maintain a healthy environment for your worms. There are a few different ways to harvest worm compost: The Side to Side Method 1. Move finished compost to one side of the bin and fill the empty side with fresh bedding. 2. For the next six weeks or so bury food waste only in the newly bedded side of the bin. 3. The worms will eventually seek out the fresh food and migrate over to the new bedding and "fresh" food. When they have done so, you can scoop out the castings. The Bright Light & Scoop Method 1. Shine a bright light on the worms. They will avoid the light and burrow down through the vermicompost. 2. Scoop off the top layer of vermicompost until you see the worms again. 3. Repeat the process. Eventually the worms will be concentrated at the bottom of the bin. These can be put into fresh bedding. The Sun Dried Method This is a fairly fast, easy way of harvesting the worms but it requires a second bin and some plastic mesh. 1. Put fresh moistened bedding in a second bin and cover the fresh bedding with 1/4"plastic mesh. 2. Dump the castings and worms from the first bin on top of the plastic mesh and put the new bin out in the sun. 3. The sun will dry the castings. As it does, the worms will move down through the mesh into the moist bedding below. 4. The worm compost on top of the mesh is now ready for use. Using Vermicompost * Mixing with potting soil - use 1 part vermicompost to 3 parts potting soil * As top dressing - Sprinkle ¼ inch of castings on houseplants, every 11/2 - 2 months * As starter mix - sprinkle castings along bottom of seed row, or into the hole when you are transplanting. Troubleshooting Fruit Flies One of the most common problems with worm bins are fruit flies. They are not dangerous and they don’t bite, itch or even buzz. When they fly around in their ambling sort of way, however, they can be a little annoying. There are simple methods of dealing with them. * keep fresh food wastes covered with a few inches of bedding or castings * freeze the food scraps overnight before adding them to the bin. Other Creatures Your worm bin is a living environment that can be shared by many small creatures besides your red worms, many of which are actually quite beneficial. They are rarely a problem. Only centipedes, which will eat your worms, pose any threat to your bin. Odours If the worm bin smells bad, it probably has too much food waste in it or it’s too wet or there are cheese or other animal products present. To eliminate bad odours, remove excess or inappropriate wastes and add fresh bedding. You may also want to remove the lid for a while to allow for some evaporation. Additional Information An excellent book on worm composting is Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof. It is usually available at local bookstores or where red worms are sold. During the warmer months of the year, a working worm composter is on display at the John Janzen Backyard composting Education Centre, located at Fort Edmonton Park. There is also an attendant there who can answer any questions you might have. ----- Randy (Edited by Randy_High at 11:07 am on Mar. 2, 2005)
when a composting pile is heating up, the temperature of the pile is increasing. composting piles can reach upwards of 180 degrees, a result of the biological processes breaking down the organic matter within the pile
I had a mature compost 'pile' at my old place, but now that I've moved I am starting another from scratch. I found this old piece of **** 'something' out back and made it my new composter. Just about anything will do in a pinch. I miss having my compost pile from before. Thing about them is they are perpetual when going well. Mine old one was 4 years running.
right on herbs, that looks like it will give ya tons of airation for a good compost pile. solid bro. btw, yer avatar woulda spit milk out my nose, if i had been drinking any.
your can use earth worms they just dont eat as much as fast as red worms do i use earth worms and they work fine
