COMPOSTING WORM UPDATE - HARVESTING, MAINTENANCE, ETC.

[@HomesteadingWithAngie]

I’ve done this from year to year and am starting again. I find that when a tray is full, then add another tray on top with dirt and food. Stop feeding in the lower tray! They will eat what’s left and move up to the next tray. Then after a few days time that lower tray will be pure compost dirt and worm free ! Great videos. I’m hoping to do one soon too. Love you do this in an apartment. I have property. So we compost outside all summer. :)

[@crazykenz4203]

Ooooh I can't wait until we are in a house and I can compost outside! I had been doing really well with my worms until a few months ago and then I got this annoying fly problem that I just can't seem to resolve! Once it warms up a bit more, I'm going to put them all in a friend's garden bed and clean out the composter super well, then start over with a new batch of worms. Excellent tips for feeding and stopping to feed, thanks!

[@pinkcharms]

@@crazykenz4203 Use mosquito bits they really work. Diatomaceous earth stops working when it’s wet

[@marthajensen6709]

I had worm farns about 25 years ago ad loved them! Moved them inside one winter when we had freezing weather; in the SF Bay Area that isn't often. No odor. No problems. Ran in to your video and my new worm bins (they have to be here somewhere, but I have no idea) will arrive the day before the worms. Perfect! Makes me so happy to be doing this again. BEWARE: I am on to close to an acre of incorporated land. About 20 chickens, bees, a 6,500 gallon pond for my turtls and a few fish AND I am looking in to pygmy goats. The 175 tortoise was rehomed whn its previous owner happened to see it. Trist me, it can get out of control!

[@urbanterracegarden]

Great video!! FYI you don't have to get rid of your worms. Reproduction will slow down if they become crowded. The fact that your worms are producing so much speaks to how well you care for them. If you put a new tray on top with food and stop feeding the previous tray, the worms will naturally migrate to the new tray. I use this method because I use red wigglers in my composter and they are surface worms not burrowing worms. Otherwise putting the worms in your garden is an excellent idea. I saw an article where shallow trenches were made around plants and yard refuse and kitchen scraps were added along with the red wigglers and the plants just thrived! I'm thinking of switching to Nightcrawlers so I can enrich my garden as well. You're obviously doing a fantastic job. Your worm population wouldn't be thriving otherwise. Keep up the good work! OH P.S. My plants LOVE worm tea! That's the only thing I use on my veggies after initial planting.

[@phoe23nix58]

I've been watching your videos for around a year. You're doing great!! Rock on despite what the haters say.

[@crazykenz4203]

That's so sweet of you - thank you!!!

[@leanneburlew2777]

Thank you for updating! I'm hoping to get some worms around the first of November. We're moving to a new house and I'm looking forward to starting a compost bin. I have had them in the past and look forward to keeping them again. My mom told me that my great grandmother had a worm bin for composting and for fishing.

[@crazykenz4203]

Ooooh I love that story about your great grandmother, so neat! I did try to feed a couple worms to my goldfish, but they didn't seem overly keen on them. :P. I hope you will get some nice healthy worms! I have no idea if people are having a hard time getting worms, but I have heard it's very hard to find composters these days (someone even emailed to ask about buying one of my extra trays because they're sold out everywhere!).

[@andrewodom5063]

I have the same composter. Only 1 month in, but one thing ive found is freezing food scraps then thawing them accelerates the decomposition. Which means the worms eat the food faster. This could help with your moisture issue. Especially if you drain off the freezer bags before dumping them in. But the main advantage is the worms eat it faster meaning it wont sit around and attract flies or other intruders. I also burry the food a little to keep flies from laying eggs. Seems to work well so far.

[@crazykenz4203]

Good to know!!! I do have a pretty wicked fly problem right now. I just dumped in a bunch of diatomaceous earth to kill off the flies (the worms aren't harmed by it). Whenever I open the lid and a ton of flies come out, I wait until they land on the walls, then I use the little wand on my vacuum to suck them up.

[@BerylBerry]

You feed both trays on top? I only have two bins and I only feed the top tray and the bottom tray is what I use to for my plants . I too live in an apartment

[@colettehylan19]

Generally, I hate when people over talk in these videos, but I like you!!! Thanks.

[@PrettyAliceNight]

Wow yours is so much wetter than mine. Mine tends to run on the dry side actually and has never accumulated any liquid. I have a VermiBag though so it’s a little different but I love the easy way you can harvest the castings. You’re videos are the first I saw about vermicomposting and are what got me interested in it.

[@crazykenz4203]

I know a guy who has one of those bags and he really likes it, and I think he has mentioned that he never has excess liquid. I think mine is so wet because of the plastic. Yes, with the bag, it seems way easier to harvest the castings. So glad my videos got you into vermicomposting, so neat!

[@texaspatty4697]

@@crazykenz4203 Using a bag is WAY different! If I lived in an apt, I'd definitely have something like a Hot Frog. Seems like there are pros and cons to each system.

[@pinkcharms]

I loved watching you harvest the castings!! Please do more updates

[@EllensAbundantLifeonLess]

New here 😊 just started worm farming last week so I'm learning. I have a similar composter but a different brand. I keep mine in the house too.

[@crazykenz4203]

So cool that you are worm composting, too! I actually just moved and don't have worms right now, BUT I now live very close to my parents and I got a real outside composter that I keep there and it's amazing!!!! I take over a small bucket of compostables about every other day. I looooove being able to have a place to compost stuff. I feel like when I throw away my garbage, there is nothing in it now. I hope that composting becomes much more of a thing, especially in cities where people can't have the big outdoor bins.

[@sandy5149]

My composter is kind of similar to yours and I fill up one tray to the top and then just put the next on and only feed in the top one. So after some time the bottom tray only contains compost and very litte worms😊

[@crazykenz4203]

Excellent tip! I actually have to get a new batch of worms in a couple months...I had this horrible fly infestation that I tried to remedy for months and it was just a mess, so I had to dump everything and give the whole composter a massive cleaning. Glad your composting sounds like it is working out well!

[@sandy5149]

@@crazykenz4203 and a Tip against flys is to put the fruitscraps in the fridge for some time before feeding. It kills the eggs

[@pinkcharms]

I’ve been raising worms and watching worm videos for several years now and this is by far my favorite video on harvesting worm castings. I actually rewatch it from time to time. I love seeing you scoop castings filled with lots of lively worms, very satisfying. Really hoping you will do more videos like this!

[@vw832]

If the mites bother you can put some diatomaceous earth. It’s a rock like mineral that cut bugs like mites and springtails exoskeleton making then to dry out. It won’t hurt your worms. The mites wont hurt the worms but they also compete with the food. The small white worms are called potworms they are cousins of the red wiggles. They also help with composting. Love it that you are composting! We can not do all the good the world needs but the world needs all the good we can do. :)

[@crazykenz4203]

I love your last sentence, so true!!! I have been using diatomaceous earth, not so much for the mites, but for these damn fruit flies or fungus gnats or whatever got in there!!!! I actually am keeping my composter next to my balcony now - when I feed the worms, I take the composter onto the balcony and shut the door behind me, then open the lid and open each tray and so many flies come out. They die pretty quickly in the cold, so now my balcony looks like a fruit fly nightmare! (But it's easier than opening it inside and then having to chase them around with a vacuum to suck them up...). I love composting! Can't wait until I have a house and can do a proper compost pile!

[@IceAnge1]

Someone probably has said this already, but just in case not. I don’t personally have a worm farm yet but I have been researching it a lot before I get one. I notice a lot of people who have home-made type bins usually put a bunch of paper shavings and/or cardboard cutouts on top of all the food scraps and bedding for about an inch or 2. I imagine this method will help deter your little flies and such from getting in and making a home inside because it’s basically a barrier. You would only need the layer for the top bin so that the worms could still climb up through the layers. When feeding time comes, just push the layer over to the side and feed and then cover the food back up with the paper-base layer! A company called “Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm” sells this compost model you have but they also sell this thing called a “worm blanket” which basically works the same way as the paper method. It forms a barrier over the top simulating mulch to protect the worms habitat. I hope that helps, if you’re still keeping a worm composter or are thinking of starting up again. ☺️

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much for the info! I got my worms from Uncle Jim's. I don't currently have worms, but good to know for when I start up again. I've been lucky to have access to actual outdoor composting bins, so that's where all of my food scraps have been going. Composting is so important, however it may be done!

[@VelvetandToads]

Can’t the detractors you mentioned see how happy your worms are? 😄

[@crazykenz4203]

Haha, I know, right?! How do I prove my worms are content and taken care of and not screaming for a new mother?!

[@taramellow3016]

This is great! Thank you! Waiting for my bin to arrive.

[@crazykenz4203]

Enjoy your worms!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!! So excited that you are gonna start vermicomposting!

[@texaspatty4697]

You are doing lots of the right stuff!

[@crazykenz4203]

Thank you!!!

[@AshleyWragg]

How much food do you put in the wormery each day/week?

[@AshleyWragg]

Surely you want to keep enough worms to process all your food waste. I have about 1.5kg red wriggles, and I'm still just focusing on growing population to minimise the overflow food waste that I have to dump in the outdoor compost. Also, make sure you bury all the food waste beneath the top layer of castings and you might even consider adding coffee grinds, both help with hiding the smell of the food which will attract less fruit flies.

[@crazykenz4203]

I usually put in whatever pulp I have from juicing that day (depending on how many trays I have going and how many worms I have. I've been taking a bit of a break on feeding them because I was down to just one tray and it was getting pretty full. Just added a second tray and am letting them getting settled before feeding again.

[@crazykenz4203]

Good to know about hiding the food - I never do that (I just dump it in). I have to find a good balance with the worms because I don't have tons of space and eventually do have to get the population reduced a bit (so that they can reproduce over winter), but it usually works out. I took a bunch of worms to my parents' house, but also took more to a friend's garden, so the population was really reduced. They're starting to go crazy though and I'm seeing loads of worm eggs, so we should be hopping pretty soon!

[@AshleyWragg]

@@crazykenz4203 Like you, I also have my wormery in the house, in my bedroom actually :') So yeah, burying the food is the easiest way I've found to keep the fruit flies away. Also keeping the soil on the drier side definitely keeps the mites away because I won't tolerate any of those funny things in my bedroom. Always enjoy your worm update videos! Keep it up, stay well, and thanks for your response.

[@crazykenz4203]

What kind of composter do you have? Is it like the one I have? This thing keeps everything sooooooo damp! I do have a bit of a fruit fly problem right now (actually, I think it's a different type of small fly - they seem bigger than regular fruit flies). Whenever I open the composter to feed the worms, tons of flies come out and hang out on the walls. I've become very skilled at using the vacuum cleaner hose to suck them up...hahaha!

[@fullertiltphil]

Great video! Thank you for your videos!

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks so much for watching!

[@liianabanana6320]

I thought those worms don’t live in cold climates

[@markc1894]

Put a spigot in the bottom tray.plus why not use the worm tea, just dilute it with water

[@crazykenz4203]

This composter does have a spigot underneath, but I never use it because I'm scared it will drip on the carpet (and I'm in a rental...). I think next year I will take the liquid out, dilute it, and put it on some of my mom's flowering plants to see if I notice a big difference.

[@markc1894]

Kendra Lee 👍👍👍👍👍 plants will love it

[@andrewodom5063]

I would avoid using the liquid if it stinks. Oder means it is anerobic. It may still have nutrients, but anerobic bateria is not good for soil health. I'll try to find the video but a professor that researches vermicomposting has a video where she discusses the use of the liquid byproduct.

[@markc1894]

Andrew Odom 👍

[@crazykenz4203]

Good to know! If you find that video, definitely let me know. I've heard so many conflicting answers surrounding this topic.

[@crt9082]

Okay so put the finished tray on the top and leave the lid off all the worms will go down to the next tray. Make sure there is no food in the tray that is almost finished and the worms will mostly move on.

[@crazykenz4203]

Thank you! I will do this, but just have to keep my kitties away from the open tray... I recently moved and don't actually have worms at the moment, but will remember this tip once I get worms again!

[@beanwhite3038]

Very interesting!

[@crazykenz4203]

Thanks for watching!

[@texaspatty4697]

Cats love open compost trays!! 🤣

[@crazykenz4203]

Yes, they do! Ok so here's a little story I have to share. I just moved and when I was cleaning up our former apartment, I pulled out the fridge to clean behind and beneath it. I found a few very dead, dried up worms. I'm sure it's cuz my cats saw a worm peeking out of the trays at night, they batted it around and got it out of the composter, then it got under the fridge and died. Oh those kitties!

[@kleineroteHex]

I must make me a worm bin!!!!

[@crazykenz4203]

Yes, you must! They really are amazing little creatures and it's neat to see how quickly they eat everything and also how fast they reproduce. I took that whole big bucket to my parents' house and put it in their garden - the worms had all completely burrowed underground within five minutes. Hopefully they are nice and happy there now and will stay warm enough this summer underground!

[@markc1894]

Unwaxed cardboard works better than paper

[@crazykenz4203]

Good idea - plenty of cardboard these days!

[@bseant420]

dont throw away the leachate! give it to someone. i would take all of that and throw it in my compost tea batches. for me its 50 gal at a time but that would be awesome. just dont throw it away though lol

[@crazykenz4203]

Good to know! I recently moved and don't actually have worms at the moment, but once I get more, I'll be sure to keep it. What should I do with it? Put it on flowers or shrubs? I've heard you shouldn't put it on plants that produce edible things.

[@bseant420]

@@crazykenz4203 perfectly fine for edibles actually i wouldn't even waste it on flowers lol. if worried just dilute it with fresh water and water normally or put in a bucket and aerate with an airstone liquid gold!!

[@kathyzimmerman2188]

My worms love pineapple😀 happy worms

[@crazykenz4203]

Ooooh interesting, good to know! I would have maybe thought that pineapple could have been slightly too acidic for the worms. Glad your worms are doing well!

[@kathyzimmerman2188]

Kendra Lee yes, I hear that and that is what I read but they love it. Just don’t over do it...it’s only when I buy whole pineapples

[@crazykenz4203]

I think you have some very loved (and spoiled!) worms. :D

[@glenmorrow1255]

20% of people can’t say something nice 100% of the time.

[@crazykenz4203]

Very, very true!!! Have a lovely weekend!

[@markc1894]

Worms love melons

[@crazykenz4203]

I gave them a bunch of watermelon rinds this summer and I was shocked by how quickly they disappeared.

[@emrimbiemri3211]

Brooo my wife is a freak at home. Ohhh yeah? Not like that she plays with worms and worm poop.

[@crazykenz4203]

Hahaha, yup, I'm sure my husband thinks this about all of my weird hobbies!

[@emrimbiemri3211]

@@crazykenz4203 I enjoy your videos and I really want you to buy your own home and have space for all these hobbies. Keep the content up. The worm poops are the ones I come here for. Keep going!

[@crazykenz4203]

You are so funny! Yes, I want to buy our own home, too!!! I have tooooooo many hobbies (just ask my husband, he complains all the time about how he can't find anything in the kitchen anymore and says that I could have a kitchen the size of our living room and I'd still find a way to fill it all up - and I would)! Glad you are interested in vermicomposting! I think composting is sooooo important and can't wait until I can get a proper compost bin. I gave worms to my parents for their garden and have to take some worms over to another friend for his raised beds before it gets too cold out (want them to be able to burrow down to wherever they need to in order to survive the winter). (And since we are talking about composting, this is gonna sound weird, but I have recently been reading about composting human bodies...and I told my husband that's what I want when I die. Feed me to the worms, sprinkle some flower seeds on me, and let me fertilize something. It's really interesting! Apparently farmers have been composting entire cows for awhile. There is a guy in the Netherlands - I think - that just made some type of compostable casket made out of the mycellium of mushrooms, super interesting!)

[@ThePresentMoment23]

I never hate on videos. I never let videos bother me. I’m a firm believer of “if you don’t like my videos then don’t watch them”. But this right here.... poor worms. They seem fine but based on vermicompost knowledge It makes me eeeeeekkkkk. LOTS OF WORMS!

[@crazykenz4203]

I released a lot of them into my parents' garden, so they are pretty happy and free! I've also read that worms in a bin will self-regulate their population and only continue to reproduce if there is space.

[@markc1894]

Put the food under paper or cardboard because fruit flies suck

[@crazykenz4203]

Yes, they are sooooo annoying. Gonna have to blast them with diatomaceous earth pretty soon.

[@said.skopal]

Separate worms from casting lol, lazy..

[@evagibson2789]

Rude