55 Gallon Worm Bin Harvest, Feed and Seed Starting Mix

[@PlantObsessed]

Were are the Amazon Links to the items used in this video. Water Nozzle amzn.to/41MoX5z SE Patented Stackable 13-1/4" Sifting Pan, 1/4" Mesh Screen - GP2-14 amzn.to/2PKdbbZ

[@kirbylewis5797]

We need to see that seed starting mix massaged to completion. Kinda a downer at the end of one of my favorite videos. I've literally watched this about 20 times. So relaxing at naptime. No music needed

[@PlantObsessed]

Cool🪱🙂👍🏼

[@kirbylewis5797]

@@PlantObsessed lBack again!

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Greetings Ann, from Windermere, Florida zone 9b 🇺🇸 Great video, as always. I just follow along and enjoy your fluffing and sifting. Yikes! What a feeding Blue is getting. He's like a teenage boy who eats EVERYTHING! Interesting, the Over bin! Beautiful mix👍

[@PlantObsessed]

Yes, exactly a teen boy. I remember when we went through 4 loaves of bread 2 gallons of milk and 5 lb peanut butter a week. That was just one. 😳

[@VKRollins]

Thank you for showing the overs bin 😊 I look forward to all your videos. We are looking to grow our own food as well. I appreciate all that you share. The seedling starter mix looks amazing.

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you. I got a good deal on the perlite. Fingers crossed next time I need it the price will go down. Thank you for watching 😃

[@Vermicompost]

I agree, not everything they say is biodegradable/compostable is truly 100% worm compostable! I'm still here😂 I'm trying to offset cost by refreshing my soil with the vermicompost instead of buying potting mix or garden soil and growing more food I can produce cheaper than I can get in the store...unfortunately that list of foods I can produce cheaper is increasing!! Thanks for showing us your overs bin, pretty cool system to work that stuff down! Looks like a great seed starting mix you created as well!! Excellent video Ann!!🪱🪱🪱

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you. You are right I just got back from shopping. A pack of cabbage slaw was 3$ and a bag of onions is 5.

[@mikkosgarden]

Like you, we are trying to grow more and preserve the veggies to cover the increased food prices. I will try and sell some of my pepper seedlings once I re-pot them into their own pots. Every bit will help these days. Have a great day.

[@PlantObsessed]

I was thinking about my left over seedlings too. My tomatillo germinated at 100% I don't need 30 lol.

[@eulerizeit]

I'm loving the time delay in the monitor phone

[@PlantObsessed]

Yes I control the camera from my phone when it is attached to the wall above my head.

[@Worm-Man-Dan]

I am looking for that Community of Worm farming and Botany/Gardening enthusiasts. I created my channel today and uploaded the first video in my life... 😂 I love everything you do on your channel and appreciate all the great information I have gained from you. Thank you so much.

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you for watching. I hope the videos are useful.

[@gregbutler9873]

Blu is a great addition too any worm farmer’s bin collection . Great video … again!👍🏻

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you😃

[@theFuss14]

Thank you for inspiring me to start a worm farm. I love your content!

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you. Happy worming😁

[@surfcitybusybee]

Awesome video! Its so fun to watch you dig around from one end the the other!

[@PlantObsessed]

I have fun too. Everybody should have a blue 💙🪱👍🏼😀

[@Dee.C]

We are growing, raising , hatching our own chickens for the eggs and meats . I have some plants ready to put out but this weird spring weather has kept us too cold to plant yet . We have one more round of colder weather then it will warm up . Then we will get in the garden double time getting the plants and seeds out .

[@PlantObsessed]

I have planted my potatoes and garlic but lost a few leaves in the last frost. I wish I could have chickens but there is an ordinance stating no stock animals. 😒

[@skmccuen]

Thank you. Very informative on several points.

[@PlantObsessed]

Glad it was helpful!👍🏼🪱😃

[@AJsGreenTopics]

Ain't got no time for that. True statement Ann. 🙂

[@PlantObsessed]

I hope that lady made some money from her interview. She will be immortal.

[@carlafawcett6494]

Definitely growing more food and canning more. If the power goes out, my freezers are useless so I am preserving different ways. Freeze drying, dehydrating, and canning is what I am doing more of. My wormies are helping me grow good food !

[@PlantObsessed]

I was lucky to grow up in a house that canned food. I have always kept up the skill. Nowadays it is even more important to keep the skill going to future generations.

[@carlafawcett6494]

@@PlantObsessed Bless you !

[@lorindaschmieder2496]

Would love to see your garden and how you use the castings.

[@PlantObsessed]

It is about time for a garden update. Thank you for the reminder 🪱👍🏼😃

[@lawrencekeech2779]

Growing a huge amount of our food. Adding a second freezer to put up veggies. Started 3 work bins, so loving your channel for the advice and tips.

[@PlantObsessed]

Thank you. Happy worming 👍🏼🪱😃

[@NanasWorms]

Hi Ann, have you ever considered taking those tubs of "overs" and using them as mulch this time of year under your beautiful shrubs and perennials? The worms both in the overs and in your garden would process the material and your garden would get a lovely mulch in the meantime. As far as the Amazon strings, I took the results of my Amazon tape experiment (that big cluster of threads and unprocessed bits) and sunk it in a netted bag into my hot compost pile. I'm going to pull the bag out soon now that the pile is coming out of its thermophilic phase (almost three months at 130°F to 160°F!). It will be interesting to see if the Amazon tape "overs" from my worm bin are now fully compostable. ~ Sandra

[@PlantObsessed]

I'm excited to see your results. I'm afraid the overs will attract racoons. I'm starting a mushroom bed this year. I bet next year this time I can feed the overs to the mushroom bed. I hear that cycles fast

[@NanasWorms]

I would love to taste "fresh" mushrooms grown at home. I'm a big oyster mushroom fan. Yeah, you and I both embrace bin critter residents, but pests in the garden are another thing. Something meticulously went through my garden and ate every sunflower seed I planted this year! ~ Sandra

[@PlantObsessed]

@@NanasWorms the ones I bought are called wine caps. They are supposed to naturalize.

[@Tippler0611]

Restarted my underbed tote to use the wedge method. It makes so much sense to my goofy brain vs my stacked tower. I'll keep using both, but I do love my mini blue

[@PlantObsessed]

Sweet blues little cousin. 🥰

[@rickjay4639]

Are the springtails little white critters a little bigger than the point of a needle? This time of year I get millions of them in my outdoor worm bin. Thanks love your channel.

[@PlantObsessed]

In my bins they jump. I hear there is a walking version . They are flea size. The super small ones are white mites.

[@GardeningwithBarchuckin]

I like that cap for the water jug! Overs bin looks good too. 😁 Seed starting mix looks great. I like that you keep it moist and ready to go. My 1 issue with the coconut coir is it’s just so fibrous. Maybe if it was grounded up more I would like it better.

[@PlantObsessed]

It's funny. I sift mine and keep the dines for the seed mix and the course for my Bonsai. It holds it's structure for a few years.

[@GardeningwithBarchuckin]

@@PlantObsessed that would work better sifting the coconut coir for seed starting. 😁

[@evelynknight5627]

I appreciate you showing the overs bin! What an interesting idea. Food prices (well, everything prices) really have gotten out of hand here lately. I wish I had a garden to help mitigate that some, but alas... Just have to budget and eat the cost (pun intended). Crazy to see how fast they are blasting through material!

[@PlantObsessed]

This winter I started making hydroponic salad vegetables in mason jars.. I have some leaf lettuce I get a nice salad a week from them. No garden needed😃

[@evelynknight5627]

@@PlantObsessed I do grow a little hydroponically as well (I have more Aerogardens than I care to confess to), but yeah... Basically just salad stuff (which I forget to harvest and then it goes to the worms). Not enough to really feel any positive impact on the food budget (unless I decide to start liking salads more for real this time...!)

[@cheryltaft8005]

I need 1 of those caps please tell me where u got it @. Thanks for all that you do for the worm world.

[@SquigglersWigglers]

Gardening and learning to make fresh at home instead of buying. Also buying less

[@PlantObsessed]

I am branching out into items I have never done before like cabbage and Brussels sprouts. Fingers crossed

[@dondig2617]

Great video. I went out to gather worms to fish with. They are real active, fast to escape or try and some are really big. So I started a worm bed today. Are these red wigglers? I live on the lake might be some one has dump left over worms...

[@PlantObsessed]

If they are in the top layer of the soil leaf mulch area they could be that or European nightcrawlers

[@A-V]

To a certain extent I agree with you about the worm bin being a system that should be left with all its players to do their various roles... but like you, I am also not a fan of seeing certain things (like the springtails) have population explosions :) I have something similar to you overs bin... but my collection is bone dry and has no worms working on it. I have been thinking of doing something like what you have going on (ie. drenching it and seeding it with some wormies) 👍🏻

[@PlantObsessed]

I find that the microbes need a bost too with some worm chow. Like syrup on bland pancakes 😃🪱

[@A-V]

Amongst the various odd & ends I've got set aside as possible future things to try in the worm bins is a baggie with some old gummy bears in it. Sometimes people reference the use of molasses to feed the microbes - so I have thought about substituting the molasses with the candy (when you mentioned syrup it reminded me of the gummy bears) :)

[@carola2]

Would you please include a link for the sprinkler head on your water jug?

[@PlantObsessed]

Https://amzn.to/Lyo0lk

[@PlantObsessed]

Let me know if this works

[@jennenegludovatz3364]

Will worms eat sewing thread since watching your videos I have started putting material in my outdoor compost bins

[@PlantObsessed]

You never know if the thread is cotton. I have had sheets 100% disappear but tshirt thread stays and looks like polyester.😃🪱👍🏼

[@ginkat1318]

Regarding inflation, i cut out things like fast food and skipping things like air conditioning

[@PlantObsessed]

Yes I can give up fast food but I have old pugs. They require the house to be 72 and low humidity or they have breathing problems. 🪱😁👍🏼

[@theresarothenberger2264]

Thank you for your soil mixture. By the way, how do you keep your nails clean?!

[@PlantObsessed]

I keep my nails very short. I have nail brushes at every sink. Worm castings wash off pretty easily. Mulch is the worst. I end up using bleach spray.

[@ontherocksinthesoilmichael6739]

Can i ask why you dont put overs in the lower portion of your raised beds ? They will act like huggelculture Material. Down deep seeds unlikey to sprout.

[@PlantObsessed]

I did do some of that when I put on my last raised bed. If I get another warm week I may put in one last bed this year. I'll have to do another harvest of blue to get enough. 👍🏼🪱😊

[@jennenegludovatz3364]

Also do you think using salt water solution on the top part of your worm bins stops the worms from climbing out I unfortunately had a mass exodus last winter despite my efforts of decreasing the moisture leaving the lights on etc

[@PlantObsessed]

It happens. I have not tried the salt trick. I have heard people use it with some success.😃🪱👍🏼

[@tamathystreptiles-tammy1356]

Do you use mosquito dunk water to prevent flying insects? Or have you used it in the past? The reason I ask is to see if the isopods and springtails are not affected by the dunk water. I have bioactive enclosures, and if I water as much as I want to, I get phorid flies. I'm looking for solutions to that problem. Also, did you add the isopods and springtails to the compost bins? Did you buy them, or did you get them from your garden?

[@PlantObsessed]

All the critters came on their own. I don't use the mosquito in the bins. I am also afraid it will affect the isopods etc. 😀👍🏼🪱

[@matildamalmgren9172]

Hello Ann! have tried to build biology and microbes in my 5, 60 liter, bins. but as soon as I add anything other than regular pre-composted carboard according to your recipe and wormchow, it becomes protein poisoning... so i test the ph and and its normal range. Tips? They hare about 1000 RW in each bin and running since december 2022(5 months) they are indoors so I'm afraid it's a bit too sterile after all. I don't know what I like more, your funny repetoire or your worms... either way I love all your videos! greetings from Sweden

[@PlantObsessed]

5 months may be a little early to expect the whole ecosystem to be functional with a small amount of worms. Protein poisoning is from fermentation in the worm stomach. Try a single piece of fruit or vegetable in one corner of the bin. Make sure it is cut open. Don't add any worm chow. ( This could be the source of fermentation) After a week look in on it again. If the food is gone add another piece of food in a different corner. Once the bin environment stabilizes then try small amounts of chow on the top. Like a shot glass full. When it is gone add more. Worm farming is mostly watching and seeing what the worms do. Let me know how it goes.

[@matildamalmgren9172]

thanks! so keep my itchy fingers away… patience and curiosity are probably where I go wrong (I'm not surprised)😅 my husband has found such a blue barrel that he will build like yours. then I can work a little on it too, so I'm not inside looking and digging in all the others all the time 😅

[@barrybird67]

Hi from the UK What exactly is worm chow?

[@PlantObsessed]

It is a make up powder from items in the kitchen such as corn meal and oatmeal. I also grind up bird seed and add alfalfa meal if I have it around. You top feed it to supplement the worm diet and nutrition. 😃🪱👍🏼

[@barrybird67]

Many thanks from here over the pond. I love your ideas and especially how you talk and make everything so interesting. Happy new year and good harvesting.

[@SydtheScience_Kid]

Hey! I love your channel and I have a question I was hoping you could answer my red wriggle worms I’ve had for about 2 months their in a stacked setup I see everyone’s worm bin looking dry compared to mine and I’ve been adding more dry bedding to make it less damp but once it gets to a dampness that looks similar to others they will try to go down to the drainage layer which thankfully has mesh but I’m confused they prefer it to be so wet they are in one of those pretty stacked setups that are sold it’s pretty small should I let it be wet for them or make it dryer? Their bedding is eggshell coco choir (which I have a ton of thanks to my pet snail) paper cardboard disinfected leaves (snail again) and a small amount of aspen shavings meant for hamsters they eat whenever their food is finished most of it i blend up so they eat it faster

[@PlantObsessed]

One of the things about worm bins is that everybody's environment is different. Hot cold dry. I would go with what your instincts telling you which is probably to allow it to be a little wetter. My tower system stays much wetter than any of my open bins. The worms really do like it. Wetter. However, it is difficult to harvest when it's wet if you plan to sift. If you don't plan to sift then by all means just let it stay wet, but make sure to keep air in it and otherwise it'll go anaerobic. 👍🏼😃🪱

[@SydtheScience_Kid]

@@PlantObsessed thank you for the help!!

[@TrapperBV]

Part of the food inflation is because of the Russian sanctions, they are a large exporter of fertilizers for first world farming, don’t need much shortage for much higher prices. Blue looks good, I’m going to try to replicate the wedge method you use this summer.

[@PlantObsessed]

The wedge system is the best. Saves work in harvesting. Less stressed worms too.

[@-ChrisD]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@PlantObsessed]

👍🏼😃🪱

[@the_green_anna]

💙💙💙💧👌🌱🤗

[@PlantObsessed]

🪱😃👍🏼

[@shortythepresident3913]

I love you, lady. Thanks for the video. I just started as a newbie. I was looking for a video like this. I don't have castings yet. But I used coco coir bedding and it looks so similar to castings. Was wondering what the casting look like when done and how to separate them. Thank you so much. Will buy a sifter in the next 2 months from you.

[@PlantObsessed]

Even with coir you can tell when it's done when sifting. The little threads will stay on top and you can just pop them back in the bin. 😃👍🏼🪱