Vermiculture Upgrade: 1 Year In, What I've Learned

[@StevenMuchow]

If you have access to some straw bales, you could put them around the stand. Wood is very inefficient in heat retention and if it is windy it will really cool down your bin.

[@pantrypreparedness]

That is a great idea, I'll be giving that a try.

[@AJsGreenTopics]

Congratulations on reaching 200 subscribers. Great video.

[@StellasVegetablegardens]

Those worms will have a happy winter. It will be great for you to update us on how they are doing- definitely was good to give them a lot of food so you don’t have to keep opening the bin. The compost below would heat up more when turned. Ann feeds her worms from one end and harvests vermicompost from the other end. would be interested in seeing where you saw the type of vermicompost harvesting from the top which you mentioned in your video. looking forward to the updates on this bin

[@pantrypreparedness]

Thank you! I'll make sure to provide an update, probably in the spring with any lessons I learned over the winter. The bathtub method I mentioned, where he buries the food, came from Albert at Moon Landings Garden. The video is actually on "The Urban Harvest" channel, heres the url kzbin.info/www/bejne/rnXLnWCFoZ2Xm7c

[@StellasVegetablegardens]

@ thank you for the link

[@lauriaktahi]

i was sitting here worried about that drain being too wide, good job, adding the screen!

[@ArthurRowley-zj2db]

The excess food will be a good thing in the cold winter. The cold will keep it from stinking and the microbes will warm the worms until spring when a population explosion happens as things warm. I find there is less water issues as the bin matures and turns the compost into castings that hold the water and microbes better. I suggest you watch a couple videos on horizontal migration like Ann uses but I think you have a very good start with time to enact this in the spring.

[@danimalthemanimal5124]

Great video! An old blanket thrown over it, additionally covered by a waterproof tarp, will help during the coldest days. I like the concept of building it at an easily reachable level. Your foresight with the drain holes is spot on. Everything I feed mine first goes through the blender for surface area and quicker bacterial invasion. During heat waves, add a couple trays of ice cubes every few days and they will find a happy place in proximity to those areas.

[@fragartyparty]

Thanks for this video. I’ve been putting it off because (busy) and I know there’s many methods but only a few check every box to make sure it works efficiently. This is a great starting point for me, I’ll try and make a video when I get around to setting it up and give you a shout out

[@pantrypreparedness]

I'd love to see your build! I'm always interested in other people's takes on vermiculture.

[@sartorialsolutions3376]

That seems like a lot of work to keep worms warm, and for a very small area. Your property looks large, and you'll have way more for the worms to eat in the future than that will hold, unless you only want them for fishing. I have a 8'x6x4' bin in zone 6. Wind comes from the North and hits it dead on. Under an offset huge oak tree in the summer, shaded in late afternoon evening time. Wood frame, garden wire mesh on all sides. It has a lid on hinges that I prop open with metal poles to put things in. The front frame is also on drop down hings and so it can open either way or both ways. I lined the bottom and sides with cardboard, then hay bales before adding food and yard waste, two types of worms, and covered the top with cardboard and loose hay. I've had the bin since the fall of 2019 and it has been filled to the brim time and time again with ALL the cardboard boxes from moving, yard waste, weeds, food scraps, failed plants, mushroom farm substrate, manure, paper, coffee grounds, wood chips, etc. It gets full to the brim, then reduces down, and I fill it again. So far I have never had it all composted at the same time or had to remove anything. I used two types of worms because red wigglers and night crawlers like two different depths. Love my bin. The only thing I might do differently is to partitian the bin with a fortified garden wire mesh shelf about half way horizontally up to make it easier to remove the casings, etc, and to build another one side by side so one could be cooking while the other was harvested. Basically, just buy a bunch of hay bales and put your worm bin on the ground vs up in the air. Surround it by haybales and you'll be fine. It's also how I overwinter figs in zone 6

[@taidehenna]

Thanks for explaining your method, I would love to learn more about how you manage figs this way in zone 6!

[@pantrypreparedness]

Same

[@sartorialsolutions3376]

@@taidehenna @pantrypreparedness It was an accidental success. I had fig trees in 10 gallon tubs from North Carolina when I moved here and could never figure out exactly what I wanted to do with them before winter came. Not able to get to them in time, had some physical health issues, I just threw some things together hoping it would work. so I went out and bought a bunch of straw bales (I said hay, but I misspoke) from a local farmer. The tub was not that far from the worm bin, maybe about 4 feet away, same north wind, but blocked a little by the bin. I surrounded the entire tub (plastic part) with shaken loose hay and then pushed it in close so it had air pockets but not too much and not straight bale so it wasn't too tight to insulate the soil. Then I put some big cardboard box around the tree (it had produced figs but it wasn't huge) that was approximately the size of the tub but going straight up. I watered the tree well, loosely packed it with straw around the tree when it was cold enough by NC standards for the tree to go dormant but not dead and also covered it in straw. I took a wire mesh wrap and wrapped it around the cardboard and loose hay around the tub and then filled the outside of the space between the mesh and the upper cardboard with straw too. And then I pretty much forgot about it until spring. Waited till the right temps and took it all off. Thought it may have died but it came back to life and gave me more figs once it was warm enough. That poor tree suffered a ton of neglect and lived through 3 winters like this because it never got planted and i was curious. Then this year I decided to plant it and it died in the summer due to the drought and I forgot to water it. If the tree had been planted in the ground, I bet it would have lasted longer and better with roughly the same method - and a little more water in the summer :)

[@JJamiah]

Hey Jake, you can also use hay bales and put them around and put them around your CFT system. Great idea using the manure to continuously heat and keep it warm. I have with using the horse manure. Is that the weed seeds that you get because the one thing does not heat the seeds up enough to kill them.

[@CindyMcDade-l6t]

carbon and coffee grounds in your worm bin. Check the temperature . You’ll be all right all winter.

[@PaulCox-vx1ex]

You might trying blowing or forcing some air into the compost. I think that will heat it up and give you the desired heat you'll need for the winter.

[@ianian604]

There are several components for the compost to heat up. It needs volume, air, moisture and right brown and green ratio. I set my compost pile at least 3cubic ft, 3 to 1 ratio of brown to green, the most I will have is 1 to 1 brown to green ratio if I was short on brown. For the worm bin, there is too much food for a new bin. Worms need more moist brown to settle in. I made that mistake by feeding too much food. The worms were crawling out or got protein poisoning (pearl necklace appearance). Good luck with your experiment.

[@johnroufos8569]

Great videoo . It seems to me tho that you let the browns too dry and the worms wont like it .

[@bobbiejofouts1708]

You're showing concern about your worms getting too cold. Does the volume of soil in your bin make it so the worms will not get too hot in the summer? I've seen people recommend using frozen water bottles in their bins to protect them from excess heat. I don't know how well this works or if it's even needed in your case. Maybe it doesn't get hot where you are. Thanks for sharing, and I'd love to know your thoughts about this.

[@joeblog-d5v]

did you add moisture to the compost? what about the worm bin? do you use LAB? bokashi? in your verma bin the browns looked veeery dry.

[@pantrypreparedness]

We had a few days of rain right before I put everything in so the manure and leaves were each pretty damp and then i've misted the worm bin and hot bed a few times to try and get the right moisture level a bit higher. Bokashi is a new word to me, but after a quick google search looks like something I should include in my "soil production" operation. And what do you mean by LAB?

[@joeblog-d5v]

@ oh that’s very good worms like soil that’s not super saturated but saturated enough for a few drops to squeeze out that’s best but your in quite cold climate too so maybe you know better than me from experience. Are those front boards easily detachable as turning your compost often(1-2 a fortnight) will help heat up quicker. LAB is lactic acid bacteria it’s a beneficial bacteria that aids to outnumber the bad bacteria while increasing the rate of decomposition it’s beneficial for growing plants too! Yes bukashi is very good I’m in the process of starting my own manufacturing mini economy in my block of flats. You should look into bio-char too! It will come in very handy for your bokashi juice 😅 especially if your main goal is to be self efficient and like the cycle of life.

[@laneeacannon1450]

​@@pantrypreparedness You should research KNF (Korean Natural Farming) That's where LAB comes from. Easy & cheap to make ammendments. Also JADAM, another natural farming methodology from the son of KNF master.

[@joannthompson765]

Get some Starbucks coffee and add to bottom it will heat your bottom compost.i do agree with other way too much food for 1k worms .good luck

[@billhatcher2984]

If the manure is dry it wont heat as much

[@JJamiah]

That’s leachate not worm tea

[@pantrypreparedness]

I didn't know the difference until now. I appreciate the insight

[@cheryltaft8005]

You are adding WAY too much food for a brand new bin. You need to take out about 1/4 of that. Your bin is going to stink.

[@bretthogan5805]

Worns just gonna poop where they eat brother

[@666bruv]

Just buy a domestic worm farm, and follow those that know what they are doing

[@billhatcher2984]

Way too much ffood for 1000 worms i wouldnt feed them untill all was gone