alah

Hi, everybody. I´m back again. Don´t remember If I told you but my supplies are onward to Baltimore from where a friend will bring them across on the 14th of December.
If what you need is compost goole " making compost in three weeks". Will help.

Jack Daw

Maybe I should have. Nowadays I have 10 minutes/week for the worms and they seem to thrive without my attention. Also, they lack some additional food and have processed about 15kg of biowaste since when I got them, which is in my opinion fairly good...
No special bin for them though... Lack of time.

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Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Engleman

Hi,
One important note on using manures! Some domestic animals are given "wormers". These chemicals can pass through the digestive tract of mammals and still be present and active in their manures. NOT good for the worms you are trying to raise and reproduce. It has been said that these medications will no longer be viable after a period of time how long I don't know, but I'm guessing a month or so.
I have been raising red wigglers for over a year now and have split the original bunch twice now and that's just scraps from a two person household. A great use for those of you planning on planting bananas in the spring is to start your "hole" early. Dig it deeper than needed, throw in a bunch of vegetative scraps some dried grass and/or shredded newspaper, add a couple handfulls of wigglers, abra kadabra presto chango... you'll have a very sweet honey hole for that banana pup in 2-3 months. I've done this several times over the last year or so with great results. The "honey hole" plants seemed to have a huge head start in getting established and leaf growth is noticably greater than those plants without a 'head start.
Hope this helps, Eric

djmb74

So I throw all the potato peels from thanksgiving mashed potatoes into my worm bin. Well a bunch of them decided it was so fertile in there that they wanted to sprout. We pulled a bunch of them out and planted them, lets see if we get some potatoes. HAHA

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*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID.
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
*BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL!

Jack Daw

Me too. I threw away some potatoes, tomatoes, old peppers and they all sprouted, like 1000 plants.
Had to kill them though. It's winter here and they would grow very slowly. Early spring sprouts are significantly more vigorous.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Lagniappe

I found a 1' Mango seedling in my bin.

conejov

hey Jack!

How are the worms doing in the different bins? I think you said that you had some in aged compost and others being fed only food scraps have you noticed anyu difference?

Im going to make my bins out of 10gal bins, like this one: Vermicomposting: Making a Home For Your Worms | One Caveman's Financial Journey I've been collecting my food scraps, coffee grounds and egg shells.

I aslo found this site to be informative: Red Worm Composting

Any suggestions?

How about some pictures!

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sbl

They should do just fine--if you can keep them from freezing. The farmers plant potatoes in Jan here, but with enough of the potato to support the plant as it grows to the surface. You can probably just cover the plants with dirt whenever there is a frost predicted.

sunfish

Lagniappe

I lost a lot of worms when my pile got too hot. The smell was horrible, but it all straightened out once the BSF arrived on the scene. I've had a lot of fun watching them devour whole melons in a day or two.

Lagniappe

In addition to breaking things down quickly so that the worms can make castings more efficiently, BSF larvae can be used to compost high protein and fatty items that are unsuitable worm fodder.



The resulting friable compost can then be eaten by the worms.

djmb74

My son went and picked one of these up, someone was giving it away on freecycle and its in excellent condition! Really wanted one of these... Prayer works!!! :-)

Amazon.com: Can-O-Worms: Kitchen & Dining

__________________
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID.
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
*BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL!

sandy0225

I started a month ago (on a really small scale) with 250 red wigglers in my kitchen in a plastic tub. They're still in the kitchen, eating away. My daughter thinks I'm insane, but she insisted on naming one. His name is Wiggly. I asked her the other day which one he was. She laughed and pointed at the first one she saw that was big. so now we just call random worms in there Wiggly. Sort of our own version of Where's Waldo. We're going to give them a new home in the basement soon, I need the space soon to start plants!

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
check out our new online store at our website!

Engleman

Hi Sandy,
I picked my first tomato of the season a couple of days ago and since I see you grow them I thought you'd like to know the 'dirt' of how I got this beauty. I planted it sideways (to increase root development) in one of the "honey holes" I mentioned in an earlier post on this thread. I added an extra shovel full of worm casting when I planted. After I got the first couple of fruit to 'set' I applied fish emulsion solution about 3-4 weeks apart, plenty of water, and NO chemical fertilizers or pesticides whatsoever. It's a "Brandywine" and there are quite a few more coming along on the same plant, three are almost the same size as this one and most of the others are pretty good sized as well. I'm a rookie at posting pics to the thread so if I can't get it to attach you can check it out in my gallery (the only photo in the gallery so far). BTW, the beer can is only for perspective and not an endorsement...:-) Eric

djmb74

Awesome!

This next season I am going to try out a lot of different varieties of tomatoes. I got some cattle panels from my father in law that were turned into round tomato trellises, I have 8 of them and they are huge...

__________________
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID.
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
*BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL!

Engleman

What do you mean by 'this next season'? I'm hoping you mean later this month. If you are in zone 9 you need to be finished picking by June 1st at the latest maybe a little later if you are growing cherry tomatoes. What do you plan on planting? Maybe I can help with the selection process. I've been in SW Fl. for over thirty years and kind of have a handle on it down here.
On another note this cold weather coming in this week really sucks, I've got a few of my bananas covered but the big stuff is impossible. I've got my fingers crossed it doesn't get too cold... How about you? eric

djmb74

spring is the next season I am referring to. I figure I would start my seeds inside later this month...

No cherry tomatoes... A few heirloom varities and some hybrids all indeterminate varieties. We did cherry tomatoes last year. I still have a plant that is producing but I suppose this week it will die...

__________________
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID.
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
*BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL!

djmb74

Any varieties you can recommend I will add them to my list.. :-)

As well as any tips...

Most of my banana plants are in a nursery until things warm up...

__________________
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU SAID.
*PEOPLE WILL FORGET WHAT YOU DID.
*BUT PEOPLE WILL NEVER FORGET HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL!

Engleman

Start your seeds now! Most of the heirlooms take 85+ days to harvest the first fruit. There are so many issues with tomatoes in the Fla. summer I won't won't go into it (unless you ask). It's kinda funny actually, what's good weather for bananas is the worst thing for tomatoes. eric

Engleman

My favorite heirloom is the brandywine while for a hybrid I'd try the celebrity. Cherrys are pretty easy so go with what you like. I personally like the heirloom cherry "stupice" it's a big cherry tolerant of the cooler winter months and has a great flavor. See my earlier post on how I planted along with the photo in my gallery. Eric