Jack Daw

Hi gals and guys. I will have some 1000 (a small start, lively colony will have from 20 to 50 times more) adult Eisenia foetides and I was thinking about vermicomposting in a somewhat larger scale (at least 10kg a month would be minumum, the more the better, it generally isn't problem to "get rid of this fertilizer").

If the first thing, that comes to your mind is, whether I will have enough decaying organic material, the right answer for this question is yes. And even if I wasn't able to produce enough organic waste, there's a compost pile of old dead plants (grass, leaves, ...) as a part of our local dump. So the feeding is no problem at all.

I've looked all over the web and found some interesting manuals, DIY tutorials and everything that I would need to maybe start planning and sketching their new home.

You see, the problem is, that I can't find any good "box" for these small creatures. There are some points as air circulation, bird/mole protection... multiple floors of the box... I will have to build my own (which I'm really looking forward to).

But there's only very ... OK, no information on larger and more efficient boxes, only these small, one home boxes sufficing maybe only for kitchen organic waste. But I have much much much more than kitchen waste and so I would need some advice and better, if someone had also sketches that I could use for designing my own compost bin.

I was thinking about 1x2x1,5m (width x length x height), or in your metric system 3,3x6,6x5 feet with one important factor: it must be portable, outdoors and indoors will be a matter of season. I would normally let the worms rest in winter, but I have plants at home, that would need maybe 1kg of fresh compost monthly (so a slowed mode?)... I believe the most convenient would be a shelf system, where each of the shelves would have some purpose and each could be taken out and switched position with other shelves (sort of a small closet, with open roof). Levels (shelves):
Lowest: small vermicompost granules will fall here
Middle: Most of those small creatures will process this part, ideally decayed waste
Top: Freshly decaying organic matter

Then as they eat almost all the matter from the central/middle shelf, they will start moving to the top part with freshly decaying organic matter (via small holes the will be in the bottom part of the shelves). I than take out the lowest shelf and take away all the compost, leaving the shelf empty. The top/uppermost shelf with freshly decaying matter and just arrived worms will be moved to the centre and fresh compost, from which the worms came, will be moved to the lowest shelf. The empty shelf will be moved to the top and I will start putting new organic decaying material there. Vermicompost will have to stay in the lowest shelf til another rotation (about 2 weeks, so that the eggs start hatching and small worms can migrate!!!).

Instead of roof, there will be some semiglass with holes for air circulation, but so that the birds can't come and eat my worms.

Any ideas from your side, tips, tricks, anything that you have observed in other vermicomposting bins, anything even the least important will be helpful. I will need this info ASAP, as I'm probably building the next weekend and desperately need to have sketches done by then.

I need vermicompost for 3 main reasons:
- excellent (if not the best) organic fertilizer and waste disposing matter, it can't really overfertilize anything...
- excellent mulch if it covers something with thick layer, it can hold a little but higher temperatures in winter AND hold water in sufficient amounts, no rotting...
- ideal germination media (better than coco peat, ...)

Thanks a lot.

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



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