I'm a "Verm-Mom"

Yay! good for you!
Post photos when you get it set up (or, the process of getting it set up)...
I've been interested in wormy-culture for a long time.

 

I added some kitchen scraps to my compost pit today and turned it over to cover up the new material. I found that it contained thousands of earth worms in big balls. I never have seen so many, guess the really liked the remains of Christmas dinner.

 

Congratulations, Mom! If you keep those little guys healthy, you'll have to come up with many more than 200 names. "My" compost helpers are all vacationing a few feet under in the relative warmth, but there's lotsa good stuff waiting for their return.

 

Brilliant. I'm scheming right now of ways to plant stuff indoors so that I can get a head start on the growing season. It's 7deg outside right now, so I cant till my garden plot or mix in any of my compost, which is also frozen solid at the moment. I'm looking forward to the next growing season. The last one was so dismal, I think the soil was knackered and I didn't have enough compost built up yet.

 

Congratulations! I know a guy with an indoor worm bin for 10 years which consumes all his paper towels. Red wigglers moved into my outdoor compost from somewhere in the universe and now their progeny number in at least the zillions. Hurray for gardening! Do keep us posted on how the little tykes are doing.

Oh yeah, I have a Prius too. Plenty of room for buckets in the back.

-Composter

 

Well, you've probably eliminated your chance of spreading any residual pesticides from your food scraps into your garden by using worms to perform your compost. From what I've read, worms do an excellent job of breaking down these harmful chemicals. If using differing compost methods I've read that one should let their compost sit for at least an entire year to allow the pesticides to break down into more inert compounds. Unfortunately, some pesticides break down into more hazardous compounds than the originating chemical. That would be me.

You're going to be amazed at how quickly your scraps will break down (excepting in colder temps) and amazed at the degree to which your waste will be reduced.

Try to site your compost bin where you believe you'll want it permanently as based on turning my matter, the bin may get too heavy to move depending on how big it is.

Since you're eliminating insecticides from your growing practices (good on you!), you should pick up a book about organic growing methods as you're bound to encounter pests.

Yum. Home grown organic veggies. My favorite. If you find some stuff missing, don't presume that it's a rabbit.

 

You can also throw old clothing in there (clean, of course), small chunks of paper, weeds, old flowers, "biodegradable" packing peanuts, and all your veggie trimmings.

Thank you for the link!

 

I got a real compost bucket for Christmas - one of those decadently shiny pails - and I've taken to filling it halfway with shredded paper before I start adding the compost. It gives a better balance in the composter, and makes the bucket not so icky. It even has a lid, so we should have fewer fruit flies in the kitchen this summer.
When I dig out the backyard composter, I usually dig down deep enough to equal the volume of the bin, and the half-done stuff goes in the hole, with the now-empty bin on top. By Fall, I've got twice as much mulch as I would otherwise.

 

Have any composters noticed any detriments from spreading compost that has the residual pesticides present? I'm guessing not since I'm the only one that seems to continue to be concerned about this. I did read a case study where an orchard was killed off due to this. I think it was Dow that was performing the investigation. Maybe that was an anomaly?

 

Godiva, if you welcome a balance of insects (like paper wasps) to your garden, you can let nature rid you of the pesty insects. A lot of these "pesty" insects will be butterfly larvae (whites dine on mustard family, Black Swallowtail on parsley and dill, etc.). If letting the wasps and other predatory insects manage the caterpillars, some will survive and most won't. This will will eliminate a significant amount of damage while letting some insects reproduce. I'm guessing this approach will save you a lot of work, if you can accept some damage to your garden. To give you some idea of the efficacy of these wasps, I installed my native plant garden three years ago and have yet to have a butterfly larvae make it to an adult. Even the ants eat them. They don't even care if the caterpillars contain toxins. Diversity will save you a lot of time and frustration.

 

I want to know more about indoor vermiculture. Is this really feasable? I'm in MN, and when it's below zero, I'm in no mood to carry a daily pail of scraps to the other end of the backyard through a foot of snow. Besides, when I'm watching an 18 month toddler, I can't take the time to take that trip out to the garden without neglecting my parental duties. My concern is odor and possible mold or bacterial issues that could spread to the lettuce garden it would be located next to.

I garden year-round in the basement, and if it doesn't create odor problems, an indoor worm farm to feed my year-round lettuce garden would be great (haven't had to but store lettuce in years!). I currently use fish emulsion for fertilizer, but my wife always complains about the smell for about 2 days after I use it. It's also 30-40 bucks a jug. Worm compost could allow me to replace the fish emulsion and allow a more conveniant way to get food scraps and paper towels out of the garbage with little extra effort.

 

Indoor vermiculture should be quite feasible. It might even be more productive than outdoors, because you've got a steady temperature year-round. Odours and mould shouldn't be a problem if you're careful with what you put in. You also need to be more careful than you would with an outdoor composter, because your 'pets' need to be fed regularly. I tried it once with all the earthworms the neighbourhood kids could find, but it wasn't successful. The worms seemed content enough, but they really didn't eat much. When I learned about red wriggler worms, that made all the difference. You should be able to stop using the expensive and smelly fish fertliser, and have even better produce.

 

How are red wigglers as fishing bait? Potential dual use crop?!
I'm having visions of a chute from my kitchen, dropping right on top of the warm farm! I'd have plenty of food for them. My lettuce patch produces buckets worth of scraps every month that I take outside, but could instead feed to the worms. Add in daily kitchen waste, including a fair amount of paper towels, and I think I can support a rather large population of wigglers. I think the main challenge is the wife! And building my own instead of forking over $155.

 

A chute sounds convenient, but it would get dirty quickly, and all the food would drop in the same place, which isn't a good idea. I'm sure you can find a plastic bin (not clear - red worms don't like light) and drill a bunch of holes for much less than $155. Apparently red worms are sold as bait, but they should bring a higher price as composters if you're really looking for a cash crop. They're high in protein, too, but don't even suggest that to your wife.

Try a websearch for 'worm composting indoors', and you'll find all kinds of useful information.