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Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/22 15:14Hi there
I am new to this, so please be patient.
We recently moved from South Africa to Cyprus. Since the move I have become a stay at home mom. Now that I have a little more time on my hands and having noticed the waste from our apartment block, I would like to try vermicomposting.
To start with I have no idea how to start. I have been to the local nursary's asking for worms to start a compost bin, but the people don't seem to understand me, they keep showing me their bags of compost. They either speak very little english or non at all.
Could anyone please tell me where I would be able to get worms from, and how to go about starting my bin. What container I should use for my bin, where to get it. So on and so forth. All advice and guidence very welcome.
Thanks in advance
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and180
User A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 16
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/22 20:35I am from Pennsylvania, US. I don't know where to get your worms in Europe. For your worm bins, you can use any good size container such as plastic totes, plastic buckets, an old bathtub or sink. This is a start. Plus there is a lot of worm information on this site, both the articles and the forum. I hope this will help you. Andy
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James Davis
User A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 33
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/23 07:49ladybug, I sell worms along with many more on here. you can e-mail me at in_his_service62@ yhoo.com
God Bless james
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ladybug
User A Fertile Cocoon
Posts: 2
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/23 11:58Thanx Andy, will look into those for a bin, and i have started reading all the articles and forums on here.
Thanx James, will email you in a bit for more info on the worms.
Des-Marie
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Larry C
User A Mature Breeder Earthworm
Posts: 96
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/23 12:30I have no idea about legalities of exporting worms to another country. Anybody know something about it?
If exporting is not a problem, I may have a potential market in Papua New Guinea. Some friends of mine have a coffee plantation and they are wanting to vermicompost the waste. (a coffee bean resembles a cherry ...where the outside is the waste and the pit is the bean). Fertilizer has increased 400% over there. If they can turn all that waste into castings, that would work great.
Larry
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wellsworms
User A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 624
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/24 07:04check here for possible info on importing worms
If exporting is not a problem, I may have a potential market in Papua New Guinea. Some friends of mine have a coffee plantation and they are wanting to vermicompost the waste. (a coffee bean resembles a cherry ...where the outside is the waste and the pit is the bean). Fertilizer has increased 400% over there. If they can turn all that waste into castings, that would work great.
LarryFEED IT TO THE WORMS WELLS,vermont jerry walker 2008
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timnbama
User A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/24 09:54Larry C wrote: I have no idea about legalities of exporting worms to another country. Anybody know something about it. Larry Larry, earthworms are a regulated item under U. S. customs regulations that requires a permit and inspection. You can ship to Canada only if you raise them in a soilless substrate for 15 days and feed them only shredded paper or sterilized food such as vegetables that have been heated to 180 deg. F for at least 30 minutes. You could go to the U. S. Code of Federal Regulations for a copy of the custom laws and then you need to go to the APHIS (part of USDA) site and check into permitting regulations there as well. Even some university personnel forgo the permits and regulations at times and when they get caught they often wind up with some pretty stiff fines and penalties. This is one area where you better do your homework and be sure that everything is covered. Sect. & 14.94 of the Fed Regs will give you the inspection fees per shipment which is from $87 to $136 depending upon which type of port you're going thru and then you may have overtime inspection, etc. which is $49 hr. this year. Then you've got $37 per shipment for them being "live". All of these costs would have to be passed on to the customer I'm sure unless you just want to help that friend out. It looks like this could be a rather pricy proposition.
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Wow, maybe it wouldn't be worth all that. I was hoping it might just be a simple yes or no thing. He was going to check in to it, but hasn't yet. I'm not even sure if the worms would live in the waste. Being from a coffee plant, it might be too acidic for them. I Told them I would like to test a sample of the waste on some worms, but they weren't even sure if they could bring that back into the U.S.
Larry
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timnbama
User A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
Re:Starting vermicomposting - 2009/01/27 22:12I read a report from some research team that did a study on feeding worms coffee waste and they seem to do quite well in it from that. You would most certainly have to deal with a lot of regulations and details to export worms. It looks like it could get rather costly just for the permits and licenses that you would require.
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