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Ammasworms
User

A Fertile Cocoon

Posts: 1

New to worms - 2006/03/27 14:27 Hi worm people. I have been enjoying all your posts and also the manual that Redhen posted a link for. Thanks for that.
I am trying to educate myself about vermicomposting as I volunteer at an ashram where we want to try it out. One of the houses generates about 15 to 20 gallons of veggie waste a week. There is an old compost bin I'd like to convert to worms. It's plywood with three compartments of about 36" by 40" each. Do you know of some plans and diagrams online for different worm bins? Could I create two levels in each compartment with strong wire mesh for the castings to fall through and the bedding on top? It needs to be something that can be added to on an ongoing basis.
Also is there a quick way to estimate how many worms would be needed for a given amount of veggie waste?
There is not enough level land for windrows so bins seems more practical. I like to try and make use of things that are already built.
we also have a source of the waxed boxes from our produce. What would be the best way to shred this for bedding? We also have a constant supply of horse manure from adjacent stables.
Does the veggie waste need to be in small pieces? Sometimes when the walk in coolers are emptied whole large items get thrown into the waste bins. We already compost here but not in an organised way and we want to create high quality compost for an expanded garden.

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Worm Police

User

A Mature Breeder Earthworm

Posts: 96

Re:New to worms - 2006/03/27 19:10 Hi Ammasworms,
There are a lot of educational articles here on Worm Digest for reading. They are very informative.
Also look at Happy D Ranch web sight, they offer books and videos for sale on different types of worm raising/farming, and also sell worms and supplies too.
http://www.happydranch.com/
Squirmy worms web sight also has good reading.
http://www.squirmy-worms.com/
A good rule of thumb on worm consumption, 1 pound of worms will roughly eat about a half pound of waste a day. But worms will go through and re-eat it several times over too.
This is another good sight to look at, it was orginaly started by the late Mary Appelhof. This sight is still active.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html
Berkely sight is also good, and has different examples of different systems, including plans for a lagre size screen (rope) bottomed bin.
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~compost/methods.html
Good luck.
We are all here for you.
Connie

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redhen

User

A Protected Species Earthworm

Posts: 684

Re:New to worms - 2006/03/27 22:16 Ammasworms...Take a look at the cinderblock bins I built.
http://photobucket.com/albums/y209/redhen/projects/
IMHO..Worm bins in contact with the ground are the easiest to manage. In those bins you would not have to have two levels. You would just let the worms work through the food/paper. The worms work in an upward migration to the new food. When the bins are ready to be harvested, you would just stop feeding a portion of the bin and let the worms move to where the fresh food is, and then harvest. (Think of 1 pound of worms per square foot of surface area.)
Keep asking questions and see what information you receive fits your situation. Susan Quinby-Honer
redhen@nc.rr.com
Starve the Landfill...Feed the Earth.

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