The Great Worm Cull of 2012

Wormtastrophe! My flow through had to endure a brief sojourn in the garage. During that time it was untended for 3-4 weeks. The peruvian llama manure worms were not pleased. Evidently enraged by their sudden relegation from the privy chamber, they intended to leave en masse. Alas, the journey toward the promised land was too much for most. Those that attempted it faired badly. The dried remains of the intrepid explorers litter the garage floor, leaving a pungent odor of soured molasses. Fortunately, all is not lost. Those worms that decided to remain have again been elevated to the inner sanctum. They are clearly the genetic superiors of the original herd and have thus been treated to fresh bedding and a fine meal of vegetables from the royal garden.

Harvest Time

I have been harvesting my VC regularly for about a month now. Previously I had just been putting what fell through the grate back in the top of the bin. Now we have a good garden going and I decided it's time to reap the benefits of the worming. I didn't have a good tray to sort the worms out of the VC, so I had been using pizza box lids and the like. That got old fast, so I went in search of a better solution. I used a wine crate we had lying around (What? Thats not weird! Who doesn't have wine crates lying around?) and made some frames to fit inside. I stapled hardware cloth to the frames and made myself a sorting tray. It works well, and the 'product' is much easier to spread on the garden than the clumps I had been getting.

Woo Hoo!

All fixed. The wooden rods, even though I had painted them, soaked up water and started to get soft. As they softened they bowed and pulled out of the holes. The hot glue I had originally used to secure them didn't stand a chance. I went to l'homme de'pot and bought 8-32 x 12" long plated threaded rods and some nuts. I was able to just push the threaded rods through the compost and line up the holes. The paper bottom finally gave way and lot of mostly finished VC, cocoons and worms fell down in the process. I'm not ready to use it yet so I put it right back in the top of the bin.

Catastrophe!!!

My grate buckled and three of my bars broke loose. Just as things were starting to settle down :( I don't think I can fix it without emptying the bin.

Wormtropolis!

Well, we have had some ups and downs. I have conquered a flying something or other infestation, a white mold that looked like it belonged in a horror movie, and worms that looked like they were on the verge of extinction. Worms falling to a watery death in the leachate tray and worms dying of dehydration in an attempt to flee. We have persevered.

Now, digging down to the worms preferred level of the bin and grabbing a hand full of compost yielded what appears to be far more worms than when I started - and that isn't even the half of them. The bin seems to have reached a kitchen-waste destroying equilibrium. No more pests, or mold or drownings.

I need to start another bin!

First Produce!

I harvested some leachate for the first time today. I don't normally let the bin get wet enough to produce any, but I had some air flow issues this last week that generated some. The first benefactors were a couple of potted house plants. I am expecting a bean stalk to a magic cloud kingdom by morning!

Moving Up In the World

I couldn't help myself; I went shopping at buy'n'large err Walmart in search of flow through bin materials. It was a tough decision, given that I am of the opinion Walmart is evil incarnate, but I puckered up and went shopping. I bought a 13 gal garbage can, some wooden dowels a can of spray paint and a jigsaw. All in all it cost $52, including tax (I wonder if worm bins are tax deductible?). I probably could have done without the jigsaw, which cost $30, but who can resist an excuse to buy a new power tool? Besides, it made my life easier, and, we are in a recession so it is clearly my patriotic duty to buy things I don't really need. I wanted to paint the dowels to ward off rot, so I bought some metallic looking spray paint that looks pretty neat with the glossy black bin. I also needed to use a drill, some side cutters and hot glue for the dowels, all of which I had already. I plan to "obtain" some snap-on round louver vents from work for the lid. Until then, I'll just leave the lid open. Now all thats left to do is move the worms into their new home.

I moved the bedding handful by handful so I could get an idea of how things were going. There was some nice VC at the bottom of the Rubber Maid bin, and loads of juveniles working the bedding and some fruit I had added only a few days ago. I guess I have upended their world though, all the VC is on top of the bedding now. I put the food remnants to one side. I covered everything with a wetted cotton T-Shirt to try and get control of some fungus gnats that have set up residence. I think I will just leave everything be for awhile and let the bin sort itself out.

Special thanks to TITK