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Gold Hill, Oregon

i just came across a vermicomposting bin called "worm factory farm" on ebay. i was wondering if anyone is using one of these? they sell for $75.00. it says when they are done eating in the bottom tray they crawl up to the next tray. sounded kinda interesting to me. this will be my first year at vermicomposting.

1/3/2009 12:41:31 AM

Columbus,ohio

There are aocuple of good sites you can go to for information. One is thegardenforums.com another is vermicomposters.com
the second one has a featered post about getting started. as for the worm factory some people have had sucsess with it. They say it is a good starting bin. I have been vermicomposting for 6 months and havn't had any problems with my plastic bin. It is really simple. It holds mosture. Also the second website might take a few seconds to load. What ver you do good luck.

1/3/2009 2:06:04 AM

Pinedale, WY

I believe "The Wiz" has one of these. I know it worked pretty good for him and looked pretty neat also.

1/3/2009 9:11:52 AM

Santa Rosa, CA

My first worm bin was a wooden box. However, for my second one, I purchased the "Can-O-Worms" It works fine too. The advantage of the store bought kind is the spigot at the bottom to drain worm tea!

Chuck

1/3/2009 7:28:52 PM

Iowa

I use 50 gal. totes in the winter, they seem to work well, when I want to change out the worms and get the castings I tip them on end and shake everything down to one end and put scraps in the open end then shake them back so all the castings are at the other end. I come back 24 hours later and dig out the worms around the food scraps and eggs too and put the worms in fresh totes with fresh bedding. I do not let my bedding get wet enough to have any kind of tea..Bad or good I don't really know but worms seem happy..

1/3/2009 11:15:47 PM

Upstate S.C.

BIG PUMPKIN DREAMER, Just a couple of things. First, if you are truly interested in Vermicomposting then Giant Peep is right those two websites are excellent, it's just like growing big pumpkins and this site they go hand in hand. Second, me personaly just starting off I would save my money and make me a worm bin from a plastic tote. This does two things a) you can spend the money on buying WORMS instead of a "worm factory" b) you can acomplish the same effect as the "worm factory" by placeing another plastic tote right on top of the vermicompost, stop feeding the bottem one and start putting bedding and food in the top one and the worms will migrate UP. Just like the 75 dollar one. The last things I will leave you with is this, If you do decide to start a worm bin it is a good idea NOT A MUST, but a REAL GOOD IDEA to have atleast 1 to 2 pounds of worms in the bin. If you don't if will take six months or so for your worms to make any kind of VC. Thanks and I hope this helps.

1/4/2009 1:23:04 AM

Iowa

SCT, Could you explain more on your second tote?? Do you add food to the top and flip it over and then pull off the top castings when the worms go down?? One more question, can you slow down the reperduction of the worms?? lol maybe I should get the book.. Any help would be great thanks.

1/4/2009 2:25:01 AM

Gold Hill, Oregon

i will check uout those two websites. they sound really good. sctrooper do you put holes in the second tray that is placed on top?for the worms to go through?

1/4/2009 3:20:51 AM

Paradise Mountain, New York

I've been raising Red Worms for Vermicomposting for three years now. I'll post a site that you can go to. It's the best site you will ever find. That's if you take hours to read and follow all of the links. The average new guy on the block does everything wrong to get started. When you buy "Worm castings" or "Vermicompostings, a lot of it has fillers added. Mostly Peat moss. To test it, you can added a couples cups in a 2 liter bottle and shake it and let it set for 24 hours. The castings will sink to the bottom and the filler will float to the top. Try it, you will be surprised to find your not buying 100 worm castings. The best worm castings are at least a year old.
I use 18 gallon gray tubs from Walmarts. When I add food to the tubs, I bury it in different places around the tubs every week. Then after a few months, I slowly dump each tub into a empty tub. The red worms will travel through out the tubs and as each one does, it will eat along the way. Therefore, taking unfinished and finished castings in to make it more pure as in 100% castings. If you read the whole site below, you will see that you can't make 100% casting each month like everyone thinks.Last year i added a ton of castings to my patch. A much easier way is to make a huge manure and leaf compost pile an let it set for two years. it will have billions of red worms in it making the best worm castings for you.
http://www.jetcompost.com/burrow/index.html

1/4/2009 2:45:02 PM

Upstate S.C.

LOL, Krug there are things that do slow the reproduction process down, weather and bin condition. You should be happy because if your herd is reproduceing alot then that means there happy. If I was you I would start another bin. As far as the bin on top. Yes drill 20 to 25 1/8 holes in the bottem of your second bin, then fill it hafe way with bedding and food. Then just sit it on top of the first bin. The key is to stop feeding the first bin for a week or so, then when you introduce the the other bin the will dig up through the holes of the second bin and after some time your first bin will be worm free with nothing but casting.

1/4/2009 3:06:04 PM

Williamsburg,KY

I have a worm factory and it works great. I found its best to put the food thru a food processor to make it small. They love old cornbread! There is also some good info on this site, just search "worms". I have my bin right in my laundry room and you would never know it. The only problem is baby slugs which I collect from the bottm of the lid. Must have come from the compost I added. Good Luck and have fun. Croley

1/4/2009 4:51:24 PM

Colorado Springs, Co (wtmanc3mc3@hotmail.com)

the stuff that drains from the bottom of them is NOT worm tea. its leachate and you should not have very much, best not to see any at all. if you sqeeze your bedding and can get 1-2 drops of water , then its perfect, any wetter, you are just asking for problems. this is not directed at anyone just my experience. I have been vermicomposting for 4 yrs now and have around 400,000 worms. i had more but lost over half of them when i added horse manure that the stable had limed and didnt tell me about it. :(

1/9/2009 1:03:15 PM

Gold Hill, Oregon

i had someone tell me that when horses are dewormed that the medicine stays in the manure and kills the worms that eat the manure.

1/10/2009 4:49:14 AM

Seattle, WA

I've seen studies that show that some of the growth hormones and other chemicals that the cows are fed, will indeed survive the digestion process and be found in their waste. I'd be very careful in using manure based composts...

1/12/2009 2:20:20 PM