Vermicomposting...how many

[babeak]

I actually finally started vermicomposting again. I did several years ago, but then had to stop. One of the problems I had was a large number of mite and other imbalances, probably because I overfed as a vegan and gave them citrus. Duh.

Anyway, I started again and I wanting to know how many bins per/person you need as a raw foodist to be able to put everything excluding citrus in your bins and not overfeed and have issues.

It seems like I am still throwing away a lot of waste that I want to be able to put in the bins. I just had my first mite outbreak.....yikes. So I am drying the bin, took out some infested foods and stirred the bedding to circulate air.

I have a new Worm Factory 360 composter and started with 2lbs of worms. It says that they can eat 3x their weight in a week. So, that means that I should be able to give them 6lbs of food. I does not seem like I am coming near that and I have had the bin going since about the 20th of Sept.

I am thinking that I need probably need 3 of these, but have no space for 3 and unfortunately can not have traditional outdoor bin.

Thanks for insights and experiences from any fellow vermicomposters.

[sport]

I googled it but did not like looking at the wormy pictures so gave up.

[rawrawks]

babeak...can I ask a question to your question.
First maybe peole dont know about this topic alot.

My question. I have a compost bin under my sink and want to get the worms and put them in it and have a worm farm to turn my veggie scraps into dirt and keep my compost going all winter.

Can I just go get my worms out in my outdoor compost and bring them in, make sure I feed them scraps as well as some dry material (I was told) so they dont get too wet.???

And I dont understand what your ? is. You need to feed them more? I dont know what u r asking.

This is a great thread. Educate us all..woohooo. I brought my plants into my indoor closet greenhouse now I want to bring my worms in too. They said they want in out of the cold..hahahah

[MysticTree]

I think the question is how many wormery containers does she need to fully cope with a Raw Foodist's fruit and veg waste. I think!

Georgina

[babeak]

rawrawks--Short answer-no. You need red wigglers. Here is a place where you can find lots of info. You need to have bedding for them.
http://www.happydranch.com/

MysticTree- yes! that is my question! Sorry it was not crystal clear. It was really late when I posted. I thought maybe there might be at least one or two people here that was successfully vermicomposting.

[katchmoleen]

Oh that website is a hoot! I have the bins and have never bought the worms.....maybe this will finally get me going. I looked around the website and from what I can gather, a fully loaded 5 tray bin will hold about 10,000 worms, so 2000 worms (2 pounds of worms) per bin. But you don't start out with that many, you let the little worms reproduce first. Also, they each pound of worms will eat a half pound of scraps per day. So now I have to save all my scraps and see how much we generate. I am thinking easily five or more pounds per day! So I need 10 pounds of worms, which is five trays. Better get busy!

[oceanluv]

I am thinking that I need probably need 3 of these, but have no space for 3 and unfortunately can not have traditional outdoor bin.

If you have the worm farm that I used to have (sold it when I moved to an apt) you can get more trays for the bin. you only need floor space for the one bin, the trays take up verticle room, and the worms crawl up to the next bin when their food is gone. (if that makes sense to you)
I really didn't want to get rid of my crawly friends, but was moving to another state, and couldn't bring them. :(
maybe you could add shredded newspapers or brown bags to your mix, if it is too wet.

[rawrawks]

I had amazing worms outside in my compost...why would I need a special kind of worm? Arent worms worms? I am just asking them to work an indoor job now???

[babeak]

Oceanlov--I do have multiple trays, but you can only start putting those on once the bottom one is full.

rawrawks---everything I have read they don't work.....find more info on types of worms....maybe they just don't do the job as efficiently as red wigglers.