Back in July I got a hair up my butt to try something new, as happens on occasion. So I did a little research as I always do and found that it shouldn’t be to difficult. So I placed my order and a few days later received my products.
I then proceeded to setup said product and wait for the main course. The next day I received a small box with the goal of the project, THE WORMS. I think prior to this point I had only mentioned my curiosity to my wife in passing and as is normal she shrugged it off as a passing interest of mine.
Well I set up the worm tower in a little corner off the living room that’s a little hidden away from eye line and proceeded not to mention it further. Two weeks passed before my wife ever noticed it. Not surprising as its rather inconspicuous and non smelling.
Non smelling you say, yes I do say. As long as the scraps are well covered they will not rot in a smelly way and attract distasteful entities such as flies. In the six or so months of doing this I have yet to smell anything horrid when opening the bins.
So how do i do it. Well pretty easy. We always have scrap veggies when making dinner, tomato tops, outside lettuce and cabbage leaves, cabbage cores, apple cores etc. You get the picture. Any vegetable or fruit works with a few exceptions. Here is a list of what not to feed your worms:
- Onions
- hot peppers ( I do use bell pepper cores and stems)
- Citrus
- breads
- meats
- dairy
The scraps I do feed, I will stick through the food processor and puree it. This seems to help them digest it faster. I have dumped full pieces of say cabbage leaves in but it seems to take them forever to go through it. I only feed them as often as I see their trays empty. Unprocessed scraps are stored in bags in the fridge until it’s time to puree.
I moved the bins to the basement last month when I started the seed trays as I wanted to keep all my stuff together in one place and make my wife a bit happier. I have also started a second bin using just a normal storage bin with some holes drilled in it. Worms will only produce more worms if there is enough room. My worm tower was fairly full of worms so I took one tray and just dumped it into the new bin. You need at least 50 worms to start a new bin since they are a community base life form. They like their friends. One tray probably had a few hundred worms so I found it easier to just dump the tray. There was probably a more professional and technical way of doing it, but I find working smarter is easier.
My goal is to maybe eventually be able to sell starter worms and maybe worm castings and tea but who knows. For now the worms eat my scraps and its gives me good stuff for my garden and plants and puts less in the trash so I am happy.
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