Helping you learn to make natural organic fertilizer with compost worms by showing you my journey learning to vermicompost in a Vermihut Indoor Wormbin, Tiny Indoor Wormbin, Urban Worm Bag & Outdoor Wormbin made of two 20 gallon fabric pots. I'll take you along letting you know what I have learned as I feed & care for my red wiggler & blue composting worms as they make natural organic fertilizer & soil amendments for my garden. As a bonus, I'm recycling my food scraps, keeping waste from going to the landfill & enjoying the hobby.
If you have been thinking about Vermicomposting...Just get stared and Learn By Doing with me! There's no better time then right now to start!! My videos can help you on your journey.
🪱🪱🪱 I try to feed my worms every 7 days so I will be posting 3 videos a week, one for each worm bin & playlist. I hope you enjoy!🪱🪱🪱
Hi, thank you for your helpful videos. Do you get an abundance of mites putting in a whole banana? I'll be starting my Vevor migration hut this weekend with my red wigglers. I put a whole banana in my blues totes and immediately got an abundance of red mites. I baited them out with the banana and then didn't put it back in. Do you have a video talking about mites in your Vermihut? I look forward as always to your next videos.
My new worm farm (a gift) has 3 trays with holes and a bottom one that’s slanted with a spigot. Do I need a fourth tray with holes and why the spigot? The instructions that came with it are very incomplete. My worms are doing well, so far, and I still only have the one tray with worms. I think I really need help! Love your videos, by the way. I’ve already learned a lot. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
I got one of these huts but I just realized how long it takes for everything. Doesnt seem to be as productive as I thought. Not a dig on this video, and in fact I learned a lot from it. But is it just me that it takes so long to just get a little compost?
I just started a new worm tower a couple days ago from a established worm bin(13 gal. tote) which I had for 4 months. My question is should I start 2 trays now? My theory is the bottom tray will now become my harvest tray as soon as most of the worm should travel up to the new top feeding tray(which I already fed). Thanks for your great and informative videos and knowledge 😊
Awesome!! My worms absolutely love egg shell grit as evidenced by these time lapse videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Ty3FNheJFoc.html & ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8AhKIXbp-oY.html Thanks so much for watching and for letting us know how much your worms love egg shells & coffee!!🪱🪱🪱
I just got my own verihut, and I have a question that I haven’t found the answer to in the videos. When I open the lid, the lid has a ton of condensation on it, but the bedding, which is shredded cardboard and coco coir, is dry. Am I worried about nothing or should I keep adding water.
That's fantastic that you have your VermiHut up and running!! Yes, that is normal for the inside of the lid to get very moist and have worms crawling around up there! If your bedding seems dry then I would spray it down with some water. When you first start a worm bin, the bedding absorbs the liquid but does not retain it as well as a mix of castings and bedding does. As your bin gets older you will have the opposite feeling where it seems like the bedding is too moist! So for you I would put two dry shredded cardboard trays below the one you are feeding, this will help capture some of the moisture you are going to add. Then feed normally but maybe with some wetter foods like lettuce or melon making sure to always add some shredded cardboard with it. and use damp shredded cardboard when you feed. Be sure not to overfeed a new worm bin! There is a chance the coco coir wasn't fully moist when it went in and is absorbing all the moisture leaving everything else drier. I switched to shredded cardboard after the initial brick or coco coir was gone. The VermiHut is the best worm bin I have found to modulate moisture, so rest assured that your bin is going to be in great shape! I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I've just restarted my worm bin using your suggestions. Putting dry bedding in the bottom tray is genius! Previously my worms all seemed to end up, drowned in the liquid tray. I'm astounded at how quickly the population has grown - so many little babies! And I think I've come across the idea to freeze food before, but this summer I'm not thawing it prior to adding it. I figure adding frozen food is a good way to cool down the bin. it's in the garage and it's so hot in the summer🥵. Thanks so much for sharing this technique.
Awesome!! I'm so glad our videos have helped!! I too will put in frozen food directly to try to keep things cooler in the summer!! Great job with your worm bin!! Thanks so much for letting us know how it is all working out & of course thanks so much for watching!!!🪱🪱🪱
I put some corn husks into my bin and WOAH. I got a HUGE beetle infestation of some kind. They didn't damage any plants or do any harm, but they would just die all over the place. Around the pots it was just a whole graveyard, sometimes overnight. It seems the populations have died back. I added some BTI and diatomaceous earth into the bin and that did the trick. No more store-bought trim going into the bin. Only stuff from my garden.
Oh wow!! That is so frustrating when an unknown critter infestation happens!! So glad you got it under control!! Thanks for sharing that BTI and DE powder did the trick! It will probably will help some folks over the years that watch this video and read the comments! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Great question! Worm Chow is the name given to ground up carbohydrate-ish food that we add to our worm bins. For me I just check my pantry for old expired dry goods like flours, oats, old cereal, seeds, nuts, etc. that I grind up in my magic bullet blender then lightly coat on the top of the feeding. It's just another way to get rid of old food stuffs and feed the worms. So people have specific formulas for thier worm chow but I just use what I have available. It is important not to feed a lot of it to you worms because it can ferment in their guts and cause string of pearl disease where they get trapped gasses and their bodies bloat into what looks like a string of pearls instead of a worm. Unfortunately it is always fatal, but also always preventable! I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I have red wiggler compost worms in a pretty big Urban Worm Bag: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8sd5FtwWgT0.html as well as my Outdoor Worm Bin made of two 20 gallon fabric pots, one inside the other: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ANahXegeuS8.html I do not have any huge industrial size 8 Ft by 4 Ft or larger bins. Unfortunately I don't have room in my house or small yard for anything bigger than what I have. Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Can you explain the difference between overfeeding worms and giving them a 2-3 week feeding? To me putting a 2-3 week feeding in at once would be overfeeding them but would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you for your content
That is a fantastic question!! I'm glad you asked because there a probably a ton of people wondering the same thing! You really can only feed a 2-3 week feeding to a very mature worm bin. Right now all of my worm bins except my Urban Worm Bag have been running for at least 3-4 years...this urban worm bag is 1 1/2 years old. If you look to my early videos I was feeding them about every 7-10 days at the beginning. In an early bin with fewer worms and fewer aerobic microbes, extra food can rot (get broken down anaerobic-ly without oxygen) because the worms & good microbes can't get to all of it fast enough. In a well aerated, mature bin, the worms and microbes get to the slower food super quick, then work their way to the longer term food as time goes on. This, most of the time, prevents the food from getting the chance to rot while the worms & aerobic microbes go through it. You'll also notice I put a lot of bedding in as well...this keeps everyone full & satiated until I get in for the next feeding. One way to tell if your bin is super mature and you are feeding enough but not too much...checkin on day 4 or 5 there should be lots of worm balls covering the food. If there is not any worm balls or worms absolutely covering the food in a feeding frenzy and the food you have in there stinks like a sewer, then feed less. I still sometime run into the problem of overfeeding...you'll know because the Executive Producer complains to me about something smelling! Of course bigger bins are more forgivable in case we make this mistake! I hope this helps!! I'll try to address your question in an upcoming video as well because I'm sure lots of people have the same question! Thanks so much for watching & for the great question!!🪱🪱🪱
Question & Advise please for a newbie. I bought a “2 gallon habitat” of red wigglers from a local worm farmer for my new vermihut. I am using your rotating system. After the second feeding I have seen white mites, rollie pollies & what I hope are millipedes(not centipedes). Their worm farm was kept in their garage. What can I do to rid/reduce the other inhabitants? Thank you & love your videos!
I just saw that my reply may not have gone through to your question. So here it is again in case you did not receive it: First off, congrats on getting your VermiHut up and running!! I'm so glad you are adapting our rotation system, I think you will find it the best way to get the most out of your worm and the Vermihut! All of the critters you mentioned are beneficial to your worms bin and help the worms break down the dead organic matter...But I totally understand you want to run a worm bin not an insect/arthropod bin!! The millipedes need to be plucked out individually in order to get rid of them, but they may have left some eggs and babies but over time you can get rid of most/all of them before the babies reach reproductive adulthood. Rollie pollies or pill bugs can be harder but same deal. Pluck out what you can but they surely left babies behind. Mites are next to impossible to get rid of and you don't want to get rid of all of them. Usually there populations bloom in an over feeding situation, but when you get used to how much your worms can eat, you will see them in smaller and smaller amounts. These kind of mites only eat dead or decaying matter so no worries about transferring them to your garden when you use your castings. The best way to get rid of mite blooms is to skip a feeding and add more bedding (always add bedding with each feeding). If that is not fast enough for you add a small piece of wet bread and check back in 4-5 hours. It will probably be filled with mites. Just throw that piece away and add another checking back in 4-5 hours. Repeat this until you have the mite population down to where you want it...but if you forget the bread in there, you will add to the mite population boom (don's ask me how I know!) Finally if you really want all the critters out now (I don't suggest this) you pluck your worms out individually and give them a group bath like I did in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iv3bsxiatYk.html it was pain staking and some mites road on the backs of the worms and kept a small population going but it is something you can do as a last resort!! I hope this helps!! Sorry again if my reply did not go through last time!! Thanks so much for your kind words and support!!🪱🪱🪱
I think I have 8,000-10,000 compost worms, both red wigglers and blue worms. I'm in Florida, USA, so very humid and warm. In the summer I have to use frozen water bottles on the top surface to cool things down. I think the best thing to do is to spread the food scraps out and add a lot of bedding. It is very important to feed less food scraps than you think for the number of compost worms...you want them to eat the food before it gets overrun with thermophilic microbes, so feed less and check on them every 7 days or so it you are just starting out. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Oh cool!! We both grew up in Orlando and hit the East Coast beaches, now we get to watch the sun set instead of rise! It is a little challenging for me to run this UWB on my back lanai in the summer because of it's western facing direction, but not impossible!
oh my god so complicated..... been watching various videos for an hour. No one can tell me simply how to start with a four tray bin system.... everyone making it over complicated.
No problem, here is the video to get started with one tray: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g5Sag75OAXY.html you don't need to figure out what to do with the other trays until later...just get your system up and running with one tray!! You can just keep adding a tray on top every 60 days until you get 4 trays on...by then you will have lots of worms and lots of curiosity about how to make it super efficient!! I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Sourdough starter will add lactic acid bacteria to the bin, awesome. I just stuck some broccoli stalks in a bin the other day, it is crazy how they end up in the inside, like corn cobs too. I have to stick a luffa in a bin, haven't since the winter, they really get all over them. That bin is awesome Patrick! Stay Well!!!!
I'm growing luffas this year and love to put them in my bin when they get worn out as sponges. We always produce so much that I can take a year or two off from growing them! It is pretty cool that the foods that are good for our gut microbiome are also really good for the worm bin microbiome!! Thanks so much for stopping by Brian!!🪱🪱🪱
Ooooooh, another one of your interesting experiments. :) I remember Anne putting whole Jeans into her bins. I'm tempted to put old cotton dishclothes in if your experiment also goes well. Cinnamon sticks are gone by the way, at the beginning it took ages and suddenly the worms took care of them quite fast.
Those jean experiments she did were so interesting!! I'm wondering if my sock will go faster than usual due to the high worm count in here??!? I think an old cotton dishcloth would be an excellent candidate for your worm bins!! When I harvested my Tiny Traveling Worm Bin I didn't find my cinnamon sticks but I may have passed over them...or they disappeared quickly after the initial slow going like yours did! Thanks for updating us & of course thanks for watching & for all your long time support!!🪱🪱🪱
Thank you!! They sure are experiencing a population boom this summer!! It would be even better if I had your rabbit poo setup!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
😂🤣😂 I'll have to show my boys this comment...they love my dad jokes!!! Or at least they make me think they love my dad jokes!! Thanks so much for watching Joe!!🪱🪱🪱
What is the best thing to do to reduce pot worms? I have them and I thought they were baby worms, but there is been some days weaks and they didn't grow up, so I think they are pot worms
Yep, if they're white and little they are most probably pot worms...baby compost worms are born pink. The best thing to do to reduce their population is to skip a feeding, aerate your worm bin by "playing with it" like I do and add dry bedding (make sure you add bedding with eat feeding). I think that will help you out! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Thank you so much!! I just subscribed to your channel! My Grandmother is from Brasil & my Grandfather spoke Portuguese as well! Unfortunately they did not pass it on to my mother but my family and I tried to learn a little Portuguese before we visited Rio for the first time last December. Thanks so much for your long time support!!
Hi Patrick and Autumn, I can't believe how much of that food mountain the worms have eaten already. That kale stem is interesting. More food and a sock 🤣 I sometimes use a few layers of hessian on top of my bin. It is broken down and consumed over time , with not a trace left. In a few weeks you'll find the other sock to that pair, the one that you thought was missing. Have fun, Mark : )
😂🤣😂 I seriously asked Autumn if we should find the other one and she said our dryer eats socks!! But I know we're gonna find it somewhere! That is a great idea, if I had some of that cloth I would definitely use it on the top of the feedings for this bin! Thanks for the good laugh & thanks for watching Mark!!🪱🪱🪱
I've wondered if people like to see the last feeding recaps...thanks for letting me know!! Here is that last video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zmODWK9MeSU.html Thanks so much for stopping by to watch Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
9:36 years ago I put lint from the dryer vent in the bin. It disappeared but never did it again. The sock will probably be gone after a while. Good luck!
Oh that's a fun idea!! The sock is 100% cotton so hopefully they eat it up since it's plant based!! Thanks for passing your experience on & of course thanks for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Question, my worms are devouring all the food im putting in my hotel and it makes me very happy since i grab it fresh out of the garden, but for some reason they do not seem to like cucumbers not even if i break then up, have you ever noticed your worms not eating cucumbers?
No I haven't seen my worms ignoring cucumbers! My worms seem to love my cucumbers? Have you tried freezing them? I freeze all my food scraps to help physically break them down on the cellular level. There is a chance the cucumbers are so fresh and possibly still growing that the worms won't touch them until they start to decay. Compost worms only eat dead or decaying matter. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Thank you that indeed could be the case and freezing might help a bunch ill try that, they do not seem to matter any other fresh fruits or vegetables tho, like raspberries, plums, apples, strawberries, cabbage, beetroot leaves, carrot leaves and some others im forgetting🙈🙈
Wow - they really did a number of that stem. Nice!! Cool check-in. I wish my VermiBag Mini could hang onto its moisture as nicely as this system does :)
That was a lucky catch for sure!! I've only ever caught them after they hollowed it out! I'm pretty happy with my Urban Worm Bag, I know all of the makers of these systems are improving with all the feed back they get. Thanks so much for stopping by AV!!🪱🪱🪱
😂🤣😂 Early check-ins are the best!! Great question...I did freeze it first, so I bet that made a huge difference!! Thanks so much for watching Sandra!!🪱🪱🪱
Below are some of the items I use for vermicomposting & my channel's videos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you use these links. Thank you for supporting this channel! www.youtube.com/@vermicompost?sub_confirmation=1 Worm Bins I use: Vermihut 5-Tray Worm Compost Bin amzn.to/3w15lQt Urban Worm Bag V2 amzn.to/3XE9QsT 20 Gallon Fabric Grow Pots amzn.to/3EBYhdr 3 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck tote amzn.to/3eKDLhO Other Worm Bins: Worm Factory 360 3-Tray Version amzn.to/3AHnjqK Worm Factory 360 5-Tray Version amzn.to/3tYfWY4 Bus bins amzn.to/3fd8AvP Equipment I use: 12 Sheet Cross Cut Micro Shredder (I use it to shred cardboard) amzn.to/3xYZKYu Magic Bullet Small Blender (to pulverize egg shells) amzn.to/3gwEzb4 or amzn.to/42SQ4w9 (with extra coffee bean & nut blade) Worms Red Wiggler mixes amzn.to/3yGNhwl & amzn.to/3R5tKvD ENC's amzn.to/4bXN5XP Mesh screen patches for DIY worm bins amzn.to/3xJjK4r Indoor Outdoor Wireless Thermometer for worm bin amzn.to/3wIdXbO Additional thermometer sensors 433 MHz amzn.to/41juD7v Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Additional thermometer sensors 915MHz amzn.to/3WTFgua Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Wrigglebrew Worm Casting Tea amzn.to/46PhV2A Food Dehydrator amzn.to/3O5Uj2H Mosquito Dunks 6 pack amzn.to/3Oe4Sl0 granular amzn.to/42KDtM0 or 20 pack amzn.to/42Br4Kf Kitchen scale to weigh worms & food: amzn.to/3HnOQjg Blue gloves amzn.to/3XsBg5n Spray bottles to mist bedding amzn.to/3Fq23rN Digital handheld Thermometer amzn.to/3EWfC2j Compost Tea Bags amzn.to/3fCb5o1 Solar powered light amzn.to/3nOucAq Reusable Keurig Coffee K-cups amzn.to/3FNXvt6 Other useful equipment for worm farming: 5 stackable sifter with different sized mesh: amzn.to/3S2k184 Cameras & camera equipment I use: Insta 360 ace pro amzn.to/3vgdmR8 Flexible Tripod amzn.to/3CGTjcF Insta360 GO 2 camera amzn.to/3oxCc80 Insta360 One X2 camera amzn.to/3nqV6hp iPhone 13 Max Pro amzn.to/3nq52aU Canon EOS Rebel T8i amzn.to/3HcBuX6 4 Ocean bracelets I wear Multiple colors to chose from bracelets amzn.to/3HMbHEx Books on worms & worm farming Worms Eat My Garbage amzn.to/3L4FXN2 Where to buy worms: www.TheGardenAndWormLady.com www.youtube.com/@vermicompost?sub_confirmation=1
Once it is a few months to 6 months old it will go through food scraps much faster than the first few months as it is building it's microbiome. If your 360 isn't doing it for you, you can also start a new different worm bin and use some of the worms from the 360 to get started. As your worms reproduce exponentially they will be able to consume a lot more food, but be easy on them at first!! The number one problem with new worm bins is overfeeding! I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
We started worm composting a few months ago. I am starting to wonder if it is worth the effort? I started with 2 15 gallong concrete mixed trays. We got about 60 lbs of castings. Then I bought 2 5 tray Vevor stacked worm huts. They seem like a complete waste of time as the bins were working. The Vevor have a filter on top, and air holes but all the condensation drips back down so they tend to get super moist and lend to mold. Who knows? We are going to keep going and learning. Ultimately I want to build an outdoor composting center about 20'x10'. Going to take old pallets apart and make it so they don't get too hot or too cold. It got so hot outside I hed to bring all the worms in the house and it kinda sucks, but the worms are loving it
So nice upload, awesome presentation, thanks for sharing dear. All the best. Have a wonderful day , see you next time again, Greetings from Germany♥ Like 114
This is a 20 gallon grow bag inside another 20 gallon grow bag! They are great outdoor bins because they breath and drain excess moisture! They are super durable, mine is 4 years old. Here is a video where you can get a better look at it: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ANahXegeuS8.html and here is a link to see how much they cost etc: amzn.to/3zPE2u2 I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
She & my father did a great job raising us 5 kids!! She is super into the worms, but she doesn't have a worm farm...yet!! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch & comment on our videos!!🪱🪱🪱
Tray is looking very good Patrick. I think the kale stem will be around for a while. I like seeing the food scraps on the top too. With doing that do you notice any issues with flies?
I haven't had any issues at all with flies in my VermiHut even when I feed on top. Have you ever had any issues? I always assume it's because any gnat or fruit fly would find it hard to get through the labyrinth in the lid with that coco coir mat. But then again they are sneaky little insects!! Thanks so much for watching Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick and oh sensible one, great video as usual. Worm bin bag is looking good. You'll have that bulked up in no time with all that shredded cardboard. And that mountain of food 😄😋 Where did all those m&m's go? I bet Autumn sneaked out in the middle of the night to retrieve them 🤤😋 Have fun, Mark : )
😂🤣😂 Thank you Mark! I bet Autumn did go in there and sneak them out! I think even checking in 2 days later would have been too late with the heat generated. Thanks so much for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
❤️👍 finally seen my worms I dumped in my outdoor compost pile/from my indoor bin. I couldn't find them for the longest time. Until I flipped the chicken bin💩 everywhere!! Except in the veg/ garden bin pretty Strange. ❤️✌️
That is a little strange! I have them in the bottom of the regular compost pile that I use grass and excess veggies in. I would love to have aged chicken manure!! I hear worms absolutely love it! Thanks for passing on your experience Tory!!🪱🪱🪱
Hello - Congrats to your son and future DIL. I'm a big fan of your channel and have learned a ton - thanks for that. Can you explain the correlation between having sandy soil and choosing not to use sand as grit?
Thank you!! We appreciate the kind words!! Not using sand is more of personal choice. Here in Florida it seems like all the soil the builders use has a high sand content. Too much sand or clay and not enough humus or organic matter makes for inferior soil so in my garden beds I've tried to add more and more compost & vermicompost, so adding sand kinda defeats the purpose...but realistically adding a little bit of sand for grit in my worm bins really would not affect things too much. But since I have an overabundance of egg shells I use them. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
To my knowledge the mosquito dunks are effective on any true fly larva. Nice strategy for keeping the bins cool, We are heading into the 90's next week, might give it a try. Always enjoy your videos Patrick! Stay Well!!!
I am so surprised at how effective the mosquito dunks are! Drinks lots of water Brian, the 90's are no joke especially with the long days you all have up there this time of year!! Thanks so much for the kind words!!🪱🪱🪱
Great point! This is one of my two outside worm bins, the other is an Urban Worm Bag. I do run a compost pile that heats up pretty good and despite that I still see compost worms in the bottom when I turn it over! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Good morning Patrick and Autumn ❤ Nice bulky feeding 👌 I've been adding a few 🧊 cubes to my outside bins, too. It seems like a hotter May and June and now July 😰🔥 Take care ❤Peggy❤
Hello Peggy!!! That early heat with no rain really took a toll on my garden but now that it is raining everyday, the luffa, peppers and some of the cherry tomatoes that made it through are doing better! Ice cubes are such a fun way to cool down the worm bins!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Can you do an experiment with putting in whole eggshells that aren’t blended? Curious if the worms end up eating it. Would like to see it in the UWB because I have one!
Yes, I can!! I'm not quite caught up with my editing so it may take a bit, but I think I can do it in a few of my bins to include the UWB!! Thanks for the great idea, and thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
