Hi. I'm not doing any composting, but I'd like to know if the wigglers are useful to improve the quality of the soil around my fruit trees. Are they?
1081371
NO! Red Wigglers are not the right worms- get nightcrawlers. Red wigglers are rarely found in soil- they are found in decaying organic material. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenia_fetida
1081372
i imagine so, they are very small individually, tiny even. and a lb. is like a small baseball size. i'm growing them. i take some out and put here and their in garden and my plants love them!
459709
In my experience , I put 2 blu apples into my produce bin. I stored strawberries in their ventilated container inside of the drawer with 2 apples. The next week they were still good. So, I have decided to have extra apples around to stuff into clipped spinach bags, and bagged salads and veggies... the stuff you never have room for in your produce drawer. i think it will work like an enclosed drawer.I am impressed and I like that I don't have to wash out and reuse the green bags that serve the same purpose. Yes , this works. It is just a matter of chemistry. I liked the green bags too, years ago, but got tired of washing the bags and having them dry all over my kitchen and be messy looking. I like the blu apples better...but you need more than 2 to cover everything if you like having veggies stored. Hey, for cost of produce, why not try it? It works for me. I toss a whole lot less into the compost bin. Don't expect miracles, highly delicate items like raspberries will last longer than usual but nothing is a miracle cure for nature.
1919503
Maybe so. I tend to use these to the point that they are beginning to decompose. It seems like they would break down as easily as paper at that point, especially if you cut it down in size. (Our compost pile has too much brown matter to process paper well.)
1752480
The best way to deal with the fruit flies... I control them with apple cider vinager and a drop of dawn dish soap. Then I let the worms eat everything in the bin before I add anything else.. I use Heinz cider. Not sure why but I've tried other brands and did not catch any flies. I also use a stemless wine glass. I've been doing this for several years and no mater what u put in your bin. Ur gonna get other visitors. As long as they aren't harmful to the worms they can be controlled.
1674743
I have not picked up acorns, however, I have some hard pods from a sweet glum tree that really makes a bad sound if I get into any. I have since stopped using the vac on them and I rake them into a pile and pick them up by hand. Not to bad, better than damaging the vac.
693207
I do organic gardening and don't use pesticides on my fruit and vegetables, so occasionally fruit flies will appear if I leave them out of the refrigerator or dispose of them in the trash. Using this compost bucket I don't have any problems with fruit flies escaping it if they happen to hatch from any food I've put in there. They can't fit through the plastic screen in the lid. As I sometimes don't empty the contents into my outdoor compost bin for several days, this is a good thing.
1433232
I don't know why you would want to do that. If you're trying to improve the nutrients and the microbial content of your soil I would add manure and earth worms - this is assuming you can't add compost. Adding compost of course does all this for you and more.
1876698
I think there are more than enough to start your Worm Factory. I have the same system, and when I placed these worms in the top bin ( I had almost completed compost in the second and third bins )about half of them migrated down to the second bin. Good luck with them.
467941
I have this problem as well. I have three ideas I am trying. The first one is I thing my compost is too wet. I believe the proper ratio is 10 brown to 1 green. So I have a lot of shreddings that I am adding to my compost. The second is that I am adding very small sticks in the hopes this will break them up. I have plenty around the yard. Sticks are brown material. The third is I think I may have been rotating too much. I believe rotating makes the balls. I used to do it every day. Now I do 3 rotations every 4 days and sometimes I go as long as a week. Hope this helps.
1787533
Also stop by your local bait store and put in some Red Wriggler worms. worms break down the compost quicker and their waste is also good for the soil.
695826
These things worked pretty good for me last year on my fruit trees. They are sticky but I don't believe sticky enough to give any birds problems , even humming birds. Bugs don't need much sticky power catch them..RBC
976188
No problems with rodents...there are insects in the summertime (this is my second composter), but they basically stay in the composter...you will get the most beautiful, most nutrient soil ever...I encourage everyone to get one...a great way to get back in touch with the earth.
1595832
I'm not sure. Since compost generates its own heat, it may cook the nematodes. I'd do some research if I were you.
650914
yes I use them for my koi waterfall filler.... I would introduce worms to the filter as well red wiggler work well
726938
Yes, they can crawl in all kinds of ways, actually. The key is to have the right mix of materials. When my compost is mostly food scraps, then we get critters. When I add more green or brown material - yard clippings, leaves, etc. - then they go away. This bin is a just a heavy duty (HEAVY) sheet of plastic with holes in it. No bottom, no top. Included are 5 fasteners that easily applied or removed. It stands up better than I expected. Over time, the compost within the bin will form itself into a 'cake' - start the pile with yard clippings, leaves and other green/brown matter to do this - it will look like a bird's nest. When the fasteners are removed, the compost remains in the cake form. You can use a shovel at this point. I had 2 bins side by side, but ended up taking one down. I removed the fasteners and shoveled the matter into the main bin - it was cool to see how all of the matter I had dumped in had become rich, dark soil within 6mos. If you want fast-producing, smellier compost then you will want to purchase a barrel of some sort. I prefer this open air bin which allows for airflow and takes much longer to decompose all of the matter. When the pile gets too wet, I add some paper shred. When it is too dry, I add food scraps or spray the waterhose on it. Last night, there were too many flies b/c of the food scraps so I dumped the vacuum cleaner canister on it plus a bunch of dryer lint. Tell your friends you have a compost pile and they will gladly give you food scraps. A co-worker brings me her weekly food scraps. My brother brings a 5 gallon bucket of food scraps every 2 weeks to dump. A baker friend gave me 8 dozens egg shells. I'm going to let my compost keep building another 6-9mos before I start using it in my garden.
285170
Yes quite nice. I use it for my compost dregs (in the kitchen) and do not want fruit flies etch..... "bugging" me! They I take it out to the compost bins and no flies! Win Win!
1058304
I have a 20gallon plastic tote that I use for my composting. I added in a little dirt to start it, added in worms and now add paper and old fruits/veggies as the worms eat it. I have had it going for a year now and it has been great for my plants!