{"id":232,"date":"2016-09-30T03:17:20","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T03:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/?page_id=232"},"modified":"2019-07-10T20:36:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T20:36:02","slug":"vermiculture","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/vermiculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermiculture"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>2 lbs of red wigglers will recycle 1 lb of organic matter in 24h!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><u>What you need:<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">A large bin with air holes you can purchase <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/EDUCATIONAL-INSIGHTS-SEE-THROUGH-COMPOST-CONTAINER\/dp\/B00486Y80A?ie=UTF8&amp;*Version*=1&amp;*entries*=0\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Shredded newspaper, cut up cardboard\/toilet paper rolls for bedding<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">\u201cGreens\u201d and \u201cBrowns\u201d<\/span>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Avoid citrus fruit, animal products and minimize grains.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">(optional) Moisture probe to estimate moisture levels, which you can buy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Etekcity-Indoor-Outdoor-Moisture-Hygrometer\/dp\/B00CTPXXEE\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1467391350&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=moisture+probe\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">1 Pound of worms you can purchase <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Uncle-Jims-Worm-Farm-Composting\/dp\/B00EZPSSGY\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1467300265&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=compost+red+worms\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><u>What you do:<br>\n<\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Slightly moisten the bedding before placing it in 1-2 inch layers in the bin.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Alternate layers of \u201cgreens\u201d and browns\u201d, adding a top layer or food scraps and a little bit of soil (about half a cup), (optional) and add some thin paper such as newspaper that is also moistened.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>Why? <\/strong>Even though newspaper is compostable, it breaks down quite slowly because of its high lignin content. (Lignin: substance found in the woody cell walls of plants, and it is highly resistant to decomposition. Therefore, to accelerate its decomposition be sure to wet the newspaper.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Wait for 3 days with the bin covered and pour some water again to keep moistened. If you\u2019re using a moisture probe, it should read 40-60%. If you\u2019re estimating the moisture levels, your bin will be wet enough when it feels like a sponge like \u2013 environment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Gently scatter the worms around the container so they are dispersed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Do not place the bin in the sunlight!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>MAINTANANCE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Keep the bedding moist, but not too wet.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Depending on how moist you keep your worm bin, you will get varying amounts of worm tea to harvest. You should be harvesting<strong> about 3 tablespoons of worm tea per week <\/strong>or less<strong>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Use your thermometer to check that the bin is always at a temperature between 40 \u2013 90 degrees F.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>Why? <\/strong>Usually, an ideal temperature for microorganisms is around 160 degrees F. But this temperature is way too hot for the worms to decompose. The best temperature range for red worms is 55-77 degrees.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Occasionally add more bedding and food scraps to the mix.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Make sure to mix the food scraps so it is mostly underneath the bedding because the worms will avoid being in the light.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Worms are very flexible eaters so you can feed them as often as every day or as infrequently as every other week. Ideally you should feed your worms every 2-4 days.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>HOW TO FEED YOUR WORMS \u2026 2 ways<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Alternating between a layer of food and a layer of bedding starting from the bottom of the bin (where the holes are).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\">Dig down into one side of your bin and put the food there. The next time feed the other side of you bin.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2 lbs of red wigglers will recycle 1 lb of organic matter in 24h! What you need: A large bin with air holes you can purchase here. Shredded newspaper, cut up cardboard\/toilet paper rolls for bedding \u201cGreens\u201d and \u201cBrowns\u201d Avoid citrus fruit, animal products and minimize grains. (optional) Moisture probe to estimate moisture levels, which you can buy here. 1&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":999,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-232","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/999"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/microbial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}