vermicomposting impetus

[juldea]

Recently I was musing about starting to compost (as well as other things, hence that post was friends-only), and baronbrian linked me to vermicomposting. Which I think sounds really neat! But expensive to get into, what with the bins themselves costing, oh, $100+.

But... sometimes coincidence works out in your favor. Going to pick up my free bin now. I'll still need to save up the money for the actual worms, but this is a pretty amazing find to start me off. (And I'll need to figure out with londo where it goes.)

Comments

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

As with many such things, buying the custom made item costs and arm and a leg. Making do with something similar (such as a shallow plastic tub) is cheap and good enough. As the joke goes, the worms do all the work... Best of luck on your vermicomposting.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

As luck would have it, now I have not only the free bin but a lead on free worms. Woot!

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

We started our vermicomposting with a cup of bait worms from Wal-Mart labeled "red wigglers".

We spent $75 for our initial setup, a Gusanito Worm Factory with five trays. The base is actually the expensive part -- replacement trays are $8 each and the top is $10. (The new top style is so much better for us, we bought one for our older Worm Factory after we bought a second system.)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Apparently I have a source of free worms nearby, so awesome. I'm pretty much all set. Except I have no clue what goes into what bin to start out with.. but that just requires a bit more indepth online research than I've done so far. Not having had a bin yet, I didn't pay attnetion to what goes where at the beginning, just the general overview. ;) Any tips you want to give, I would appreciate!

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

We start trays with a mix of shredded paper (mostly newspaper and cardboard put through a paper shredder) and coir. We add kitchen waste on top of that as we have it.

We bought a case of coir bricks if you'd like me to mail you a few; one brick makes about 3 plastic shoeboxes full of media when rehydrated.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Would your coir brick be the coconut fiber “Bedding Block” spoken of in websites I've read so far?

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

Yep!

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Sweet. I would definitely appreciate a brick to start off with. :) I'll send my address to your LJ username at gmail.