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Compost reduction rate
This patch of taller greener grass is the site of one of my
compost heaps started back in june 2009. The heap was made on top of a pit 1/4 cu meter deep.
I added some material the to this heap in 2010. In 2011 nothing was added. I estimate
the total volume added in 2009-2010 as at least 1 cubic meter of compostable materials, mostly leaves and grass clippings.
All this is reduced to ground level by now. So the reduction rate on this site is roughtly 3/4 of volume in 3 years or 75%.
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Rain water magic
Last week was rainy, that made many montrealers sad, but not my worms. I disassembled my temporary greenhouse and let rain water to get into the bins. In two days of pretty cold rain the number of worms at surface multiplied several times. Most likely the worms from the depth came to the surface and staid there. They also started to process more food.
Why worms become so active under the rain? Is highly oxygenated rain water the reason? May be rain slowly but steadily moisturizes the bin's contents making it more available for worms?
May be it washes down some products of decomposition making food more attractive for worms?
I also like rains in Spring. I used this opportunity to fill my rain barrels. It's interesting will the stored rain water have the same effect on my worms as the direct rain?
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Worm habitable depth
The composting worms are surface dwelling species. This slightly ambiguous picture pretends to show this.
It's possible to see the separation between black compost line and not yet finished material where worms live.
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Closed cycle septic tank
Common ancestor of fish and humans lived around 450 millions years ago, that is not really far by geological measures. So we still share some similarities. For example, our excretions are similar.
That means it can be treated similarly. So an aquaponic system can clean human waste as well. Of course I don't want to put people in a fish tank. I just want to attach a toilet to the tubing. The solids can't go to the water flow, so they should be filtered out by a worm bin. All the rest will get cleaned by bacteria and plants. All the calculations should be similar to calculations for an aquaponic system.
As usually an aquaponic system has huge water losses to evaporation and plants transpiration. I think those losses could be balanced by adding some grey-water from syncs with bio-degradable soap. If not, rain water can be used.
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Bienvenue aux Africains
Welcome African Nightcrawlers to our Maison de Vers!
Those worms are larger and more active then eisenia fetida so they need more space. Maison de vers should be large enough to accommodate them. I fill the whole first tray with wet bedding of shredded leaves, cardboard and grass clippings. The grass clippings ought to heat up the compost a bit since African nightcrawlers need warmer conditions and I don't have them even indoors.
First thing on arrival is to check worms health. The simple test is the next:
Dump the worms on top of the prepared wet bedding and leave open under sunlight.
In 20 - 30 minutes check if any worms didn't hide in soil. If there are any - they are sick or dead.
In my case everything is OK. All the worms seem to be healthy and active.
The second important concern is what to feed the newcomers. Adult worms are conservative in their diet. So it's better to know what they were fed before to slowly help them to adapt to new food. As a general rule of thumb is that any compost worms will eat pre-composted manure. So dried grass clippings should make some substitute.
The third and last by now is patience and attentiveness. It's important to let the worms alone for a while to calm down their stress, but not miss an important moment to intervene and add more bedding and food.
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