Wood Worm Farms

This device is made from a used barrel from pickled olives.
Wood Worm Farms got it in a fair trade exchange for 1 (one) 4-trays bin.
Many thanks to Janice from alter-eco.ca, I really didn't expect such a generosity, since Canadians are not eligible for fair trade. I promised to research for how much time can this barrel feed a regular lawn sprinkler and how fast does it fills up in rain.

Now let's drill the holes and make a nice worm bin... NO WAY!
This barrel will be used to save rain water and to sprinkle my lawn with garden tea.

Also, it was very easy to install. All the procedure took around 25 minutes.

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It's amazing how many people are really interested in sustainable living. I mean not just following the fashion (though even this is not bad). We had met a lot of interested and interesting people there and many of them are quite knowledgeable. We learned from them a lot.
Here are some findings :
* Dogs can be trained to sniff bad insects in home and find rotten wood.
* There is a business, that sells rain barrels in our area.
* There is a business that collects compost from supermarkets.
* Many farmers still grow ecological food, including meat, and try to sell it directly.
* Children naturally like to play with worms. Disgust comes later...

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Now the tray #1 is the first in line.
At this point, it's interesting to know what is the usual weight one has to lift to get to the first tray.
As the scales show, it's around 50lb (20kg). That is the reason why we don't recommend to use more then 5 trays on a single unit.

The single tray weight is around 10lb (5kg). This weigh is the result of decomposition of approximately 7lb of food scrap and 2lb of bedding.

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Shredded cardboard is one of the best choices for bedding, but it's really hard to rip it manually or cut with a knife.
At last, I found an affordable cardboard shredder!
Though by its definition it is not designed for cardboard, it does the job pretty well up to medium thickness sheets.
Lets try the machine on this pile...


OK. Done in half an hour. Let's see if the worms will enjoy the results.
(I am enjoying them for sure)

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In my perionyx excavatus experiment I have mixed results.
The P.E. numbers decreased.
Several factors could be responsible for this:
1. There was a problem with other worms i.e. Eisenia Fetida and European Nightcrawlers got into P.E. bin by my error. In my bin structure Eisenia Fetida seems to outcompete P.E.
2. I kept their bin outdoors during Canadian 'warmer' months.
3. It seems like the conditions (food, humidity, bedding, etc) were significantly different in my bin, then in the place, they lived before.
If so, they should adopt and multiply again. In spite of all this I still see many P.E. when feeding the worms or digging into compost.

Some findings by now:
1. I never notice any P.E. left their bin.
2. P.E. peacefully coexist with both Red Worms and European Nightcrawlers. It seems like in abundance of food they occupy different niches.
3. In wooden bins P.E. do not outcompete other worms, rather opposite.
4. I didn't notice any significant improvement in decomposting rate or compost quality by now.
5. P.E. are capable to survive in temperature 10C - 15C for at least 5 months.

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