Live Worms in Compost

[Youngsavage]

Can I get an opinion on putting live worms into my compost and letting them die off. Could that be like worm castings.

 

[lizard]

they shouldn't die hell they should thrive and it will make your compost better
and brak down faster they'll eat up alot of it and **** it out

 

[blancolighter]

Why would they die off, or why would you want them to? Live worms are a must for compost, they give ya nothin but goodness! You need to keep your worms alive to get worm casting (crap), as they do alot more good then worm corpses. If your compost is too green and its temps get too high for worms, add some carbon rich matter to the mix (like sawdust or cardboard) to keep the temps in worms level.

 

[Youngsavage]

so like do I take the worms out when I get ready to mix it with my soil? And say for instance if I put live worms into a pot with soil and the plant, will they eat the roots?

 

[Mutt]

The dead ones? they have a NpK value too was actually chattin with a peep about having worms in his indoor soil. said "worms....ha!!! got all sorts of good critters in there".
Takes used buckets tosses in compost heap live worms and all.
Organics is all about keeping the soil alive...its not a medium but a living breathing factory for your plant.

 

[blancolighter]

Worms will not eat the roots, no worries

 

[blancolighter]

What type of compost pile?

I see steam rising from the city composting pile. I think the internal temp of the pile is around 140f. Not a good place for worms. They may live underneath the pile where the dirt is much cooler.
In a small backyard composting pile that doesn't generate heat I'm sure worms would love being there.
The soil in the container probably isn't a good environment once to put it in your flower cabinet. Probably too hot and dry for the worms.

Compost temp is easy to control. If you put alot of nitrogen rich substances in it, decompostion will really get "cookin" and raise the internal temps of the compost pile to temps like you mentioned. This applies to small yard compost piles as much as it does city compost piles. If you want to create a sustainable enviroment for worms, add a good amount of carbon rich material for every good heap of nitrogen rich material you put in. This will slow down the bacterial decompostion process (which creates tons of heat) and give other, larger organism sa better chance to thrive and break down the plant matter in their own way. No one way is wrong or right, but if you have a compost pile that is diverse in its contents and creatures, you will have compost that has a wider range of nutes and valuable properties...

 

[umbra]

Compost temp is easy to control. If you put alot of nitrogen rich substances in it, decompostion will really get "cookin" and raise the internal temps of the compost pile to temps like you mentioned. This applies to small yard compost piles as much as it does city compost piles. If you want to create a sustainable enviroment for worms, add a good amount of carbon rich material for every good heap of nitrogen rich material you put in. This will slow down the bacterial decompostion process (which creates tons of heat) and give other, larger organism sa better chance to thrive and break down the plant matter in their own way. No one way is wrong or right, but if you have a compost pile that is diverse in its contents and creatures, you will have compost that has a wider range of nutes and valuable properties...

Efficient Microorganisms, photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria, and yeast. The yeast is where the heat comes from, fermentation process is exothermic.

 

[420benny]

Don't worry about the worms and heat. If the pile is too hot, they go down deeper. Once it cools off to a zone they can handle, they come back. There's a whole pecking order, too. The red wrigglers work at the surface breaking down the newest ingredients. Lower than them in the pile are night crawlers and regular worms doing their thing. One of the first things I teach kids is to relate to the worms and learning how it all works while having fun collecting them and playing.

 

[Trueshoe]

What type of worm would be best to use?... Big ole nightcrawlers?... Or something smaller than that?

 

[Sir_Tokie]

Red wigglers are the most common for creating worm castings. But all worms create castings...take care..

 

[cubby]

Why would they die off, or why would you want them to? Live worms are a must for compost, they give ya nothin but goodness! You need to keep your worms alive to get worm casting (crap), as they do alot more good then worm corpses. If your compost is too green and its temps get too high for worms, add some carbon rich matter to the mix (like sawdust or cardboard) to keep the temps in worms level.

I totaly agree with blanco about adding sawdust but make sure it's not from pressure treated wood or your worm will go belly up (kind of hard to tell though since their bellys look just like their backs) Shredded news paper might work as well. It would keep soil temps down and retain some moisture as well as supply a food source for the worms.
Best of luck and keep us posted.

 

[blancolighter]

man cubby, you've always got some good info to share! Ha, and too add to your last post, try to stick to black and white newpaper, color printing doesn't fair well to works digestion either... Not as bad as the treated lumber does though, thanks for spreadin that good bit of knowledge!

 

[cubby]

man cubby, you've always got some good info to share! Ha, and too add to your last post, try to stick to black and white newpaper, color printing doesn't fair well to works digestion either... Not as bad as the treated lumber does though, thanks for spreadin that good bit of knowledge!

Most news print these days ( black & white) is made up of inks with a soy base. I don't know if there has been any studies in relation to vermiculture but wouldn't be suprised to find some benifit from the soy.
When worms eat colored print they just crawl around farting....LOL