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Using only worm castings for peppers?

Walchit said:
Now I gotta Google water bears.
Edmick said:
I think they're native to Australia or something..

7Y4EV286_400x400.jpg

 
 
 
Everyone knows there's no bears in Australia.
 
 
 
 
 
 
solid7 said:
Maybe ALL of the common ones that YOU know about.  Don't tell that to the worms that I've got that won't touch manures.  :shh:
 
The statement was originally made to illustrate the point that putting large amounts of animal manure into a worm bin, will generally not give a positive result.  Animal manures are very high in salts and urea.  If you've never been around animal manures, they tend to be very "hot", and will, if heaped up in a pure state (i.e., with nothing else added), be warm enough to kill just about anything - with the possible exception of water bears.  
 
Name the species 
 
I don't know the species. What I know is that they are the ones that will remove themselves to the far end of the bin, when manure is present. If the manure content is too high in the bin, they will jump ship.

You are welcome to come collect samples, if you are so invested in the topic.
 
solid7 said:
I don't know the species. What I know is that they are the ones that will remove themselves to the far end of the bin, when manure is present. If the manure content is too high in the bin, they will jump ship.

You are welcome to come collect samples, if you are so invested in the topic.
 
I regularly turn fresh cow, ,horse, sheep and kangaroo manure into worm castings with red wrigglers which are the canonical composting worm
If the worms are not eating the manure it's not because they don't eat manure, it will be the conditions of the bin. Red wigglers are famous for liking manure and are often found in nature underneath piles of manure
 
Powelly said:
 
I regularly turn fresh cow, ,horse, sheep and kangaroo manure into worm castings with red wrigglers which are the canonical composting worm
If the worms are not eating the manure it's not because they don't eat manure, it will be the conditions of the bin. Red wigglers are famous for liking manure and are often found in nature underneath piles of manure
Ok, fine. That's your experience. I don't use red wigglers anymore, because they live too close to the surface, and geckos get into the bins and wipe them out, where I'm at. The non-shit eating worms that I have in the bins, found their own way in, and either live deeper, or are less nocturnal than the would-be predators. So I don't care what they are, but they won't touch manure. End of.

In nature, you find worms in the "cool" zones of the pile. Much harder to find a cool spot in a hot bin.

I've been raising worms and producing vermicompost for a good minute now, so rather than continue to debate this point with you, I'll just let you go on believing that you are right, and we can all be happy. M'kay? ;)
 
Oh, please. "Composting worms" is a completely arbitrary (if not commercial) designation. If it makes compost, and it's a worm, it's a composting worm. This topic has already brought to light that not everyone the world over does things the same way, nor with the same resources.

Carry on with silly argumentative logic.
 
solid7 said:
Interesting.  As I mentioned, I used to use nightcrawlers, but find them too hard to keep cool and content in their space.

I also want to put it out there that anyone who wants to get into vermicomposting, might also want to consider the Black Soldier Fly larvae.   They are NOT picky...  Never seen anything like these critters.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhR2jDS2IJI
I think Im gonna be sick
I have 2 composts going, one with black soldiers and another with Red Wigglers in a small amount of cow manure, most food is kitchen scraps. My next experiment is to release a couple dozen into my cow poo pile to see how they do. I planned on trying it out prior to yalls debate
:cheers:
 
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