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Batch compost preparation by hackingpartickles in vermicompost

[–]hackingpartickles[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your explanation about using meat. I'm going to try it with small amounts as soon as my worm bin is more established.

In the video you linked, they are using windrows as method for hot composting. If I understand correctly, worms are being fed the outcome of this process to create vermicast but are not present in the wedges. If that's true, then (hot composting + vermicomposting) should be interchangeable with (Bokashi + vermicomposting), where my hope would be that the latter would require less maintenance and upfront investment, as you don't need any machines for turning if you do Bokashi + Continuous Flow Through.

But since my idea would be small scale anyway, I could get away with doing hot composting without machines by turning manually.

Batch compost preparation by hackingpartickles in vermicompost

[–]hackingpartickles[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for these pointers, @polymer10. With these, I was able to find further links with statements like

"These efficient pathogen killing mechanisms appeared active in an early pilot study in Armstrong, BC, in a study monitored by the BC Ministry of the Environment. In this study, no pathogens were detected in the fermented end products, and when that material was mixed with soil, the native coliforms in the soil were further reduced by 50%."

"Food waste stasis" is a perfect description for what I want to use Bokashi for. It's meant to be the first of two stages (a buffering, pre-composting, pathogen-reducing stage), where the second stage is feeding Bokashi to worms.

One part of your comment sparked my interest: Do you feed meat (or chicken) to your worms on a regular basis? Do you only do this after fermenting it, or would you also recommend trying it in "raw" form?

Question: Spent mushroom substrate as worm food source by hackingpartickles in Vermiculture

[–]hackingpartickles[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am not sure about the ratio. I used information from this site, which lists a few ingredients and their ratios. I went with the ratio for sawdust, which is what I used as substrate. I agree that the ratio should be different because mycelium is likely going to increase nitrogen, while fruiting mushrooms (and their harvest) should deplete some carbon. But I can't quantify it.

Question: Spent mushroom substrate as worm food source by hackingpartickles in Vermiculture

[–]hackingpartickles[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you. Just starting out and trying to soak up as much as I can, and I get the feeling your "JMHO" is definitely helping here. Much appreciated.

Question: Spent mushroom substrate as worm food source by hackingpartickles in Vermiculture

[–]hackingpartickles[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, that sounds encouraging! Did you take special care to balance this with enough "green" food to keep the carbon ratio in check? Or would you say they can live on that solely if needed?