Worm Bin 4 Update: Decomposition Over Time

Guess what?  My E51 decided to work today.  So I was able to take pictures of my worm bins.  Today, I'll show you Worm Bin 4, which is a 5-gallon Round Container sawed in two.  The pictures will show the bin's content level on Novembers 4, 10 and 19.





The series of shots shows a constant but slight decline in the volume.  A lot of it is probably the moist paper compressing, but I'd like to believe it's also reflecting some of the decomposition going on (natural, through the mushrooms, and by the worms).  Surprisingly enough, this bin has been leaking moisture even though I've not been spraying it with water.  I may have underestimated the amount of moisture that organic materials contain.  Apparently, most organic materials have high water content.

If you recall, I added some substrate from Worm Bin 3 (tray) which had some mushroom growth.  Why?  Well I've read that mushrooms help with the decomposition process as well.  And after the mushrooms are done, the worms can eat the remains.  And they can eat the fungi too (there must be a lot since there are mushrooms). Considering that I just put in a handful of worms in this bin, that's a win-win situation.  Where are the mushrooms?  Just look at the white string-like things in the bin.  Those are mushrooms.  And the black parts are ink from the mushroom heads and remnants of the original worm substrate. 

I think the way this bin has been progressing, I'm betting it'll look pretty good in three months.

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