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Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sack Vermicomposting
Most articles you would read on the Internet regarding vermicomposting will talk about vermicomposting using plastic or wooden bins / tubs. But you probably have not read anything about sack vermicomposting. It's something I tried a few months ago. Flashback to around two months ago. I got a sack (the type that breathes). The consistency of the sack material was like plastic. I'm not sure what it's called but I got it from some garden soil that I bought months back. I put in about two whole newspapers (not pages, but whole newspapers) and soiled them. I placed the sack under a tree in the garden. It was on soil, not on cement. Then I placed all sorts of organic materials there, from fresh leaves to banana peels and whole eggshells. I got it about 3/4 full. Once in a while, I'd still add fallen leaves and dead plants. I poured urine inside the sack a couple of times to add to the nitrogen content and to hasten decomposition. I also placed a paper cup inside with a couple of worms (4-5 I think) including some substrate. Once or twice a month, I'd put some water inside to make sure the contents are moist.
To close the sack, I just fold the top and put two medium sized rocks on top. As you can see, it's not the most high tech system, right? Flash forward to today and most of the contents are gone. I mean, the level of material has gone down by about 90% I would estimate. To my surprise, I also found lots of vermicast. However, it seemed a bit brown to me. Strange. Most of the vermicast I produce in other bins are black. I'm not sure what that means, but the contents sure look like vermicast to me. Considering I just put in a few worms in there, it's great to see that they're still alive and working. I'm not sure if they've multiplied though but I have seen a couple and they're all big African Nightcrawlers now. They were just babies when I put them in.
Cool huh? I'm not sure exactly when I started it, but it can't be more than three months. I guess I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll keep putting the excess organic stuff I have there since I won't care if the sack leaks (it's on soil) or smell (since it's outdoors).
Try it. It's as low maintenance as you can get. It's like an outdoors organic garbage can with a few worms thrown in. Then it's autopilot from there.
To close the sack, I just fold the top and put two medium sized rocks on top. As you can see, it's not the most high tech system, right? Flash forward to today and most of the contents are gone. I mean, the level of material has gone down by about 90% I would estimate. To my surprise, I also found lots of vermicast. However, it seemed a bit brown to me. Strange. Most of the vermicast I produce in other bins are black. I'm not sure what that means, but the contents sure look like vermicast to me. Considering I just put in a few worms in there, it's great to see that they're still alive and working. I'm not sure if they've multiplied though but I have seen a couple and they're all big African Nightcrawlers now. They were just babies when I put them in.
Cool huh? I'm not sure exactly when I started it, but it can't be more than three months. I guess I'm pretty happy with the results. I'll keep putting the excess organic stuff I have there since I won't care if the sack leaks (it's on soil) or smell (since it's outdoors).
Try it. It's as low maintenance as you can get. It's like an outdoors organic garbage can with a few worms thrown in. Then it's autopilot from there.
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