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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Kitchen Scraps Mulch - Update 4

It's been a few months since I put kitchen scraps as reverse mulch (bottom of the pot) under my habanero.  Then I put a couple of African Nightcrawlers along with the scraps.  I wanted to see if the ANCs would survive in the pot and turn the organic content inside the pot into vermicompost.    A couple of days ago, I decided to dig up the pot to see.    Compare it for yourself. 

If you look at pictures 1 and 2, that's show's a month's difference.  In particular, examine the amount of additional mulch on the top side of the plant.  While picture 1 shows the pot filled to the brim with mulch picture 2 shows about an inch and a half decline.  Considering that I throw in additional material several times a week, you'll appreciate how fast the organic material degrades.  Was it due to the worms?  Perhaps. 

If you compare pictures 3 and 4, you'll see a big difference as well.  Whereas picture 3 has a whole newspaper on the underside covered by a week's worth of kitchen scraps, picture 4 shows mostly humus and some worms.  Now the inside of the pot wasn't exactly crawling with worms as I had hoped, but there were still some there.  However, I've also seen that the worms migrated to some of the other pots beside my habanero as well.  That's why I have cardboard and newspaper under the pots so that the worms can easily move from a bad spot to a good spot and always have something to eat.   I think this also goes to show that if you plan it right, composting worms can survive and thrive in the sunny side of the garden.



 


3 comments:

  1. hello friend and fellow blogger, i'm also an urban gardener. i just graduated from culinary school and love gardening. you might wanna check out my blog too. fellow filipino here. where ya from? =D

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  2. Just a note about the worms - assuming that they have enough food then the limit to their reproduction and growth is the surface3 area of whatever container they are in - so a plant pot which is a tall thin cylinder will never be very succesful for worms. Better to use a shallower bodaer pot - maybe a see tray?

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  3. Thanks for dropping by guys! I place pizza boxes under my pots. This allows the worms to transfor from one pot to another. Some of them just live under the pots (but over the cardboard).

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