Steven Churchill – 4 Myths Of Worm Composting

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Steven Churchill – 4 Myths Of Worm Composting

 

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Steve Churchill

Hey everyone! :)

Steve Churchill

Hey gang! I'm thrilled to be here! I'm a dad, a husband, a veteran, a recovering airline pilot, and a worm evangelist! I live in the Philly area with my wife and two kids and am having a blast growing the Urban Worm Company.

If you've got any questions before we start the presentation, post them here and I'll answer as quickly as I can!

Cheers,

Steve

tomandcara

Hi Steve,

My daughter lives in Nebraska and just did the Master Gardener course for her county. One of the things we were talking about was invasive species and she told me the tiger worm is an invasive species that throws off the balance of nature for the native worms because they are such voracious eaters. Can you please comment on this?

Thank you.

Steve Churchill

Hi Tomandcara,

The tiger worm or red wiggler is non-native, but is not *invasive*. It's the amynthas agrestis "jumper worms" that are destroying the forest floor.

danlonowski

Hi Steve,

Great presentation. I liked the first part about the food scraps and the role that the microbes play in starting the breakdown process for the worms to take over. I think we have a couple of Rubbermaid tubs around here, and I need to try my hand at kitchen scraps again - it's been a few years!

Thanks!

Rachel

So, my 55 gal CFT seemed dry, so I soaked it....now what? I didn't know I was taking away their oxygen. I don't think I could fluff the bottom layers if I wanted to. In the future I'll put a plastic bag or something over the top and try to maintain moisture, but should I do something for those bottom layers now?

-Rachel Graham

Steven

Hi Rachel! The anaerobic conditions are likely only a problem at the bottom of the bin. Is this a 55-gal bin that is cut down the middle and laid on its side? You could poke some drainage holes in the bottom in this case. Let me know! :)

Mary Ann Smith

Hey, Steve!!! Enjoying your great presentation! Aw, the cucumbers! <3

Steven

Yes! Always using your picture......

SC

Steve Churchill

Weird....the system logged me in as another Steve. Hmm

Mark

Steve, Very nice presentation! Everyone with a worm bin/bag should definitely watch this! I think I'll go add some bedding to my worm bag that I just fed this morning, just to be sure its stays right:-)

Steve Churchill

Thanks Mark! Yep, I better do the same! :)

Marjory Wildcraft

Hey Steve,

I'm getting the tech team to fix the issue of your name and bio mis-match on the main page.

Hey, great presentation! SO glad to see you online.

Stephen

Hi Steve,

As I told you in a privately email

"You really do beat any company I've ever dealt with for standing behind your products. Thanks again for dealing with every issue in such a customer friendly manner.

You're the best,

Steven

Oh Stephen.....thank you so much! As I always say...how I treat people is the only thing 100% in my control.

Cheers!

Steve

shllnzl

Great presentation. My husband is resisting my generating any compost, but I will continue my research into the worms just in case I can find somewhere here where it will work.

julieart01

Hello Steve,

I have a quick question for you. When putting the worm castings in my garden is it ok to to the lasgna method and put them on top near the base of the plants or do I need to mix it in the soil so that the microbes do not die off? Thanks for your presentation. I learned a lot about the moisture content from you.

Barbara

Great presentation! Very informative on getting me started and keeping me straight - especially where those myths are concerned. Thank you, Steve!

Steven

Thanks Barbara! :)

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/859979#Comment_859979

Hey Julie!

While I'm not a huge gardener, I can tell you that side dressing or mixing into soil is better. If you have a large garden, I would opt towards side or top dressing nearby the root to ensure a little less leaching of nutrients away from the plant!

Cheers...and thanks for watching!

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/859976#Comment_859976

Let's try to get your husband onboard! :)

Cheers,

Steve

judsoncarroll4

"Red Wigglers, the Cadillac of worms!"..... couldn't resist the WKRP reference.

pattymcgrath08

Hi Steven,

Just in time!!!

You just saved me from dousing my vermiculture worms with extra water to make what I thought was worm tea in the bottom of my stacked vermiculture setup. Instead, to entice them up to 'layer #2' I have torn up some newspaper bedding. Now I'm sorry that I gave away my old fish tank setup - could have used that circulator pump to make true worm tea!

To anyone worrying about 'a stinky setup' I have to say that my worm farm, which is about 9 months old and lives in the basement has NO ODOR at all. It gets too cold here in Maryland to have them outside for the year or put them in the garage. Besides, it's really convenient to just drop off veggie cuttings when it's nearby.

I was completely unaware of the importance of the microbes as part of the whole process. That was the most enlightening part of your presentation. And I will not be putting the leachate onto my house plants.....now I'll aim for less leachate, not more!

I do have an outside compost 'rounded enclosure' for all the food scraps not suitable for the indoor worms. I still have to check. Being vegetarian means I have a lot of veggie and fruit scraps.

I thoroughly enjoyed this clear and convincing presentation - GREAT JOB!

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/859994#Comment_859994

Thanks so much Patti! :) Good luck moving forward!

I will say that dry bedding won't entice them higher. I would remove wetter trays and add some dry bedding into them. It will eventually break down and make things a little drier. THEN the worms are more likely to move into higher trays for fresher waste. When given the choice between kind of wet conditions where they are and fresher food elsewhere, they seem to be pretty stubborn and just might not move.

Cheers!

Steve

D

Dear Steve,

Please show how to harvest the worm castings with your worm bag. It appears there is a double layer & I am not sure how that works - especially if there is some leachate. Is inner bag more rigid? If leachate does collect - guessing in the outer layer -- how is that removed?

Thank you.

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/860002#Comment_860002

Hey D! I didn't include much in the presentation about harvesting castings, but that's something on the "list" when it comes to YouTube videos. You simply unzip the bottom and loosen up the interior drawstring, which will allow the castings to fall out into a container (not included) below. If the moisture has been managed well, there will be very few worms in the compost.

You may find that you need to bang on the sides to get the vermicompost loose as the slight compaction and tapering of the Bag will keep a lot of the material inside the Bag. So sometimes you need to "coax" it out of there. And don't worry,if your Bag is on the full side, you won't risk having all of the Bag suddenly empty out on you. :)

You should NOT have leachate coming out of the Bag except for maybe the first few days when the moisture is settling out of the bedding. If you DO run the Urban Worm Bag wet enough to produce leachate (which I don't recommend), then keep that bottom zipper open with a catch underneath. My friend and fellow HGFS presenter Kevin Espiritu runs his Bag like this and it work well for him. But even he gets a lecture from me for keeping the Bag too wet! (Adding lots of bedding prevents excess moisture as the bedding will sop it up! :)

Cheers!

Steve

cavymomma

Wow - I absolutely need this great info! I started my worms bins about 2 months ago (cheap 5 gal buckets coz wasn't too sure how the whole adventure would work out for me). Ready to move up to the Urban Worm Bag and just placed my order through Amazon (bummed you ran out on your web site and I missed out on the grow 10 discount, sigh...). Looking forward to much more success - thanks oodles!

Lydia Feltman

Hi Steve,

Thanks for a well organized and enthusiastic talk. I've been worm composting for 20+ yrs, and still learned something from you. I also teach worm composting as a Master Gardener, and I appreciate your emphasizing the importance of the microbes. Thanks for information about the benefits with the reference to scientific information, that I did not know about.

I have never had a problem with too much moisture or anaerobic conditions as I have always drilled holes in the bottom of my worm bins. I was surprised that you did not mention to do that, maybe because many people would be keeping their bin indoors. Most of my vermi-composting is now done in large wooden "benches", but I have used the plastic bins, and that is the only time there has been problem with the worms getting too hot or cold. Sometimes I spray the bedding with water in our over 100 degree summer, and it can just drain thru. I also usually cover the beds with wet newspaper to keep them damp and keep out flies, as the wooden lids are loose as well.

Thanks again and best wishes,

~Lydia

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/860035#Comment_860035

Hey Cavy,

Get in touch for a discount to buy worms! Unless of course you got them on Amazon too. ;)

Steve Churchill

https://community.thegrownetwork.com/discussion/comment/860037#Comment_860037

Thanks Lydia! You're right about drilling holes in the bottom. That would have required talking about having a bin inside of another bin to catch leachate so I kind of kept it as simple as I could.

Thanks so much for watching and I appreciate the kind words! :)

Cheers,

Steve