Saturday, March 27, 2010

What about large families, vegans, vegetarians, and juicers?

For intensive vermicompost users (e.g., large families, vegans, vegetarians, and juicers), you may need to implement my modified indoor vermicomposting instructions to accommodate your lifestyle. This is good news—you will make more compost than the typical user; however, you may have to spend more money initially.

You will probably need 2 or 3 bins and 4-6 pounds of worms to handle the volume of food waste you make. To find out how many pounds of worms you will need, weigh your food waste for a week. Double that number and that is how many pounds you will need. You can start with fewer worms if you have access to an outdoor compost pile (or don’t mind throwing away excess) while your worms multiply. The best method is to split your worms 1-2 pounds per bin, and rotate your additions among the bins so the bins rest at least 3 days between additions. You will likely have to add a lot of newspaper (or other bedding) with each addition. This is especially true for juicers—for whom I would suggest considering a wooden bin or a bin that does allow for drainage.

All of my other recommendations apply: start slowly, feed on the bottom, and monitor your bins for problems. You will soon be harvesting vermicompost and reaping the rewards of your efforts.

Cheers,

Mark

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