Florida

Worm bin notes: More than I thought!

Update 4, Bin 1.  Good news, roly polys are producing young, all look well.  There are many more worms in the bin than I thought there were.  Larger and smaller worms throughout.  Surprisingly there were worms down in the section I’m not putting waste down on.  They’re consuming the cardboard and getting inside like they usually do in the other bins.

I tried to record my moving substrate and waste to look for worms but it wasn’t working well.  I think the yellow gloves are causing problems with focus and light reflection.  I’ve also noticed that when I have a microphone on my lapel it is below where the lip of the bin is so it is mostly blocked when I’m speaking.  Not sure how to deal with the glove issue but the mic issue is an easy one to solve.

As I moved the waste around I can see they need less waste.  Not enough to handle anything but small amounts at this time.  An example might be one mango or half of a cantaloupe rind lasting for about two weeks.  It was exciting to see all the young worms.  Not sure where they all came from as it did not seem like there were many to start with.  Maybe there were eggs in the soil from the planter.   Also noted with still images in the video is the size difference.  When I placed them in the bin they were as small as the worms featured in the still image but the larger ones in the image is what I’ve been seeing the last few weeks since I first noted the change.

Thought I’d add the wheat/oat grass we grow for our cats.  It last for several weeks then dies off so I add it to the bin as leaf litter.  Seems like this bin has all it can handle for the next 2 or 3 weeks.  I’ll monitor the conditions and maybe add something from the waste bin in small quantities until the population and mass size increases.  Looking forward to seeing how this bin progresses over time. -13

Check out the video!

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Worm bin notes: Here today, gone next week

Bin 2, the addition of worms from bin 3 made a noticeable difference in how much bin 2 can handle as evidenced by the photos taken 8 days later.   No noticeable odors or flying insects.  Bin 3 had no noticeable difference in consumption, except for the cardboard.  Doesn’t look like I moved any worms.  The video shows how the worms start getting into the cardboard.  Then it seems to disappear into the castings.  I’ll have to add more waste over the next day or so.  It is so amazing how fast they can consume what looks like to much at first. -13

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Worm bin notes: The Woodlice move in

Bin 1. The progress of the bonus worms is moving along well. They’re at the top eating. Most look like they’re maybe an inch or so in length. There might be 20 or so in total. I did find 2 that were larger and think they must have been where I couldn’t see them. It looked like there might be a concentration of them in the soil I found them in so I’m surprised to see so few at this point.

I’m sure there is enough waste to feed on for several weeks and won’t add any until then. Considering the progress of waste consumption and number of worms I thought it would be good to move the potato skins over top of the old and newly added waste to act like leaf litter. It seems to work well for that. Helps keep up the moisture, provide shade from sunlight and edible waste.

As soon as that side is finished I’ll move the waste to the other half in an attempt to build it up. Curious about composting in general I’ve also tried to find information on the insects I find in my compost piles. One of those that seems to always be on-scene is the Armadillidium vulgare. Also known as role-poly, pill bug and others.

Recently I noticed pill bugs in a flower pot so I thought I’d add them to my experimental bin. I’d like to see how they influence and reproduce in a worm-bin setting. One of my thoughts was to see if they help keep house and eat other things like vegetable skins the worms don’t seem to have an interest in or have an difficult time consuming.

The video is little over 6 minutes with most of the details. I had recorded footage of the capture of the insects but cannot find it anywhere. So much for that. I’ll check the bin in 6-7 days then film an update. -13

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Worm bin notes: Eviction notice!

Bin 2 & 3. Both bins have generally been feed the same each waste dump. Bin 2 has usually taken a week longer or more for the same amount in bin 3 to disappear in about three to five days. The before and after videos and stills turned out to be useful for making it easy to see. Over the last few weeks I’ve been watching to see about how many more there are in 3 than two.

When I turn the waste cover off the worms it is clear the volume is significant. Based on those two facts I decided to evict a considerable amount of worms from 3 and move them a few feet into 2. I think that it will even out the population. For now I’ll spread out the waste and let them settle for another 5 days or so.

The video below has most of the action.

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Worm bin notes: Change of plans

Worm bin- 2, 3.  Bin 2, most of the waste is slowly settling.  The cleared side looks mostly cleaned out.  No odor.  Bin 3, recently added waste was settling into the compost, worms were in abundance.*  No odor.  Cleared off side is ready for more waste.  Since the broccoli funk is gone I’ll add more waste to that side in both bins.  Looks like I’ll need to add more to bin 3 since they’re eating at a rapid pace.  They must be on a sugar rush from all the mangos.

Wanted to document the details in the video below.

*Bin 3, added worms from bin 1 several months ago.  I had some cardboard that I use as a leaf litter substitute. At some point palmetto bugs had set up home in one piece.  I missed it and introduced then into bin 1.  Now I bake the cardboard before I introduce it to the bin to cook off and eggs or insects.

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Worm bin notes: Spring cleaning

Quick follow up for bins 2 & 3. The video footage shows it clearly, things in the bin are getting back to normal. I was surprised to see how much they had cleared out. They ate the center of fresh cut potatoes that left what looked like over baked potato skins. Thought that was worth noting. Added cat hair about a month ago. Looks like I need to thin it out more.

Not a hint of foul odor from any of the bins. They usually don’t have much of an odor. I always find that interesting. The other surprise was the potato skins trying to grow.

They ate so much that I had to get mangos to feed both bins. I’ll check back in 5 days or so then post another video/blog. -13

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Worm bin notes: Home sweet home!

Bin 1, week 3, or so. Big surprise that most of the waste was gone with so few worms. Mostly potato skins left at this point. I suspected they would be hungry because the soil they came from didn’t seem to have anything for them to consume. The availability of a steady food source makes big difference. I’d have a short video of them except when I turned on the light I either turn off the cam or never did. No matter the result is the same. Freeze frame with a voice over. Low budget! That’s what I get for trying to walk and chew gum at the same time.

The worms are doing well and appear to be growing and eating rapidly. The larvae that I thought might turn into a fruit fly swarm didn’t seem to leave a trace. I didn’t see any flying insects in or around the bin area. Nor were there piles of larvae swimming in rotting fruit. I was surprised to find the potato skins trying to grow after putting them in the bins many times before and not seeing it. Makes me think to cut the potatoes into smaller pieces to try for planting next time I raise potatoes. The the sun shines on this bin more so I suspect that may have help a little.

I added carrot skins, onion then lightly watered the vegetables on top to keep them moist for the worms. When dry it takes them much longer to get to and process.  Potato skins last for some time before it’s unrecognizable.  At this stage of the experiment I want to make it as easy as possible for the worms to do what ever they want to.  In a few more weeks I might be able to tell more what kind of worms are in there. -13

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Worm bin notes: No broccoli thank you!

After polluting the bins with broccoli I decided to document the clean up on video. Not all of it as the video is an afterthought. A few days have past and the clean up is working. Worms are moving throughout the bin and working. Looks like it’s mostly in the video. -13

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Worm bin notes: Worms from Nowhere

Thought I’d make a video of the newly set up worm bin. It has been running for 2 plus weeks at this point. The bin was empty after I had introduced roaches into the bin on the cardboard I use to directly cover the substrate. I prefer it to shredded paper because I can quickly remove it and see/smell the condition when I want to.

The motivation to restart the bin came from finding infant size earth worm looking species in what I thought was sterile soil mixed last year stored in plastic bins. After counting 20 worms in a small area, I moved the small pile of soil and placed it on top of the moss prepared days before. Waited a few days then started to introduce vegetable waste.

The worms I found were at the top, mostly clustered in an old patch of oat and wheat grass I’d grown for our domestic cats munching on a mango. They had tripled in size. For now going to leave it as it is then add more wastes in a few weeks or so. -13

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Worm bin notes: Ingredients

Pineapple- Added skin cutting/core of one pineapple, worms found within a day, completely consumed within a week in both bins. Next time I’ll either photo or video the experiment.

Onion- Added end pieces to both bins. At day 2 the underside had many of the smaller worms but the adults seemed to stay away. I’m sure they weren’t larvae of something else. Will take photos or video next time.

Broccoli- Added several stalks. Next day the odor was noticeable several feet away from the bin. I noticed that day the worms were all over the waste in the bin. By the next day they had all withdrawn below all of the waste they were feeding on. I removed as much as possible to the compost bin. Follow up will be in the next post. I’ll never put broccoli in my worm bins again, only the outdoor compost.

Cucumber- I didn’t think there would be any issues with cucumbers in the worm bin. I wasn’t sure the vinegar soaked ones would go over well so added one small slice in a couple of the corners of the bin. Surprisingly they had disappeared. There was about half a cucumber left so I divided it between the bins. By the 3rd day it was all gone. I’ve noticed that with most of the food the worms will be eating from the underside, but not with the cucumbers. Each time I’ve put it in the bin they are all over it.

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Dash Cam: Special 3 Squirrels, Birds and French Fries

Irma passed.  The electricity and internet stayed on the entire time.  Then as the storm passed, internet gone!  For more than a week, I’ll write more on that in another post.  Couldn’t work on my other projects so thought I’d clear up some of my video projects and catch up.

Here it is weeks later and just today have I been able to accomplish what I set out to do.  What I thought would take a week has turned into three weeks.  I discovered I had four months of dash cam videos piled up on my computer.  When I checked, the memory on the computer was in the red zone.  Whatever that meant.

Parked at the computer desk I began the sorting process.  I discovered some things I hadn’t noticed before when I didn’t have so many to sort at the same time.  Our dK2 camera usually records 100, three minute videos per day, often more.  There are so many drivers not using their turn signal to indicate a lane change I had to eliminate all but the most offensive in my eye.  I used close calls, speed, proximity to others, distance etc as a guide.  The progression of this can be seen in the videos as I learned more.

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It takes me about 30 seconds to scan each 3 minute section.  More if I find something.  Every 5 hours or so of video seems to produce 1-2 minutes of useable footage.  The project getting behind like that was to much.  I have to stay on top of it or it will become overwhelming and I’ll run out of storage space.

L12SFD

I finally figured a way to cut a still image from the actual footage to use as a custom thumbnail.  That discovery made me want to go back an change all the covers to the begining.  I didn’t like the blue screen background much it reminded me of computer blue screen hell.  So, now it’s changed.

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I also have a lot of after hurricane Irma footage to work on.  Hoping I can find some before footage to work in for contrast.  That will take a couple weeks again of trying to find, then match footage or stills.  I’ve deleted many things that are gone forever so it might be hard to find.  Lesson learned with imovie, save a copy away from your project, if you cut something from another project then delete it, it will be gone from your other project.

Glad I’m somewhat caught up.  The Irma after footage will be time consuming but worth it because there is serious destruction recorded on them.  They look like they will be much longer than most videos.  More in the 10 minute ranges or so.  I like making these kind of videos for fun hope people enjoy them. -13

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The Truth about the Cobra CDR 840 Dash Camera. My experience.

The truth about the Cobra CDR 840 dash camera like no other.  If you would really like to know more about this camera and my experience just watch the video and you’ll see how I really feel about this dash camera.  Sometimes, there are no words to express an experience, you have to be there, or, watch the video.   The video is a little long but I don’t think I left anything out.  Hope this little video helps you make your purchasing decision wiser.  One small tip, use a 64 GB card if you want to capture over one hundred 3 minute videos so the auto over record doesn’t delete the footage from earlier in the day.  -13

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