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!

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

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