Comments on: Successful apartment composting stories wanted

By: Johan

Johan — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:29:23 +0000

i just saw this wonderful video on youtube via treehugger on how to make your own tumble composter for only 8dollars. but she also uses a lawn mover … so perhaps not ideal in an apartment …

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/diy-compost-tumbler.php

By: Compost Guy

Compost Guy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:49:41 +0000

Hi,
I have to agree with some of the sentiments shared here. I’m WAY better at killing plants than I am at killing worms! haha :-)
While there IS a bit of a learning curve with vermicomposting, it is very easy once you get the hang of it. In my opinion the key is moderation – especially when you first start a new bin. It is SO much easier to overfeed your worms than underfeed.

Excess food can lead to anaerobic conditions and the production of various nasty compounds.

I recommend mixing up your bedding material with a bunch of food scraps, moistening the mix, then letting it sit for a couple weeks before even adding the worms. This allows time for the microbial community to develop (worms get their nutrition primarily from the microbes that are decomposing the food wastes).

Anyway – just my 2 cents worth! :-)
(yeah, I’m a little biased – haha)

Bentley

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:10:23 +0000

I have been using a worm bin for composting my kitchen scraps for 2 years. I have successfully killed mint and yet the worms have been quite easy to take care of. They even survived a huge spill where the bin toppled over dumping all the contents, worms, castings, food, and liquid from the bottom chamber. It was an unfortunate mess and I lost a lot of the bedding for the worms, but they kept on eating and soon enough had a strong community again.
I started my bin after a free composting workshop offered by L.A. county where I purchased the bin with worms for something around $50 or $60. The county still offers the workshops. This site has a schedule for the workshop: http://ladpw.org/epd/sg/ws_schedule.cfm
It was enough information to get me going very easily.

By: new to worms

new to worms — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 23:49:56 +0000

I just bought a worm bin from Santa Monica last week. They have “Wriggly Ranch” bins for $27.50 for residents and, as someone else mentioned, for $30-something for everyone else. Go any time during business hours:
http://www.smgov.net/swm/contact_us.htm

The bin is easy to set up, and comes with bedding and a helpful booklet.

Worms are available at the Santa Monica farmer’s market on Main Street on Sundays ($5 for 50 worms) and some Sustainable Works instructors have them as well. Also, you can often get free worms on Freecycle.

It has only been a week, but so far so good. The worms require very little maintenance: keep them moist, give them food. It takes a while to get enough worms to really compost all your “green” waste, but it is well worth it. I have my bin out on the balcony of my apartment, but it could easily be inside without a problem.

By: Beany

Beany — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:32:26 +0000

Also…you don’t really need that much supervision. Since there are three layers in various states of uh…doneness, the worms keep busy for about 2 weeks without problems. You have to turn the thing to aerate it every once in a while. For some reason the worms tend to group together in certain sections only and turning it once in a while breaks up the party. I do check on it every few days because I’m just exciting that way. Plus I cook every day so I’m always adding something into the bin anyway.