Boulder Vermicomposting

Interview: An unsuccessful home vermicomposting experiment

January 8th, 2009

This is part 2 of my conversation with Forest, a former classmate. See part one for his experiences in Hawaii; here he discusses his kitchen worm bin experiement.

Dan: Ok. So after that you said you were doing some stuff this spring?

Forest: We got the worms in class.

D: You bought some from John [Anderson, the Worm Man]?

F: We bought a whole five gallon bucket. We were doing a worm composting experiment in our kitchen. I wanted to see if I could do it inside. So we grabbed some plastic tubs and took one and drilled holes into the bottom of it and slid it into a second one, so the water would drain out into the second one.

D: Oh cool.

F: And then I bought a paper shredder, so I put all my paper through it and I used that in the composter. And this thing held it held 6 months worth of compost in it without getting full.

D: How big was it? 14 gallons?

F: Umm, this big [gestures]? It was one of those plastic bins from Target.

D: I think it’s probably a 30 gallon one based on the size [of Forest's gesturing]. Like more than 14 gallon because I have a 14 gallon one that’s maybe 2.5 feet by 1.5 ft. Yeah so maybe 30 gallons.

F: Ok yeah.

D: That held about 6 months plus of waste?

F: Plus all of my junk mail.

D: Well, did you shred it with the plastic stuff in it?

F: Yup, shredded it all. All of my paper went in there, 6 months worth, and it still wasn’t full. The problem was it held a bunch of water and so what we decided to do was put more holes, try to raise the bottom one up to the top. The worms weren’t too happy. There wasn’t a smell involved, it was just too wet.

D: How did you know the worms weren’t happy?

F: The worms weren’t thriving. Because of Hawaii, I’ve seen thriving worms. They were all in one corner, it would be so wet, [the bedding] was just like clay. I’d add more paper, but the paper didn’t really help. Sometimes the bottom tub would fill up with water so much that [the top tub] would just be sitting in water.

D: Did you empty the tray periodically?

F: Yeah, but as part of my life, it probably got done every week. It had sat too long and stuff. So, I was trying to make the system easier. So we put more holes in the top tub. We lifted [it] with some bricks off the bottom tub so there was more air flow. What that introduced was fruit flies that had greater access. So then we had fly issues. And since there was more air we could smell that shit and so I’m sitting there and I finally just ended it, I put it all in a compost outside and just put the worms out there and cleaned it all up because my experiment was just for me over, trying to compost in the kitchen.

D: Sure.

F: It worked in some regards but I think it would [be good] to [re]design the whole system again.

D: So you had one really good experience and one kinda not so good experience.

F: Well I mean the with the really good experience, I mean the worm kitchen really worked, the first design, it just kept too much water. As soon as I got more water out it created more airflow, insects, and smell got in and out.

D: Sure, interesting, interesting.

F: So, that’s my 2 main experiences [this and the farm in Hawaii]

D: what did you do with the leachate?

F: Um it was interesting because it was in one of several situations the liquid. Sometimes it was fresh, it smelled like it was off, really high bacteria, I didn’t feel comfortable putting it on plants, like it was too rich but I live in a 3rd floor apt so I cant just go outside and throw it.

D: Imagine if someone was walking outside and got that rained down on them.

[Laughing]

F: Maybe talk about that off record. But, so with that one I would just dump down the toilet if it was bad. Some of them had sat for a long time. Some had sat for a couple weeks and that didn’t have the smell anymore. And that I would mix with water and then water my plants with it.

D: Did you put meat or anything else in there or pretty much just vegetables?

F: It was just vegetables. We kept meat and cheese out of it.

D: Did you process the waste at all. Like I’ve read that some people freeze the waste then put it in the worm bin?

F: Like I tried putting it through a food processor for a little bit but I only had to do that once or twice to be finished with that. It’s just a lot of labor and then you’re washing it every time. SO I just threw it all it in.

D: Just threw it all in and cover with some more of your junk mail?

F: Shredded paper, yeah. Shredded paper constantly. Which kept the smell suppressed also. It kept it too wet though, which was one of the issues.

D: Interesting Interesting ok. SO what did you do with the 5 gallon bucket of worms you bought from John? Did you put it all in there?

F: Yeah.

D: Do you have any advice for someone thinking of home worm keeping?

F: Don’t try it in the kitchen.

D: Don’t try it in the kitchen?

F: No, I think that to get proper airflow in it and to get proper drainage, its gonna, there’s no way to do it without some smells being involved and opening it up for flies. So I would recommend if you want to keep them frost free, maybe keep them in the garage or something like that. Which I just don’t have. I’m either in my living space or outside, so I don’t really have in between space. It seems appropriate for some sort of in between space. Open garage or something you don’t mind a little bit of smells once in a while.

D: Sure, sure. The garage would just smell anyway with other kinds of petrochemicals and whatnot.

To be continued…

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