Weekly Worm Farm Check-In Aug 21, 2024

Summary

Steve from Urban Warm Company introduces a new series, the 'Weekly Worm Farm Check-In,' where he shares hands-on experience with his worm farm. He discusses the importance of temperature and moisture, identifies red wigglers versus Indian Blues, and demonstrates feeding the worms with a mix of food waste and pit moss. The video offers practical tips for maintaining a healthy worm bin and encourages viewers to share their feedback on this new format.

Takeaways

• 📹 Steve from Urban Worm Company introduces a new series of 'weekly worm farm check-ins' to share hands-on vermiculture experiences.
• 🌡️ Steve discusses the importance of monitoring both the external and internal temperatures of the worm farm, as well as the humidity, to ensure optimal conditions for the worms.
• 🐛 The video features a rubber-made bin with bedding, worms, and food waste, which is a simple setup for a worm farm.
• 🔍 Steve highlights the difference between red wigglers and Indian blues, emphasizing the raised clitellum as a distinctive feature of red wigglers.
• 🍌 Steve demonstrates feeding the worm farm with a mix of food waste, including banana peels, apple cores, and coffee grounds, which are common in his household.
• 🌿 He introduces 'pit moss' as an alternative bedding material, which is made from recycled paper and helps to balance the moisture in the worm farm.
• 💧 Steve addresses the issue of excess moisture in the worm farm, explaining that it can lead to anaerobic pockets and affect the health of the worms.
• 👐 Steve shows that it's possible to be a 'lazy vermicomposter' by not chopping up the food waste and simply adding it to the bin as is.
• 🚫 He advises against adding too much water directly to the worm farm, as worms breathe through their skin and require a certain level of moisture, not saturation.
• 📈 Steve emphasizes the importance of mixing new food waste with existing material in the bin to ensure even distribution and breakdown of the waste.
• 📅 He plans to check on the worm farm again in about a week or two, indicating a regular monitoring schedule for maintaining a healthy worm farm.

Q & A

What is the purpose of the video by Steve from the Urban Worm Company?

The purpose of the video is to provide a hands-on demonstration of maintaining a worm farm, including checking its conditions and feeding the worms, in a weekly check-in format.

What type of bin is used for the worm farm in the video?

A simple rubber-made bin is used for the worm farm in the video.

What are the key aspects Steve checks in his weekly worm farm check-in?

Steve checks the outside temperature, inside barn temperature, temperature and appearance of the vermicompost, what was fed last time, and any issues he observes.

How does Steve determine the type of worms in his worm farm?

Steve determines the type of worms by looking for a raised clitellum and a yellowish tail, which are characteristics of red wigglers.

What is the ideal moisture level for a worm farm according to Steve?

The ideal moisture level for a worm farm is around 70%, with only one or two drops of water when squeezed.

What does Steve use as a food source for his worm farm in the video?

Steve uses a mix of banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds, and possibly some pine needles as a food source for his worm farm.

What is the role of pit moss in the worm farm feeding process shown in the video?

Pit moss is used as a dry bedding material to balance out the moisture from the wet vermicompost and food waste in the worm farm.

Why does Steve not worry about the moisture content of the coffee grounds?

Steve does not worry about the moisture content of the coffee grounds because they do not hold much water and do not release a lot of water when they break down.

What issue can excess moisture cause in a worm farm?

Excess moisture can cause anaerobic pockets in the vermicompost, which can be harmful to the worms and the composting process.

What material does Steve use to cover the worm farm, and why?

Steve uses bubble wrap to cover the worm farm because it creates condensation on the underside, which helps to pull the worms higher and regulate moisture.

How often does Steve plan to check on the worm farm after the feeding shown in the video?

Steve plans to check on the worm farm in about a week or two after the feeding.

Outlines

00:00

🌱 Introduction to Weekly Worm Farm Check-In

Steve from the Urban Worm Company introduces a new series called 'Weekly Worm Farm Check-In,' where he will provide hands-on demonstrations and discussions about maintaining a worm farm. He explains the setup of his simple rubber bin worm farm, which includes bedding, worms, and food waste. The weekly check-ins will cover the external and internal temperatures, the state of the vermicompost, feeding schedules, and any issues observed. Steve emphasizes the excitement viewers have for hands-on content and plans to provide practical advice and recommendations for worm farm maintenance.

05:01

🍌 Feeding the Worm Farm with Food Waste

In this segment, Steve demonstrates how to feed the worm farm using a mix of food waste, including banana peels, apple cores, and coffee grounds. He addresses the issue of excess moisture in the vermicompost by adding dry materials like pit moss to balance the moisture levels. Steve explains the importance of maintaining the right moisture content for the worms and how to adjust the feeding mix to accommodate this. He also discusses the benefits of using pit moss as a bedding material and how it compares to other options like coconut coir. The video shows a practical approach to worm farm maintenance, emphasizing the flexibility and simplicity of the process.

10:02

📅 Wrapping Up and Future Check-Ins

Steve concludes the video by discussing the frequency of future check-ins, which may not be strictly weekly due to the nature of worm farm maintenance. He invites viewer feedback on the new format and encourages them to subscribe for more content. He also hints at future topics, such as the use of different bedding materials like paper and coconut coir. The video ends with Steve covering the worm farm with bubble wrap to maintain moisture and regulate temperature, emphasizing the use of budget-friendly materials for effective worm farm management.

Keywords

💡Urban Warm Company

The Urban Warm Company is presumably the business entity represented by Steve, the speaker in the video script. It is likely focused on urban agriculture, particularly worm farming, and provides educational content and possibly products related to this niche. The company's name is mentioned at the beginning of the script, indicating its central role in the video's theme.

💡Worm Farm

A worm farm is a system designed for breeding and maintaining a population of worms, typically for composting purposes. In the script, the worm farm is the central focus of the video, with Steve discussing its setup, maintenance, and the process of checking in on its condition weekly. The term is repeatedly used to describe the bin containing the worms, bedding, and food waste.

💡Vermac Compost

Vermac compost, short for vermiculture compost, is the nutrient-rich material produced by worms as they break down organic matter. In the script, Steve checks the condition of the vermac compost within the worm farm, noting its appearance and temperature, which are crucial for understanding the health and efficiency of the composting process.

💡Red Wigglers

Red wigglers are a type of earthworm, known scientifically as Eisenia fetida, commonly used in vermicomposting due to their rapid reproduction and efficient waste processing. Steve explains the characteristics of red wigglers and distinguishes them from Indian blues, another type of worm, to help viewers identify the worms in their own worm farms.

💡Temperature

Temperature is a critical factor in the health and activity of worms within a worm farm. The script mentions checking both the outside temperature and the temperatures within the barn and the vermac compost. Maintaining an optimal temperature range is essential for the worms' metabolism and the composting process.

💡Humidity

Humidity refers to the amount of water vapor in the air and is important for worm farms as it affects the moisture content of the compost. In the script, Steve checks the humidity inside the barn, which, along with temperature, helps maintain the ideal conditions for the worms and the composting process.

💡Bedding

Bedding in a worm farm serves as a substrate for the worms, providing a comfortable environment and aiding in the decomposition process. Steve discusses the use of pit moss as a type of bedding, which is used to balance the moisture levels in the worm farm.

💡Food Waste

Food waste is an essential component of a worm farm, serving as the primary food source for the worms. In the script, Steve feeds the worm farm with a mix of apple cores, banana peels, and coffee grounds, illustrating the types of organic waste that can be composted in a worm farm.

💡Moisture Content

Moisture content is a key aspect of maintaining a healthy worm farm, as it affects the decomposition process and the worms' living conditions. Steve assesses the moisture content of the vermac compost and the food waste mixture, adjusting it to prevent overly wet conditions that could lead to anaerobic pockets.

💡Anaerobic Pockets

Anaerobic pockets are areas within the compost where oxygen is depleted, often due to excess moisture. In the script, Steve warns about the potential for anaerobic pockets to form if the moisture content is too high, which can negatively impact the composting process and the health of the worms.

💡Bubble Wrap

Bubble wrap is used as a cost-effective cover for the worm farm in the script. It helps to create condensation, which benefits the worms by providing moisture and encouraging them to move upwards in the bin. This demonstrates a budget-friendly approach to maintaining a worm farm.

Highlights

Introduction to a new series on the Urban Worm Company's YouTube channel focusing on hands-on worm farm check-ins.

Demonstration of a simple rubber-made bin worm farm setup with bedding, worms, and food waste.

Weekly check-in routine including outside and inside temperatures, and Verma compost appearance.

Observation of the worm farm's condition after a long period without feeding.

Identification of red wigglers and distinguishing them from Indian Blues worms.

Assessment of the worm farm's moisture level and the importance of not exceeding 70%.

Discussion on the worm farm's readiness for feeding despite excess moisture.

Feeding the worm farm with a mix of banana peels, apple cores, and coffee grounds.

Use of pit Moss as an alternative bedding material and its benefits.

Explanation of the moisture balance between the dry pit Moss and the wet existing compost.

Mixing the food waste and pit Moss, adjusting the moisture for optimal worm health.

Avoiding the creation of anaerobic pockets in the worm farm due to excess moisture.

The impact of feeding on the worm population and their distribution within the farm.

Use of bubble wrap as a budget-friendly cover for the worm farm to regulate moisture and temperature.

Planned check-in for the worm farm in one to two weeks to monitor changes.

Invitation for feedback on the new series and a prompt for subscribers to engage.

Transcripts

what's going on guys Steve from the

urban warm company here we're going to

change things up just a little bit I

normally uh talk to you on YouTube

videos it's me talking to you like this

and it's a little bit scripted and all

you see is just text and a little bit of

video on the screen we're going to do

something where we get our hands a

little bit dirty each week with

something that right now I'm just going

to call the weekly worm farm check-in so

I've got this uh worm farm right here

it's uh just simple rubber made bin it's

got bedding it's got worms it's got food

waste all the stuff you'd have in a worm

farm we're just going to check on it

every week we're going to kind of talk

about a few of the same things every

week like what's the outside temperature

what's the inside temperature inside the

barn here what's the temperature inside

the Verma compost we going to say what's

the Verma compost look like what did we

feed last time when did we feed uh and

if I see any issues and I'm going to

give my recommendations to myself and to

you about how I would go ahead and fix

the issues that I'm seeing in this

budget wor Farm I noticed that people

get really a lot more excited about

videos when I actually show Hands-On

type stuff and that's what we're going

to do here all right so I'm just going

to shut my mouth we're going to put the

uh camera right there put my cell phone

right on top of there we're going to

look down into this worm farm talk about

things and uh yeah we'll let you know

what's going on inside this bin so let's

get

[Music]

started all right guys uncovering the uh

the worm farm here uh apologize for the

audio right now uh my mic is uh still

charging so sorry about that anyway one

thing I wanted to show you guys was

we've got uh I've got a few different

thermometers here so just check my phone

temperature is 70° outside it's

currently

77° in uh inside the barn 53% humidity

and uh as you can see the temperature is

about uh 65° in the vermac compost we're

uh coming out of the really hot season

here in Philadelphia and uh yeah it's

it's August but it feels like it's

actually September October which is

which is gorgeous so I don't expect the

temperatures to stay this way anyway

this is a uh this is a worm farm I

actually started a long time ago um this

uh was actually the basis for my how to

start a worm farm video that you guys

can find on the channel elsewhere um

there really there's actually a decent

amount of worms in here actually had

most of them towards the surface but um

this worm farm has not been fed in a

long time and we're going to actually

feed it today but you can see that we've

got some you know pretty decent Siz red

wigglers in here um one of the things I

wanted to tell you guys about was if you

look at this worm actually this this is

still a red wiggler cuz I can still see

a little bit of a raised cellum let me

go ahead and find a different one um

this is a good this is a better example

so one of the things people get confused

on is what kind of worms they have a lot

of people think they have red wigglers

when what they really have are Indian

Blues Indian Blues are uh are a little

different they're different shaped a

little bit I mean they're they're pretty

similar to the to the red wiggler but if

you look right here you can see the

raised cellum and that's a tell tail

sign there of the red wiggler as is this

yellowish tail Indian Blues are actually

going to be a little bit skinnier

they're not going to have a raise

clitellum and uh they're going to thrash

around a bit more in your hand so these

are kind of the normal red wigglers that

you would expect um this bin has been

processed really well you can see most

everything is is crumbly and dark um not

much that is showing up that's like not

been processed you see a couple little

things like that but um this bin is is

pretty much ready to be ready to be fed

it feels like if I go ahead and squeeze

it in my hands you can actually see some

water coming out so this is a little bit

wetter than what we'd really want you

want like one or two drops and I'm

getting a lot more than that if you can

see that stuff coming out of coming out

of my fingers right about 70% is where

we really want this um where we want

this worm farm to be and we're probably

more like 75 or 80 so if I dig around in

here a little bit more we're going to

find little pockets of worms and these

things are pretty evenly distributed but

if we had just fed this thing something

like a watermelon or cantalope or

something like that you would see a lot

of these worms right at the surface

eaten away at that waist and it would

look a lot more dense but these worms

are pretty evenly distributed uh

throughout this uh worm farm what I'm

going to do is we're going to go ahead

and feed this bad boy I've got a mix of

some stuff that was just outside my

patio door I eat a lot of bananas we eat

some apples and we eat we drink a lot of

coffee so we have a lot of coffee

grounds around around here around the

Churchill household so we're going to go

ahead and make a mix of that food waste

and probably today use pit Moss which is

a nice easy bedding to use I just find

that it breaks down really nicely we

also use coconut core uh paper I think

today we're just going to stick with pit

Moss just to keep things simple and

maybe in the next few weeks we'll talk

about paper coconut corn stuff like that

here we go all right let's go ahead and

get started here I showed you uh the

food waste I was talking about before

with the apple core and the banana peels

and the coffee and I'm just going to go

ahead and dump this all in as is and see

it's a ton of coffee grounds looks like

we got some pine needles in there I

really don't like having those in there

those just kind of blew in with the uh

with some of the wind storms that we've

had here lately so we'll go ahead and

get rid of those I could go ahead and

chop up some of these things like the

banana peels and you know the filters

and the apple core but I just want to

show you that you can be a really lazy

vermac composter and still have it make

still have it work for for you so I'm

just going to leave this stuff as is

going to go ahead and take stuff called

pit moss and if you're not familiar with

pit Moss it is recycled paper it's p i t

t m o s it's made by the company called

pit moss and it's meant to be like a

Pete Moss kind of alternative and I'm

going to use about an equal amount of

this pit Moss to the food waste in terms

of volume I normally would recommend you

being more like two: one but again with

coffee grounds they don't they don't

hold that much water they're not going

to break down and release a ton of water

so I'm okay going down to one to one and

even sometimes I'll just put coffee

grounds in my worm farm and not even add

bedding so normally I would recommend

that you add bedding in this case we're

not going to do that now this stuff is

pretty dry our bin like I was talking

about earlier is wetter than you

typically want it to be so one thing we

could do is probably take this feeding

we're going to mix this up here right

now I'm just adding a bit of water cuz

the pit Moss is really dry um is to take

this and mix it up with all the other

material in the bin you know from top to

bottom I'm really not worried about

doing a continuous flow style uh worm

farm just yet there's really not that

much material in the bin and what I do

have is sort of wet so this stuff can be

dry going in because the existing vermac

compost in our warm Farm is already too

wet so we can use some of this really

dry material to soak up the excess

moisture that already exists in our

current warm Farm but this is really

really dry and I don't want it to dry

out too much worms breathe through their

skin so they love they they really need

moisture so I don't want to underdo the

moisture too much so I'm just going to

add a few sprays of this uh of water

here going to mix it up by hand and then

we'll go ahead and put it in worm

farm it's really dry stuff I'll go ahead

and break apart this apple core most

food waste is actually around 80 to 90%

water which is way wetter than what you

want a normal worm farm to be apple

cores are probably like 90% water they

break down fairly quickly we only have

one apple corn here so we really don't

have that much so this is still a bit

dry to the touch so I'm just going to go

ahead you know what I'm going to speed

things up a little bit I would never

recommend pouring water into a worm form

of course this isn't our warm farm this

is just the mortar tray that we're uh

using to uh prepare our food waste or

prepare our feeding here so I'm just

going to take this do this by hand it's

pretty tacky to the touch right now it's

not wet it's not it's not clumpy so the

water content isn't that High um but I

think it's going to be good considering

what else is going on in our our warm

bin in terms of excess moisture so we'

got this mixed up let's go ahead and put

it into our warm Farm now this is a big

feeding I'm probably adding 25% to it

with just this single feeding but I'm

not worried about it because so much of

it is that pit Moss so just empty all of

it in there and I'm just going to mix

this up by hand got a decent warm

population in there so I'm just going to

mix all of this stuff together it's

actually going to help it all break down

when it's all exposed to uh the moisture

and all the microbes that are existing

in the in the Verma compost worms aren't

enjoying what I'm doing right now maybe

some of them are breeding down there and

I just screwed them up but that's okay

they'll forgive me so I'm not going to

feed this thing for probably another

week or two probably two weeks I will

come back and check uh the moisture and

So speaking of moisture if I pick this

up and this is mixed with a lot of that

pit Moss if I squeeze it in my hands I'm

still getting more more than more than

like a single drop I'm getting quite a

quite a bit so you can see that even

even with the dry stuff I put in there

was a lot of excess moisture in there um

problem with excess moisture is it can

cause Anor robic Pockets uh in your

vermac compost uh as the water displaces

the air the microbes use up the

available oxygen in that water or in

that liquid and it be can become

anerobic your nose is going to tell you

when things are are getting Anor robic

again you can kind of see some water

that's dripping out of between my

fingers so this is still plenty uh still

plenty moist I'm not really worried

about that so at this point we're going

to just put our bubble wrap on top of

there I really like bubble wrap for a

budget worm farm like this uh it's just

it it creates condensation on the

underside of the bubble wrap and sort of

pulls the worms higher and um and it's

cheap um so you can get something more

fancy like the urban warm blanket um

doesn't actually trap the water sort of

absorbs some moisture and and and in

that way it can kind of regulate the

moist the moisture and the warm bin but

in this case I'm going to use as many

budget materials as I can possibly find

so we're just going to put this bubble

wrap right on here we're going to poke

this uh thermometer through here and

we're going to check on this worm farm

here in about uh we'll call it a week or

two all right we'll see you guys all

right guys hope you enjoyed that uh

we're going to check in here maybe next

week maybe a couple weeks may not truly

be the weekly worm farm check-in if you

would please let me know in the comments

if you found this helpful or if you just

want me to ditch it and go back to the

normal stuff I was doing before I'm

still going to do the instructional

videos like I was doing but I want to

see if this is something you'd like to

see more of so uh drop me a note in the

comments hit subscribe if you want to

see more of these and uh yeah hopefully

see you next week

[Music]