continuing the stories... :)
previous problems of fungus gnats did get taken care of by using a fine cloth mesh for cover material. they still needed an extra snug seal around the edge, the rubber rings from the lids work well for that. i haven't seen a fungus gnat since last summer.
i'm maxed out for space use with 14 bins of worms and extra bins of dry stuff set aside for winter processing.
i had pulled a few quarts of worm castings out of a few bins to make more room and then decided to use those to innoculate a few extra bins of soybean shells so they can start breaking down. they do not have covers or worms so this is a pre-processing step and i'm hoping this will get them ready in time for spring planting. by putting them in the bin and getting them wet and then sprinkling them in layers with worm castings starts the fungi and bacteria. as they get moistened and gravity compresses them they make extra room for a few more layers. i have a bin and a half left to start up this way and i'll be all caught up from the fall dry bean processing.
no shortage of worms. they continue to work as model employees, very industrious in breaking down materials. by spring i should have 10-12 bins of processed materials and will then start up the whole cycle again by removing a few shovelsful of garden soil for each bin (i use a mix of worm species including those that live down deeper in the soil -- these like some grit in their diet).
the latest experiment in comparing the speed of decomposition was of beet tops and other root trimmings from beets we processed last fall for canning. the drying process is still showing it's great improvement. by drying the beet pieces they rapidly are broken down once added to a bin (they rehydrate and then get eaten fairly quickly). in comparison to the non-dried beet pieces, well there are still solid chunks of beets in the bins sprouting greens and still very firm and not being broken down much at all.
the items that do not benefit much from drying are melon peels, tomato pieces or any other soft fruit or cooked vegetable (these are eaten fairly quickly when added to a bin). otherwise any fresh vegetable or stem from a veggie like a broccoli or lettuce benefits from being dried first before being added to the bins. potato peels, carrots, other root crops, chopped and dried first are also broken down much more quickly.
and it is easier to store the dried scraps until when i want to layer them in the bins. it also saves a lot of extra moisture from pooling at the bottom of the bins (veggies are mostly water). i use a closed system of buckets without holes in the bottom. i don't want all those nutrients draining away, i want them to go back to the gardens.
another short report from the trenches... errrr... bins. :)
peace,
songbird