"Introduction" use earthworms to produce compost, to efficiently recycle food waste, manufacturing organic fertilizers can help a child understand the mysteries of the life cycle. This is an excerpt from United States California integrated waste management board prepared, friendly associations for environmental "refuse to observe the" project team compiled the earthworm guide book. Although the original book are used in school teaching, but for the farm, the family of earthworms for compost as well.
Worm composting (vermicomposting/worm composting) are earthworm (vermi is the Latin writing of earthworms) food and other organic waste into nutrient-rich soil in the process. Earthworms breathe rotten food scraps, discharging fertilizer--it is a great improvement for the soil quality.
Earthworm feces (excrement) is a natural compost! Contains useful microbial and good nutrition, but also a very good plant fertilizer. When you ask your students to explain waste management units for a cute name-"creation of an earthworm." As an educator, the students explain the terminology, such as nutrients and natural circulation, both interactive and vivid not boring is really challenging. If you have a compost heap in your school, you can teach concepts through Visual and hands-on. If your school has a garden, you can further courses. But without these you should do? Answer was simple and fun--in the classroom, setting a box of earthworms. Earthworm box actually shows is a small eco-system, this is a very unique tool for teachers, and are a fun way of learning for students. Earthworm box – sweet hut
Most first, you need a container! Select a suitable cabin to earthworms, how much food you must carefully consider plans to use fertilizers and location. Container size has a lot of earthworms in full bloom, even from a small shoe box to a large "real estate". For a classroom, and a small storage container or a medium 12 gallons (45-liter) bucket just fine. In order to recover the canteen food, you need a larger container, outside storage. School administration, canteen managers and school playgrounds and land managers should determine the size of the outdoor containers, provide data and recommendations. Probably the best start from small containers, as circumstances change at any time.
Can choose the container also has a lot of material. If you make your own containers, container size and appearance will have more choices. You can also decorate your own Oh! Maybe there is a recycling center near you, where you can buy cheap floor tile, paint, wood and many other things. Waste wood can be well into a small container. Free wood can do in retail stores and hardware stores outside of the container. Cinder blocks can also be made into a container, just use a piece of plywood to make the cover.
Plastic containers are the most simple and easy. Every shop sells the type of container may not be the same. Below, the "standard" means the 12-gallon (approximately 45 litres), 21 inches long, 15 inches tall, 12 inches tall (about 53 cm long and 38 cm high, 30 cm high) container. No matter what size container you choose, there are some details that require attention:
Location! Location! Location! If you plan to put the container out, then make sure there is not too cold or too hot. Earthworm in 55 degrees to 77 degrees Fahrenheit (12.7 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees) when it is high. Outside of this temperature range, extreme temperatures or nasty cold will harm the earthworms, so be sure to select the temperature carefully to consider the temperature factor. Overall, in the winter put the container on the platform next to the classroom is possible. In the summer, the container should be placed in the shade, or in the House. Kitchen is a good choice! Remember: be sure to avoid direct sunlight.
Don't forget to set aside hole! One-fourth ~ one-second (about 0.6 to 1.3 cm) drill drill a few holes in the bottom to protect the normal air flow. These holes allow ventilation, drainage containers. These worms would obediently stay inside, because they like damp, not dry and bright place. Worm composting is an aerobic process that requires oxygen. If your container due to ventilation and anaerobic (oxygen or oxygen-free) environment, then there will be a stench problem.
Four feet. The "foot" is also used to under the container so as to ensure that drainage and ventilation. Small pieces of wood or plastic bottle lids can play an important role. No matter what, you need four. Each "foot" set in each corner of the bottom of the container around 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 cm) within the location. If you use screws or nails to secure the "foot" to determine if they short enough so as not to hurt your fingers.
Worm tea. A chassis loaded in the bottom of the container to collect liquid excrement of earthworm (worm tea). Aluminum pans are good choices, and in retail outlets and discount stores are not expensive. Cafeteria tray is also very good. If you do not have trays, retail paper bags or cardboard can be used instead, but they need to be changed periodically, and traded paper bags or cardboard can be used as worm farming. Any vessel out of the worm tea is very nutritious, believe your house plants and garden will love them!
Too much light, avoiding light reflection! Red worms have no eyes to see anything. They rely on light-sensitive cells in the skin to feel light and avoid. Packaging material must not be transparent. And place the lid on the container and prevent light from entering. Worms at surface of food can you eat and stay alive. If you can find a transparent container, coloured paper, prevent light from entering. Farming – is very thick and comfortable
After a busy day at work and would like to plunge into a comfortable bed? Yes, that's right! Earthworms are agreed.
They need a bed for comfort and safety. Usually there are many materials to choose from. One option is to have peat moss, can be purchased at your local nursery, but must be filtered, or earthworms were unable to adapt to the acidic peat. Can also select Office paper, coconut fiber, or newspapers and cardboard debris. If you are using these materials, you very well do it for recycling. In the Guide, we will use the crumbs with shredded newspapers, because they have no cost and can be found everywhere.
Breeding beds absorbent material requirements. Worms need a moist environment--from 75% to 90% the water in their bodies. Wet culture will make them feel comfortable and keep your body in the water. Should always have a sprayer filled with water, often wetting the container and prevent it from drying.
Find a pile of papers, torn into 1-inch (about 2.5 cm) and put it into the container until the container full of two-thirds. Newspapers and soft, avoiding into a heap. First of all, add a few cups of water, continue to add water and continue stirring until all pieces thoroughly wet the note, like a sponge--water and farmed beds weight ratio of 3:1. Remember that farmed beds not too wet or too dry, because this extreme environment is little insects under a door for you, they will look for other places home. Breeding beds are also used to conceal food waste and prevent odors. Gently shake the bed, little insects move freely, free flow of air. Well, your worm box is already done!
Earthworms-Red worms
You may have noticed that the earthworm is the need for many of the special conditions. We are going to use a technique called the earthworm eisenia foetide sarigng, also known as "bloodworms". These bugs are best kept in worm bin category. Their purpose in life is to eat decomposing organic material. Every day-even to eat a lot of organic matter as much as their own body weight. Don't regard the animals as a "big earthworm (nocturnal earthworm)." Red earthworms and earthworms are two completely different categories, they need different environmental conditions. Earthworms need to dig in a large space; it lived deep in the soil and through "tunnels" to clear the air. Red worms that live in places near the soil surface, it does not require space to dig. Earthworms need to have their own place to live in, or are likely to die because of unsuitable.
We recommend that a standard worm boxes should be at the very beginning when stored for 1 pound (about 450 g) of earthworm, 1000 red earthworms. Of course, when I first started, you can also put a little bit of earthworms, but that the amount of food is reduced. In your yard, garden or compost pile of Red earthworm is possible, but unlikely. The best guarantee, you have used earthworms to boxes friend or earthworm feeding on the ground there to buy it.
Earthworms in your your has been prepared for it, "culture", then see how they avoid light, get in the paper debris. 5-10 minutes or they will disappear from your eyes. If you and your students to complete the worm box, to see the process they will be very interesting. One should be able to keep the good earthworm box earthworm box provides enough is another, but you'd better wait a few months. When you are separated from earthworm, earthworm in two suitcases will be to a higher level. You don't have to worry about earthworms appear "population" expansion, because they have the amazing ability to control "the population" growth. If there are no accidents "tragedy" happens, you don't need to add earthworms for your box.
Keep--feed me
Earthworms are not picky eaters, you eat every day. They particularly favor vegetables, fruit, grains, coffee, coffee grounds, as well as any organic matter.
Although worms fruit, but be sure not to put too much citrus fruit in the box. For example, in a lot of fresh-squeezed orange juice, all the remaining orange peel put toxic effects of d-limonene (citrus fruits and natural ingredients found in other plants) into the worm bins. Due to the splitting of d-limonene with Peel and break down and release, allowing high concentrations of d-limonene in the box, so there's no need to peel before smashing into boxes. Decomposition rate of citrus fruit Peel is relatively slow, earthworm box in good condition can add a little or the right amount of this type of Peel. When you put cellulite start to mildew, you can store it for future use.
Earthworms have no teeth, but with bird-like stomach (gizzard), grated fine food. By adding crushed egg shell, oyster shell or sprinkled with gravel soil can speed up the process. Boxes of other creatures, such as Collembola preliminary residual to help break down food and mold by earthworm. Some more fiber foods require more time, such as the broccoli stems, carrots and potatoes. Some people like to cook food scraps into soup, so that earthworms decompose faster and also break down more food. A standard worm bin worms can eat a pound a day (about 450 grams) of food remnants.
And we all think different is that earthworms are not vegetarians. You give them meat, they will eat. But we recommend that you do not give them meat, dairy or fatty foods because they rot produces a strong smell will attract mice and other uninvited guests, but they may also bring diseases to you and your garden. Be careful, your worms may eventually ate meat on the bone, you bury food wastes in worm bins and receiving excrement when bone angle will stab your hand.
Place the following items in boxes of earthworms: Pieces of paper products Fruit and vegetable scraps Grains, beans or bread (without butter, margarine and mayonnaise) Egg shells Fallen leaves Tea bag Coffee and coffee grounds The weeds in the lawn The following items should not be placed in the earthworm box: Meat products Dairy Oil products
Don't just place earthworm in new home beginning immediately after feeding them. Give them a few days to adapt to the environment in the box. After a period of adaptation, their appetites will increase significantly. Also, you need to use a container (such as a yogurt cup oil or butter) to store feed earthworms for food in the future. (However, if you have asthma or allergies, should be fed to them immediately without the need to store food, because mold spores can have an impact on you. ）
Food buried in at least one inch (about 2.5 cm) underneath to prevent rancid flavour and "uninvited guests". Just picked up the culture part of the bed, adding food, put back the bed can be farmed again.
Reap the rewards--harvest
Your earthworms are busy eating, anything in the containers look more like dirt than paper scraps. You're composting! Because you don't have to harvest immediately, so you can arrange a harvest time according to your schedule. And the harvest is the time required depends on the way you choose:
Cone harvesting method: handle dirty if you don't mind, this is a great harvest methods for students. Find a work area, preferably outdoor shade areas, find a suitable medium temperature, covered with waterproof cloth or large piece of plastic. Carefully emptied in a container, including earthworms and all other things, in a flat work area. This pile of separated and formed a six-inch (15 cm) have cone-shaped pile. Earthworms long enough to go away from the down light drill holes. After they complete the carefully screened compost from each, each about a number of Palm, until leaving behind the worm so far. At this point harvested compost can be turned into a separate storage container, your worms can go back to the new breed was home in bed.
Mobile harvest method: this is a manual method, is for people who want to quickly reap or want a one-time harvest design. Open the container gently push the compost to one side. Placed in the now half-empty container of a new breed of bed. Starting from then, stops placed at the side of the compost food, starting in the new fed farming region. Earthworms like residue on your food, so it is a perfect lure for them. Once most of the worms to the new breed of bed area, you can clear the compost. At this point, you can add more empty area inside the container breeding beds. You can continue alternating your direction on the basis of.
Shovel harvest method: for those who only need a small amount at a time people this is a perfect way to compost. Open your container, and allow light to pass through farming and excrement in order to push worms down the hole. Minor stir also prompted them to dive on the surface. About ten minutes later, shoveled away a layer of compost on the surface. You remove the compost should have only a minimal amount of earthworms, or even none at all. If you still need more compost, they will continue to open the cover and wait ten minutes to remove compost on the surface again.
Warning: worm composting is not an exact science. Although Red worms are small creatures, they need your care, but real success is based on one thing--on the basis of observation! Each box has many variables and conditions, so take some time to assess your progress. Produce and maintain a worm box correctly is not only one right way. Use your own judgement and common sense. The following "Troubleshooting" section, you may experience problems and solutions you want to try. Problem diagnosis-the worm doctor
0 comments:
Post a Comment