[compost_tea] Re: Re: fungal foods for worms

From: Kirk Leonard <kirk_at_oregonatural.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 19:02:18 -0700

Irene -- Thanks for more thoughts on this. A good many other natural fabric
and cloth fibers could be fungal sources for vermicompost, as you suggest,
I'm sure.

> Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 18:48:12 -0800
> From: irene bensinger <irene_at_trilliumwoods.com>
> Subject: Re: fungal foods for worms

> I have a Can O' Worms worm bin. The top bin has (hand) shredded
> newspaper, shredded kraft paper, and some cocofiber for bedding. I
> keep a piece of moistened burlap bag* on top of the bedding/food
> (under the lid), and if left long enough it will eventually be
> entirely consumed by ?? --> the worms.
Eventually, it seems. I've never tried to use burlap bags but there is no
reason they wouldn't work well, seems to me, unless they've been treated as
you suggest, with a creosote or other bizarre chemical preservative, which
would introduce some nasty petroils. Cocofibers need to be screened for
chlorine content, in my experience.

> But before it reaches the stage of edibility it becomes colonized by
> *lots* of fungi. Right now it has several colonies of fungi that look
> like cross-sections of big fuzzy dandelion heads, very white and
> growing, growing. <
Sounds to me like healthy stuff, if it looks and smells ok.

> So, my question: what is the best way to use these fungi? Eventually
> they will become food for other micro-critters, if I've followed the
> posts on these matters accurately. But is there a better use for
> them? Can I cut the inhabited burlap into pieces and bury them in the
> composted wood chips + donkey manure and that I use for mulch around
> trees and perennials? Would it be useful to put some the colonized
> burlap bits on vegetable raised beds under the winter mulch? <
Many vegies aren't fungal in nature, as I understand F/B stuff, so I'm not
sure about this. Donkey manure and wood chips would be interesting to work
with, and yes I'd agree adding the fungal stuff would probably work on trees
and perennials which are more fungal.

How to use the fungi? If they're as big as you suggest, seems to me like
direct ground application in a mulch is best. Compost tea methods are not
going to put a lot of mature fungi onto spray targets, more fungal newbies I
think, so it doesn't sound to me like they make sense in tea. <

> And another question: should I order ground crab shell to add to the
> worms' diet? <
Based on my experience with egg shells, I don't think worms will do a lot
with crab shells. I think if you want to spike vermicompost chitinally, you
probably should use a chitinase prep. Don't know though. Jeff? Doc?

Worms working with local organic materials will produce appropriate levels
of chitinase (and fungal) materials, imo. Unless you have a severe insect
problem, I don't think chitin is a big deal or real useful, actually. Good
composts and vermicomposts -and compost teas - will manage in time, I think.

> *If you use burlap bags this way, be sure to SMELL them well before
> moistening them and giving them to your poor innocent worms. Some
> burlap bags smell as though they'd be dipped in creosote or something
> equally unpalatable. If you don't like the way they smell, your worms
> probably won't like them either. I get my burlaps bags from the
> animal feed store. <
I got my burlap bags from a coffee importer and my cats loved them. Ruined
a wood floor with their attraction (i.e., pee) to them, in fact. Left them
there too long, so my fault, but now I understand they can be an organic
resource. Haven't used them in a worm bed, though. Imagine they would not
be quite as good a strata divider (not barrier, correcting myself earlier)
as cardboard, but similar.

-- Kirk L






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Received on Mon Oct 20 2003 - 00:16:49 EDT

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