Worm farm odor, et al

So I'm looking at starting a worm farm for my soil plants to do homemade organic :-) As far as I can tell, I should be fine with one that's small, like a gallon. However my main concern is odor. This will be in a bedroom, so is it gonna stink to high hell like a large compost pile? (my girlfriend hates doing bedroom stuff when I put on the earth juice catalyst, don't want a composty shit smell making it worse)

And additionally, my reading on the OG FAQ's talked about other decomposing insects moving into your worm bin. Are these going to be pests in a house, and will they bug my plants? I don't want to attract trouble.

And of course, if there's anything that someone feels should be mentioned, please share :smokin:

making your own worm castings soil is a super idea ... when I was a kid, we used to raise worms for sale to fishermen ... the best method was an old refrigerator, or even an ice chest, lying on its back, lid closed, full of the best dirt we could dig up somewhere, a few tornup newspaper sheets, and coffee grounds ... the worms love their coffee in the morning ... too wet will drown them ... yup, stunk bad enough, I wouldnt want it indoors with me .. pretty much just an old, musty odor, but not pleasing ... kinda gives you a free look into your future grave :D ...

This is something I know about so I'll comment. Wormerys usually don't smell but they do eventually depending of course on what you put in there. Its not probally a good idea to have it in your bedroom because that will be an issue for you. If you can find a seperate room outside preferably i.e a garage or shed this would be much better. If you can't then its up to you. Don't feed your worms anything citric they don't like acidic shit and don't expect to see much once you've added them. It takes along time for them to get going and the biggest mistake you can make is wet moist conditions. They hate it. Avoid adding water at all. Don't know if you said your making your own or buying a starter kit but all wormerys need a kind of neutral bedding medium because being exposed to everything that's added all of the time would harm them.

The bugs you've heard about are infact fruit flies and you don't generally get large amounts unless what's added is really rotting and decaying and wet. Read up more about it I would say check out OG but it ain't there :(

since you're experienced, maybe you can help me, too ... after his post reminded me of doing that a million years ago, I went outside, and filled an old ice chest with my premium-quality potting soil I had left in the bag ... I figured I'd go buy a couple dozen nightcrawlers, and toss in it ... the theory being, the ice chest helps keeps the pests outta my soil, and the soil will gradually get a bit better from the worms doing their thing ... I can fill a pot with soil, throw some new bag soil in to replace it, and the cycle repeats ... too optimistic of me ?? ... I can always go fishin' ..... :smokin:

Well, actually started a small worm bin today under the table that I keep alot of my houseplants in my living room. We'll see how it works out. I'm eager to get earthworm castings :stoned:

It's kinda funny, I'm exciting about worm shit.

I keep my worms in a gallon container in the fridge,trust me they will live longer and grow much faster,and bigger in the fridge.I've never had smell probblems with worms.Keep em in the fridge really,and the results will be a whole lot better.PEACE

you can't buy worms from the bait shop to reproduce with. They were designed for bait and bait only. you have to either order your worms off of the multitude of websites or dig em up yourself. Just thought I would let you know.

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Originally Posted by the image reaper

since you're experienced, maybe you can help me, too ... after his post reminded me of doing that a million years ago, I went outside, and filled an old ice chest with my premium-quality potting soil I had left in the bag ... I figured I'd go buy a couple dozen nightcrawlers, and toss in it ... the theory being, the ice chest helps keeps the pests outta my soil, and the soil will gradually get a bit better from the worms doing their thing ... I can fill a pot with soil, throw some new bag soil in to replace it, and the cycle repeats ... too optimistic of me ?? ... I can always go fishin' ..... :smokin:

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Worms eat rotting material and they need a certain amount of oxygen. What is your idea behind using worms in premium soil. Unless you add food i.e newspaper/cardboard/waste food e.t.c e.t.c the worms won't have enough to eat. By all means use the soil as bedding but the idea is to add your waste materials which get eaten and shit out by the worms, that's the good stuff. The soil alone won't get the treatment because it dosen't have enough food in it.

I suppose you could add purely soil if you wanted to but the quality of it would be pretty pathetic.

The fastest working compost worms are Red Wrigglers.

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Originally Posted by rck2drums

you can't buy worms from the bait shop to reproduce with. They were designed for bait and bait only. you have to either order your worms off of the multitude of websites or dig em up yourself. Just thought I would let you know.

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not calling you a liar, or anything, but that doesnt make much sense ... I know from high school biology, earthworms are hermaphrodites, but still need two to tango ... I wouldn't think earthworm wholesalers are 'neutering' their worms, and they aren't the 'designers' of worms, only sellers ... hmmm, maybe real small vasectomy scissors :D anyway, I will go research this, and be back with an apology if I am wrong (again) ... :smokin:

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Originally Posted by FireBrand77

I keep my worms in a gallon container in the fridge,trust me they will live longer and grow much faster,and bigger in the fridge.I've never had smell probblems with worms.Keep em in the fridge really,and the results will be a whole lot better.PEACE

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CORRECT ... I remember the bait shop doing the same, and dumping ice on top of the worm-bed they had out in the open ... :thumbsup: