[Terrapreta] Char charged vermicomposting trial

[Frank Teuton]

As a vermicomposter I use an unusual method of processing kitchen and garden wastes for my worms. I run the wastes through a garbage disposal along with a certain amount of paper (toilet paper rolls, cardboard, shredded privacy papers, etc) and put the resulting slurry into my milk crate bins about an inch or less thick, topping it off with a layer of shredded fall leaves.

Today I made my first trial of adding charcoal to the mix. The garbage disposal works well grinding up charcoal along with the kitchen wastes et al. I am hopeful that the resulting vermicompost ( or worm castings, for those who choose this terminology) will contain fully inhabited charcoal particles ready for direct application in garden, field and greenhouse trials.

The charcoal consisted of about 5% by volume of the total wastes run through the disposal, and the resulting grind process caused a definite color change in the final product.

Over the next few days I will inspect the bins periodically to see how the worms respond to this new feed.

Frank Teuton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /attachments/20080306/ea267cf7/attachment.html