Comments on: Apartment Composting 101: Vermicompost with Barb Finnin

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:02:46 +0000

Hello;

I a starting my own in-door apartment compost today! It is a small bin to start but long. How many worms do I buy to start with?

By: Are worms in your apartment OK? : Somerville Blog

Are worms in your apartment OK? : Somerville Blog — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:47:14 +0000

[...] apple cores and other things that aren’t really trash. Ordinarily I would be thinking about composting with worms, but it’s not my [...]

By: Luz N. Sanchez

Luz N. Sanchez — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:00:09 +0000

I am interested in apt. composting without worms. Can anyone help me? Thanks Luz

By: jay

jay — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:15:20 +0000

The little white bugs are probably normal. Just another little creature that comes with composting. Harmless.

I’ve seen worms escape if their nest is too wet. Make sure it’s just damp, but not mucky like a swamp. Just add newspaper if it needs to be drier.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 19:09:32 +0000

I love the idea of apartment composting. I went out and bought the worms and started to compost right away. The problem is that our worms are getting out. It started out with one or two a week and recently it has been about 5-7 a day. I don’t think the holes are too big. I was wondering if they are looking for something because there it something wrong with the bin. I noticed white little bugs in the bin. What are they and are they bad? Could they cause the worms to want to escape. They aren’t getting through the holes but the top where the bins lid is. Ideas? Thoughts? Thanks! Still love the idea, just want to keep my worms.

By: Waste: it’s what’s on my mind « Woman Enough

Waste: it’s what’s on my mind « Woman Enough — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:03:04 +0000

[...] Apartment Composting 101 offers really helpful web videos chronicling some worm composting attempts [...]

By: Tanya

Tanya — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:57:36 +0000

Hey Ryan! Its Tanya- Luke Langton’s girlfriend. I was just looking for info on apartment composting online and lo-and-behold– here I find you and this awesome video!!

Since we’ve moved to an apartment, I haven’t been able to keep up my composting and my raised beds at the Langtons as easily. But here at the apartment we eat probably 95% organic and 80% vegan, so I have all these gorgeous organic kitchen scraps all the time and it was killing me to put them in the garbage! Finally I started saving them in plastic containers in the freezer to drop them off at the Langton’s when we can but they fill up quickly. So then I posted in craigslist and freecycle if anybody wanted them and a few people responded who unfortunately live too far from me but still sent me notes of solidarity. Finally I thought, maybe we can just do “the worm thing” and I started looking it up.

Thus, I found this little video and it was YOU! So anyhow, thanks for this FANTASTIC vid and I’m already brainstorming a coffee table/vermicompost bin! Barb is awesome! Now that I’ve found “you” online, I’ll look forward to checking out more of your work here. I took a moment to watch “Documenting Dissent” on your work in China. Good work, thank you, and congratulations!

Best.

P.S. I have reservations about the coffee table with bins inside because the table would get direct sun exposeure for a period of time during the day– especially in the summer. I know the worms prefer 60-80 deg. which is the range of our apartment year-round but I’m speculating how hot it might get in plastic bins within a dark hardwood storage coffee table. I imagine the organic matter would stay relatively cool but the air could get quite warm, I think… any thoughts?

By: lifeof » Blog Archive » Indoor Compost

lifeof » Blog Archive » Indoor Compost — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:40:21 +0000

[...] reading places around the net and buying some worms online I have put to gether a indoor compost bin.Â Im excited [...]

By: jay

jay — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:19:30 +0000

If the worms cant keep up with the food you place in the bin, it’ll start to decompose (mold, etc). It’s normal but don’t overfeed the worms though. The food won’t smell as long as their is air. Meat is the only food that actually putrifies in that smelly way.

As far as newspaper goes, as long as your bin is not “swampy” then it’s good that its moist. We add newspaper on top when it gets too low. The newspaper stops flies from being able to fly around inside and lay eggs.

You should join our email list on vermicomposting: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vermicomposting
Good group.

By: Julia

Julia — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:32:09 +0000

Hey! I have watched all your vermicomposting videos and they have been super helpful. After visiting Growing Power in Milwaukee (if you haven’t heard of it, you should definitely check it out, it’s an urban farm that’s doing incredible things: growingpower.org) last February I have been thinking about starting my own compost. I was in the dorms last year so I couldn’t, but I did a compost at home this summer and it turned out quite smelly because I was uninformed and kept it completely airtight! :-O Now, with much more education (and a course project to create!) I have created my own worm bin in my first apartment according to the instruction in your videos and others. My worms have been in there eating for a few days now, and I just checked them and realized a lot of the food is all white and moldy. I know it is supposed to decompose, but it looked weird to me so I wanted to know if this is normal. Also, all of the top newspaper got wet and soggy quite quickly, and I wanted to know how often you add more newspaper to the top. Thanks for the inspiration/help-I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!

Julia

By: jay

jay — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:24:26 +0000

Potatoes and vegetables are all great for the worm compost.
It is suggested to avoid adding meat, cheese, and oils to your bin because it decomposes in a smelly way. They also attract tings like maggots. Might not make a good scenario if the bin is inside.

If you have an outside worm bin, you can add any food to it.
But you again may want to avoid meats because it could attract animals.

By: Eva Neocleous

Eva Neocleous — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:35:00 +0000

I was interested in the apartment composting. I want to start one.
You were very helpfull…

Please…
I had a question? what can we put in a compost other then veg. and fruit, I did not know about bread and coffee grinds, some thing new I learned on the vidio thanks.
Is left ofer meats or potato ok or not ok?
And were can I get worms for the compost, and what kind.

Thank you so much,
Eva

By: Mama of Four Has a LOT to Say « jessicaomama’s blog

Mama of Four Has a LOT to Say « jessicaomama’s blog — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:19:42 +0000

[...] the other hand, how many peeps do you know who compost their scraps in a worm bin?Â That’s right!Â We live in an apartment and have several thousand red wigglers who chow [...]

By: Jenn

Jenn — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:33:10 +0000

My bin is wonderful! I’m just wondering what all the tiny red bugs that are crawling around are. i’ve heard that these bins turn into little symbiotic, micro-biotic worlds and am hoping the millions of little red guys are a good thing. Also, how do you know when to make a new bin with some worms from the original. i have lots of friends interested.

By: The Great Village: How To Homestead at Ryan Is Hungry

The Great Village: How To Homestead at Ryan Is Hungry — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:45:35 +0000

[...] Melinda shows how she’s livin’ in Northern CA. We were tickled that she mentioned our Apartment Composting 101 video! Thanks Melinda and Giselle for including a [...]

By: jay

jay — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:33:32 +0000

If you put wadded paper in the top of the bin, then flies don’t have room to fly in and lay eggs.

By: misty

misty — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:38:31 +0000

my roommate and i had our apt. compost for about a month and it didn’t smell or anything bad.. it seemed to be working really well actually, but we noticed we had ton of fruit flies in our house and they were nesting in it so we had to throw it away.. is there any way to avoid this problem?? we really want to try again..

thank you!

misty

By: jay

jay — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 03:23:03 +0000

Hey Luke…I think indoor composting is extremely important. Urban folks shouldn’t feel helpless in being smart about their waste. How would you do indoor composting without worms. Also, no chemicals.

By: luke

luke — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 17:17:13 +0000

do you think it would be a good idea to design a product to facilitate indoor composting. perhaps using an alternative to worms and ensuring it is a clean, odourless, and easy process. i am currently involved in a college industrial design project to design such a product.

By: jay

jay — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:50:32 +0000

We sometimes get cases of tiny flies, but they usually go away after a couple days. The key is not overfeeding the worms so there is rotting food, and keeping plenty of newspaper fluffed up inside the box so the flies can;t get inside and lay eggs.

Honestly, as long as there is air circulating in your worm bin, food decomposes cleanly.

By: Laura

Laura — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:17:12 +0000

What about bugs?

By: Ryan Is Hungry

Ryan Is Hungry — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:05:37 +0000

[...] Other DIY Green Videos: [...]

By: Ryan Is Hungry

Ryan Is Hungry — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 05:40:29 +0000

[...] Related Posts: [...]

By: Ryan Is Hungry

Ryan Is Hungry — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 04:46:31 +0000

[...] Since our first vermicompost video with Barb Finnin, we’ve been getting lots of feedback from old friends and new about how they’re making their bins happen! Like Rachel from Chicago, who sent us this picture of her new bin. Thanks Rachel! Keep up the composting! [...]

By: maid

maid — Sat, 26 May 2007 11:38:42 +0000

i need to film(video) vermicompost production. compost tea film
thank you