[compost_tea] Re: fungal foods for worms

From: irene bensinger <irene_at_trilliumwoods.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 18:48:12 -0800

Kirk Leonard wrote:
>Cardboards and kraft papers are also real good fungal stimulants for worms,
>as are dried leaves, grasses, ground wood wastes, or any high-carbon
>material that can cultivate molds, actually.
    ...SNIP...
> (Actually, in my experience, they will inhabit and keep corrugated
>cardboard for months, using it as sort of a home base...:)


Thanks, Kirk, for all that good information, and for giving me an
opening to mention something/ask a question that I've been thinking
about for a while...

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.

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.

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?

And another question: should I order ground crab shell to add to the
worms' diet?

Thanks to everyone whose informative posts chip away at the edges of
my (considerable) ignorance.

irene

*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.

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Received on Sat Oct 18 2003 - 23:40:36 EDT

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