Of worms and rabbit poo, some questions.

[GBov]

I keep reading about composting in bins but I dont want to bother with bins.

Can I just pile the waste hay and manure in rows, add some worms from the yard, keep it watered and then, in a couple of months or so, plant directly into the row?

And what about flies???

We have lots of flies right now, esp. with all the rain.

Will DE hurt worms?

I know it kills maggots but if it kills worms too then all my planting/composting rows will do is breed more flies. And gee, wont that be fun?

[pancho]

You won't have to add worms.
If you build it they will come.

[jackhawk45]

My father has been doing basically that with his garden for a while and it has always had good results. Though he does plow the rows before he plants.

[Danaus29]

I dug it into my beds when I made up the smallest garden this spring. What I used to do though was spread it all in a bed and in the spring make a pocket which I filled with potting soil and then planted in the pocket. My manure is mixed with Equine fresh wood pellets.

Didn't have a problem with flies but I don't live in Florida.

[PD-Riverman]

Originally Posted by GBov

I keep reading about composting in bins but I dont want to bother with bins.

Can I just pile the waste hay and manure in rows, add some worms from the yard, keep it watered and then, in a couple of months or so, plant directly into the row?

And what about flies???

We have lots of flies right now, esp. with all the rain.

Will DE hurt worms?

I know it kills maggots but if it kills worms too then all my planting/composting rows will do is breed more flies. And gee, wont that be fun?

I would think DE would harm/kill your worms, BUT I never tried it. Someone stated to build your piles and the worms will come-----I guess that is according to where you live. I had a pile of rabbit poop and kept adding to it and NO worms ever came to it in over a year. I got some red worms from a rabbit breeder and added them to my pile and covered it and tried to keep it moist----guess all the worms died because a few months later there were no worms in the poop. We have to many fire ants here. I have Mega 1000's in my indoor worm beds now though. I have 40+ rabbits and they are producing more poop than my worms can eat, so I feed the worms what they need and dry the rest. then put it into stacking totes to save for my garden. When I am fixing to plant something I take a few buckets of dried poop, spread it on my rows then till it in. From looking at poop section of my garden this season---I would say it was working.

[GBov]

We have a red worm under the oak trees here. I call them supercharged worms because they are so fast! The first time I uncovered some I had to catch them to be sure they wernt baby snakes they move so fast lol.

I haveone area where the chickens and rabbits have been living for the last year and a half that is about to be turned into a veg garden but the rabbits keep producing so I will be trying the pile it up method with DE and see how it goes.

The last thing I need is more flies

[PD-Riverman]

Originally Posted by GBov

We have a red worm under the oak trees here. I call them supercharged worms because they are so fast!

We call "Them" Wigglers here.

[GBov]

I think they are the same kind of worm I once tried to put on my hook to fish with.

It broke into about 8 squiggly pieces as soon as the hook went in a little bit!

So I started freezing them first and that worked, nice dead worms. The fish didnt seem to mind lol.