February, 2012 | Hydroponics Curacao

Bedding for worms

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Hydroponics Curacao Posted in Compost, Help 2 Comments

There are many different bedding types to start your worms in. In this article I’ve only put the easiest and most affordable bedding.

Newspaper
This is good especially when mixed with dry leaves or straw.
Advantages

No costs.

Readily available

It is easy to prepare. Just tear it in strips.

You recycle the paper

Disadvantages

Ink can get on your hands

Try not to use colored inks. This can be toxic to the worms.
Smaller pieces will hold moisture better than larger pieces.
If you live in a hot area, put some dry leaves on top of the newspaper. This will help to keep the newspaper wet longer.

Different worm species

Posted on February 4, 2012 by Hydroponics Curacao Posted in Compost, Help 1 Comment

This article is about the different worm species that are best for vermicomposting. Learn more about the different species and find the best one for your compost bin.

Nightcrawlers
Nightcrawlers have the colors red or brown. They can get up to 30 cm long and live in vertical tunnels that can go up to 2 meters deep. Nightcrawlers can live about 10 years. These worms like to eat mulch and leaf litter. And they prefer a temperature at 10 degrees celsius. Their cocoon hatches after 14 to 21 days.

Nightcrawlers are not good for indoor vermicomposting systems.

African nightcrawlers
They are reddish in color. These worms can get up to 30 cm long. African nightcrawlers live in top few cm of soil. Under litter and mulch. They prefer to eat rich compost and prefer a temperature between 15 to 25 degrees celsius.

Red Tigers
These worms are also perfect for vermicomposting. They are dark red or purple in color. Red tigers can get up to 8 cm long and live in the first few cm of the soil and under mulch. They prefer to eat manure, rich compost, decaying plant & animal material and to live in a temperature between 18 to 23 degrees celsius.

Red wigglers
Red wigglers are the most common worms used for vermicomposting. That can eat half their body weight a day in food. So they are perfect!
They are rust brown in color. Red wigglers can get up to 8 cm long and live in the first few cm of the soil. They like to eat very rich compost, manure piles and decaying plant & animal material. Red wigglers prefer to live in temperatures between 15 and 25 degrees celsius. And it takes 35 to 70 days for their cocoon to hatch.

Blue worms
These worms are good for vermicomposting in warm climates.
Their color is deep purple and light yellow underside. Their can get about 15 cm long and live just under mulch. Blue worms like to eat compost, decaying plant & animal material. And they prefer a temperature between 20 to 25 degrees celsius.

Spenceriella species
They are deep purple in color and have a red to brown underside. This specie can get up to 15 cm long and live in the top few cm of the soil and under mulch. These species prefer to eat compost and decaying plant & animal material and prefer to live in a temperature between 20 and 27 degrees celsius.

Red worms
Red worms’ color is dark red to maroon and their underside is light yellow. They can get up to 8 cm long. Red worms live in the top 15 to 30 cm of the soil. They prefer to eat rich compost and decaying plant & animal material and prefer to live in a temperature between 18 to 23 degrees celsius.
It takes about 12 to 16 weeks for the cocoon to hatch.

Based on your weather, you can determine where to put your worms and what specie to use. Most compost worms do best at temperatures between 15 to 25 degrees celsius.

Brandon Koots
Hydroponics Curacao

Email: support@hydroponics-curacao.com

Answers January #2

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Hydroponics Curacao Posted in Aquaponics, Compost, Help, Hydroponics, Nutrients, Pests, Plants/Garden, Seeds Leave a comment

Earthworm compost
I was just writing an article about this to renew the informations I’ve written about it in the page of worm compost. So I think that I will be posting this on monday.

Carrots in hydroton
I’ve designed a system especially to grow carrots in it. The roots will have enough space for them become as long as they can. Don’t know if I will start selling it. But if you would like, I can send you a special system designed for carrots for free. Just contact me via my email: support@hydroponics-curacao com

Hydroponics seed starters
Depending on the size of the seeds, you can determine if you need a plug or not. You can use a plug to start your seeds in or to start your cuttings. If the seeds are very tiny, you should put them in the plug and put the plug in the hydroton or the growing medium you’re using. If the seeds a larger, you can just plant them in the growing medium. If the seed is large, then there is less chance for the water to take it than when they are small.

I hope that this article was helpful to you.

Update on my garden #4

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Hydroponics Curacao Posted in Aquaponics, Compost, Help, Hydroponics, Nutrients, Pests, Plants/Garden, Seeds Leave a comment

This month, my plants have been growing wonderful!
I’ve started growing a few plants in a hanging planter last month. Till now, they have been growing really fast. I already harvested some spinach and celery. And the tomatoes are also flowering (see 1st, 2nd and 3rd picture).

My habanero peppers haven’t stopped getting more flowers. They keep getting more and more flowers. And I keep harvesting more and more peppers (see 4th picture).

I’ve also started a new raft system that I’ve made. I’m growing guppies in this system and they fish and plants are doing great. I’ve also harvested celery from this system (see 5th and 6th picture).

I took the pepper plants out of the old raft system and planted 3 papayas in there. Because I will be needing them to feed the worms. And to stimulate them to grow faster, I’ve planted them in there till they are big enough to plant them in soil (see 7th picture).

The worms I have are also doing great. I’ve found a lot of worm cocoons in the bin. And every cocoon, contains about 20 worms (I think this is only for Red wigglers. aka Esenia Fetida). They eat a lot. If you’re interested in worms, you can order from us. But right now, we only ship within Curacao (see 8th picture).

My fish are doing well. I have 3 fish that died last week but the rest are fine. I think there are a few of them that are pregnant. Don’t know when the babies will come (see 9th and 10th picture).

A few days ago I thought about growing a lot of celery. So I planted a few of them in one of the half drums I grow plants in (see 11th picture).