Mid- to Large-Scale Vermicomposting

In this video Rhonda Sherman focuses on mid- to large-scale vermicomposting operations.These could be farms, instituitions or companies. Most of the time they will use some form of flow-through processing and harvestinging the wormcompost is automated as much as possible.

Video contents

00:15 Rhonda Sherman Vermicomposting Specialist
01:19 Continuous flow-through reactors
01:43 Annual Vermiculture Conference
01:57 All kind of scales in vermicomposting
03:19 The worms will eat most things that are organic
03:32 Livestock manure
04:00 Foodwaste
04:06 Humanure
04:15 Food processing waste
04:38 Start with a small wormbin
06:13 Master vermicomposting before expanding
06:26 Don’t use paper in a larger bin
06:36 Favourite bedding in a larger system is finished compost
07:02 In a larger system bedding is only 15 centimeters deep
07:46 Only add about 2,5 centimeters of food
09:18 You want your worms to go up to eat
09:29 The pool table effect
10:57 Harvesting the vermicompost
11:54 Continuous flow-through reactor
14:54 Black gold
20:33 NPK is not that big of a deal in vermicompost
20:47 So it is the micro-organisms
21:05 Fulvic acids
21:10 Humic acids
23:19 Precompost the feedstock
23:29 Precomposting is thermophilic composting
24:49 Cured, mature compost is great as a bedding
25:12 Precomposting feedstock kills the pathogens and seeds
25:33 Precomposting feedstock reduces the volume
25:52 Precomposting feedstock makes it homogeneous
26:08 Picky eater
28:37 Women reaching financial stability
31:15 Vermicomposting Specialist at NC State University

presentation: Rhonda Sherman
video production: Styn Swinkels
music: bensound.com

Rhonda Sherman is the director of the Compost Learning Lab at North Carolina State University and is a leading expert on vermicomposting. She has published extensively about composting and vermicomposting. Rhonda travels frequently to present workshops and to consult with farmers, businesses, and institutions on the development and management of vermicomposting systems. This interview was recorded in Amsterdam, the Netherland in summer 2022.
© 2022 DDC Abcoude, the Netherlands

Nederlandstalige online cursus ‘Compostwormen en wormencompost’
https://permades.maatos.nl/cursus/compostwormen-en-wormencompost/
Deze uitgebreide cursus vertelt je alles wat je moet weten om met de wormen je gft-afval succesvol en probleemloos om te zetten in hele goede wormencompost.
Leer alles over de compostwormen, wat ze eten en hoe je ze verzorgt, over de verschillende soorten wormenbakken, de mogelijke problemen die je kunt tegenkomen en oplossingen hiervoor. Wat is wormencompost, waarom is het zo goed voor de tuin, hoe pas je het toe en hoe maak je ‘actief beluchte wormencompost thee’. 
Ook toegelicht wordt het grootschalige kweken van wormen en produceren van wormencompost, toepassingen in de landbouw en bij afvalverwerking en andere mogelijkheden met compostwormen. 
De cursus bestaat uit 33 videolessen met in totaal bijna 3,5 uur aan video. Na aanschaf van de cursus is deze gedurende twee jaar online toegankelijk. Bekijk de video: https://youtu.be/330myMKbLXo