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🌱 Living Soil with Cherene

293 members • Free

4 contributions to 🌱 Living Soil with Cherene
Worm Castings Under a Microscope
I just added a Worm Castings category, and this seemed like the perfect first post for it! I recently sent about a cup of my castings to Scott from Hungry Worms for analysis. I’m a huge fan of what he’s doing, and I know some of you are too. He recently started offering castings and compost testing, where he analyzes a sample under the microscope and provides a report along with videos of what he finds. This was my first time ever seeing my own castings under a microscope. My results showed they are very bacteria dominated with very little fungi, which makes sense since I don’t use many wood chips or leaves in my systems. I suspect my outdoor bins would likely have more fungal activity. Scott told me my castings were phenomenal! That was definitely encouraging to hear and got me excited all over again about continuing to improve the quality of what I produce. There are so many beneficial microbes living in healthy castings, and those microbes are a big part of what helps support healthier plants and soil. I’ve linked Scott’s testing service below if you’d like to send in your own castings and see what’s living in them. Keep up the great work everyone! https://hungryworms.com/cherenesgreens
1 like • 7d
@Rick Redding Rick, what is SMS?
Can I see your setups?
I’ve seen some of your wormery and bin setups, which had been super helpful as I start my journey. 🪱 What has been successful for you? What hasn’t been so successful? What are your goals (using up food waste, gardening, worms for fishing, selling castings, selling worms)? Can some of you include where you purchased the items for your setups (shelving, bins, builds, etc). Show me the good, the bad, and the ugly of your journeys. I could use some inspiration. 💖
3 likes • 15d
@Jason Evans that looks heavy duty!! Love it! Where did you purchase it?
1 like • 11d
@Jason Evans very nice!!
How To Do A Trench Feeding?
In this video I feed some watermelon rinds to my European nightcrawler bin. It’s important to pay attention to the moisture level. Knowing the food will add moisture after it defrosts plays into how much moisture I add or don’t add. Keep it like a wrung out sponge!
3 likes • 14d
Cherene, hello! How deep is the bedding for the ENC? About a week ago, I fed worm chow, then covered with a damp piece of flat cardboard, then bubble wrap with several small holes to allow air flow. The bedding area under the chow went anaerobic, and an extremely foul odor (like carrion, or worse “dead poop” is best way to describe it) was absorbed into the cardboard. I discarded the cardboard and bubble wrap. I fluffed the bin, and added oyster shell powder. Everything is okay now, but that was alarming since I almost wiped out the entire herd!!
Cocoon Nursery Hatchlings
I set up this cocoon nursery about a month ago with 30 cocoons and there are some little “wormlets” as my dad likes to call them 😂 keep your cocoon nurseries cozy, warm, and undisturbed if possible. Let them do their thing! You’ll have many worms in no time!
2 likes • 28d
@Cherene Packard hello, and thank you for your informative videos!! I just received my herd this past Friday, and they appear to be acclimating very well…(thanks to your precompost bedding recipe). Question. Is 2,000 European Night Crawlers in a 27 gallon plastic bin too many? I would like to produce cocoons. Google AI suggested that I put half of the population in another bin. Thanks in advance, Brian
1-4 of 4
Brian Davis
2
10points to level up
@brian-davis-1656
First timer. Just getting started

Active 1d ago
Joined May 12, 2026