WormFarmer

Duplicate post deleted - something wrong either with Thai Visa or my computer - I keep getting message saying action failed, then the action happens!!!

I'd like to set up a worm farm myself to use up some of the kitchen waste and waste fruit. What varieties of worm do well in Thailand? Back in Oz we had Tiger worms in the vege garden and around the flower beds. Stick a shovel in the ground and dig the dirt up and there would be at worst half a dozen!

I'd be happy to buy some worms to start as there isn't many in the soil around here!

We find that in this climate African Nightcrawlers do better than Tiger Worms, others may disagree. Both are compost worms so can be used successfully in worm bins or worm farms.

If you want to buy worms either PM me or visit my website at pennworms.com with www. in front.

Thank you for the reply wormfarmer. Wouldn't putting the worm casting directly into the tank plug up my drip feed system ?

I have been reading about the difference between leachate and tea but what I was actually thinking of at the time was what i saw at Mae Jo University where they had a tank of worms with no dirt that they put vegetables in every day and the liquid drained into a tank every day that bottled to sell for fertilizer.

I didn't think that method would allow for the worms to reproduce so I was thinking of having a worm bed that would also create the worm castings for leachate and tea.

The main question that I had was if I fed the cucumber plants to the worms when the harvest was complete would that take any diseases that some of the plants had and spread that to all of my other plants? Would the worms eating the plants destroy any diseases?

I don't know how your system works, but maybe the loose casting would cause a blockage, in which case put them in a breathable bag, the sort you would use anyway to make tea.

Leachate can contain pathogens, it depends on the source of food, see my answer to teletiger above. When worms digest food they seem to eliminate any germs or pathogens in the food. I don't know how that works, but it does. So worm tea or wormcast is safe but leachate MAY contains pathogens.

What to do with the leachate? I normally pour it onto the compost pile.

Regards.

Leachate can be used as a fertiliser or spray, but be aware that any pathogens that were in the bedding / food may be in the leachate, for example if you use manure as a food for the worms. Pouring it on the compost heap is as good as any way of getting rid of it. We just let it run to waste in the garden.

I suspect you are actually talking about leachate, being the liquid that runs off the worm bed. Worm Tea is made by aerating wormcast in water for about 24 hours. But for your purposes, no need to make tea just put the wormcast into your tanks.

I am getting really p188ed off with the post office. My weekly Telegraph which should arrive on a Monday, and always used to, now arrives anywhere between Tuesday and Friday. Some weeks two editions arrive in the same post!!

Thanks,

Sorry guys, it was Thonburi Hospital,

Cheers

That is indeed a good private hospital. My wife was treated there after having had a bad road accident and they looked after her very well.

Congratulations Ryan on your new baby.

As a pensioner living in Roi Et your comment on the hospital interests me. However, can you just clarify which hospital in Roi Et you went to? There is the big Government Hospital in the centre of town, which is reputed to be quite good, but there are also at least two big private hospitals:- Churivej Hospital (affiliated to Bangkok Hospital) on route 23 heading out of town towards Yasothon and Thonburi Hospital on route 214 heading south out of town, before you get to the ring road. There may also be other hospitals that I am not aware of.

We went up in October this year. It's a 5km climb, quite steep in places, best to take a hiking stick (a good solid bamboo does the trick) which is especially useful when coming back down. It's a 3km walk along the top to the camp. Journey time about 5 hrs.

Here's a sketch of the route up, they'll give you a copy when you sign in.

Happy Christmas Russell to you and your family from me and mine. Hope to see you here in LOS one day soon. Cheers WF

Thanks for that. On the to do list.

So I'm gonna have some brown patches for a coupla months? Or using Singha would make for a quicker recovery period??

Since it's now just about the end of the rainy season I reckon you'll have brown patches for more than a couple of months unless you water them a lot. I got mine all nice and dead just at the start of the rainy season so the new grass came through quite quickly - you'll have to wait a bit longer. maybe until the next rains - but better brown patches than that horrible grass. And don't leave it through the dry season like I did, because sods law is that that stuff expands all through the dry season - get shot of it asap.

Oh, and please link me to this wormcast you speak of.

We have a worm farm and sell worms & wormcast - you can read all about it at our website which is on the world wide web at Pennworms dot com. You can also Google wormcast for lots of information.

Here's a shot of the affected area taken this morning and a shot of my basic coarse grass eradication kit!

Thats the stuff. So you hand paint each blade? I guess I could grab a beer or two and do that.

Could you list tools and mixes?

Cheers.

All I used was cheap a 1" paint brush and a small plastic dish into which I poured neat Roundup, didn't bother to dilute it at all. I did that just to save carrying the bottle around with the risk of dropping it. Good idea to wear gloves, although it doesn't seem to do any harm if you get a drop or two on your hands. Roundup is called Glyphosate in Thailand, somewhere on TV there's a photo of a bottle but you can get it in most garden shops.

I didn't paint every blade, it's enough just to paint one blade per plant/root - I just daubed it on whatever leaves there were, then when some were not looking dead after a day or two I did them again. Naturally quite a bit of ordinary grass suffered too, but this has now all grown back, generally without the coarse grass. Once all the stuff had died and I had effectively removed the dead runners etc. with the lawnmower I spread plenty of wormcast to encourage new growth during the rainy season.

A few leaves of coarse grass still appear from time to time but having learnt my lesson these are immediately subjected to a quick drop of Roundup.

The net fence you can see on the first photos was because at that time we had a couple of rabbits in that garden and I didn't want them munching poisoned grass.

All the advertising hoardings round Roi Et announce that it's opening on 3rd October.

Bergen:- you were an excellent host for an excellent meeting, thank-you. We won't blame you for the stormy weather! Thanks are also due to our wonderful, but as yet un-met beer sponsor DaveHKT, we hope that sometime you'll manage to get to a meeting so that we can all meet you and thank you personally.

It was good to see many old friends and to meet some new friends, including the intrepid couple from Bangkok who came all the way just for the meeting.

Let's hope we get a volunteer for the next meeting in say three months time. WF

There is a good lady dentist in Roi Et on Tawapiban soi 14 (see attached map). I don't know her name or if it's the same one you saw.

During the day she works at Roi Et City Hospital so her private clinic is only open at lunch times and in the evenings for about 2 hours - although there usually seems to be a receptionist / nurse there who can book you an appointment. I know from experience that she is good, she also speaks reasonable English.

Dentist.docx

Hi Bergen,

Count me in for the meeting on 28 June and please book me a bungalow room with AC and en-suite. Not sure if there will be just me or two of us - problems getting someone to feed the various animals, not to mention feeding our daughter and a disabled relative! Cheers WF

Sorry to hear the news of your family's loss Russ - deepest condolences to all of you. WF

Good on yer Bergen.

Colonel Packdee: Many thanks for hosting such an interesting and informative meeting, it was very much appreciated. Now all we have to do is to get the ones we bought to grow at home.

Also it was great to catch up with so many old friends and to meet so many new friends. Lets hope we can all meet up again at the next meeting. WF.

Hello all,

like HerbalEd, I only read your posting today and the team are in the middle of harvesting our straw mushrooms so we will have to pass on your meeting. Shame really, because we'd be very interested in swapping ideas etc., and to learn about milky mushrooms ( never heard of them before ). Perhaps the organizer can take my TV name and advise me of any future meetings ? It would be greatly appreciated.

Finnomick: Farmers Meetings are not a very structured affair with no one person as organiser - whoever volunteers to host a meeting will announce it on the Farming Forum and anyone who wants to go can say so on the forum. Generally, if there has been a willing host, meetings happen about every three months. I think it probable that the next meeting will be hosted by Bergen who will hopefully confirm this at the forthcoming meeting on Saturday and in due course announce details of time, date and venue on the forum. So keep a look out for details of the next meeting on the Farming Forum.

If you want to know more about milky mushrooms in particular then Colonel Packdee organises seminars to teach people how to grow them, so for that you should contact him directly.

Sorry to miss this event, but just now learned of it.

Still time to come.

I won't be able to make it this time. Maybe, just maybe, I'll manage to get to the next gettogether. Have a great weekend.

Dave

We shall miss you Dave, however we'll drink a toast to your generosity in sponsoring the drinks. Hopefully one day you'll manage to get to a meeting. Cheers WF.