I'm in Houston and I'm finishing up my first year of vermicomposting. I started with worms in February and then found some wild Black soldier Flies as the weather warmed. I hooked up both systems to the A/C condensate
drip around May and the populations have done well. I'm excited to refine the system and was wondering if anyone else is using the A/C drip for vermicomposting (or other cool projects) and if they had any recommendations for keeping the BSF going strong through the winter. I also would just love to network with anyone into this kind of stuff in the Houston area.
my current system is a 3/4 inch piece of poly pipe(not permanently connected) which takes the condensate from the outlet under the roof into a 35 gallon Tupperware full of BSF larve which is full of holes in the bottom and sits on a couple of 2x4's above a 275 gal IBC(with the worms) with the top cut off. The bottom of the IBC stays open so the water is constantly moving through the system. During the summer the worms concentrate in the water(I think to stay cool). They also process a little less in the high heat. It has been so cool for me to see how much life a little water can nourish. During the summer is when the BSF came in strong(at least here in Houston) so I just shifted where I put the scraps.
Anyway, I just stumbled onto this because I needed a way to keep the bedding wet. I'm super excited with the results though and I'm gonna try and improve on it for next year. Here's a
video if I peaked any interest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=escAtClgvMI and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjiwKPkyXuw
Also I don't think I showed the outlet in the video, but at the bottom of the IBC(right now) there is about a 4 square foot boggy area. Some of the worms leave(hang out in the wet soil), but no mass exodus or anything. The A/C drip will go dry once it cools off in November/December and nature will take its course with those outside. I guess I will have to water the rest to keep it moist through the winter.
