Old bed designs and why they don't work as well as AVSA
Bed designs that don't work and the ways AVSA has improved production, saved space, and become cost effective.
Old bed designsEverything imaginable has been used as earthworm beds/bins, from old refrigerators to large windrows, from coffee cans to wash tubs. The one common denominator was that none of them could be separated easily or effectively. They were all hard on the earthworms and the growers backs! The most popular means of separating the earthworms from their bedding (vermicompost) has always been to haul the casting out into the sun, put it on a large table and wait until the earthworms are stressed enough to crawl to the bottom of the pile, then slowly scrap off the bedding (with the egg capsules in it, they don't CRAWL yet) and then use/sell the resulting vermicompost, complete with egg capsules (6-10 babies in each!) But, if it was cold, wet weather, what then. Haul everything indoors under a light, lots of hauling, from the bed to the table, from the table back to the bed. Another popular method was to let one end dry out and not feed it. The worms will crowd into the the damp end and the other half can be removed. This left one end of the bed Non productive for long periods of time, besides stressing the earthworms, by over crowding them. So, a 8' long bed was only producing one half as much, in twice the space! The past separating methods work fine, IF you are selling, harvesting the earthworms. But, if you want the vermicompost it can be a very unsuccessful operation. The past beds/bins were usually put outdoors, where they were subjected to the weather, pests and the earthworms had a tendency to run away, when they didn't like their new homes. Production was markedly reduced. The bed/bins were usually put on the ground, so a lot of bending over and shoveling was necessary to work them and remove the bedding. Poor growers back! They were usually made out of wood, which didn't last long and had to be replaced as and when it rotted. Some people dug "pits" into the ground and when it rained they flooded and there went their earthworms. Anyway, after investigating and trying some/most of the above bed/bin designs I finally sat down and designed AVSA. I designed it to conserve floor space, which justifies the use of indoor floor space. I designed it to be separated quickly, easily and efficiently. Without the bending over shoveling, the added man hours and the sore backs. I designed AVSA to turn the vermicomposting business into a Profitable business instead of a back breaking, partially profitable hobby. Now with AVSA the vermicompost is the product being produced, and the earthworms are finally the producers of it. Instead of the earthworms being the product being sold. A quick glance at the other websites and the construction of their beds/bins will tell the story. A back is a terrible thing to lose, as is a bunch of over-stressed earthworms.
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T-Dome Homes Basic Manual