David Johnson's Page

Mark replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Thanks Kirsty"

Jun 14, 2011

Kirsten replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"My WF is fairly big, much bigger than a can-o-worms, but i am fairly lax with it, the woman who taught me told me that they thrive on neglect...I have found that for every person who says you need to do such & such with a WF there's someone…"

Jun 12, 2011

Mark replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Hi Kirsty, The handful of lime you are talking about, what size WF is it going into? this could be too much in a small WF maybe. "

Jun 10, 2011

David Johnson commented on Yvonne Nikolaison's group Growing our own drinks

"Successful tasting of this years Perry. Very nice. One day I will actually work out how strong it is, but I am mainly focused on the taste."

Apr 10, 2011

David Johnson replied to David Johnson's discussion How much Worm wee should the worm farm produce in the group Vermiculture

"Thats great thanks. I have a "worm blanket" that came with the worm farm which is damp, but I have not been adding extra water. I shall start adding some extra water to the farm to help it along."

Mar 30, 2011

Caroline Gill replied to David Johnson's discussion How much Worm wee should the worm farm produce in the group Vermiculture

"Hi David, Do you add any water to your worm farm? You don't get a lot of juice from the food you give them. I keep a thick layer of newspaper over the top of the food in the worm farm, otherwise I get maggots in there. I make sure the…"

Mar 30, 2011

David Johnson added a discussion to the group Vermiculture

How much Worm wee should the worm farm produce

My worm farm is in the carport and so is sheltered from rain. I was just wondering how much "wee" would normally be produced. The environment is moist for the worms as in damp sponge level of damp. and I have a some wee in the base but not enough to be able to drain off using the tap in the base. It has been running for about a month.It is not a problem, more just out interest. DavidSee More

Mar 30, 2011

2 Comments

David Johnson replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Thanks Kirsty, fruit fly numbers are completely down now and the worms seem even happier."

Mar 30, 2011

Kirsten replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Hiya David, Lime helps them digest the 'food' better. I put a handful in about once a week, just scatter over the top when i'm putting food in. I use garden lime, but buy it from a farmstore - you can get 25kg for around the same…"

Mar 21, 2011

David Johnson replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Thanks, I suspect my paper to scraps ratio is a bit out at the moment. I will get the shredder out tomorrow and get some paper in to the mix. I do need to pick up some lime as well for it. Are we talking any old lime that I might be able to…"

Mar 20, 2011

Kirsten replied to David Johnson's discussion Fruit flies in the group Vermiculture

"Hiya David, just add heaps of paper & some lime & have a wee dig around to mix it all up. You should be about 70% paper to the food scraps. Are you draining the bottom of the box regularly? This makes a difference in mine. Don't know…"

Mar 20, 2011

David Johnson replied to David Johnson's discussion Mead in the group Growing our own drinks

"Yes, I am using a wine yeast. (SN9 premium wine yeast). The hops are fuggles and finishing hops, and what I did was put them in boiling water, extracted a "tea" from them and added that to the mix, rather than adding the hops directly.…"

Mar 19, 2011

Deb McCabe replied to David Johnson's discussion Mead in the group Growing our own drinks

"that sounds brilliant! are you using a wine yeast? We are new beekeepers and old wine and beer makers. How are you using hops to flavour? thanks!"

Mar 19, 2011

David Johnson commented on Yvonne Nikolaison's group Growing our own drinks

"I used a Campden tablet in the perry I made as I didn't trust that it was just wild yeast on the pears that I had, but other than that the only additive was some wine yeast and nutrients (all came in the same packet)."

Mar 18, 2011

David Johnson commented on Yvonne Nikolaison's group Growing our own drinks

"Which chemicals are you talking about about? There are some that make sense to use. "

Mar 18, 2011