Composting with Worms
by Earth 911 Staff on April 2nd, 2007
Let worms eat your organic waste! They will happily turn it into some of the best fertilizer on earth - worm compost, otherwise known as worm castings or vermicompost. This is a fascinating, fun, and easy way to recycle your organic kitchen wastes. Worm composting, or vermiculture, requires very little work, produces no offensive odors, and helps plants thrive. Only a few things are needed to make good worm compost: a bin, bedding, worms, and worm food. By following the steps listed below, you will learn to make, take care of, and use your own worm compost.
Worm Bins.
Your bin needs to be only 8″-16″ deep, since compost worms are surface feeders. You can build your own bin, use a washtub, a dish pan, a used shipping crate, or a commercially available worm bin. Just be sure your bin has a lid to keep out flies and rodents, and holes in the bottom a quarter inch or smaller, for ventilation and drainage. The rule of thumb for bin size is two square feet of surface area per person, or one square foot of surface area per pound of food waste per week. Because worms like moderate temperatures, place your bin in a shady location where it will not freeze or overheat. Here are some good choices: kitchen corner, garage, basement, patio, outside back door, laundry room.
How to build your own worm composter.
Bedding Materials.
Black and white newspaper is the most readily available and easy-to-use bedding material. Tear it into strips about one inch wide and moisten so it is as damp as a wrung-out sponge. Cow or horse manure can be used to lighten bedding and absorb excess moisture. A handful or two of soil, ground limestone, or well-crushed eggshells every few months are good for providing grit and calcium. Fill your bin with moistened bedding, toss in a few handfuls of soil, and you are ready to add the worms and food. Over time, the bedding and food are eaten by the worms and turned into dark worm compost.
Worms.
The best kind of worms for composting are “red worms,” or “red wigglers.” They are often found in old compost piles, but are different from the earthworms you would normally find in the ground. These worms have a big appetite, reproduce quickly, and thrive in confinement. They can eat more than their own weight in food every day! When purchasing red worms, one pound is all you need to get started.
Feeding Your Worms.
Worms like to eat many of the same things we eat, only they aren’t so picky. Stale bread, apple cores, orange peels, lettuce trimmings, coffee grounds, and non-greasy leftovers are just some of the food worms love that we usually discard. Here are some basic “do’s” and “don’ts.” Do compost: vegetable scraps, fruit peelings, bread and grains, tea bags, non-greasy leftovers, coffee grounds and filters, well-crushed eggshells. Do not compost: meat, bones, fats, dairy products, rubber bands, twigs and branches, dog and cat feces, greasy foods. Begin feeding your worms only a little at a time. As they multiply, you can add larger quantities of food wastes. Bury the waste into the bedding regularly, rotating around the bin as you go. When you return to the first spot, most of the food you buried there should have been eaten. If not, don’t worry. Just feed the worms less for a while.
Harvesting Your Worm Compost.
After you have been feeding your worms for three to six months, you may notice the bedding has been eaten, and you can begin harvesting the brown, crumbly worm compost. Harvesting the compost and adding fresh bedding at least twice a year is necessary to keep your worms healthy.
Here are a few simple methods for collecting your finished worm compost.
Method 1. Move the contents of your worm bin to one side, place fresh bedding in the empty space and bury your food wastes there for a month or so. Harvest the other side after the worms have migrated to the new food and bedding.
Method 2. Remove one-third to one-half of the contents of your bin, worms and all, and add the worm compost to your garden soil. Add fresh bedding and food to your bin.
Method 3. Spread a sheet of plastic out under a bright light or in the sun. Dump the contents of the worm box into a number of piles on the sheet. The worms will crawl away from the light into the center of each pile and you can brush away the worm compost on the outside by hand. Soon you will have wriggling piles of worms surrounded by donut-shaped piles of worm compost.
Using Your Worm Compost.
Worm compost is more concentrated than most other composts because worms are so good at digesting food wastes and breaking them down in their digestive tracts into simple plant nutrients. Use it sparingly for best results.
- How to mulch and amend soil
- How to use worm compost in houseplants
- How to use worm compost in potting mixes
Mulching and Amending Soil.
To mulch with worm compost, apply a one-inch layer to the soil around plants. Be sure the worm compost is not piled against plant stems. To amend soil, worm compost can be spread one-half to two inches thick over garden soil and mixed in before planting, or mixed into the bottom of seeding trenches or transplanting holes.
- Houseplants: Sprinkle worm compost around the base of plants to fertilize. Each time you water, plant nutrients will seep into the soil.
- Potting Mixes: For healthy seedlings, mix one part worm compost with three parts potting mix or three parts sand and soil combined. Peat moss, pearlite, and worm castings are also good ingredients to add.
Symptoms
- If your worms are dying
- If your bin smells rotten and/or attracts flies
Worms Dying. If your worms are dying there could be several causes. It may be that they are not getting enough food, which means you should bury food into the bedding. They may be too dry, in which case you should moisten the box until it is slightly damp. They may be too wet, in which case you should add bedding. The worms may be too hot, in which case you should put the bin in the shade. Or, it could be the case that the bedding is eaten, and it is time to add fresh bedding.
Bin Smells. If your bin smells rotten and/or attracts flies, there may be three causes. First, it may be that there is not enough air circulation. In this case, add dry bedding under and over the worms, and do not feed them for two weeks. Second, there may be non-compostables present such as meat, pet feces, or greasy food. These should be removed. Third, there may be exposed food in the bin. In this case, secure the lid, cover food scraps with bedding, and cover worms and bedding with a sheet of plastic.
9:38 pm on June 14th, 2007
Anyone know of a good place to get composting worms?
12:57 pm on June 17th, 2007
Your local fish bait and tackle shop should have red worms.
12:37 pm on June 30th, 2007
Can you put any type of shredded paper in the compost bin or just newspaper?
If you found a whole lot of red worms in the manure and mud piles at a stable would those be the right worms for composting?
12:39 pm on June 30th, 2007
Can you feed worms peaches or apricots?
3:51 pm on June 30th, 2007
I think you can, as long as the paper is thin enugh for the worms to eventualy eat and holds water well:
It sead in the text above that almost eny worms will work, just not as well, Idk if they are the red worms or not:
I think you can, they are plant matter right?
11:21 am on July 10th, 2007
http://www.greenculture.com has them … i bought my worm chalet from there. i haven’t found any bait/tackle shops that sell the red wrigglers by the pound yet, only by the dozen.
1:38 pm on July 23rd, 2007
If you are going to confine worms to a bin, you will need red wigglers because they are a surface feeding worm. Earthworms need to burrow and the worm bin may not be deep enough for this borrowing tendancy.
7:52 pm on July 30th, 2007
Just returned from my first orientation for the RI Worm Network. It was held at the Cooperative Extension Education Center on the URI Kingston Campus. I already had been through the RI Master Composter & Recycler Program and feel like I’m ready to take on my own worm herd.
The worm ladies of Charlestown conducted training. They’re a source for red wigglers and are helping us get wiggling. They started with the wigglers to clean up the waste products from the Angora rabbits they raise. So that’s why there website is http://www.angoraandworms.com/
5:54 pm on August 6th, 2007
I’ve been subscribed to the newsletter here… http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com for around 6 weeks now and they provide some very useful advice related to worm composting. There is a professional version available for a fee, but right now I’m just collecting the free edition which contains some great information also. I think they also run this worm composting blog here… http://www.bugdugle.com/wormcomposting/ as it contains a few questions that were answered in past newsletters and the guys name is the same on the blog. Not sure if they are related but thought this might help.
2:11 pm on August 8th, 2007
I have masses of worms in my compost bin. I thought they were earth worms but someone told me they were not and that they were not good for plants. They are smaller than earth worms I normally find in my garden and are very red with pointed ends. I also have a lot of sow bugs (roly polys) and have just recently found fly larvae in the bin. I put only fruit and vegetable peelings/scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds w/filter in the bin. I occasionally add dirt to the compost. Are these worms bad and should I try to get rid of them? I thought they were a good thing.
1:27 pm on November 27th, 2007
[...] needed to make good worm compost: a bin, bedding, worms, and worm food.” Worm Composting - Earth911.org Author: Duong VickiYou may have heard of Cesar Milan, also known as the Dog Whisperer, but are you [...]
9:46 pm on December 10th, 2007
i think i know where you can get worms…….
they are at pet markets soo i am told
8:56 pm on December 17th, 2007
“You can build your own bin, use a washtub, a dish pan, a used shipping crate…”
I use a dish pan with great success. Generally speaking the larger the bin the more forgiving your system is, but a dish pan is such a ‘personal’ size. Because of it’s small size it is easy to keep handy so you can check in on it on a regular basis. If it is a healthy bin you will see every aspect of the worms life cycle. This brings the facinating world of the worm composting bin into your life.
Wormnwomn
http://www.christyruffner.com
Handle your organic waste the way nature intended.
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com
9:16 am on December 21st, 2007
In my bins I have lost more worms from letting the bedding get too dry. It is said worms can handle wet and cold better that hot and dry.
The worm bin is a composting system, and if you are mixing up the material with adequate moisture you are going to be producing heat. In the colder winter months this is not a bad thing. But in the hotter summer months I have to be very careful to not get too much composting going on. I try to let the worms do the work.
Wormnwomn
http://www.christyruffner.com
Worm bin composting, handling our organic waste the way Mother Nature intended.
3:14 pm on December 24th, 2007
prey tell why I can not buy worms from the main land I live in HI. and the two plac es I have found to purchess worms one is out of product and has been for six mounths the other is on another island and they want $100.00 for two lbs WRONG aloha ps I live on the big Island of hawaii
5:30 am on December 31st, 2007
8:34 pm on January 17th, 2008
[...] Worm Composting Tips “This is a fascinating, fun, and easy way to recycle your organic kitchen wastes. Worm composting, or vermiculture, requires very little work, produces no offensive odors, and helps plants thrive. Only a few things are needed to make good worm compost: a bin, bedding, worms, and worm food.” Worm Composting - Earth911.org [...]
3:27 pm on February 13th, 2008
[...] the steps listed below, you will learn to make, take care of, and use your own worm compost. http://earth911.org/blog/2007/04/02/composting-with-worms/ It’s simple. The worms are kept in a bin with shredded paper or other biodegradable bedding. You [...]
7:49 am on February 21st, 2008
While I will admit that the basics of worm composting is easy, after all the worms are doing all the real work, I don’t think it’s fair to lead newbies to worm composting to believe there is no work involved by remarking how simple or easy it is. Worm composting can start as simple as a bin, tub or bucket. Add some shredded newspaper, manure, leaves, or a combination of the same with moisture, introduce your composting worms and your adventure begins. But keeping your bin healthy and active takes a little more attention to detail, and especially once your bin gets ready for harvesting.
Getting your worms out of the old material into new takes some creativity, time and effort. Depending on the condition of the worm bin at that time you also have to deal with processing the finished material to make it workable in the garden or for seed starting.Wormnwomn
http://www.ChristyRuffner.com
Let nature take care of the composting.
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com
10:39 pm on February 25th, 2008
[...] The cool people at Pouch seemed really positive about the method. While this UK blogger is pretty excited about her burgeoning Bokashism, she hasn’t had it long. Amazon is all over Bokashi and I’m sure you can find it elsewhere, too. Drop me a line if you have first-hand experience with Bokashi. Of course, there’s always composting with worms! [...]
7:00 am on March 13th, 2008
You can purchase worms by the pound from http://www.ENRECOS.com . They ship out on Monday and Tuesday to people across the US every week. Check out their Bedding Material line item too.
9:36 pm on March 16th, 2008
Any time is a good time to decide to start composting with worms. And while composting with worms is a great way to take care of your organic waste, this time of year I am reminded of how excellent the by-product, vermicompost, is for the gardener. If you put the vermicompost through an 1/8th inch screen you will have an outstanding addition to your seed starting mix when starting those seeds for your garden in the spring.
Wormnwomn
http://www.asthewormsturn.com
Handle your organic waste as nature intended.
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com
5:05 pm on April 21st, 2008
[...] Worm Composting with Earth 911 [...]
5:54 pm on May 24th, 2008
[...] [...]
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