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Composting With Worms
Try composting with worms, and you'll soon have an excellent fertilizer that is far richer than ordinary compost. That's because in addition to clearing away your kitchen scraps and giving off nutrients in the process, worms also give off a mucus that will actually prevent these wonderful nutrients from washing away with the next watering. These nutrients will stick to your soil right where your plants can reach them. What could be better?
Vermi What?The technical term for using worms to eat your waste is vermicomposting or vermiculture. It is using worms – red wigglers usually – in addition to microbes and bacteria to turn your organic waste into a nutrient rich fertilizer. You find a container much like the one on the left and then give your little wrigglers the same organic waste – everything organic except for meat and fruit rinds – that you would normally put in your compost pile. The end product (okay, worm poop) is your vermicompost.Composting Versus VermicompostingWith regular composting, you just toss everything into a pile. However, with vermicomposting, you will need a special container that provides both drainage and air flow.What’s the Best Container?You will need a container that will provide your worms with bedding (made from an organic matter), and organic waste. You could layer them in a single container. For example: bedding first, then the worms, and then the organic matter. The problem with this is when it’s time to harvest the end result, you will have to dump the worms out as well as the compost. We’re talking sifting through the compost to find the worms and return them to the bin, which is time consuming.
A better alternative is a composter with several compartments in it, such as the one pictured on the left. Put your bedding in the bottom compartment. Then add the worms and then the organic matter. When the bottom compartment is full, then start adding organic waste to the next compartment. When the worms have eaten through all the waste in the bottom compartment, they will migrate upwards to the next compartment.
It will then be much easier to harvest the compost from the bottom drawer. What few stragglers you find left in the bottom drawer you can add to the next compartment up. What Kind of Bedding to Use?When composting with worms, you will need bedding that resembles what they would have in nature. Use shredded newspaper, dead leaves, sawdust, hay, cardboard, burlap coffee sacks or peat moss. Your wrigglers will eat their bedding as well as live in it, so make sure their bedding is moist and loose. It should be about as damp as a wrung out sponge and loose enough so that the worms can breathe and oxygen can get in to allow the matter to decompose.Be Careful With Paper and CardboardThe glossy paper from newspapers and magazines may contain toxins. Also, avoid cardboard that contains wax or plastic, such as cereal boxes or other containers that were used to hold food.How Much Waste Can I Add?When you first start out composting with worms, only feed your little guys about half of their body weight each day. That means if you have one pound of worms, you should only provide them with half a pound of kitchen scraps. In time, as your worms grow, they’ll be able to consume more, and you can then give them closer to equal their body weight. A good rule of thumb is to wait until the old food scraps have been processed before adding new scraps.
Keep Them From the ExtremesIf you are composting with worms and live in a warm climate, keep your bin out of the direct sun. You want the bin to remain moist. Also, red wigglers are temperature sensitive, so don’t let your bin get below freezing or above 84 degrees Fahrenheit.Have Allergies?All composters produce molds. They occur naturally with composting and actually help break matter down. So when composting with worms, if you are allergic to mold or mildew, you will need to keep your worm composter outside.If Things Get StinkyJust like with a regular compost pile, when composting with worms, things may get stinky if you have too many greens in the mix. You want about thirty parts of brown items (carbon) to about one part of the green things, such as grass clippings or lettuce leaves (nitrogen). Again, don’t use meat scraps as these will attract rodents. Also, do add fruit rinds. Your worms won’t be able to eat through them quickly enough, and they will start to stink.What If Your Worms Get Company?After a while, you may notice other bugs in your compost, such as millipedes and pill bugs. Don’t worry. These bugs will help with the composting.When Using This Wonderful CompostWhen composting with worms, you wind up with a product that is incredibly rich, so you don’t want to use it alone as a seed starter. Instead, add it to your potting mixes for extra nutrients. A good rule of thumb is to use one part worm poop to four parts of potting mix.More Homestead Gardening LinksGreat vegetables for beginning gardeners.How to choose the best garden location. Put in raised beds for a stronger, healthier garden. Or better still, try these easier raised beds without digging. How to make your own compost. Mulching tips to strengthen and protect your plants. Organic pest control tips Tips on dealing with poison ivy Tips on organic container gardening Find the right garden container Self sufficient gardening Tips on composting with worms How to build and use a cold frame. |
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