Vermicomposting!

What is vermicomposting some of you ask? Well it’s a ton of fun and something you can do with the whole family, kids especially. It’s like having a low maintenance pet that makes useful presents for you (not the dead mouse on the bed sheets like some pets) as you care for them. In short, my friends, vermicomposting is composting using worms.

The worm castings (worm poop) is a rich fertilizer for your garden, house plants, etc… Some people call the casting black gold and sell it for good amounts of cash (the one that sell it have LOTS of worms and worm bins however). Even the liquid drainage from your bins (and if you are not over watering them it shouldn’t be a ton of drainage).

Building a worm bin

In Worms Eat My Garbage, Mary Appelhof suggests weighing your household food waste for one week (in pounds), and then provide one square foot of surface area per pound. Use several bins, if the size you need would be too heavy for you to lift alone.

Here are some great sites that talk about simple worm bins. One from storage crates, and an easy to build wood one. With plastic the bedding stays wetter (which can be good sometimes and not so good other times). The wood ones are more absorbent, but break down over time. You might have to experiment to find what works best for you. Whatever you choose, the container depth should be between eight and twelve inches at least.

There are also some place you can by bins if you’d like. I can’t recommend any since I current make all of mine. For instance the Wormwoman’s site sells Wormaway bins that look pretty handy. If I was gonna buy one, these would be ones I’d consider.

Remember, to preserve moisture and to keep the inside dark like the worms like it, the bin will need to be covered. I like using a burlap bag, or well ventilated all natural cloth, but you can use cardboard, or anything else. Keep the cover moist. If you use the bin outdoors, I’d recommend a well ventilated plastic cover that fits securely on your bin to protect your worms.

Worm bedding advice

Note, with these two and many others they say newspaper bedding *loud buzzer* Wrong answer folks. The best way (w/o the ink and junk, which is not very healthy for our lovely worms) is just use moistened dirt and composting leaves and all from your compost bin. Save the newspaper as a biodegradable weed barrier in your garden.

If you don’t already have a compost bin, then take leaves and grass clipping (none that have been sprayed) and wet those for bedding for the wormies. In fact if you can keep a bag around of leaves or something you can use it to cover the wet food when you feed the worms to keep away the fruit flies rather than “burying” the scraps in small sections each time. That worked well for me. I always add green sand to the bedding and food to add grit for digestion, which you can get at most garden places.

Where do I put this thing?

Place your bin in a well insolated place like a laundry room, the garage if the temps near you done get to cold or too warm, or anywhere where the temperatures stay between 40-80 degrees Fahrenheit. (for Celsius check this calculator).

Getting my worms

You want a pound of redworms (about 500 worms) per ½ pound a day of food waste. Remember also the square foot ratio for the bin size as well. You want to give your worms plenty of room to reproduce.

What to feed my new worms?

Anything edible except for oily food (no Mc Donald’s for the worms please), meat, or dairy. If you use grains or egg shells (great calcium source for your wormies) you may want to grind them up into powder/flower for easier digestion. You my want to be careful if you eat a lot of citris because it can be too acidic.

Worm care

Keep the bedding moist, but not soggy. Most of the time the food will keep it wet enough, but if your house stays very dry you may need to spray the bedding down with water. I check our worms bedding daily, but check the moisture every couple of days at least. If you do see fruity flies, then toss some dry compost over the top, not to heavy a layer, and they flies will go hunt someplace else.

Harvest?

When you harvest depends on the size of bin, amount of worms, and rate of food consumption mostly. At about 2 month, it’s good to check the container. If all the original bedding is gone, and the casting are at a good level time to harvest. It is important to separate the worms from the finished compost, otherwise the worms will begin to die.

You can use the method mentioned above to transfer the wormies, I love the idea of the two bin technique mentioned in the bin building section. That’s a much easier way to harvest than many methods I have seen. Or dump the bin on a plastic sheet and short by hand, or check out City Farmer’s technique.

Now what do I do with this stuff?

The casting can be mixed with soil and added to container for plant feeding, or spread in the top of the soil of the pot as mulch.  If put through a screen, the casting can be used as a seedling mix as well. And of course, it’s great in the garden.

Trouble shooting

This came from City Farmer:

Smells: The most common problem (with some worm bins) is unpleasant, strong odours which are caused by lack of oxygen in the compost due to overloading with food waste so that the food sits around too long, and the bin contents become too wet. The solution is to stop adding food waste until the worms and micro-organisms have broken down what food is in there, and to gently stir up the entire contents to allow more air in. Check the drainage holes to make sure they are not blocked. Drill more holes if necessary. Worms will drown if their surroundings become too wet. 

Worms escaping: Worms have been known to crawl out of the bedding and onto the sides and lid if conditions are wrong for them. If the moisture level seems alright, the bedding may be too acidic. This can happen if you add a lot of citrus peels and other acidic foods. Adjust by adding a little garden lime and cutting down on acidic wastes. 

Flies: Fruit flies can be an occasional nuisance. Discourage them by always burying the food waste and not overloading. Keep a plastic sheet or piece of old carpet or sacking on the surface of the compost in the bin. If flies are still persistent, move the bin to a location where flies will not be bothersome. A few friendly spiders nearby will help control fly problems! 

Well, I hope this has been useful and fun, and I'd love to hear if any of you deside to try your hands at vermicomposting yourselves. It's very easy and a great way to keep yopur garbage freer from smelly food scraps.