Worm composting is a process by which red worms, usually red wriggler worms, also known as Eisenia foetida are added to organic matter to assist in the breakdown of bacteria growth, hence assisting in the decomposition of such matter. The result is broken down into two categories, worm compost or vermicompost and worm castings (worm droppings).

Worm compost is what remains after organic matter is broken down into a mix of compost and worm castings which smells like virgin black soil. This is even a better by product than regular compost for your gardening needs.

Worm castings are the remains left over in your worm composting bin after about one year, which are also known as “black gold”. This product is as good as it gets for your garden! Again this does not smell bad, but rather like fresh top soil.

Worms have been around for over 120 million years. Aristotle called them “the intestines of the Earth”.

Darwin who studied worms for 39 years stated “The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man’s inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”.

Worm composting can be done on a small or large scale as well as indoors or outdoors.

If your worm composting bin is maintained correctly, it does not produce an odor. In fact when I first became more serious about my vermiculture I ended up with over 15 bins in my home. I got away with this even though my wife freaks out over just the site of a single worm

Worm compost and worm castings are by far the best organic fertilizer for your plants with added benefits as well. With tests conducted at Universities, results were astonishing not only in growth difference by simply adding 5% or more of worm composting to the soil but also disease resistant plants! Test showed that plants without vermicompost exposed to over 150 plant diseases and carcinogens did not fare well for the most part as most died. The plants with five percent or more of worm compost added did survive and appeared not to be affected by the diseases and carcinogens.

Worm composting offers other benefits as well. Vermicompost retains moisture better than regular soil. Simply mix in your soil or apply on top of the soil around your garden plants. Worm tea a byproduct made by adding worm castings or worm compost to water can be used to fertilize plants by spraying and help in prevention of dry fungus on plants.

Releasing some worms from your worm composting bin into your garden not only helps to convert organic material in the garden, but also aerates your soil as they borough through and around the roots of plants.

As a fisherman, there is another benefit to worm composting by which you have a never ending supply of red worms for your adventures! The best for fishing are the red wriggler worm which is a smaller worm with a tougher skin, hence staying on the hook longer and the African nightcrawler. The African nightcrawler has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and hence my first worm composting bin was established.

Worm Composting Blog offers an array of red worms for sale in smaller quantities if you are just getting started to larger quantities for those who are already established.

Bruce

First of all you will need a bin or “worm factory”. Allow me to take a minute here and explain the difference.

There are a number of types of worm factories available for around $60.00 to $90.00 which come by themselves or with bedding… Most will emphasize the fact they come with a spigot for which you can drain the liquids which some refer to as worm tea (in essence it is not really worm tea but will explain in a separate post). The important fact here is that if you have liquids draining from your vermiculture setup, you have too much moisture and your worms will end up dying.

In short you can purchase a rubber maid type bin, being sure it is opaque as to block out light for under $5.00. All you need is a drill so as to make 1/4″ holes on the bottom and 1/16″ holes on the top of the bin and the lid. This is important for air flow as worms require a mix of moisture and oxygen. In fact, I personally do not even place the lids on mine; however your spouse may get upset if you have an uncovered worm bin in your kitchen or guest bedroom

I found in the past that by placing the lid on the worm composting bin, there was not enough air flow, even when I drilled more holes in the top side.

Utilizing a lid seems to trap more moisture within the bin, hence generating mites throughout the worm bedding. Now most mites will not be harmful towards your worm population, however as I learned in Latin many years ago, there are exceptions to every rule

You will need to do a little more work if you decide not to use the lid on your bin. I find that the moisture more readily evaporates; hence I need to spray my bins more often with water. I personally use a small B&G sprayer to mist my worm bins since the number of bins is growing rapidly, however a simple spray bottle is sufficient for most. Do NOT simply use a watering can or other means to add water. You need a fine mist as to avoid over watering and to evenly disperse within your worm bin.

For some simple directions on building a worm composting bin click here (link opens in new window).

Next you will need some bedding for your worms to exist in. Many folks recommend coconut coir, peat moss… in reality all you need is shredded newspaper and brown cardboard. Shred enough paper to place between 5 to 6 inches deep in your worm bin. In fact, red worms will not be able to live in just peat moss or coir by themselves; however they can survive on just newspapers. I do not recommend just newspapers as you will have much healthier and larger worms with the proper food, something I will get to in a minute. Another item to add is brown cardboard. Do NOT use the shiny waxed cardboard and best if plain brown.

Now the rule of thumb is to soak your newspaper and wring out so as when you squeeze it only a drop or two squeezes out between your fingers. I have tried this and found this makes your red worm composting bin to wet, especially once you begin adding more food for your worms.

I simply use a B&G sprayer, since I have a large number of bins, however you can simply use a spray bottle to moisten your bedding. I do have a plant soil moisture meter and slide it in horizontally while moving it back and forth. I have found around 7 to 8 on a scale of one to ten works best (70% to 80%).

Next you will need food for your worms. OK worms love most food scraps. There is a lot of ground to cover, not just on food but as a whole in general, but I am just going into the basics here.

Worms love most vegetables, however keep away from those high in citric acid such as lemons, tomatoes, oranges etc. Also avoid or use very little onion and garlic scraps. Lettuce, greens and most vegetable scraps are great to add. Limit starchy foods such as potatoes, bread etc. Banana peels are good, however limit as they tend to add more of an odor and also seem to attract mites in your bin, which for the most part are OK but not necessarily something most folks want a bunch of

Do NOT place meat, dairy products or oily foods in your bin as this will end up killing your red worms.

Since worms have gizzards much like a chicken, hence they require grit in order to digest food. You can add a handful of dirt, sand or I prefer ground up eggs shells. Be sure if using dirt or sand that is purchased that it contains no harmful ingredients such as salt or is not bleached in the case of sand.

When adding food to your bin, place in a different corner each time under some of the damp newspaper as this will help reduce both odor and the infestation of fruit flies.

I highly recommend placing your bedding and food into your bin at least one week prior to the addition of your red worms. I usually do this with fresh bedding two to three weeks prior to adding worms. This allows for the food scraps to begin to break down and build up organic matter, something that is required for red worms to be able to eat it.