According to www.ehow.com: “Vermiculture, or worm farming, is a simple way of turning table scraps into compost while producing fish bait Vermiculture operations can range from a small bin maintained by apartment dwellers to large-scale worm farms. Worm castings, or the products of worm’s digestion, are so highly prized as a soil amendment and fertilizer that some worm farms are run primarily for the castings and not for the worms themselves. This process is called vermicomposting.”
I have looked through dozens of websites and read material in several books and it all seems pretty much the same from one source to the next. Hopefully I have succeeded in explaining it as easily as possible to help you get your worm composting project started on the right track.
Benefits of Worm Composting:
1.Organic kitchen waste like vegetable peels, bread, coffee grounds & filters, egg shells, etc. can be turned into some of the best organic fertilizer basically free of charge.
2.Produce much healthier plants without using expensive chemical fertilizers.
3.Worm composting helps eliminate a good deal of garbage disposal. Not only do the worms eat kitchen scraps, they also like to eat newspaper, paper towels, cardboard, and even that pesky junk mail that piles up around the house.
4.This project can potentially lead you to a money-making opportunity by selling both the worms (they are great reproducers), and the castings(worm poo).
5.Adding the castings to your garden soil or potted plants will increase moisture and nutrient content, improve aeration and root penetration. It will also decrease damages done to the soils structure.
6.Vermicomposting also restores beneficial microbes to the soil which can increase plants disease resistance.
7.Worm composting is a much faster process and takes a fraction of the time it would normally take to compost without the worms.
8.You will have your own supply of fishing bait.
The list can go on but I will stop there for now. As you can see, worm composting if beneficial in many ways. Next I will explain the process of starting your very own worm compost bin.
Preparing The Bin:
STEP 1:First you need to obtain a container to house your worm bed. This can simply be an inexpensive rubber or plastic container that you can pick up from any department or hardware store. You may even be able to recycle one you already have laying around the house. Make sure you do not use a clear container because worms prefer the dark.
STEP 2:Next, you want to prepare your bedding materials. The easiest way to provide the worms bedding material is to use shredded newspaper. Soakthe shredded paper in water and squeeze out the excess water. Next fluff up the paper and place it in the bin. Ideally you want to have roughly at least six inches of bedding material.
STEP 3: Add some food for the worms (see the list below of the types of food to add). Burry the food under the bedding because the worms prefer being buried rather than come to the surface. This will also cut down on the odor as the food starts to decompose. Allow the food a couple days to start breaking down before moving on to the next step.
STEP 4: Add your worms. Worms can be purchased online for worm supply outlets. You can also buy smaller quantities at your local bait shop. Worms are prolific reproducers so it want take much time at all and you will have lots of worms. More worms means more compost bins, or more worms to sale or give-a-way to your gardening friends or blog readers. You can grow your worm composting project as big as you like from your first bin.
Feeding Your Worms:
Now that you have your bin set up, and your worms are in their new home, let’s talk about what to feed them. Below are lists of the things you CAN feed your worms and also things you SHOULD NOT feed your worms.
·Fruits: apple, strawberry, banana peels, pears, peaches, and any type of melon.
·Vegetables: cabbage, carrots, corncobs, any and all greens, beans, celery, cucumbers
·Cereals & Grains: Pasta, oatmeal, rice, non-sugared cereal, pancakes, corn meal
·Coffee grounds & filters
·Manure can be used in small quantities because it heats up during the decomposing process. You don’t want your bin to get too warm or it will dry out and kill your worms.
·Avoid citrus type fruits like orange, lemon, lime, etc. because they can be toxic to worms.
·Avoid acidic vegetables like tomatoes.
·Avoid shiny type papers or coated papers.
·Meat, fish, poultry, dairy
·Worms hate junk foodlike potato chips, candy, or any type of oils.
·Definitely no non-biodegradable items like plastic, rubber, aluminum, etc.
The best thing to do when trying to figure out what your worms like to eat is place a small amount of the item in the bin. If after a week the food is still there and the worms have seemed to move away from it remove it from the bin.
Harvest Your Castings:
Once your bin full of bedding has turned into the brown worm castings that looks like dirt you are ready to harvest. The easiest way to harvest is to place food at one end of the bin for a week or so and give the worms time to move to that end. Remove the castings and replace the bedding. It’s that simple.
At this point, when castings are removed, If you have built up a large population of worms, you can divide them into two bins. If you don’t want to start a second bin you can sale or give away the extra worms. You don’t want your bin to become over crowded.
VERY VERY IMPORTANT:
One thing you must keep in mind is to keep the material in your bedding moist. This can be done using a spray bottle and lightly mist on a regular basis.
If you let your worms dry out, THEY WILL DIE!!
If you get your worms too wet, THEY WILL DIE!!
I hope this helps you get your worm composting project started. If you have any hints, tips, or tricks you would like to share with us please let us know by leaving a comment!!
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