Worm composting is the process in which you recycle your table scraps into rich compost using live worms. Here we will outline the steps to follow to get your compost pile built and operational.
Step one is to find a suitable box to use. The box can be made out of wood or plastic, but it must have holes in the bottom, top and sides to allow airflow. You don’t want the holes too large or the worms will escape. A hole size of an 1/8 of an inch will allow air into the container while keeping the worms inside.
You can place the worm composting box in your basement, shed, garage, or outdoors. Where you keep the box depends on the space you have available and the climate you live in. Worms don’t tolerate extremes climates well. If it gets colder than forty degrees it best to keep them inside.
What are the best composting worms?
The most popular worm for composting is redworms. It is also referred to as the red wiggler worm. The red worm thrives on food waste and organic materials. These worms can be easily found online or even at some gardening centers.
How many worms to start with.
These worms have a big appetite. If you are going to add a pound of food waste a day to the container, you need about 2000 worms. If you are going to begin with fewer than 2000 worms reduce the amount of waste you add. The red wriggler is prolific breeder. Redworms reaches sexually maturity between sixty and ninety days. After that, their babies are mature within twenty-one days.
Worm composting bedding
You want the worms to have an ideal environment so that they thrive and reproduce. Shredded newspaper, grass clippings, leaves, straw, shredded cardboard and peat moss all make good bedding material for the worms. Keep the bedding material damp, not wet.
Feeding the redworms
These worms will eat almost of a vegetable of fruit origins. In addition, tea bags, eggshells, and coffee grounds make a good food source. You don’t want to use any dairy or meat products, they tend to attract unwanted critters.
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Step by step instructions describing how to properly feed your worms and manage your composting bin to keep them happy! Visit www.practicallyoffthegrid.com for more practical tips on sustainable living.
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Earlier we’ve talked about the differences between compost bins and compost tumblers, and let you, our wonderful composting audience, decide for yourselves on what you thought would work better for your needs. Well, let’s put our differences aside and talk about worm composting, also known in the composting world as vermiculture or vermicomposting. There’s really not much to it, we use worms, right? Right, but not just any worms; red wiggler worms or night crawlers are the preferred types of worms to use. Why not earthworms, you ask? Well, I’ll explain that in a second, but let me first tell you why red wigglers and night crawlers are so beneficial to the composting process.
Red wiggler worms, also known as red worms and by their scientific name of Eisenia fetida, are recognized as the best kind of composting worm. Thriving in darkness and swearing off light, red worms are hardy workers and can eat half of their own weight. Additionally, they have hearty appetites and can live off of food scraps such as banana peels and chicken mash (a yummy mix of cornmeal and chicken meat, this is usually used only if you plan to raise your red worms as fish bait). Red worms also live well in damp places, and as fish bait, will wiggle around on the hook since they can survive in water for several days at a time.
Night crawlers which are popular amongst fishermen can also be used as composting worms. With the same performance level as red worms, they’re not really considered your number one composting worm. One reason may be that even though they thrive in cool, shady areas, they don’t seem to fare too well if there’s too much moisture; in fact, once they hit water they’ll pretty much just die. Unusually enough, fisherman seem to like using night crawlers as bait probably because they’re pretty big and fat.
Using earthworms such as the kind that show up when it starts raining is not recommended. Earthworms are great burrowers and excellent soil aerators, but they won’t digest the organic matter and leave behind worm castings, which is what you want. Your best bet is to stick with red wiggler worms. Though not necessary, mixing red wigglers with night crawlers is okay, but you’re fine with sticking to one or the other.
Vermicomposting can be a fun activity for families, classrooms, or even just solo. Just be sure to feed your worms and watch them as they do the work for you.
Need some compost bins, wood chippers or even a lawn sweeper? Stop by Composters.com today!
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