I am so happy my hands were shaking when I took these photos, or it was the honey I OD on this morning. Some of you might know that I have been day dreaming about set up my own worm compost for a long time now. I really wanted a nice wooden bin for them to live in but settled for the (free) plastic bin for now. There’s a lots to read online about vermiculture or vermicompost. Martha Stewart had a good article about how to set if up in the March ‘07 issue. Treehugger also has a lot of good things to say about the process and how to get it going.
1. Drill ventilation hole for the wormmies to breath.
2. fill 3/4 full with damp shredded newspaper for bedding (I watered the paper with a watering can)
3. get worms: Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida) or Red Earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus). They are available at many nurseries and online, I found some locally on Craigslist.
4. that really is a little tiny worm in there, I saw it wiggle.
5. Food for the worms. They eat produce and grains, everything but animal products and fats.
6. bury the food scraps around the bin so that the worms crawl around throughout the bedding.
7. The worms nesting in. I gently spread the worms and their castings around the bin after this photo. In theory they will eat the food and beading and then turn it into lovely poop. Obviously the process works because there were traces of newspaper and some uneaten food (avocado skin) in with my new worms. I hope I can keep a balanced environment for my new pets so I don’t having rotting trash outside my front door.
Nicely done. I’m putting a link to this onto my garden blog today.
Martha
Composting with worms is a great way to reduce the amount of waste you put into the garbage. Although there are many commercial products out there, it shows that you don’t need to spend a large amount of money to get started with composting worms. Great work!
[...] that they will like their new home even if it is a bit rustic. Almost anything looks better than a plastic bin with holes drilled in it. The worms have been thriving, in fact some nights when I put food in it looks almost solid with [...]
[...] all of the worm talk Em.) I’m very pleased with the new box, it doesn’t even compare to the old one. I even collected leaves from around the neighborhood (it was leave pick-up day after all) and gave [...]
Here is a great article on troubleshooting your worm bin once it is set up and working. Tips of mite infestations and other critters, preventing odors, and in general keeping you worms happy and multiplying.
Good luck everyone!
http://peoplepoweredmachines.wordpress.com/2009/04/22/worm-composter-spring-tips-troubleshooting-and-faqs/
I have been picking crawlers off our local golf course at night and I am trying to raise them for bait can you help me to lern how to keep and feed them?
The book “Worms eat my garbage” by Mary Appelhof is a great way to get started. I think the best way is to just dive in and do it and trouble shoot as things come up by reading about worm composing online or in books, that’s my style. Good Luck!