Red Wigglers Worms 101

What is Worm Composting? 

The process of utilizing the natural tendencies of red worms to break down your organic waste into nutrient rich natural fertilizer.

What kind of worms should I use for composting?

worms

  • ~Red worms, Red wigglers, Manure worms, Striped or “Tiger” worms.    Eisenia fetida or Eisenia andrei  NOT Night crawlers or earthworms.
  • ~Red worms process more plant matter than “earthworms”, they live close to the surface rather than in burrows and they adapt well to life in “captivity”

Why would you want to do this?

    • ~Environmental reasons: 
    • ~Approximately 1/3 of all waste in landfills is from food waste, by worm composting you can greatly reduce your waste output.
    • ~food waste in landfills has no access to oxygen and creates methane which is a green house gas so composting or worm composting cuts down on the methane as well as landfill space.
    • ~Great way to recycle plant waste, one of the few items that is virtually 100% recyclable
    • ~If you grow house plants, have fruit or veggie garden or flower beds you can turn excess trimmings into great fertilizer almost for free.  Also a great seed starter which you cannot do even with most organic fertilizers.
    2. Getting Started
    4. ~Determine what size you need for the amount of worms you need.  Not enough space means less biomass (waste & bedding) that you can hold and worms may begin to die off to the population the container can support i.e. waste of some investment.

    ~look for a box that has good ventilation, worms need air but this also helps keep the odor to a minimum and keeps from attracting unwanted “guests” (moth flies, soldier flies, cockroaches)

    1. ~Moisture control: Worms need to be moist (slime!) but not wet (dead!).  Many plastic containers have spigots or drainage trays for excess water runoff (tea).  Wooden boxes may or may not have catch trays for runoff.  Typically wood absorbs excess moisture so this isn’t a problem. Cloth bins are good because some "worm tea" drains out but not all of it.

    Bedding

      1. ~Helps to maintain moisture & airflow.
      3. ~Covers waste & suppresses odor.
      5. ~Provides extra biomass for worms to process when there is too little food.

    ~Bedding options: shredded paper, coconut fiber (coir), peat, autumn leaves. Also need some dirt or gravel dust to add grit.

    Get started today!

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