If you’re not bothered by worms, vermicomposting can be a rewarding and useful hobby for gardeners and plant lovers. Worms, specifically red wiggler worms, help the composting process immensely. They eat green and brown materials, and you are left with worm castings (worm poop) that gardeners call “black gold”. You can use this black gold to make compost tea and spray your plants, or you can use it to pot plants or vegetable gardens. It’s a great way to give your plants lots of nutrients so they can grow!
I got my worm bin in June of 2022. It’s now been 5 or 6 weeks, and my worms are thriving! I’ll link my exact worm bin and where to buy your red wigglers online. If you don’t want to pay the price for a 3-tier worm bin like I have, that is totally fine!! Just buy or use a cheap plastic storage bin, preferably not clear because worms dislike light. Drill a few air holes in the sides and you’re good to go! I recommend using a lid to keep the bin dark for the worms, but a towel, tarp, old blanket, or burlap work the same way if you don’t have a lid.
So how do you start your worm bin? It’s pretty simple. First, you need a bin or container for your worms. Then, you need to fill it with bedding. I recommend coco coir for bedding but shredded newspaper/ cardboard that have been sprayed with water also work. If you have a regular compost bin you can add some of the finished compost as bedding too. You want your worm bedding to be moist, but not soaking wet. It should feel like a wrung-out sponge. If you squeeze your worm bedding and water comes out, your worm bin is too wet. This could cause the worms to drown. But don’t let your worms get too dry either! It’s a balancing act for sure.
Next comes your worms. I use red wiggler worms from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. They ship in just 2-3 days! When you receive your worms, the first step is to rinse them in water. Worms will lose a lot of their mass in shipping due to being dried out. This step helps revitalize them in a way. I forgot this step when I got my worms and overall things were fine, but I would have had healthier and bigger worms in the beginning if I remembered to do this. When you add your worms to your bin, they may try to escape at first due to the bin being a new environment. This didn’t happen for me, but it’s a common reaction from the worms. The best solution is to shine a light on the bin. Worms don’t like light so they will dig down into the bedding to avoid it.
Now, what to feed your worms and how to feed your worms. Mostly what you can compost in a regular compost bin, you can feed your worms. But here are some specifics to what worms like and dislike. Worms like vegetable scraps, ground eggshells, coffee grinds and filters, tea bags or leaves, fruits. Worms dislike citrus fruits, tomatoes (because of acidity), meat, dairy, manure from cats or dogs (please don’t add cat poop to your bin lol). I’ve found that my worms love watermelon rinds the most. They go crazy for them!! They also really like avocado skins and banana peels. When I don’t know what to feed my worms, I usually give them lettuce that had gone bad in the fridge. Frozen veggies or fruits are also great for the worms! Freezing your worm food before feedings helps break up the cell wall which turns the food to compost quicker! Tip for feeding your worms: cover the food with bedding or brown materials completely to avoid fruit flies. This is especially important if your worm farm is indoors - you don’t want fruit flies all over your house. If you do experience fruit flies, apple cider vinegar mixed with soap helps trap them. You can google diy fruit fly traps easily.
When feeding your worms, start on one side or section of the bin. For the next feeding, place the food right next to the last feeding and keep doing this until you reach the first feeding spot. By then, your first feeding should be turned to compost. For beginner worm farmers, DON’T OVERFEED YOUR WORMS! It will just attract all kinds of bugs and critters. Let some of the food compost before adding more. When you see that most of the food you’ve added has “disappeared” it means the worms have decomposed it and turned it into worm castings. Once most of the first feeding is gone, feel free to add more. Red wigglers can eat up to two times their body weight!
Remember, scraps added to the bin (especially if frozen beforehand) have excess water which will keep the worm bin moist. Don’t water your worm bin if you don’t have to. If your bin does feel a little dry, try spritzing it with a spray bottle and covering the top of the bedding with moist newspaper to lock the moisture in.
There is so much more I want to talk about, but this should be sufficient information if you’re a beginner vermicomposter. If you run into any issues, leave a comment and I will help! And let me know if you’d like any other posts on vermicomposting!
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