I’m so excited to learn about worm composting (aka vermicomposting). We picked up a pound of worms from a fellow gardener last week and dusted off our old worm bin. We tried worm composting a few years back. Well, I should admit, my husband tried worm composting. I didn’t want anything to do with the worms back then. I just couldn’t appreciate what amazing little creatures they were and I allowed myself to be grossed out from all the squirmy, squishy, dirtiness of it all.
Sadly, we lost our crew after 6 months or so due to a bad heat wave and poor placement in the hotter than hot garage.
But here we are today. I have fortunately matured out of the “eeew” phase of worms and am excited to have them as part of the family.
Here’s a few interesting things I learned on my path to getting ready to be a thoughtful, nurturing worm caretaker-
There are so many different varieties of worms out there. We have Red Wrigglers, which is one of the best for vermicomposting in a bin.
A pound of Red Wrigglers is typically around 1000 worms.
Red Wrigglers can eat about half of their weight in food every day, which means we need to feed them about a half pound of food a day.
It’s important to get the ratio right when we’re giving them food – only 25% green food waste (kitchen scraps – no onions or citrus) and 75% brown (dried leaves, cardboard, paper, etc).
Worms breathe through their skin. No noses!
Even though they break down the kitchen scraps, it’s still best to cut things down to smaller size to help the process move along a little faster.
Holes, holes and more holes. Top holes in the worm bin provide air for the worms to breathe, bottom holes allow excess moisture to drain out so the worms don’t drown.
The bin should not stink. Phew! If it does, something is off and you’ll need to adjust. Typically more brown composting material is needed.
I still have a lot to learn, but the bin is set up and I check on them every day. They are still alive! From what I’ve read, we should be able to use some of the processed soil in about 3 months. Nature is so amazing.
As an added bonus in getting this all set up, I was tickled to learn that my husband used to have dreams of being a worm farmer back in his early 20’s. I find that so endearing. I’ve never met anyone that has had that dream before and it’s part of the reason I love him more and more. I’m glad that we finally got worms again and we can work on making his dream a reality. But this time, I get to help, too.
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