How to Compost with Worms

• by Tracy C.

Guide Note: Composting with worms is easier than you think, and a bin full of red wigglers will munch through your kitchen scraps in no time, leaving you with rich fertilizer. Our guide, How to Compost with Worms, will help you learn the steps to successful vermicomposting.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Step 1: Make or Buy a Bin
• Step 2: Get the Worms
• Step 3: Introduce Food
• Step 4: Harvest Your Compost
• Resources

• Also try: How to Compost | How to Compost Indoors

Introduction

(Creative Commons photo by McKay Savage)

• Ah, the red wiggler worm, a worm capable of eating its body weight each and every day, making it the perfect household helper in the composting department. That's right, a slew of red wigglers can munch their way through all your kitchen scraps, freeing up space in the trash and the nation's landfills. Better yet, these little guys don't need much space, making worm composting (or vermicomposting) popular for the apartment dweller, for those who want to compost year round, or for students eager to learn about nature.

• To vermicompost, you won't need much: a container, suitable food scraps, and of course the red worms. You'll also need to be sure the temperature in your home will remain roughly between 55 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which means vermicomposting is not suited to tropical climates. Keep reading to learn how easy it is to get these worms working overtime creating compost you can use for houseplants, your garden, or your lawn.

Step 1: Make or Buy a Bin

(Creative Commons photo by Tom Arthur)

• You'll need a sturdy container to house your worms and resulting compost.

1. Many have recommended simple plastic storage bins with tightly fitting lids. Find these containers on Amazon or at your local Target.
2. Don't buy a clear bin because you need to keep the light out. You can even use an old dresser drawer to make your bin.
3. Your bin should be about 8-12 inches deep and around 24 inches by 16 inches or so, depending on how much space you have and how much food waste you generate.
4. Try collecting kitchen scraps for a week and then weighing them. You'll need one square foot of surface area per pound of food collected.
5. You'll simply need to drill a few holes to make sure your compost aerates properly.
6. Composters suggest drilling holes along the top and high on the sides of your bin, as well as in the bottom for drainage. 8-12 holes on the bottom should be enough.
7. You'll need to place your bin on bricks or wood blocks so it can drain properly, or simply find a tray (buying an extra lid with your container can work here) to place beneath the bin.
8. If you'd rather skip the DIY route, you can purchase composters specific for use with worms at Planet Natural or the Compost Guide Store.

The Bedding

• Once you've got your bin, you need to add bedding for the worms.

1. Before adding bedding, you may want to line your bin with a layer of nylon to keep the smaller worms inside the bin.
2. Shredded newspaper works well as bedding. Cut newspaper in strips of 1 to 2 inches wide or run it through your shredder to use as lining for your bin.
3. Line the bin 2/3 full with bedding, though some suggest only 2-3 inches is enough bedding.
4. You'll also want to moisten the bedding with a little water. Moisture allows the worms to breathe. Water your bedding until it is similar to a well-wrung sponge.

Step 2: Get the Worms

(Creative Commons photo by Chika Watanabe)

• Whether you shop at your local garden center for worms or have them shipped to you, it's easy to procure the red wigglers.

1. Because they actually enjoy kitchen scraps as well as confined spaces, you only want to use red wiggler worms or red earthworms for vermicomposting.
2. Check in with your local garden center to see if they sell red wiggler worms or have a nearby source for you. Gardening catalogs often sell red worms, too.
3. You might be able to find worms at your local fishing supply store, as red earthworms or red wigglers may be sold as bait.
4. You can also order red worms at online garden stores like Planet Natural.
5. You will need to decide how many worms to get. A pound of worms, equal to about 1000 of the creepy crawlies, will easily make their way through a half pound of food per day.
6. Most experts recommend starting with around 2000 worms, which will eat through 7 pounds of food in a week. You should get more worms or fewer worms depending on the size of your bin and how much food waste you generate.
7. When you're ready to add your worms to the bin, simply scatter them atop the bedding and keep the lid off. To avoid the light, they'll burrow deep down in the bedding.

Step 3: Introduce Food

(Creative Commons photo by David George)

• It's mealtime for the worms!

1. At first, it is recommended that you introduce an amount of food equal to half the worms' body weight each day. Then you can build up to giving them food equal to their body weight each day.
2. Bury the food deep in the bedding.
3. Try adding food in different locations of the bin each time at first, so you can get a sense of how fast the worms are eating. Slow down the feeding if they are leaving uneaten food in the previous spot.
4. Feed the worms on a daily or weekly basis.
5. You might want to add a cup of garden soil to help with the worms' digestion.
6. If you're going to be out of town, feed the worms a little extra before you go. If you'll be gone longer than 3 weeks, ask a friend to come by to feed the worms for you.

What Kind of Food to Feed Your Worms

• Red worms happily munch through the following food items:
  • Coffee grounds and filters
  • Teabags
  • Fruits and vegetables, including peels and cores (except watermelons)
  • Moldy bread
  • Pasta and rice

What is Unsuitable for Your Worms

• There are certain items that worms either have a hard time digesting or seem to dislike. Others attract bugs and/or scavengers. These items include:
  • Outdoor compost items like yard waste: bark, grass clippings, leaves, etc.
  • Watermelon rinds
  • Anything that has been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals
  • Meat scraps
  • Oils, fats, bones
  • Onions, garlic, salt
  • Dairy products
  • Pet waste, including cat litter
  • Extra trash such as staples (in teabags), aluminum foil, or glass

Step 4: Harvest Your Compost

(Creative Commons photo by Joi Ito)

• After a short time, your worms will have created rich compost you can use as fertilizer.

1. In about 3-5 months, your worms will produce what are called "castings," which is the decomposed material created in your bin.
2. This compost should look like rich, dark soil.
3. Because worms dislike light, one of the easier methods to separate your worms from the compost they've produced is to shine a flashlight in the worm bin. Then remove the top layer of castings.
4. Alternatively (and after not adding new food to your bin for two weeks), you can push compost to one half of your bin and place fresh bedding into the other half. Bury food deep into the new bedding and the worms will burrow down into this half of your bin, allowing you to remove the compost in the other half.
5. It can take a couple of weeks for all the worms to move over so you can harvest the castings.
6. Then simply keep the process going!
7. Use your new compost as top dressing for plants, as the top layer of your garden beds, or simply to make existing soil richer.
8. Try making worm compost "tea" by adding 2 tablespoons of compost to 1 quart of water and using it on all your plants.
9. You can also freeze your compost for use later in the gardening season.

Subscribe to Mahalo's Weekly How To Email Newsletter

• Get our best How To tips and ideas in your inbox each week
• Email
  

Resources for How to Compost with Worms

• Wikipedia: Vermicompost
• Garden Guides: Composting Indoors: Get Worms Working for You
• Compost Guide: Composting with Worms
• Martha Stewart: Vermi-Composting (April 2007)
• Cornell Composting: Worm Composting
• Planet Natural: Composting with Red Worms
• Planet Natural: Worm Composting Basics
• Planet Natural: Red Wiggler Worms

Related Searches