Thought I would post this if anyone is interested. Ive used vermiculture for years in my outdoor and indoor gardening


When food scraps are thrown into the garbage a valuable
resource is lost. Composting with worms or vermicomposting
provides an alternative method for disposing of
kitchen waste. Maintaining a worm bin is fun, educational
and will reduce household waste while providing a source of
natural nutrients for your plants.
Eisenia foetida, commonly called redworms, are a specific type of worm that
are best suited for worm bins. As surface dwellers, they process large
amounts of organic material in their natural habitats of manure, compost piles
and decaying leaves. They reproduce quickly and love to eat a variety of
kitchen wastes.
Worms have no eyes, but are extremely sensitive to light which
they "see" via special skin cells located at the head and tail end of
their body.
Worms have no lungs to breath with as we do. Their moist skin allows
them to "breath" oxygen into their body and release carbon dioxide from
inside their body into the surrounding bedding.
Worms, in nature, will usually live and die within the same year. Worms in
a worm bin may live up to five years.
An earthworm can move a stone that is fifty times its own weight.
A mature redworm (four to six weeks old) can mate and produce two to
three cocoons per week. Two to five baby worms can hatch from each
cocoon in only three weeks.
A single worm has both male and female reproductive organs, but it still
takes two worms to reproduce.
Worm Bin Recipe
1 10-14 gallon dark plastic storage bin with a snug fitting lid (such as a
Rubbermaid Roughtote). Choose size according to food waste produced.
Rule of Thumb: one square foot of surface space is needed for each pound
of food waste produced per week.
.
Newspaper or shredded paper
2-3 cups of water (sprayer optional)
1 handful of garden soil
½- 1 pound of redworms
Food waste
.
.
Drill small holes on lid and along top 2-4 inches of bin to allow aeration.
Make bedding by ripping newspapers into strips no wider than 2 inches.
Put the paper in the container.
Mix or spray water into newspaper until bedding is thoroughly moistened
as a wrung-out sponge. There should be no standing water.
Mix in soil. Fluff bedding.
Spread worms over top of bedding.
Bury food waste. Cover bin and place in a location where the temperature
will remain 55-77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Worm Bins FAQ
WHAT KIND OF FOOD CAN I PUT IN THE WORM BIN?
Eisenia foetida, or redworms, will eat food scraps and paper. A list of their
favorites is given below. Feed your worms a good variety of produce scraps to
keep an even chemical balance in the bin. Mostly fruit or tomato waste could
make the soil too acidic. Avoid salty chips, etc. Remove moldy items &
discard.
Apples
Apple Cores
Baked Beans
Banana Peels
Biscuits
Cabbage
Cake
Carrots
Cereal
Coffee Grounds
Cucumbers
Egg Shells*
Grapefruit Peels
Lettuce
Oatmeal
Onion Peels
Orange Peels
Pancakes
Pears
Pineapple Rind
Pizza Crust
Potato Peels
Tea Leaves
Tomatoes
*good source of calcium carbonate, necessary for worm reproduction
HOW MUCH DO WORMS EAT?
Redworms eat almost half of their body weight each day. If you start with a
pound of worms you can feed them 3-5 pounds a week. Don't worry about the
worms when you go on vacation for a couple of weeks. The worms will eat the
bedding when no food waste is available.
WILL THERE BE ODORS AND BUGS?
A properly maintained bin should not give off any offensive odors. Avoid
adding meat scraps and always completely bury all food waste in the bin.
Burying fruit waste will prevent fruit flies from being attracted to the worm
bin. Air is necessary for the worms and other microorganisms to work
effectively. Without air you may develop anaerobic conditions which will allow
gas producing microorganisms to thrive. To further avoid fruit flies, freeze
food waste before adding to the bin.
WILL I NEED TO ADD MORE BEDDING?
Add bedding every 3 - 5 weeks or when there is not enough bedding material
to completely bury the food waste. Other suitable sources for bedding are fall
leaves, shredded office paper or shredded corrugated cardboard.
WHEN & HOW CAN I USE THE VERMICOMPOST?
The redworms will work most productively when they live in 55 -77 degrees
Fahrenheit, are fed, kept moist and minimally disturbed. Given these
conditions you will have compost available within a few months. The worm
castings (or vermicompost) are very rich in nutrients for plants. You may
work the vermicompost into garden soil, add a spoonful periodically to indoor
plant soil, or water plants with “compost tea.” castings in water.
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO HARVEST THE VERMICOMPOST?
The easiest method is the "Divide and Dump" technique. You simply remove
about two-thirds of your vermicompost, worms and all, and dump directly
onto your garden. Add fresh bedding to the vermicompost that is still in the
box. There will be enough worms and cocoons remaining to repopulate the
worm bin.
You can let the worms do the sorting for you by putting the vermicompost
and worms to one side of the worm bin. Then add new bedding to the empty
side. Bury your food waste in the new bedding only. The worms will move
over to the new bedding in search of food. After 2 to 3 months the
vermicompost can be harvested. You can continue this back and forth method
to simplify your harvest of future vermicompost.
Another method is to dump and hand sort the worms from the vermicompost.
First dump your worm bin out onto a large sheet of plastic. Make several
cone-shaped piles. When the light is very bright the worms will quickly move
into the center of each pile. After about five minutes, you will not be able to
see the worms. Gently remove the outer surface of each pile, exposing the
worms to the light and sending them deeper into the pile. Following this
process you will eventually end up with a container of vermicompost and a
mass of pure worms. It's a good idea to have fresh bedding made up before
getting started with this method so you can refill your empty bin and add the
worms as you sort.
WHERE CAN I GET REDWORMS?
check your local bait shop for redworms. Don't be surprised if they don't
know them as redworms. They are also commonly called red wigglers, red
hybrids or manure worms. If you are successful in finding redworms in your
bait store you may find them to be more expensive than ordering from a
grower.
Growers sell by the pound (approximately 1,000 worms), where bait shops usually sell by the
dozen.
WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?
The worm supplier is extremely knowledgeable about worms and
vermicomposting. Also Worms Eat My Garbage (book), Worms Eat Our
Garbage (curriculum), and various videos are available from Flower
field Enterprises. The web offers a host of helpful sites including
www.wormwoman.com, www.wormdigest.org, www.wormlady, and
www.wormwrld.com. Additional resources may be available through your
local cooperative extension office, garden club, ecological organizations, or
the environmental office of your local or county government.
Information adapted from material provided by Charter Township of Ypsilanti, Environmental Services
Department (1995) Updated by the City of Ann Arbor (2004)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2007 05:15PM by Jgunn.

thought i would dig up these pics of folks used worm castings (worm poo lol) or worm casting tea (worm poo liquified) .;.. the dude with the corn got 15feet high while his neighbor was 5ft high lol

sorry i couldnt figure out how to just post the pics im technically challenged lol



[i37.photobucket.com] <---cauliflower

[i37.photobucket.com] <--- corn

[i37.photobucket.com] <---cukes



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2007 10:37PM by Jgunn.

jgunn

u are sooo dang smart

have u ever read " How to Eat Fried Worms"?

i did
it was a fun book

but i won't eat fried worms even if they put ketchup on it

not tasty for me

your compost bin sounds cool

you're my compost professor

this is my school

hehe no ive not read it but i will see if i can find it at my library

thanks LaV!

yes please do

hee hee

Wow thanks for this info - I've been thinking about doing this for awhile now - rawrnr told me about this site - so I popped on over and lo and behold here is the exact info I've been looking for !

Thanks !

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worms are fun one time i didnt have their bedding quite right i used too much rabbit poo from my rabbits and the worms plain didnt like it...

i woke up the next morning with about 5000 worms stampeding out of the bin all over the floor lol

ROFL !!!! Nice to know that they are discerning worms . I guess everyone has a limit on the amount of s%&t they will put up with LOL !!!