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Tomatoes 2008
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Vermicomposting
Definition. The practice of using worms (vermin) to convert organic matter (waste products) into a useable soil amendment. Don’t send your kitchen trash (organic matter) to the landfill where it will be entombed nearly forever. Use it instead to enrich your garden or your house plants and your lawn. HOW? It is really simple. Let Nature do it. Worm composting is a natural process that can easily be utilized to turn grass clippings, kitchen wastes and even newspaper into a rich dark brown sweet smelling crumbly material that can be used to supplement your soils nutrients so plants grow better, larger and more colorful. Vermiculture uses the same methods but the objective is different. It is to raise worms for the fisherman. To do so most fishers dig a convenient sized hole in an unused part of the yard or garden or use a bottomless bin somewhere in the yard or garden where they can keep the contents of the container moist, add organic matter whenever it becomes available and harvest the worms for their fishing trips. Harvesting the compost is done infrequently or not at all. Since you have kitchen wastes year around a method that allows the composting to take place year around is needed. Here is one such method. Step One. Obtain a container of a convenient size such as a plastic tote box, or wooden box. If you are using a plastic storage container, drill a number of holes in the bottom of the container to allow excess liquid to drain away. (That excess liquid may be diluted and used to enrich the soil for plants that need additional nutrients.) Also drill some holes in the sides of the container near the top to allow ventilation because your worms will need fresh air. The worms will not try to escape from the container unless conditions inside become too wet, too acid or too hot. I personally prefer if such unfavorable conditions exist to have the worms able to escape rather than have them drown or otherwise be killed. A cover of some kind will also be needed although a simple pad of newspaper will be sufficient. Step Two Prepare bedding material for the worms by soaking shredded paper in warm water. (You can use newspaper by tearing sheets of the newspaper into narrow strips starting from the folded edge of a section) Peat moss or coir which has recently become available in many markets, will also work but since you will almost certainly have to purchase it why go to that expense? Place four or five inches of the drained bedding material in the container. Add some red wiggler worms. The amount of worms will not matter although the more you have the quicker you will have compost. Even one adult worm will eventually be enough except that that one worm must have a lighter colored band around it indicating that it has mated with one other adult worm. It may take a long time for the number of working worms to build up enough for them to be able to eat all the food (waste) you will be adding to the container. Or you may be able to start with worm eggs which are contained in a tiny translucent case. But the more worms you have to start with, the quicker they will multiply and give you the ability to convert the bedding and other materials that you add next, into good compost. Step Three Add kitchen wastes that you have collected for a few days. Kitchen wastes to collect are trimmings from all the fruits and vegetables from the garden and bits and pieces of bread, crackers, cereal and any other carbohydrates. Waste paper or junk mail can also be added. Do not add grease or meat except in very small amounts as they will putrify rather than decomposing with an unfavorable smell. Shredded yard wastes can also be added to the bin. For convenience, I keep a small container next to the kitchen sink for the trash that I put in the bin. Place the bin somewhere convenient but not where it may freeze or overheat. A garage may be such a place. If using a plastic bin place it in another larger container such as a tray so the liquid can drain out and be collected for other uses. A light excluding cover on the container will keep the worms happy and in the dark which is what they prefer. As your kitchen waste accumulates add it to the bin. The worms will migrate to the waste and begin to eat it. As it passes through their bodies it will be digested and excreted into the bedding. This is the rich brown compost you want. Step Four In a few weeks the bedding and the kitchen waste will accumulate in the box. When most of the waste is consumed the worms will move on to any newly added materials. To harvest the compost allow the bin to dry somewhat so that the worms move to the moister bottom so you can scoop out the brown compost. You can also harvest the worms for a new bin if you wish. You may wish to wait until all the bedding material has been converted to compost before harvesting either the worms or the compost. In that case dump the bin out onto a pad of newspaper and make a pile of the compost. The worms will try to escape from the light by digging themselves down toward the bottom of the pile. When they have all disappeared, gently remove the top inch or so from the pile and place it in another container. The worms will then scramble toward the bottom and when they are no longer visible again skim the compost from the top of the pile. Continue in this manner until all you have left is a much smaller pile of wiggling worms. At that point refill the original container with bedding material add the worms and restart the composting process. You will probably find some tiny yellow egg cases in the compost and those can be removed and be used to start additional worm bins or they can be put in the garden to add worms to digest the organic matter in your soil. Each round egg case will produce up to a dozen worms which will mature in several weeks. Worms can be either purchased or gathered from your garden. Red worms are the preferred worms as unlike the common grey angleworm they prefer soils that are very high in organic matter. Angleworms prefer mineral soils. The compost (vermicompost) is an excellent addition to your garden or house plants. Do not use it alone for planting things as the high nitrogen content will kill the tender roots of your cuttings or seedlings. Problems you may meet with your compost bin include the larva of flies which like conditions much the same as the worms. This is a good reason to keep the bin covered so the adult flies can not reach the bedding to lay their eggs. During the summer it is best to keep the collecting container for the wastes tightly covered also. Fruit flies may also be introduced from rotting fruit or banana peels Tiny white worms may also be found in a mature worm bin. They look like bits of white thread and are called pot worms. They do no harm to the soil or to the bin so they can be ignored. Finally, a tiny mite occasionally will attack the worms and if you find the worms do not thrive then you should dump that bin and start a new one using eggs or fresh worms. |