how do you make a worm compost

Here's how to get started:

1. Grab your worm composting container. ...
2. Place a 3.25in (8cm) layer of moist bedding material, such as old compost or coir, in the bottom of the container. ...
3. Carefully add in the worms.
4. Cover the worms with a layer of kitchen waste – not too much to start with – no more than 3.25-4in (8-10cm).

Full Answer

How many composting worms should I start with?

How Many Worms Do I Need to Start a Worm Compost Bin? For beginners we recommend starting with 1 pound of worms for every 4 square feet of your worm bin’s top surface area. Experienced vermicomposters can start with more worms and we recommend 1 pound of worms for every 1 square foot of you worm composter’s top surface area.

What are the best worms for worm composting?

What are the most common types of worms?

• The Red Wigglers. The most common worm that you will be told to get for your vermicomposting bins, red wrigglers, is native to several countries worldwide.
• Reg Tiger Worms. The first choice of vermicomposters, the regular tiger worm, has stripes across its body while maintaining a rust-brown color.
• African Nightcrawlers. ...

How to make your own composter for worms?

You can make worm composting bins for home and garden use yourself using the following steps:

• Start with the container and drill twenty ¼-inch (6.4 mm) holes in the bottom.
• Set another container under this that leaves a gap for the worms to move into after they are finished with the contents of the top layer. ...
• Line both bins with shredded paper for bedding that has been soaked in water and squeezed dry.

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How to start a home worm composting system?

• Place a layer of heavy newspaper on top of the bricks. ...
• Pile the tires on top of each other, with the first tire on the Sunday newspaper. ...
• Fill the entire wormery with organic material (semi-composted is best). ...
• Use a piece of board weighed down with bricks as a lid. ...
• Harvest a tire's worth of fertilizer roughly every 8 weeks (during warm months).

What should you not put in worm compost?

Items you cannot compost in a worm bin: Lemon, lime, orange or other citrus peels and juice (in excess this will make the soil too acidic) Onions and garlic (a good rule of thumb is if it makes you smell, it makes your worm bin smell) Meat, fats, grease, bones or oils (no butter, lard, stocks, soups, etc)

How long does it take to make worm compost?

about three to six monthsAfter about three to six months of being fed, compost worms will have created enough compost to harvest. In this two bin system, when your bin is getting full you are ready to add the next layer of bin, nesting it on top.

What is the best compost for worms?

Most non-food items are also bad ideas. The ideal diet for composting worms is non-acidic fruit and vegetable scraps. Grains, bread, coffee grounds, tea bags, and pasta are also fair game. Aged grass clippings, hair, and herbivore animal manure are compostable.

How do you make a simple worm farm?

InstructionsDrill 10 to 15 holes in the bottom of one of the buckets. ... Add several handfuls of kitchen scraps to the bucket.Place the red wigglers on top of the kitchen scraps.Shred newspaper. ... Put the bucket with the worms inside the second bucket and put on the lid.More items...•

Will worms eat banana peels?

Banana peels are an excellent worm food.

How often should you turn worm compost?

Once the environment is set and you've added your worms, it's important to never let them completely run out of food to eat. Remember, their food needs to grow plenty of microorganisms before they will eat it, so you will want to cycle in new food waste every two or three days. Check the compost bin every other day.

Are coffee grounds good for worm composting?

Worms love to eat coffee grounds, and that's great news for your garden. Add coffee grounds to your compost pile to help attract worms, which help speed up the process of turning food scraps into compost. You can also add coffee grounds directly to the soil, but you'll have to be careful not to overdo it.

How do you make worms compost faster?

Manage moisture. One of the most important factors for a healthy worm bin is adequate moisture. ... Remember to aerate. Along with moisture, worms need air to survive. ... Keep temperatures consistent. ... Add foods that worms like, in the right balance. ... Don't overfeed.

Can potting soil be used for worms?

Gritty soil particles also aids the worms' digestive process. Potting soil, or soil from outdoors is fine.

What do you put in the bottom of a worm farm?

Most kitchen scraps are fine for the worm farm, including fruit and vegies, eggshells, coffee grounds, etc. Limit the amount of citrus and onion you add, and chop everything into small pieces. A small amount of leaves, weeds and grass cuttings. Paper and cardboard - unwaxed and slightly wet.

What is the best bedding for a worm farm?

10 Bedding Materials Your Worms Will LoveShredded brown cardboard.Shredded paper (not bleached white office paper)Shredded newspaper (not colored)Aged compost.Aged horse or cow manure.Coco coir.Peat moss.Straw and hay.More items...•

How do you make a cheap worm farm?

2:126:40I'm using shredded newspaper. And aged compost. Or you could use manure fill the box. Until it'sMoreI'm using shredded newspaper. And aged compost. Or you could use manure fill the box. Until it's around a quarter. Full you need to dampen the bedding make it moist but not wet.

How long do worm castings take?

The worm castings build up slowly as the worms eat their way through your food scraps. It will depend how much food they are processing as to how regularly you will harvest castings. Check after 12 weeks when you first start, then around every 8 weeks when they are being fed regularly.

How do you know when worm compost is ready?

5 Signs Your Vermicompost is Finished and Ready to HarvestDeep, Dark Brown Color. The majority of your vermicompost has that deep, rich color. ... Uniform Texture. Vermicompost that needs to be harvested will have a uniform texture throughout. ... Worm Reproduction Slows. ... Small Worm Size. ... Flat, Felt-Like Surface.

How much compost can 1000 worms make?

between 8 and 16 ouncesOur 1,000 count of Red composting worms can create between 8 and 16 ounces of compost per day! But wait, there's more! These worms double in population every three months, so as your worm population grows, the amount of Black Gold that they can create will grow as well.

How long do worms take to make castings?

The time that the worms take to produce the castings will depend on how many of them there are. This normally takes between 6 and 8 weeks.

When to harvest compost for worms?

You can also scoop compost and worms onto a newspaper and sort them out, but this is a bit messier. Be sure to harvest compost at the end of the week, before you feed the worms again.

How often should I use worm compost?

Once every few months, scoop the liquid out of the lower container and use it as fertilizer outside on soil near plants, or water it down to use on indoor plants. When the worm bin is full (i.e., when the compost reaches the bottom of the top holes you drilled), do the following:

How to get rid of fruit flies in worm bin?

Throw in a small handful of shredded paper. Add all the food scraps on top of the paper. Cover ALL of the food scraps with dirt and moist paper. Exposed food attracts fruit flies, but covered food scraps don’t. Add dirt and moist paper to the bin until the worms have made enough compost to use to cover the food scraps.

How to make a worm puddle?

Combine shredded paper, soil and just enough water to dampen everything. Put the mixture into the tall bin and fill the bin about three inches deep. Add your worms to the mixture and let them get used to it for a day before feeding them. Make sure the mixture is very moist, but not forming puddles of water.

How to get worms to thrive on paper?

A little bit of water – Some water is needed to moisten the paper and dirt to create a comfortable medium for the worms to thrive. Soak the paper and then drain it before using. 8. Worms – A pound of red wrigglers are recommended because they consume waste quickly, but earthworms also work.

What to do if you have too many worms in your yard?

If there are too many worms in the worm bin, share extras with friends and family or release some with the dirt in your yard.

What do worms eat?

Also, it may take the worms longer to process woody or dry items like stems or the outer layer of onions. Worms will eat paper as long as it is thin or cut into small pieces, but they will not eat plastic or fabric tea bags, coffee filters or the labels placed on produce by grocery stores.

How long does it take to compost worms?

Worm composting, also known as vermicomposting or vermiculture, produces natural, odor-free compost that takes about 30 minutes per week to maintain.

Where Can I Use Worm Compost?

Worm compost can be used like any high-nutrient fertilizer: sprinkle on the surface of the soil or mix in around plants , but be careful not to add too much because it can burn tender stems.

Why Compost With Worms?

The good news is that you can harness this incredibly efficient composting power for yourself and change the way your family disposes of waste, with very little investment of time and money . A homemade worm composter costs about $30 and a luxurious store-bought worm hotel usually won’t cost more than $150. If you consider the cost of purchased organic fertilizer for your garden, even the most expensive composter could pay for itself in one growing season.

Where Should You Put Your Worm Bin?

We’ve talked about both inside and outside worm bins above, but they both have their pros and cons in any climate. When your bin is outside, there are two big benefits: capacity and a lot less attention to detail. You can put your worms out there and not have to worry so much about getting it just right, because it won’t matter if it smells a little more. But if you live anywhere other than very warm climates, your worms will either die in the winter or you’ll have to bring them inside anyway.

Why is it important to know how many worms you should be getting?

It’s important to know how many worms you should be getting, because your worm bin could fail without this information . Twice my own worm bins had a fly infestation that compromised the bin. I couldn’t figure out why. It turned out that two different companies severely shorted me on the quantity of worms, because I had no idea what a pound of worms should look like. The result was that I put in far too much food for the worms, and the waste rotted and bred flies.

What is a worm composter?

A worm composter is, at its simplest, a bin with holes for ventilation and moisture. It’s almost always made with plastic and raised off the ground to allow water to drain out the bottom. For indoor worm bins, this is done with a plastic storage bin or tote with a lid. Simply drill a series of holes in the sides and bottom a few inches apart, ...

Why do worms crawl out of my bin?

This will include moisture, temperature, and possibly even infestations. If the bin is too dry, add some water. If it’s too wet, add more bedding.

What is worm compost?

Using Worm Compost and Worm Wee. The worm compost, known as worm castings or vermicompost, makes a great all-purpose soil conditioner, or add them to your own potting mixes to give them a nutritional boost. Drain the liquid off from the bottom tray whenever it collects.

How to make worms bury themselves?

Now’s the fun part – time to add your worms! Start with a three-inch (8cm) layer of bedding material. You can use compost or coir fibre, dampened a little to make it nice and comfortable for your worms. They’ll soon bury themselves into that lovely bedding.

Why do worms have holes in the bottom of their trays?

Holes in the bottom of both the middle and top trays ensure that the liquid produced by the worms can percolate down into the collection tray at the bottom. And once a tray is full, the holes enable worms to migrate up into a new tray, so that compost from the vacated tray can then be harvested.

How do worms migrate?

The worms will migrate up through the holes to where the food is, leaving the full tray empty of worms and ready for collection. Repeat this process each time the active tray becomes full up. Worm tea or worm wee makes a nutritious liquid feed for your plants.

What is a wormery?

A wormery is typically made up of at least two compartments. The bottom compartment collects the liquid, which can be drained off to use as liquid feed for your plants. The top compartment is where the worms live and where you’ll put your kitchen scraps to feed them. This is also where your compost, or worm castings, will be made.

What are worms good for?

Wonderful, wondrous wiggling worms are the starting point to healthy soil and awesome compost. A healthy compost heap is full of them, but there is another way to turn kitchen scraps and weeds into nutrient-dense goodness: by using a wormery.

How to make worm tea for plants?

Drain the liquid off from the bottom tray whenever it collects. This nutritious liquid, often known as worm tea or worm wee, is a super elixir for your plants. Stir one part of the liquid into ten parts water before using.

How Does Worm Composting Work?

The composting process is straightforward. Put simply, it uses worms to recycle your kitchen scraps and other organic materials into vermicompost – a rich and valuable soil amendment perfect for use in the garden. It also produces a concentrated form of liquid fertilizer.

What is the function of worms in composting?

While regular composting uses micro-organisms to break down carbon-containing waste, in a worm factory, worms perform this function. They break down organic material much faster than micro-organisms. Worms digest scraps and convert them into worm castings.

What Will You Need To Set Up A Worm Bin?

Setting up a worm bin couldn’t be easier. Here is what you’ll need to get started:

What Can You Feed Your Worms?

It’s best to feed your red wriggler worms a balanced diet. Worms eat fruit and vegetable peels, coffee grounds and tea bags, small amounts of newspaper, and small amounts of garden waste.

What are worms used for?

Worms are an efficient way of turning kitchen and garden scraps into nutrient-rich compost and liquid fertilizer.

What temperature should worms be?

Used correctly, the bin and bedding should help to regulate this temperature. For happy worms, you want to keep your bin above 54 degrees and below 80 degrees.

Why do people keep worm bins outside?

Many people prefer to keep their worm bins outside because there’s more space. Outdoor bins will require moving into a shelter in the winter months (whether inside the house or into a shed or barn).

What is the most common worm in compost?

The most common worm among worm composters. Referred to as red wigglers or compost worms. They are fast breeders and also common around the world. Red Wigglers can tolerate many environments and are a good choice for your worm bin.

How long does it take to make a compost pile?

Depending on the size of the pile and its composition, the process can take many months and will need a lot of space.

What is horizontal worm box?

Horizontal systems usually require a little more space. They can be a small container or as big as a bathtub. The systems can either be one large container or with a mesh in the middle. With a mesh in the middle they are often called a worm box.

How long can you leave food in compost?

When the compost is getting full, only put food on one side of the container for a few days or weeks. The worms will move towards the food and you can take out the compost on the side without fresh food.

What is a red worm?

Also referred to as Dendrobaena Veneta.These worms are a little bigger than others. Commonly called European Nightcrawler or Redworm. A little bigger than others, they produce quickly and can handle colder temperatures. A good choice in colder climates.

How long do you have to wait to feed worms?

Once your worms have moved into their new home, let them get used to it for a while. After a few hours or days you can start to feed them.

What happens if you don't catch worm pee?

If you don't catch the liquid coming out of the compost, it will get messy. Worm pee is amazing fertiliser and your plants love it. Check the end of the article to learn how to make worm tee.

Why do we compost worms?

Worm composting is an easy way to reduce landfill pollution and provide juicy, rich soil for your plants. It is especially suited for the apartment or condo dweller who has limited space. Worm composting bins abound at nursery centers and online, but they are easy and cheaper to assemble yourself.

How to make a compost bin?

Put a moist sheet of cardboard on top and then cover with a lid that has more ventilation holes drilled into it. Place the bin in a cool, but not cold, location indoors or out. Keep the mixture moderately damp, but not soggy.

What are worm bins?

Types of Worm Bins. Bottomless bins are one type of vermicomposting system, which is used for building earthworm boxes. You can also use plastic containers, wooden boxes or even bamboo. Avoid containers of metal, which leach into the soil and increase mineral concentrations. The most basic types of worm bins are single layer.

What is vermi composting?

Vermicomposting is the term for worm composting bins. There are many types of worm bins for purchase, but you can also make your own worm bins. You can take advantage of the natural earthworms in your soil by building earthworm boxes. These are similar to vermicomposting bins, but have no bottom so the earthworms can burrow up into ...

What do earthworm boxes do?

The purpose is to contain your kitchen scraps and prevent animals from digging in them and yet allow the worm’s access to the food.

How much food do worms eat?

Feed the worms your food scraps slowly until you see how much they can eat. One pound (0.45 kg) of worms can consume ½ pound (0.23 kg) of food scraps per day. The worms multiply quickly, so you will gradually have enough worms to handle larger amounts of kitchen scraps.

How to keep fruit flies away from bedding?

Avoid giving them dairy, meat, fatty items and animal waste. Keep the food buried in the bedding to reduce fruit flies and moisten the paper frequently but lightly.

What can you put in a worm composting bin?

There are some dos and don'ts with what to put in a regular compost bin, and it's the same for worm compost bins too.

How long does it take for worms to produce compost?

Depending on the size of your wormery, the amount of worms, and the quality of food that you're feeding them, it can take a mere 2–3 months for enough compost to be produced for harvesting. It will be a rich brown color and have a crumbly, earthy texture.

What are the benefits of worm composting?

First up, why is worm composting so good? Well, there are a few reasons...

What worms can you use for composting?

Regular earthworms aren't the type you want when it comes to composting. Instead, you'll need what's known as brandling worms, which thrive in rotting vegetation. You can buy these from good garden centers or worm composting specialists online.

How to harvest urban worms?

The Urban Worm suggests to form small mounds from the compost – the worms will migrate to the bottom of the piles to avoid the light. You can then collect the top layers of compost, before returning the worms to the wormery and starting afresh.

What is worm tea?

The liquid produced by a wormery – called leachate (although some people call it worm tea) – can also be used as a fertilizer (as long as it is odor-free). As the RHS explains, it needs to be diluted with water at a rate of 1 part liquid to 10 parts water before being used in this way. Some gardeners suggest to avoid using it on edible crops, however, as it can carry toxins. Alternatively, you can create a different type of worm tea from the vermicompost by steeping it in water overnight in a bag made from an old t-shirt, a sock, or cheesecloth.

How to empty worm compost without disturbing worms?

Grab your worm composting container . There are lots of designs available, but note that stacking ones are useful when it comes to emptying the compost without disturbing the worms. If you are making your own (rather than using one that's purpose-made from a shop) avoid using a clear container as worms like the dark. You will need to drill holes around the top of the sides and also in the bottom to allow oxygen in and excess liquid out.

How long does it take to make compost?

Using a screen should only take 30 to 60 minutes. Making mounds takes a day, mostly waiting time. Tray-based composting bins might only take 10 minutes.

What temperature should composting worms be?

The worm bin and bedding help regulate the temperature. When the air temperature is below 54 degrees Fahrenheit, worms slow down. Below freezing, they can die. Above 84 degrees can cook the worms.

What is the most common mistake in worm bins?

Mistake #1: Overfeeding. Enthusiastic worm bin owners toss every available scrap into the bin. The worms cannot keep up. The bin starts to smell terrible! In theory, worms can eat their weight in scraps per day. However, that number might be lower, depending on air temperature and other factors.

How to check moisture in worm bin?

Too dry, and the worms dehydrate, cannot breathe, and can’t tunnel effectively. The easiest way to check worm bin moisture levels is by picking up a handful. Squeeze it. If water comes out, it’s too wet. Worm bin bedding should have the feeling of a wrung-out sponge. See our instructions for drying out a wet worm bin.

What is the best fertilizer for worm castings?

Avid gardeners eagerly look forward to removing finished compost from their worm bin. Fresh “black gold” is the best organic fertilizer to make plants grow. Gardeners mark the days until the worm castings are ready for harvesting. However, non-gardeners typically focus on reducing trash and odor.

What do worms eat?

Whole cabbages and watermelon rind halves will take too long to break down. Processed food, meat scraps, salty snacks, spicy foods, oily sauces, yogurt, pineapple, and bushels of tomatoes can spoil the bin. Most non-food items are also bad ideas.

When can you harvest compost?

Compost can be harvested: at the start and end of the growing season. whenever it is getting full. as needed, if the worms have been in the bin for at least three months and there are extra worm castings inside. If you have more “black gold” than you need, donate it to a local gardening project or neighbor.

What You Need

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Preparing The Bins

Preparing The Paper, Soil, Water Medium and Adding The Worms

Feeding The Worms

Maintaining The Bin