This link has been bookmarked by 35 people . It was first bookmarked on 02 Jun 2007, by Nathan Rein.
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Your bin should be well-ventilated, with several 1/8 inch (3mm) holes 4 inches (100mm) from the bottom (otherwise the worms will stay at the bottom of the bin and you may drown your worms).
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The maximum productive depth for your bin is 24 inches (61cm) deep because composting worms will not go further down than that.
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Cover: The bin should have a cover to prevent light from getting in and to prevent the compost from drying out
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Use a canvas tarp, doubled over and bungee-corded on, or kept in place with wood. Burlap sacks also work well, and can be watered directly.
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Prepare the box for worms. Fill your bin with thin strips of unbleached corrugated cardboard or shredded newspaper, straw, dry grass, or some similar material. This provides a source of fiber to the worms and keeps the bin well-ventilated. Sprinkle a handful of dirt on top, and thoroughly moisten. Allow the water to soak in for at least a day before adding worms. You can also use Canadian peat moss, which is more expensive but yields a loamier vermicompost.
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just digging up earthworms from your backyard is not recommended.
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"European Night crawlers." They do not reproduce quite as fast as the red wigglers, but grow to be larger, eat coarser paper and cardboard better, and seem to be heartier.
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with any non-native species, it is important not to allow them to reach the wild. Their voracious appetites and reproductive rates (especially among the red wigglers) have been known to upset the delicate balance of the hardwood forests by consuming the leaf litter too quickly. This event leaves too little leaf letter to slowly incubate the hard shelled nuts and leads to excessive erosion as well as negatively affecting the pH of the soil. So, do your best to keep them confined!
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Maintain your bin. Keeping your bin elevated off the ground, using bricks, cinder blocks, or whatever is convenient will help speed composting and keep your worms happy. Worms are capable of escaping almost anything,
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A light in the same area will ensure your worms stay put. Sprinkle the surface with water every other day. Feed your worms vegetable scraps at least once a week
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Feeding lightly and often will produce more worms (which is good when starting a new bin) and large amounts fed less often will fatten your worms
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Add more cardboard, shredded newspaper, hay, or other fibrous material once a month, or as needed. Your worms will reduce everything in your bin quickly. You will start with a full bin of compost or paper/cardboard, and soon it will be half full. This is the time to add fibrous material.
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gently scoop a section of worms and compost mixture onto a brightly lit piece of newspaper or plastic wrap. Scrape off the compost in layers. Wait a while giving the worms time to burrow into the center of the mound. Eventually you will end up with a pile of compost next to a pile of worms.
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Use raw eggshells, not cooked.
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If you would like to collect the water (liquid fertilizer) produced by watering your worms, place a tray under the compost bin. Otherwise, the ground under the bin will become terrifically fertile. An elevated bin (either on bricks, or a bin with built-in legs) sitting in a tray of water will also prevent ants and other unwanted critters from getting into the bin.
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Remember that a worm bin is a tiny ecosystem. Don't attempt to remove the other critters living in your worm bin, they are helpers. However, do remove centipedes: Centipedes are carnivores, and eat baby worms and worm eggs.
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Shredded paper junk mail, egg cartons, cereal boxes, and pizza boxes all make excellent bedding (avoid glossy paper). Always soak household paper waste bedding for at least 12 hours before adding it to the bin, and thoroughly squeeze out the water first.
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Pre-composted cow manure is a great food for worms. Just be sure to bury it at least 3 inches deep. Look at the warnings before you start adding any type of manure.
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Green food increases nitrogen in your finished compost. Examples are: green grass, beet tops, carrot tops, philodendron leaves, fresh cut clover or alfalfa.
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Brown food increases carbon and phosphate in your finished product. Examples are: paper, cardboard, wood chips, leaves, bread. If adding fresh lawn grass, be certain chemicals have not been added to the lawn. Lawn chemicals are deadly to the ecosystem in the bin.
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Finely ground and moistened grains (flour, oatmeal, etc.) are eaten the fastest, followed by fruits, grass, leaves, cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes), white paper, cotton products, and magazines (slick paper). Wood takes the longest (up to a year or more).
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Calcium carbonate works well to solve most problems. Be sure to use calcium carbonate (e.g., powdered limestone) and not quicklime (calcium oxide).
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- Do not feed your worms meat, dairy products, eggs, or oily foods.
- Go easy on the citrus rinds. You can add them, but remember that they're acidic. If possible, add only a little at a time with plenty of other matter.
- Don't allow your bin to dry out. If there are enough holes at the bottom, your worms are not likely to drown, but they will die without water.
- Some varieties of worms may be sensitive to the oils or pH of your skin. Internet forum posts by active vermicomposters indicate that handling their worms seems to not yield any negative effects.
Warnings
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Extremes of temperatures are deadly for worms- about 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Don't place a worm bin in direct sunlight or out in the cold. Sustained frosts will kill your worms. If this is an issue in your area, move outdoor bins into a garage or shed during winter.
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Don't allow your worm bin to heat up past 90 degrees. You will cook your worms
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Large amounts of green feeds (grass, alfalfa, etc.) heat up quickly and should be added lightly.
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Fresh (uncomposted) cow manure contains harmful pathogens and should not be used. It will also heat the bin to deadly levels and kill your worms.
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14 Jul 11
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The smaller you chop up/crush the food, the faster the worms will eat it. (And the faster your bin will produce compost.) Although some home-scale worm keepers use blenders to puree food scraps, others believe vermiculture should be a low-carbon-footprint endeavor and thus use little or no electricity.
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cow manure is a great food for worms. Just be sure to bury it at least 3 inches deep. Look at the warnings before you start adding any type o
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11 May 11
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15 Feb 11
Freddy LimpensConseils assez généraux; indications rapide pour la fabrication
lombricompost english vermicompost tips conseils howto environment diy worm-bin fabrication
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09 Sep 10
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- Harvest the compost, using one of the following techniques.
- Put on rubber gloves, and move any large un-composted vegetable matter to one side. Then, with your gloved hands, gently scoop a section of worms and compost mixture onto a brightly lit piece of newspaper or plastic wrap. Scrape off the compost in layers. Wait a while giving the worms time to burrow into the center of the mound. Eventually you will end up with a pile of compost next to a pile of worms. Return the worms to the bin, do whatever you want with the compost, and repeat.
Pull back the top layers of bedding to harvest the compost or check progress. - If you prefer a hands-off technique, simply push the contents of the bin all to one side and add fresh food, water, dirt, and bedding to the empty space. The worms will slowly migrate over on their own. This requires much more patience, of course.
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03 Jun 07
Nathan ReinWikiHow article on building, filling, feeding and maintaining a vermiculture (worm-growing) system for composting your garden. There are some other promising gardening articles on WikiHow which I've started to collect here: http://rurl.org/3u0
compost del.icio.us_import gardening howto post:tumblr worms
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winter
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