Vermiculture aka Worm Composting

May 6, 2013 - Worms are doing great. They are very prolific. I have a worm bin which has a couple of layers. I had the worms in the bottom layer for a while, then I started adding food to the next layer up. I am keeping them moist also. For some reason, even though I have not fed the bottom layer in a really long time, there are still many worms there. I don't know what they are eating, but they are making some really nice compost. There is a spigot on the bottom of the worm bin, which lets out the worm manure tea, but my spigot is broken and I can't close it. I keep a container under it and the worm manure drips out of it continually. This is a good indicator of how moist the inside of the worm bin is. If the liquid stops dripping out from the spigot, I may need to add more water to the worms. I add black and white newspaper for mulch and bedding. Also, I took some of the worm tea out and poured some on the edge of one of the garden beds. I don't know if this is coincidence or not, but I notice the corn plant that was close to that edge is much bigger now than any of the other corn plants in the garden beds. If that is the case, I'm going to take some more of the worm tea and put it on the edge of the garden beds. It will be too strong to put it close to the plants and might burn them. A good time to put out worm manure (or any kind of liquid fertilizer like fish emulsion) is when it is raining. The soil needs the moisture from the rain to help absorb the manure so it doesn't burn the plants. I am grateful for my worms, and for the rain we have had lately. We have had cooler weather as well, which is good for my beet plants.
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    Worm composting is also known as Vermiculture. It is creating an environment for worms like 'red wrigglers' to grow in and provide compost for plants. The compost made by worms is top notch and it is easy to do.
     I have a composting bin that has 3 or 4 levels, and on the bottom it catches the liquid that drains off (worm tea). The spout is broken so I always keep a jar under the spout to catch this 'tea'. I have a lot of vegetable scraps that I put into the garden area, and I am pouring the liquid tea onto the pile of vegetable scraps. The tea is full of microbes that will feed on the vegetation, and will help the rotting vegetables turn into compost.
  Here is a helpful URL on worm composting: http://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/ho/2000/sp0026.pdf
Here is an excerpt from their page:

Gourmet Food for Earthworms:

Earthworms have food preferences. They prefer certain tree leaves to others, and certain plant material to others. Instead of putting foods down the garbage disposal, feed the earthworms, and later, your plants.

Earthworm Preferred Food

Banana peels

Cabbage   

Orange peels 

Carrots 

Apples

Celery 

Grapefruit rinds

Cucumbers 

Pears

Lettuce 

Tomatoes

Beans 

Onion peels

Broccoli

Kale

Tea leaves 

Coffee grounds 

Leftover Jack ‘o Lanterns* 

Watermelon rinds 

Cantaloupe rinds 

Corn meal

*Pumpkin and other seeds in a compost pile may result in the seeds growing. Turn them under with a garden fork so the worms can enjoy the young tender growth while they are newly sprouted.
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Here is a web site the shows how to build a worm composting bin
http://modernfarmer.com/2013/05/how-to-build-a-worm-farm/
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Here are the worms I ordered from amazon.com

I recommend this book as well, on worm composting. This was the book I used, years ago, when I first started doing worm composting.



I tried to find the worm composter that I have, but this is the closest I could find. Mine is round and black, and only has 3 trays. But this one is nice and on the same idea as the one I have.



And last, but not least, here is what I used for my medium, for the worms to live in. It was interesting to watch it expand as I put it in a bucket of water before I put it into the worm bin. The ones I got were more of a brick shape, and I only used one, I think.




Tonight I was watching a video, and the man who was teaching on the video said that the mixture you put the worms into (he used sphagnum moss) should be moist, but not wet.

                                          Jim from 'Uncle Jim's Worm Farm'. You can subscribe to his
                                                        worm composting channel.
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Composting Web Sites

http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html