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VERMI COMPOSTING AT HOME
INSTRUCTIONS FOR VERMI COMPOSTING RECYCLER & RAISING EARTHWORMS
These instructions are included with our worm bins and live worms.
They are reproduced here to help out those with a serious interest in
worms.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You have taken a giant step towards helping yourself and the world
recycle its organic wastes. By recycling wastes mother natures way, you
are putting the most beneficial possible ecological forces to work on all
of our behalfs. No need to worry about it working, recycling organic
wastes into plant food via worms is a time tested technology, now many
millions of years old. In the agricultural world it is known as Vermi
Composting.
These instructions are for the single or double bin, the following simple
guidelines will help you use your recycler to help convert your organic
wastes into the worlds greatest plant food, castings. The castings can be
used to feed any type of plant at any stage of its life; from seeds to
giant trees..
Click here to return to Green Hut Home Page. Click on any of the
following items to see more:
+ Bedding
+ Vermiculture In Bins
+ Materials To Vermi Compost
+ What Not To Vermi Compost
+ Feeding the worms
+ Temperature
+ Atmospheric Humidity
+ Casting Cycle
+ Worm Growth
+ Harvesting Castings
+ Castings
+ Using Castings
+ Top Dressing
+ History
+ Specialized Information
_________________________________________________________________
Bedding
Bedding material for startup and future re-starts can be; Canadian
peat moss (US peat is too tough & stringy), yard clippings, animal
manure, (not fresh), dead leaves, wood shavings, newspaper (torn up
and soaked in water).
Garden and yard clippings should have "aged" beyond the green stage.
Any moistened organic material can be used for bedding. Look around,
there is usually plenty nearby, inside or outside of your house. Just
use your imagination.
The bedding and worm food (organic wastes) should be kept damp, almost
wet. When you first place the worms into their new home, (their
bedding) they will burrow into the bedding in a short time, 5 to 15
minutes. They may arrive in a clump and may clump from time to time in
your bin. This is nothing to worry about. They will still go about the
business of recycling your wastes, reproducing and producing castings
as expected.
Vermiculture In Bins
These instructions are for either the single or double bin. Now,
getting down to it, the following simple guidelines will help you use
your recycler featuring Lumbricus rubellus worms to help convert your
organic wastes to the worlds greatest plant food, castings. The
castings can be used to feed any type of plant at any stage of its
life; from seeds to giant trees.
Bedding: Bedding material for startup and future re-starts can be;
Canadian peat moss (US peat is too tough & stringy), yard clippings,
dead leaves, wood shavings, newspaper (torn up and soaked in water).
Garden clippings should have "aged" beyond the green stage. Any
moistened organic material can be used for bedding. Look around, there
is usually plenty nearby, inside or outside of your house. Just use
your imagination. The bedding and worm food (organic wastes) should be
kept damp, almost wet.
When you first place the worms into their new home, (their bedding)
they will burrow into the bedding in a short time, 5 to 15 minutes.
They may arrive in a lump and may clump from time to time in your bin.
This is nothing to worry about. They will still go about the business
of recycling your wastes as expected. Their desire for large family
meetings is nothing to be concerned about.
Double bins: Follow above bedding instructions but remove the top bin
first. Put the bedding into the bottom, (main) bin. Put the top bin
back into the bottom bin when the castings have reached a point that
they can touch the bottom of the top bin with only a small amount of
compression. Then feed the Wiggles family by placing the food into the
top bin.
The family will work their way up into the top bin, and by the time it
is full of castings, harvesting of the castings in the bottom bin will
be extremely easy. Just dump those castings into whatever container
you will use for castings storage or put the castings to use
immediately. Then dump the material, including the worms, from the top
bin into the bottom bin. Leave the top bin aside and continue to
recycle normally.
Materials To Vermi Compost
Your little recyclers can be fed all forms of food waste, animal
waste, (yes, dog & other pet droppings too), yard & garden waste,
paper, cardboard too wet to recycle otherwise, (plant and root
material are OK but not too much dirt),etc.
Don't worry about how nasty some waste matter may seem to be, worms
have strange tastes. In fact, they are at their highest level of
activity, consuming and procreating with glee when recycling cow
manure or sewage sludge.
What Not To Vermi Compost
Do not feed the worms; onions, citrus & other acidic foods, metals,
foils, plastics, chemicals, oils, solvents, insecticides, soaps,
paint, etc. Also, avoid oleanders and other poisonous plants,(if you
are unsure about a plant species, ask a nurseryman). All these things
are toxic to worms. Note; Onions are so bad the earthworms will
actually crawl away under any horrible conditions to get away from
them.
Feeding the worms
The worms will need a little help from you in the preparation of some
of the materials. Be sure the overall mix, (or any individual waste),
is moist, about like a blueberry muffin or sponge cake. Most food
waste can be put directly onto the worm bed just as it comes from the
table. Just scatter it around the top of the bed.
Before feeding, the waste matter can be mixed together or not,
whichever is easier for you. Avoid soaking or flooding and by all
means keep the worms out of the rain. They will drown and/or scatter
all over under rainy or humid conditions. Under conditions of high
humidity, it is best to place a 40 watt light bulb over the bed to
prevent fleeing. The earthworms "crawl" whenever the atmospheric
humidity is high.
Sautéed mushrooms, watermelon and cherries topped with bread, beef,
herring, candy and banana peels make a scrumptious meal for the
versatile little creatures. Coffee grounds too, they love the grounds.
Grinding (via a blender or food processor) or cutting things up to
1/4" size particles or smaller will speed recycling time by up to 50%.
Don't bother to bury the waste since they will come up for it, plus,
it is easier for you to see when it is all recycled, and thus, feeding
time again. Spread the material around, but not too evenly, leave the
little recyclers room to "pull back" from the food when they feel like
it. A loose coat of food up to 2" high is OK.
Temperature
It is best to keep your recycler in the garage, or anywhere else that
will protect it from high & low temperatures, rain and other inclement
weather conditions. The worms are at their best in productivity and
virility between 60 & 70 degrees F. They slow down just as we do when
it is 99 degrees or 45 degrees in their house. This is not necessarily
a problem. It may not matter to you whether they finish a banana peel
in 2 days, 7 days, or 3 weeks. Note: Earthworms will freeze and die if
the temperature is near or below freezing.
Open the cover of the recycler when it is necessary to feed the clan
and to provide more ventilation during warm periods of the day. Leave
the cover off when it is 80 degrees or more inside the recycler bed.
Don't worry about "escapees", they will burrow down to get out of the
light since they like the darkness. Nor will they flee at night if
they are in comfortable conditions. If an occasional stray takes off,
well, an ingrate is an ingrate. He will soon find out how harsh the
real world is.
Atmospheric Humidity
It is best to always leave the cover on during periods of high
humidity, such as when it is raining outside. A small light, (40 W)
over the cover will keep them contained whether the cover is on or
off. The light can also serve as a partial heat source during cold
weather. Increase the wattage as necessary to maintain 60 to 70
degrees F. in the bed. Leave a light on, (40W minimum), any time you
are unsure about the humidity. Electricity is less expensive than
repurchasing worms.
Castings Cycle
In single bins, try not to let the castings accumulate beyond 90% full
point since there will be too little ventilation inside. The speed of
recycling waste matter to castings is a function of the total weight
of the worms, their comfort level, (temperature & moisture), vs. the
amount of matter to recycle.
By reducing the size of the waste particles, the recycling time will
be reduced substantially. Generally speaking, 2 lbs. of worms will
recycle 1 lb. of organic waste in 24 hours. In absolutely ideal
conditions of comfort and ground up, moist food, they will recycle
their own weight in wastes every 24 hours.
Note: You may not want to feed them much wood, twigs, sawdust, etc.
Those things will require a long time to break down. Grass clippings,
leaves and such are fine. Again, remember the moisture requirements.
Worm Growth
The more matter you wish to recycle the more worms you need. There are
two ways to increase the size of the herd. The first is by letting
nature take its course and they may double in overall weight
approximately every 12 weeks. If you do the arithmetic for a 2 year
period, you find that the herd can grow at an astounding rate. A 1 lb.
starter pack can expand to approx. 21 lbs. That will be a combination
of count and individual growth.
The second way to add to the herd is to purchase additional Lumbricus
rubellus species of worms. Order directly from us.
Harvesting Castings
If you have a single bin recycler, follow these instructions. When
your single bin recycler has filled about half to two thirds full of
nice, dark castings it is time to harvest them out. This is a simple
process; just put scoops of the castings into an old household
strainer or colander,(with holes 1/4" to 3/16" dia.), and strain out
the castings. You will want to catch them in a plastic or metal
container for ease of further handling. As you go along, dump each
strainer of earthworms into a separate container until you are done
harvesting. After taking all the castings out of the recycler, dump
the herd back into the bin, along with some new bedding and "food",
(any handy wastes).
An easier way is to scoop off the top 6" of material for re-use since
it will contain most of the worms, eggs, etc. What is left is
castings, ready to make all of your plants flourish. If a few worms,
egg capsules, etc., wind up in your plants, don't worry, they can only
do good things.
If you have a double bin setup, harvesting is simplicity itself; just
remove the top bin, put the castings from the bottom bin into a
storage container or directly to use as a plant food or soil
amendment. Then put some fresh bedding into the bottom bin and start
feeding again.
Castings
Castings are the droppings produced by the worms as a result of the
recycling process taking place inside the worms intestines. Castings
are the best soil amendment known to man compared to any other natural
or man made fertilizer or plant food. They do not have an offensive
smell, in fact they resemble a fresh, rich planting soil, which is
just what they are.
Castings contain beneficial bacteria and these will go to work
breaking down the nutrients in the dead organic material around the
roots of your plants. The earth worms intestines are one of the best
sterilizers in all of nature. On this point, if you wish to be certain
of the sterility of the castings, they can be heated in an oven in a
metal container to 200 degrees F. until completely dry. Any lingering
germs and weed seeds will have been killed. Sterilization via heat is
recommended if you are going to use the castings on food plants. There
is a bit of controversy on this point in the agricultural world. By
sterilizing the castings the beneficial bacteria are also killed.
There is no pat answer, just use your judgment.
Using Castings
For Potting; The castings can be mixed with any general purpose
potting soil in the ratio of 1/4 castings to 3/4 potting soil. The mix
can be used to plant anything at all in, from seeds to started plants
to flowers, to trees. They will not burn even the most delicate of
seeds and plants. When plants are transplanted into this mix they show
almost no transplant shock. Do not use any other plant food for
approximately six to eight weeks after planting anything in a castings
mix. When the time comes to feed the plants again, use castings as a
top dressing.
Top Dressing
Castings can be used as a plant food by putting one quarter inch to
one half inch thick top dressings on your plants, lawn and garden
about every six weeks. You will be surprised at the vigor, growth and
health the plants derive from the castings. Do not go over one half
inch since it would only be wasteful, it isn't necessary. Castings
help the soil retain water thereby reducing the amount of watering
needed. For accurate changeover of watering schedules, monitor the
plants' soil for moisture by whatever method you have been using and
water when they need it.
If you use castings continuously, the need for insecticides will be
reduced substantially. Vigorous, healthy plants are able to shake off
the effects of most insects. That doesn't mean you should be any less
vigilant, its just that you will end up using 50% to 85% less
insecticide than you are used to.
History
The first known recorded results of earthworms effectiveness was in
Egypt about five thousand years ago, the historic fertility of the
Nile basin was due to the huge presence of earthworms. Aristotle was
the first to point out the importance of earthworms to the earth's
ecology & to man. Many years later, Charles Darwin spent 25 years
researching earthworms and confirmed Aristotle's writings.
Today there are earthworm "writings" in every agricultural university
library and major public library, as well as Vermi Composting projects
all over the world. Check under agricultural and horticultural
listings.
Specialized Information
For specialized applications contact us directly. If you need to
recycle small or large amounts of any organic waste, any single
residential or commercial component such as manure, bread, fat, grass,
food waste, leaves, tree cuttings, sewage sludge, waste paper fibers,
etc., we can help. We have instructions, equipment, and management
plans available for the most efficient and economical methods of Vermi
Composting any volume of any type of organic waste.
GOOD RECYCLING, GOOD GROWING & GOOD LUCK!
Go to The Catalog or return to Green Hut Home Page
____________________________________________________________________
Copyright 1995 Green Hut
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1719 Tacoma Lane, Vista, CA 92084 USA
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