Earthworm FAQ
(Reprinted from Green Hut)
How are worms beneficial?
Volumes of material have been written on the subject; earthworms are
the unheralded soldiers of the soil. Among the primary benefits of
having earthworms in the soil are: they aerate it, break it up for easier
access by plant roots, help the soil hold more water, clean up dead
organic matter by eating it and turning it into the world's best plant
food, (whether natural or chemical), they contain 60% protein and are
raised as a very high grade animal feed and much more. Then again,
let us not forget, they make a lot of fishermen happy.
How much garbage can a worm eat?
Generally speaking, 2 lbs. of earthworms will recycle 1 lb. of organic
waste in 24 hours. In absolutely ideal conditions of comfort and ground
up, moist food, the herd will recycle their own weight in wastes every
24 hours.
What do earthworms eat?
Earthworms can be fed all forms of food waste, yard & garden waste, (plant and root
material are OK but not too much dirt), paper and cardboard too wet to
recycle otherwise, etc. Don't worry about how nasty some waste matter
may seem to be, the earthworms 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 should not be fed to earthworms?
Do not feed them; metals, foils, plastics, chemicals, oils, solvents,
insecticides, soaps, paint, etc. Avoid all citrus products
(oranges,lemons, limes, grapefruit), onions, garlic cloves, extremely hot
and heavily spiced foods, and high acid foods. Also, avoid oleanders
and other poisonous plants (if you are unsure about a species, ask a
nurseryman). Be careful of plants that have been sprayed with
insecticide.
How do you feed earthworms?
The earthworms 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.
Avoid soaking or flooding the food. 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 them, the waste matter can be mixed together or not,
whichever is easier for you. Chocolate cake, watermelon and Chinese
mustard 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.
How do you harvest castings?
With a two bin or single bin "through" system, it is quite easy, you
simply take the container with the accumulated castings and pour
them into a permanent storage container, directly onto your garden soil,
or both. With any other bin, the worm/casting mix must go through a
harvester to separate the worms from the castings. There are many
types of harvesters from a simple framed piece of 3/16" mesh to
motorized, drum type, large volume harvesters. For residential use, a
hand held mesh frame should suffice.
What kind of bedding is needed for startup?
Bedding material for startup and future re-starts can be; Canadian peat
moss, soaked in water at least 24 hours, (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. If you look around, there is usually plenty nearby, inside or
outside of your house.
If I want to use manure for bedding, where can I get it?
Many people live within a short driving distance from one type of
livestock operation or another. Most rabbit, horse, cattle, ostrich, etc.
farmers will make some sort of beneficial deal to get rid of their
manure. Payment by you, if required, has to be substantially lower than
bagged manure at the nursery. Many farmers will let you haul it off just
to get rid of it.
Don't use green manure for bedding, it has to be dried
and composted. A few months in the outdoors usually is sufficient. This
goes for any pet poop as well. However, small amounts of green poop
can be placed on top of the worm bed if there is plenty of room around
it for the earthworms to escape the heat of decomposition. The
earthworms will nibble at the edges of the pile where the heat is low,
thereby reducing the amount of material daily.
What conditions make for a good quality of life for earthworms?
Keep them at 55 to 70 deg. F., w/65 deg. being a good average
temperature of the bedding. Mean humidity should be 55%, and keep
the earth worms out of the rain. They will drown and/ or scatter all over
under rainy or very humid conditions. Finally, the pH of the bed should
be as close to 6.5 as possible, with 7.0 and 6.0 being the upper & lower
pH limits.
What happens if I order my starter, (or add-on) quantity of worms by mail and they arrive dead?
Write or phone your dealer right away. A reputable producer will
replace the stock without question. If, however, the same customer,
(out of dozens with no complaints), says that his worms arrive dead,
time after time, most dealers will ask that the batch be returned for
inspection.
Will the earthworm bin smell up the basement, garage, or storage shed?
Surprisingly, there is no odor from the worm beds in spite of the highly
odoriferous feed they receive. A handful of earthworm compost held
close to the nose smells like rich, loamy, topsoil.
How do you clean that black stuff, (castings), off your hands?
Fresh earthworm castings have a unique clinging characteristic.
However, any good hand cleaner, including soap and warm water, will
take it off. Light use of a soft scrub brush will speed up the process.
How hard is worm farming?
Not at all hard, especially so a small, residential sized bin for recycling
kitchen waste. An average of 5 to 10 minutes a day will do it.
Obviously, the larger the worm farm the more work involved.
Nevertheless, one person can successfully manage quite a large
number of worms, up to at least 3,000,000. With larger farms your
level of technology and equipment will make a big difference. If you
are fully and state of the art equipped, one person can manage up to
10,000,000 worms, (approx. 6 1/2 tons). Whether or not you want to
work that hard is another matter.
How fast do earthworms multiply?
Faster than rabbits. 10 lbs. of earthworms can become over two tons in
two years. Naturally this presupposes good living conditions and no
loss of earthworms due to ingesting toxic materials. The count of
individual worms doesn't come into it except for fishermen. The rest of
us are mainly interested in the work the earthworms do for us
regarding agriculture and horticulture.