Subject: Re: Vermicomposting

From: [email-masked] (Anthony Wallis)
Date: 16 May 1995 12:34:52 GMT

Robert Bowd   > I would like to find out about vermicomposting.
              > I am a novice.  Can you help?
Scott Caneday > ..  "Worms Eat My Garbage" ..

Here's a summary, based partly on reading and partly on my first year of
experience ..
(Note: this refers to _indoor_ vermicomposing in a _container_.)

* Container : Must be opaque since worms avoid light; typically
    a "blue box" (i.e. recycling plastic bin) with a lid.  Drill
    several dozen 3/8" holes in lid for venting.
* Bedding   : Shredded newpaper and light fine potting soil,
    typically 3:1 fluffed-up newspaper : potting soil by volume; must be
    moist, but not sopping wet; worms will produce water as part
    of digestion of feed.
* Worms     : Must be "redworms".
* Feed      : Must be vegetarian, no meat or fats.  Should be
    chopped finely (worms don't have teeth).  I put all my worm
    feed through a blender, then a sieve, and then dry it to a
    "semi-moist meatloaf" consistency in the oven.  Bury the
    feed deeply in the bedding.  Don't worry about spreading it
    around, put it all in one place and the worms will find it.
    Rotate the feeding position around the bin.  In addition to
    vegetarian (vegs. and fruit waste), feed them tea bags and
    and coffee filters.
* pH        : Don't let bedding get too acidic.  Add a little
    powdered limestone ( I guess ground-up Tums would do )
    occasionally.  [ Actually I have never had to do this.  I
    test my worm bedding with pH test paper and it is always
    slightly alkaline.  ??? ]
* Problems  :
  (1)  Little flying insects.  These may be fruit flies, or
       another insect (fungus gnats ?) mistaken for fruit
       flies.  Control with one of those plasic strips that give
       off insecticide vapour.  [ They come with an adustable
       carboard sleeve.  Mine got soft in the moist enviroment
       so I put the vaporising strip in a plasic bottle with a
       few holes "drilled" in it with a soldering iron. ]
  (2)  Worms crawling up walls of bin.  Put them back gently using
       a toothpick.  Leave lid off for a while to dry out excess
       moisture.  Light will drive worms back "underground".
* Harvesting compost :
    Have fresh bedding prepared beforehand.  I dump contents out
    onto floor and then sieve out the worms and large lumps of
    bedding from the compost.  The harvested compost will
    contain worm eggs.  You may not want worms in your indoor
    pots, so sterilise by baking in oven.

--
[email-masked] = Tony Wallis, York University, North York, Canada.