Vermicompost is a great all natural fertilizer that you can make, even in your own kitchen. Vermicompost consists of the waste (castings) created by earthworms as they eat your leftover food scraps, plant trimmings, cardboard, and newspaper. Vermicompost setups range from cheap to expensive, mainly based on output capacity.
To get started you need to gather a few items:
- Vermicompost “reactor”
- Worms, preferably red worms
- Newspaper
- Dirt/Sand
- Corrugated cardboard
- Organic matter to feed the worms
First, you need to purchase or build a container to house the worm farm. This container needs to be dark and made of a material resistant to water, like plastic. A DIY plan can be found on Gardenhelp.org. Ready to assemble composters can purchased online at many sites. A few sites to consider are Uncle Jims Worm Farm, All Things Organic, or Happy D Ranch.
Next, you need to get worms for the composter. The worm of choice is the Eisenia fetida, otherwise known as a redworm. Normal earthworms or nightcrawlers are not a good choice, as they burrow deep in the bin and do not eat the food that resides on top. The best place to get redworms is your local bait shop or by ordering them online.
Before you can put your worms in the composter, you must create a substrate for them to live in. The best substrate for this is a mixture of shredded newspaper, water, and a tiny amount of dirt/sand. The mix needs to be slightly damp, so be careful not to add too much water. If too much water is added, you can dry out the mixture by adding more shredded newspaper. Create enough of this bedding to fill your composter to a level of about 4″ deep. Put half of this mixture in the composter, and save the other half for later on.
Because newspaper dries out rapidly, a piece of damp corrugated cardboard should be used to cover the bedding. The piece of cardboard needs to be cut to fit inside the container and cover the bedding completely. Keep this cardboard slightly damp as it has a tendency to dry out as well.
Last, your worms need food. Good food sources for worms include: produce scraps, spoiled produce, moldy bread, leftovers, plant debris, leaves, lint, etc… Oil, grease, and meat are not recommended as they can attract flys and create a habitat for maggots. In addition, oil/grease/meat will be quite smelly. When feeding the worms, chop up the food in many pieces and spread it throughout the bin. Make sure you cover the new food with bedding when you are done. If you notice that food is not getting eaten very fast, slow down the rate at which you feed it to the worms. As your worm farm grows in population, you will be able to add more worm food to the mixture.
After a few months, you will notice large amounts of castings (worm poop) in the bin. To use these castings, you need to separate the worms from them. The best way to do this is by laying out the castings in a cone shaped pile in bright light. Worms do not like light, so they will retract into the center. You gradually keep taking off the outside layers until you have a clump of worms left over. Return these worms to the composter and use the fresh castings to fertilize your plants, trees, and garden. In another month or two, repeat the process and you will have more castings to use as fertilizer.
