This information is taken from my book, Radical Regenerative Gardening and Farming, published by Rowman and Littlefield. Using worms to make compost is more practical for small home gardens. It is also a great way to recycle kitchen waste. Start with a tub with about 1 to 2 square feet of surface area and at about 10" deep. An old kitty litter box worrks well for starters. Small holes is the bottom help access water to drain or else water very lightly every week or two. Place strips of cardboard on the bottom with shredded paper. This allows air pockets on the bottom for the worms. Fill in with about 3" of compost shiftings, leaf mold, rotted sawdust, coffee grounds, etc. I use red wigglers (Eisenia fetida). They are more aggressive eaters than regular garden worms. You can find them at a local bait shop. About 1 lb. of worms will work for the size listed. Add a couple cups of food scraps to get them started. Then cover with a few more inches of soil, compost, coffee grounds, etc. A light water and place out of the way. They prefer darkness but are adaptable. You can feed them most produce. They do not like citrus skins or skins laden with pesticides. Do not feed them meat or dairy. Coffee grounds can be found at most coffee shops. Egg shells provide a good source of calcium. They love melons. Tomatoes and pepper seeds will sprout in the box so you might want to avoid them. Cover the box from rain if outside. They can also freeze in cold weather. Worms can drown if too much water is present. They need air and water just like us. When adding food dig it in and cover it. As they worms increase you may need to add more material. Worms reproduce in 2-3 weeks and produce about a dozen babies at a time. After 2-3 months you can start collecting the worm castings to use as fertilizer. To do this start feeding them on one side only, so the worms will move to that side. Then you can harvest from the other side without harming the worms. It can be a fun project for kids and a very good fertilizer.
Hi Frank, Thanks a bunch for your posts in this blog, I enjoy reading them very much and I have learned a lot. Your approach as always is top notch. Regarding vermiculture, I have some questions I would like to ask based on your experience. In reading online and in our experience, we have read that worms love cut vegetables and fruits, and that you can speed the time that allows them to consume this food by using a blender. We have found that worms can be a bit finicky about what they eat. The apparently don't much care for dairy products, hot peppers, onions, garlic, and cooked food. They would much rather eat a raw food diet of their favorite fruits and vegetables, cut into small pieces. So, what we have been doing lately is to use two compost buckets in the kitchen - one for the worms, with their favorite foods, and one containing everything else, which we pre-digest with effective microorganisms using a pickling process before placing in the compost pile. Has this been your experience with vermiculture also, that the worms seem to eat and multiply faster when fed their favorite foods? Thanks for all that you are doing and sharing regarding your regenerative practices! Thanks, Richard
Thanks Richard. Chopped up vegetables are digested a little faster. They do not like dairy or meat. They don't like citrus.y love melons. If the foods are a little fermented that speeds up the process.
Thanks Richard. Chopped up vegetables are digested a little faster. They do not like dairy or meat. They don't like citrus.y love melons. If the foods are a little fermented that speeds up the process.
Hi Frank,
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch for your posts in this blog, I enjoy reading them very much and I have learned a lot. Your approach as always is top notch.
Regarding vermiculture, I have some questions I would like to ask based on your experience. In reading online and in our experience, we have read that worms love cut vegetables and fruits, and that you can speed the time that allows them to consume this food by using a blender.
We have found that worms can be a bit finicky about what they eat. The apparently don't much care for dairy products, hot peppers, onions, garlic, and cooked food. They would much rather eat a raw food diet of their favorite fruits and vegetables, cut into small pieces.
So, what we have been doing lately is to use two compost buckets in the kitchen - one for the worms, with their favorite foods, and one containing everything else, which we pre-digest with effective microorganisms using a pickling process before placing in the compost pile.
Has this been your experience with vermiculture also, that the worms seem to eat and multiply faster when fed their favorite foods?
Thanks for all that you are doing and sharing regarding your regenerative practices!
Thanks,
Richard
Thanks Richard. Chopped up vegetables are digested a little faster. They do not like dairy or meat. They don't like citrus.y love melons. If the foods are a little fermented that speeds up the process.
DeleteThanks Richard. Chopped up vegetables are digested a little faster. They do not like dairy or meat. They don't like citrus.y love melons. If the foods are a little fermented that speeds up the process.
Delete