Well, hopefully by now you have overcome your fears of keeping worms in your home or classroom and have decided to help the environment by worm composting. If you have not set up an indoor worm composting bin, please review the previous blog post to learn more about the process. For those of you who have constructed your own bin, here are some helpful tips that will assist you along the way.
Maintaining your worm bin:
Once you have your shredded, moistened newspaper as the bedding and your fruit/vegetable scraps as the food source, your worms should be living happily within the material. I always tell people if you notice worms on the walls or lid of the bin there is something wrong. The environment may be too wet, too dry, have too much food or not enough food. In these cases, follow the recommendations below:
Too wet – add more dry shredded newspaper
Too dry – use a water bottle to spritz the newspaper until it is as moist as a wrung out sponge
Too much food – excess food may cause high moisture levels and attract fruit flies. Always discard uneaten food after three weeks.
Only feed the worms what they can consume: ½ - 1 pound of scraps per day.
Too little food – Give your worms the required amount of fresh food scraps per day (at least ½ pound) or every other day (at least 1 pound). In optimum conditions worms can consume their weight per day. You started with 1 pound of worms so feed them, at the most, 1 pound per day.
Be sure to bury the food in different areas so the worms can easily find it. Always keep the lid of your bin on tightly. This will prevent fruit flies. Although, if you maintain adequate moisture and carefully follow the feeding instructions above; flies should not be a problem.
This is an example of what a bin might look like at the beginning add final stages.
Maintaining your worm bin:
Once you have your shredded, moistened newspaper as the bedding and your fruit/vegetable scraps as the food source, your worms should be living happily within the material. I always tell people if you notice worms on the walls or lid of the bin there is something wrong. The environment may be too wet, too dry, have too much food or not enough food. In these cases, follow the recommendations below:
Too wet – add more dry shredded newspaper
Too dry – use a water bottle to spritz the newspaper until it is as moist as a wrung out sponge
Too much food – excess food may cause high moisture levels and attract fruit flies. Always discard uneaten food after three weeks.
Only feed the worms what they can consume: ½ - 1 pound of scraps per day.
Too little food – Give your worms the required amount of fresh food scraps per day (at least ½ pound) or every other day (at least 1 pound). In optimum conditions worms can consume their weight per day. You started with 1 pound of worms so feed them, at the most, 1 pound per day.
Be sure to bury the food in different areas so the worms can easily find it. Always keep the lid of your bin on tightly. This will prevent fruit flies. Although, if you maintain adequate moisture and carefully follow the feeding instructions above; flies should not be a problem.
This is an example of what a bin might look like at the beginning add final stages.
A bin that has just been constructed:
A bin that is just about ready to harvest (about 3 months later):
Harvesting your compost (separating the worms from the finished product):
Once the food and newspaper are fully decomposed it is time to separate the worms from the compost. You will know it is time when you see only trace amounts of food and newspaper, and what remains is a dark, rich loose soil-like matter (see photo above). It is important to harvest the compost as soon as it is ready because it is most potent at this time. The finished compost also becomes toxic for the worms to eat because it is like eating their own feces. Another important reason to separate your worms before adding the compost to your garden is that you do not want to introduce an exotic species into your region. Redworms are from warmer climates and we would not want to release them where I am, in the Midwest of U.S.A. because they are not native to this area. You will also save yourself some money by reusing your worms in a new bin.
There are a number of ways in which you can harvest worm castings. I am going to share my top three favorite methods.
Sifting Method
The sifting method is probably the most successful if you have a good sifter. I built my sifter using ¼ inch screening (hardware cloth) and wood. I basically made a support frame with the wood and built that around a layer of hardware cloth. You can also buy sifters commercially. Once you have your sifter place it on top of an empty bucket, put one handful at a time on top of the sifter and gently rub the casting across the screen. The castings fall through the holes, while the worms stay on top of the screen. Every so often, empty the worms into a bucket as they pile up on the screen. Eventually you make your way through all of the finished compost and are left with a pile of worms. Make sure you rub gently so that you do not harm the worms by pressing them too hard against the screen.
Inch by Inch Method
This is probably the easiest and least time-consuming method. All you need to do is leave the lid off of your bin. As the light hits the top layer of the compost, the worms travel down because they are sensitive to light. You then simply scrape the top ½-1 inch layer of compost off. I can typically scrape off a one inch layer per day. The whole process may take up to two weeks and you are finally left with a layer of worms once you reach the bottom.
Divide and Sort Method
I call this the lazy-persons method because it does not require too much effort. The divide and sort method works by cutting off feeding for two weeks. This gets your worms nice and hungry. You then push all of the compost to one side of the bin. Then add fresh moistened bedding and fresh food to the empty side (see photo below). The worms will eventually migrate over to the fresh side. Once the migration is complete you can remove the compost side and put it to use. The worm composting process starts all over again on the other side. Migration can take up to a month so be patient when using this method.
Once the food and newspaper are fully decomposed it is time to separate the worms from the compost. You will know it is time when you see only trace amounts of food and newspaper, and what remains is a dark, rich loose soil-like matter (see photo above). It is important to harvest the compost as soon as it is ready because it is most potent at this time. The finished compost also becomes toxic for the worms to eat because it is like eating their own feces. Another important reason to separate your worms before adding the compost to your garden is that you do not want to introduce an exotic species into your region. Redworms are from warmer climates and we would not want to release them where I am, in the Midwest of U.S.A. because they are not native to this area. You will also save yourself some money by reusing your worms in a new bin.
There are a number of ways in which you can harvest worm castings. I am going to share my top three favorite methods.
Sifting Method
The sifting method is probably the most successful if you have a good sifter. I built my sifter using ¼ inch screening (hardware cloth) and wood. I basically made a support frame with the wood and built that around a layer of hardware cloth. You can also buy sifters commercially. Once you have your sifter place it on top of an empty bucket, put one handful at a time on top of the sifter and gently rub the casting across the screen. The castings fall through the holes, while the worms stay on top of the screen. Every so often, empty the worms into a bucket as they pile up on the screen. Eventually you make your way through all of the finished compost and are left with a pile of worms. Make sure you rub gently so that you do not harm the worms by pressing them too hard against the screen.
Inch by Inch Method
This is probably the easiest and least time-consuming method. All you need to do is leave the lid off of your bin. As the light hits the top layer of the compost, the worms travel down because they are sensitive to light. You then simply scrape the top ½-1 inch layer of compost off. I can typically scrape off a one inch layer per day. The whole process may take up to two weeks and you are finally left with a layer of worms once you reach the bottom.
Divide and Sort Method
I call this the lazy-persons method because it does not require too much effort. The divide and sort method works by cutting off feeding for two weeks. This gets your worms nice and hungry. You then push all of the compost to one side of the bin. Then add fresh moistened bedding and fresh food to the empty side (see photo below). The worms will eventually migrate over to the fresh side. Once the migration is complete you can remove the compost side and put it to use. The worm composting process starts all over again on the other side. Migration can take up to a month so be patient when using this method.
This just about sums up the worm composting experience and my blog postings. Once you get the hang of it, it is a cinch. I was not able to cover every detail on these postings so please feel free to contact me for more details.
Here's to saving the Earth on step at a time!
Nancy Kreith
University of Illinois Extension
nkreith@gmail.com
Learn more at: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms
Here's to saving the Earth on step at a time!
Nancy Kreith
University of Illinois Extension
nkreith@gmail.com
Learn more at: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms
