Vermiculture is the process of using worms to decompose organic food waste and turning the waste into a nutrient-rich material capable of supplying necessary nutrients to help sustain plant growth. Vermicompost provides a tremendous source of nutrients for plants that dramatically improves the texture and fertility of soil. This replaces valuable nutrients taken out of the soil when fruit and vegetables are harvested. A worm compost will also provide Nightcrawlers for fishing bait and their cocoons to implant into the garden. 

We will get our own Vermicompost going and offer classes to show you how you can start your own, even if you live in an apartment. A properly maintained worm bin has no odor and you can recycle your kitchen waste right in your kitchen. In the future we are thinking to offer a class on how to start your own Vermiculture Business.

Worm Bin Know How or good things to know before you start keeping worms

Food accounts for about 13 percent of the nation’s trash — it is the third largest component after paper and yard trimmings.

Vermi-composting describes the controlled process of using worms, to decompose organic waste, such as kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and manure. After these wastes are broken down, the finished product, or worm castings, are harvested and used as nutrient-rich soil amendments.

Worms need lots of oxygen, so whatever bin you choose, please make sure it has adequate ventilation. Also, the rule of thumb for bin size is one square foot of surface area per pound of food waste per week. You can’t use just any kind of worm, in a bin, we are in need of worms for composting that are surface-dwelling, and that's why we typically use red wigglers. For a typical 4 sq ft worm bin, we suggest you start with a one pound of worms. Remember, with time, your one pound of worms will quickly grow into two pounds, if your bin is maintained properly and your worms are well fed. You will eventually want about one pound of worms per cubic foot of volume in your bin. You can buy worms from the internet or a bait shop.

You need a bedding material for your worms, before you add food to the bin. Most commonly people use shredded paper, peat moss, coconut fiber, wood chips or manure. You add a couple handfuls of soil to add "grit," helping your worms use it in their gizzards to break down food particles. The soil has the added benefit of inoculating your bin with various soil microbes, all of which are important in establishing a healthy ecosystem for your composting worms. Your bedding material will go down over time, just add more to the top, you don’t have to mix it in. Leave the lid off and a light on over your bin for the first 24 hours so your worms will settle into their new bedding.

A worm can consume its weight each day. If you start with roughly a pound of worms in your bin, expect to be able to feed them one pound of waste each day. Don’t feed your worms: garlic, onions, citrus, meat, dairy or bones.  To bury your food scraps, dig a hole in the bedding, put in food scraps and then cover completely with clean bedding. A properly maintained worm bin should be odorless. Flies may be controlled and moisture maintained by placing newspaper on top of the bedding. Hold off on feeding new worms for the first few days in a new worm bin. Start out slow with the feeding. add a small amount of food and wait for your worms to finish that before adding more. gradually up the amount of food you introduce.

Worms require a mild moist climate in order to thrive. Worms cannot survive if temperatures are too cold, and forget about freezing temps. On cold days you can put old blankets or pieces of carpet directly on top of the bed to help keep them warm.  Always keep your bin in the shade. You might want to bring your bin inside in the winter. You want the bed moist at all times but not flooded.

You can use a wooden box to raise earthworms in. Do not use pressure treated lumber, if you are building a box yourself. You can use any old container to raise your worms in, but it must have drainage holes.

After 4 – 6 months you can collect your worm castings and fertilize your plants. If you end up with too many worms, you can give them away or release them in your garden.  The content of the bin should be moved to one side of the bin, left to age, and new bedding added to the empty half of the bin (you can put a sheet of wood in the bin with a little gap for the worms to go through). Start burying food scraps only in the new bedding. Within four to six weeks, worms will move from the aging compost and populate the new bedding. The finished compost may now be harvested and the open space in the bin can be rebedded.

Cornell says its true
Cornell researchers have found that vermicompost -- the product if composting using various species of worms -- is not only an excellent fertilizer, but could also help prevent a pathogen that has been a scourge to greenhouse growers. By teaming up with a New York composting business, they believe they have found an organic way to raise healthier plants with less environmental impact. Read more at http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/Dec11/Vermicompost.html

Read Alison's Blog on Worms Eat Our Garbage