Vermicoast

Welcome Back!

This will not be as hard as you might think, this keeping of worms and their bin. Worms are living breathing creatures. Caring for a pound or two of them is the same responsibility you take on with a family pet. They will need food, water, and the correct growing conditions in order to carry out their task of reducing the organic waste stream in your home.

You can keep wigglers either in or out of bins.  I recommend and focus on keeping them in bins because you can manage the variables more easily.  In contained spaces you can be certain they have enough ( but not too much)  to eat, are not too hot or cold, are not subject to predators, can be kept at a comfortable level of moisture, and can be harvested easily.  The vermicompost  is them available to use whenever and however you wish.  You control the amount of worms processing your waste and can share a portion  of your worm herd when they reproduce.

If containing your worms doesn’t suit your purposes there are other options:

1.) Pit-run– Mark off  the area to be used, say a 2′x6′ rectangle.  Loosen the soil with a pitch fork and remove the first 2″ of soil. You can pre-mix materials such as manure, peat, shredded paper into the soil and water well, then add your worms.  Or you can just water the area and add your worms.

Always water the area well before introducing the worms.  As then in the late afternoon while there is still enough sunlight to encourage them to dive for cover, but not enough strong light to damage them.

Feed the worms as you would in a bin.  Cover them with straw or soaked newspaper to help contain the moisture and minimize predators.  You still may have visitors or the animal nature interested in your scrapes or a meal of delicious worms.

2.) Trenching–Mark off  an area and loosen the soil as instructed with the pit-run.  Remove the soil to a depth of one foot and add back food and bedding moistened and mixed with the soil. Mark off  an area and loosen the soil, water well and lay out a layer of bedding at least 6″ high.  The 6″ depth ensures enough depth for the worms to escape if the birds discover your cashe.

Bedding material can include pre-heated compost, manures from plant eating animals such as rabbits, horses, chickens, llamas, etc.; mixed with soaked shredded paper as examples.

Add your worms in the late faternoon and feed as usual.

Because the window has so much exposed surface area, water loss is a problem.  If you use this method, try laying a soaker hoses down the length  of the windrow for easy water care.  If you live in an area which is hot and dry most of the year, you might consider an over head shade cloth to keep the moisture in and help prevent water loss through evaporation.  As with the pit-run method you can cover the area with soaked newspaper or straw to help retain moisture and deter predators. Do not use plastic, as you will over heat your worms!

4.) Tree base– still experimental, but the University of Oregon is testing vermicomposting around fruit trees.  The area is cleaned and raked out to the drip line of the trees, the food wastes are applied in a thin layer every 14 days and well watered.  The area is sprinkled with rock dust and covered with leaves. There were no worms evident at the beginning of the experiment and none were added.  Now the trees and near by vegetables flourish with many worms evident in the soil.  The worms will stay in the area as long as there are ample organic food sources and moisture available.

To Recap:

> There are many different ways you can keep your worms.

> Choose the method best suited to your area of the country and it’s climate conditions.

> Consider your worms as another family pet, just many of them and not only one.  They will need your care to preform well and give you and your soil the much needed boost to have flourishing gardens.

Until next time when I will write about which kind of worms to get for your bin, setting up your bin, choosing the right one for you and a few other suggestions, I do hope you are learning from your worms and will ask questions. That is what I am here for: to answer them.

~Shel