Vermiculture

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Vermiculture

• Let Worms Eat Your Garbage

Jean A. Gleichner Associate Professor Agriculture
Department
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Published in 1881
Written in Spanish
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Worm Bins
Down Under Worm Farm 89.95
The Original Vermi-Composter 49.75
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Worm Condo 159.00
The Worm Chalet 129.50
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Pet Poo Converter 89.50
Climate-Controlled Vermiculture System 2995
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The Right Worm

• Kingdom Animalia
• Phylum Annelida
• Class Oligochaeta
• Order Haplotaxida
• Suborder Lumbricina
• Family Lumbricidae
• Genus Eisenia
• Species foetida

• Redworm
• Red wiggler
• Manure worm
• Tiger worm
• Trout worm
• Compost worm
• Brandling

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Redworms (Eisenia fetida) 1 lb - 19.00 2 lbs -
34.00
2-3 lbs/wk - 69.00 or 3-5 lbs/wk - 80.00
Coconut Fiber Bedding from Sri-Lanka 3.00
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Redworms (Eisenia fetida) 1 lb (1000) - 19.00 2
lbs (2000) - 34.00
Newspaper (perhaps The New York Times) 1 or free
Plastic Container 5.00
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Setting Up a Worm Bin

• Worms body ? 75-90 moisture
• H2Obedding ratio 31 by weight
• 1 gallon (8 pints) of H2O 8 lbs
• 1 to 2 handfuls of soil
• Add worms ?migrate down to avoid light
• Bury garbage
• Wormgarbage 21 by weight

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Food Waste for Worms

• Apples
• Apple peels
• Baked beans
• Banana peels
• Biscuits
• Bread
• Cabbage
• Cake

• Celery
• Cereal
• Coffee ground with filter
• Corn bread
• Cream cheese
• Cream of wheat
• Cucumber
• Egg shells

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Food Waste for Worms

• Grits
• Lettuce
• Malt-o-Meal
• Molasses
• Oatmeal
• Onion peel
• Pancakes
• Pears

• Pineapple
• Pineapple rind
• Pizza crust
• Potatoes
• Potato salad
• Tea leaves
• Tomatoes
• Watermelon rinds

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No-Nos

• Dairy products
• Glass
• Meats
• Oily foods
• Plastic
• Rubber bands
• Tin foil

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Problems
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Unpleasant, Strong odors

• Lack of oxygen
• Too much food
• Contents too wet (worms may drown)
• Solution
• Stop adding waste
• Stir contents to aerate
• Check drainage holes for blockage
• Drill more holes

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Worms on the Sides or Lid of Bin

• Too wet ? add bedding
• Moisture okay ? too acidic
• Add a little lime

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Fruit Flies

• Bury food waste
• Dont overload

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Harvesting Techniques3-4 months
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Dump Hand Sort

• Plastic sheet bright light
• Make cone-shaped piles
• Worms move down to avoid light
• Remove top sides of the pile
• Worms at the bottom of the pile
• Rebed box
• Add worms

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Let the Worms Do the Sorting

• Move finished compost to one side in bin
• Place new bedding in the space created
• Put food waste in the new bedding
• Worms will gradually move to food
• Remove compost

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Uses of Worm Castings
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Potting mixes

• ¼ worm castings ? nutrients
• ¼ peat moss ? moisture retention
• ¼ perlite ? aeration
• ¼ sand or garden soil ? for volume

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Top Dressing

• Sprinkle about ¼ inch deep on surface of potted
  plants water as usual
• Repeat every 45-60 days
• Flush pot with water occasionally to get rid of
  salt accumulation

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In the Garden

• Sprinkle in the bottom of the seed row
• Handful in the hole at time of transplanting
• Adjacent soil will dilute salt concentration

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Christmas Worms
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Worm Web Sites

• http//www.wormwoman.com
• http//cityfarmer.org/wormsupl79.htmlwormsupplies
  
• http//www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html

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