Vermicomposting, or worm composting, allows your food waste to be composted, while producing the highest quality compost and organic fertilizing liquid on earth. But with most anything, there will be some bumps along the way. We have listed some troubleshooting tips and and advice to help with any obstacles or future obstacles in your path.
Tips
- If you have two bins, it can be a bit easier to get to your compost. Fill one bin and start the next. When you want to get at the compost, move the un-composted matter from bin one to bin two and use all the finished compost. Bin two, the now-active bin, becomes full and then bin one becomes the active bin again.
- Egg shells in your bin increase the calcium content of the compost you produce. Worms also seem to like to curl up in them. To be most effective, eggshells must be dried out and finely ground (with a mortar and pestle or a rolling pin) before their addition to a bin. Use raw eggshells, not cooked.
- You can throw your coffee grounds, unbleached filters, and used teabags (remember to remove the staple!) right in the bin.
- The smaller you chop up/crush the food, the faster the worms will eat it; and the faster your bin will produce compost. Although some home-scale worm keepers use blenders to puree food scraps, others believe vermin-culture should be a low-carbon-footprint endeavor and thus use little or no electricity.
- If you would like to collect the water (liquid fertilizer) produced by watering your worms, place a tray under the compost bin. Otherwise, the ground under the bin will become terrifically fertile. An elevated bin (either on bricks, or a bin with built-in legs) sitting in a tray of water will also prevent ants and other unwanted critters from getting into the bin.
- Remember that a worm bin is a tiny ecosystem. Don't attempt to remove the other critters living in your worm bin, they are helpers. However, do remove centipedes: Centipedes are carnivores, and eat baby worms and worm eggs.
- Shredded paper junk mail, egg cartons, cereal boxes, and pizza boxes all make excellent bedding (avoid glossy paper). Always soak household paper waste bedding for at least 12 hours before adding it to the bin, and thoroughly squeeze out the water first. Don't shred junk mail envelopes unless you remove the plastic windows! Worms won't eat plastic, and picking hundreds of shredded plastic window panes out of otherwise beautiful compost is a vermin-culturist's nightmare.
- Pre-composted cow manure is a great food for worms. Just be sure to bury it at least 3 inches deep. Rabbit, sheep, and goat droppings do not require pre-composting and their addition makes outstanding vermin-compost.
- Green food increases nitrogen in your finished compost. Examples are: green grass, beet tops, carrot tops, philodendron leaves, fresh cut clover or alfalfa.
- Brown food increases carbon and phosphate in your finished product. Examples are: paper, cardboard, wood chips, leaves, bread. If adding fresh lawn grass, be certain chemicals have not been added to the lawn. Lawn chemicals are deadly to the ecosystem in the bin.
- A balanced diet makes for a healthy bin, healthy worms and a great finished product.
- Finely ground and moistened grains (flour, oatmeal, etc.) are eaten the fastest, followed by fruits, grass, leaves, cardboard, paperboard (cereal boxes), white paper, cotton products, and magazines (slick paper). Wood takes the longest (up to a year or more).
- Calcium carbonate works well to solve most problems. Be sure to use calcium carbonate (e.g., powdered limestone) and not quicklime (calcium oxide).
Warnings
- Diet Restrictions: Do not feed your worms meat, dairy products, eggs, or oily foods.
- Acidic: Go easy on the citrus rinds. You can add them, but remember that they're acidic. If possible, a little at a time with plenty of other matter.
- Drought: Don't allow your bin to dry out. If there are enough holes at the bottom, your worms are not likely to drown, but they will die without water.
- Sensitivity: Some varieties of worms may be sensitive to the oils or pH of human skin. Internet forum posts by active vermin-composters indicate that handling their worms seems to not yield any negative effects.
- Extremes temperature: Extremes of temperatures are deadly for worms- about 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. Don't place a worm bin in direct sunlight or out in the cold. Sustained frosts will kill your worms. If this is an issue in your area, move outdoor bins into a garage or shed during winter. If bringing your worm bin indoors during the winter is not possible add a small heating pad as follows: push the matter away from one side, place the pad up against that side, then backfill onto the pad. Run the wire out to an extension, plug it in and leave the pad set on low - or medium in particularly cold weather. This will prevent freezing in winter.
- Heat: Don't allow your worm bin to heat up past 90 degrees. You will cook your worms -- something no one should smell.
- Too Many Greens: Large amounts of green feeds (grass, alfalfa, etc.) heat up quickly and should be added lightly.
- Manure: Fresh (un-composted) cow manure contains harmful pathogens and should not be used. It will also heat the bin to deadly levels and kill your worms.
- Powdered Limestone: Powdered limestone will create carbon dioxide in your bins and suffocate your worms if the bins are not well ventilated. Use sparingly only if absolutely necessary and stir your bin every few days following adding.
- Odor: If you add more food than your worms can handle, anaerobic conditions will set in and cause odor. This should dissipate shortly if you stop adding food for a while.
- Fruit Flies: To avoid fruit flies, be sure to cover the food scraps completely with the bedding. One pound of worms will eat about four pounds of food scraps a week.
Article written by Wiki How, edited by Local Green Circle
by Local Green Circle, February, 2010