ermiculture is great because you do not need to make a big investment in a high tech compost bin, or worry about having a large plot of land to compost in. Vermiculture (or composting with worms) can be done with buckets or storage containers that you already have on hand.
I keep my worms in my basement in the winter than move them into my backyard in the late spring.
I do appologize that I do not have all of the step by step instructions pictured, but I made this over a year ago.
What you will need:
- Two storage containers
- Brick
- Drill
- Newspaper
- Compost or extra soil
- Red Wigglers {not earthworms} (Red Wigglers can be found online or at the occasional farmers market. I bought a coffee jar full of them for $15)
Start buy placing a brick on the bottom of your first container. You do this to make sure that your vermicompost container can drain.
Drill holes throughout your second container so that the worms will be able to breathe and the moisture can drain (the drainage on the bottom is known as compost tea). You want to make sure enough air gets to the worms, but take note not to drill to many holes or else your worms might just fall escape.
Place your second container on top of the first container. It should be elevated slightly.
Now for the fun part (playing with worms!)
Start by ripping up some newspaper and placing a generous layer on the bottom of your compost container. This is your worms bedding. I like to crinkle the newspaper up a bit before laying it down.
Sprinkle a little water on the bedding and you are ready to add your worms.
Place your worms and some extra composted material in the bottom. and watch them scatter to the bottom of the bin. They hate the light, its kind of funny.
Add some compostable materials such as fruit or vegetable cuttings, coffee grounds, and egg shells (they love egg shells). Then you will want to cover up the compost with more crumpled newspapers. Close the lid and you are on your way to having some fabulous vermicompost to feed your plants with.
They really do hate the light, after several attempts to photograph my wormies I got one blurry picture of the little guys. I tried.
Now it is your turn. Get vermicomposting and let me know how it goes. I am not an expert but I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Comments
So I bought a tower. For people who might not want to go this route a tower is awesome.
the towers are definitely cool and if you can afford it and want to go that route it will guarantee your worms will not jump ship.
I am glad I found your blog and learned about your upcycling party as well. Now I have to go read part one.
We like worms on the farm.