WHAT IS WORM COMPOSTING?

Let worms recycle for you. They will quickly turn your kitchen scraps into exceptionally rich fertilizer for your houseplants or garden. Worm composting is easy. You feed the worms your banana peels, wilted lettuce or stale bread and the worms do the rest. Worm composting, also called vermicomposting, can be done year round, indoors or outdoors. It's ideal for small spaces in the garage or under the kitchen sink.

WORMS IN THE HOUSE?

Worms are clean. With proper care, your worm box will have a pleasant odor, like that of fresh earth dug out of the ground.

WHY FEED WORMS?

The benefits of vermicomposting are many. Composting is recycling. You and your worms help the environment by reducing the amount of garbage you produce. A medium sized worm box can process more than 5 lbs. of food waste each week! In return, you get a valuable soil amendment good for growing just about anything.

GETTING STARTED.

Red worms, also called red wigglers, are the best worms for worm composting. Red worms are a different species from common garden worms and night crawlers, which need large amounts of soul and cool temperatures to survive. One poind of red worms (about 1000 worms) is enough to start a worm bin. Get your worms from your friend's bin, or buy them from a worm shop or bait shop. Once your worm bin is established, you will have enough worms to help your friends start vermicomposting too.

WHERE WILL MY WORMS LIVE?

You may already have what you need to make a worm bin. A plastic storage container, wash basin, or a sturdy wooden box can bee easily fashioned into a home for your worms. Or you can buy a bin specially designed for worms. Whatever you use, your worm box should be shallow, since worms like to live near the surface where they can breathe. About one foot deep with two to three square feet of surface area is best. Your bin should also have a tight fitting lid and holes drilled in the bottom for ventilation and drainage.

Eight or ten inches of bedding inside your bin will provide the worms with a damp, aerated place to live. Common bedding materials include strips of newspaper, shredded cardboard, manure, leaves, or peat moss. Moisten the bedding and squeeze out excess water before placing inside your bin.

You may want to add a handful or two of soil to provide gift, which will help the worms digest food particles.

WHAT CAN I FEED MY WORMS?

Worms will eat fruit and vegetable peelings, coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells, bread, rice, and leftovers. Most people prefer to raise "vegetarian" worms to avoid odors from decaying meat scraps. Be sure to bury your food scraps in the bedding to discourage molds and fruit flies. Bury the food in a different corner of the box at each feeding. The next time you look, it should be gone. If not, try feeding your worms a little less for a while.

WHEN DO I GET MY FERTILIZER?

After a few months, you will notice that the original bedding has disappeared and has been replaced with rich, dark worm compost. It's harvest time. Put your worms on a diet. In a few days, you can either separate the worms from your compost by hand, and start anew with fresh bedding, or you can try the following: coax your worms to one side of your box by feeding only on that side for a few weeks. Then harvest the worm-free side of the box, replace it with fresh bedding, and do it again.