Worm composting

[grandall4]

I'm looking for some real world experience with using red wigglers to compost food waste. Aside from the green benefits, I'm trying to clue my time and investment versus just buying bagged castings.

I've researched this topic a ton and can't find a straight answer on how much black gold (aka castings) that a small composting set up will produce.

My plan is to make a worm farm using a stack of storage totes with the bottom unit to collect the worm tea. Above that will be 2 or 3 additional bins to be rotated as the castings accumulate. It appears cheaper to build my own than buying a Worm Factory or similar unit.

Can anyone give me a ballpark of their output per clean out and how frequently you are cleaning out? Also, how much tea are you generating?

 

[olytdi]

It depends on how big of a bin you have and how much you feed them.

They self regulate their population -- less food, fewer worms. More food, more worms. Also, they regulate in terms of temperature and space. You should keep them from hard freezes. No worries for the occasional sub freezing temps.

My box (I just junked it because I'll be moving) was about 30 deep, 24 high, and 48 long (inches) constructed in plywood and 2x4. The inside was divided into two bins by an internal piece of plywood into which about 20, 1 inch holes were drilled fom top to bottom. You completely fill one side of the box with wetted crumpled newspaper and leave the other side empty (more on that in a minute).

Let a bag of worms loose in the newspaper and feed regularly with kitchen scraps (no meat, fats of any kind, citrus -- just greens and other veg/fruit scraps). They will consume the scraps and the paper as needed and the bottom will start to fill-up with castings. When the side with the worms is about half full of castings at the bottom and the upper half only with a bit of newspaper, stop feeding on that side and fill the other side with newspaper and scraps. The worms will then start to migrate through the 1 inch holes in the divider into the new side with the food. After a month or so, all of the worms will have migrated over and you can harvest the castings from the first side.

Then repeat back and forth.

It usually takes a year for one side to fill with enough castings to swap to the other side yielding about 5 -6 gallons of castings annually. That's a lot!

Here are plans for the box I built:

https://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/naturalyardcare/documents/EZ-WormBin_Guide.pdf

Good luck -- it's fun and kids love it!

I had my worm bin active for about 10 years (it lasted that long!) and I only once suffered a setback and that was from a hard freeze that killed most of the worms in 2008. I had to buy another bag of worms!

If you're interested in commercial vermiculture, this place is a large operation near where I live -- you may wish to give them a call...

http://www.yelmworms.com/index.php

 

[6PTsocket]

I'm looking for some real world experience with using red wigglers to compost food waste. Aside from the green benefits, I'm trying to clue my time and investment versus just buying bagged castings.

I've researched this topic a ton and can't find a straight answer on how much black gold (aka castings) that a small composting set up will produce.

My plan is to make a worm farm using a stack of storage totes with the bottom unit to collect the worm tea. Above that will be 2 or 3 additional bins to be rotated as the castings accumulate. It appears cheaper to build my own than buying a Worm Factory or similar unit.

Can anyone give me a ballpark of their output per clean out and how frequently you are cleaning out? Also, how much tea are you generating?

Ya mean there really are red wigglers? I only remember them from the commercials on the TV comedy WKRP in Cincinnati. "Red wigglers, the Cadillac of worms, Cadillac of worms". LOL!!



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[rockettgpw]

Try to buy your worms from another worm enthusiast and not a big box store as they dont get looked after while waiting to sell.

 

[grandall4]

Try to buy your worms from another worm enthusiast and not a big box store as they dont get looked after while waiting to sell.

Thanks for the tip. [emoji106]

 

[Ironhorse74]

Try to buy your worms from another worm enthusiast and not a big box store as they dont get looked after while waiting to sell.

OK I just have to ask. How do you take care of your worms? Take them out for walks? Play ball with them? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[dshop]

worms love bread and plain pasta leftovers, no sauce...do not feed them any citrus or onions.

 

[6PTsocket]

worms love bread and plain pasta leftovers, no sauce...do not feed them any citrus or onions.

No sauce ? No onions ?
I guess a trip to the Olive Garden is out


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[theoldwizard1]

A friend tried it for awhile, until one of his containers pop the lid and then there was a mass of worms on the floor.

 

[Jon_E]

I gotta try this. I can't bury my kitchen waste in the compost pile during the winter as the ground is frozen. I just dump it and watch all the neighborhood critters have a buffet. Raccoons, possums, crows, etc. At least with the worm bin, it will give me some return on investment. There's a guy on YouTube who posts under OneYardRevolution and he does vermicomposting.