3. What happens when you use your compost with worms in the yard? Would it be detrimental to plants?
All types of worms aerate the soil. Redworms live off the decaying matter and bacteria in the soil so they will not harm live plants at all. Instead they will leave casting for the plants to absorb. Unfortunately it may not be healthy for a large number of redworms to be added into your yard due to the limited amount of decaying matter. A flower garden filled with mulch is ideal. European redworms are very good to add into a garden since they are 18" dwellers. Like native nightcrawlers they consume more leaf litter than redworms so they can survive better in an older mulch (like what you may put in your garden or around trees). Since they dwell in the upper 18" of the soil they are great tillers of the soil for aeration, drainage and nutrient dispersal.
4. Why Compost?
Recycling the organic waste of a household into compost allows us to return badly needed organic matter to the soil. In this way, we participate in nature's cycle, and cut down on garbage going into our rapidly growing landfills.
5. Why compost with worms?
Worm composting is a method for recycling food waste into a rich, dark, earth-smelling soil conditioner. The great advantage of worm composting is that this can be done indoors and outdoors, thus allowing year round composting. It also provides apartment dwellers with a means of composting. Overall, worm compost is made in a container filled with moistened bedding and redworms. Add your food waste for a period of time, and the worms and micro-organisms will eventually convert the entire contents into rich compost.
6. What are the most common problems and solutions of a worm bin?
The most common problem is unpleasant, strong odors which are caused by lack of oxygen in the compost due to overloading with food waste so that the food sits around too long, and the bin contents become too wet. The solution is to stop adding food waste until the worms and micro-organisms have broken down what food is in there, and to gently stir up the entire contents to allow more air in. Check the drainage holes to make sure they are not blocked. Drill more holes if necessary. Worms will drown if their surroundings become too wet.
Worms have been known to crawl out of the bedding and onto the sides and lid if conditions are wrong for them. If the moisture level seems alright, the bedding may be too acidic. This can happen if you add a lot of citrus peels and other acidic foods. Adjust by adding a little garden lime and cutting down on acidic wastes.
Fruit flies can be an occasional nuisance. Discourage them by always burying the food waste and not overloading. Keep a plastic sheet or piece of old carpet or sacking on the surface of the compost in the bin. If flies are still persistent, move the bin to a location where flies will not be bothersome. A few friendly spiders nearby will help control fly problems.
7. What are the other bugs in my worm bin?
Once your worm bin has been going for a while, you may notice other creatures like mites, springtails, fruit flies, and black soldier fly larvae living in your bin. This is normal, these creatures will not hurt your worms. In fact, they help the composting process.
8. How do I prepare the bin for the worms?
First, you will need bedding for the worms. Red worms can survive and breed in many kinds of bedding materials. The worms eat the bedding as it decomposes, turning it to compost along with the kitchen scraps you add. The bedding should be a high carbon material, such as fall leaves (best if small or shredded), grass clippings, shredded paper (such as newspaper, paper towels, napkins, paper bags), ground cardboard or peat moss, or a combination of these materials. If you use peat moss, make sure to mix it with other bedding as it is too acidic to use alone. Dampen the bedding until the moisture content is 50% (as damp as a wrung out sponge). It is important to keep the bedding this damp or the worms will die. Mix a few handfuls of soil or finished compost with the bedding. The bedding should fill the bin about 3/4 full. Vegetative wastes are buried underneath the bedding, which filters out any odors from the decomposing material below. The whole mixture will turn to compost in about 3 months. Now it's time to add the worms!
9. What do I feed them?
Worms will eat just about any type of kitchen waste including vegetables, fruits, coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells (crushed). Do not add meat, meat byproducts, or dairy products. Bury the food scraps completely, so that they are always covered by bedding; this prevents development of odors and fruit flies. Don't add more food scraps than the worms eat in several days. The worms can't eat the food until it starts to decompose, so it may take a few months for the bin to get up to speed. For fastest decomposition, chop the food scraps into small pieces.
10. How often do worms reproduce?
Redworms are such prolific breeders that it is easy to understand why this is such an amazing experience. One thousand (1 pound) redworms under controlled conditions and temperature that promote continuous breeding throughout the year can multiply to more than 1,250,000 worms and egg capsules. What this means is that each worm is capable of producing one egg capsule per week (4 eggs per month) from which an average of 4 worms per capsule hatch out. That's a total of 12-16 worms a month from each breeding worm!