Mama's Worm Composting

Worm-tastrophe: What To Do When You Kill Them All

I was looking through my messy desktop today and found a list of articles that I should write on this blog. I chose this one because it made me laugh when I saw the title I had come up with. 

First of all, if you follow the guidance on this blog you will be unlikely to kill all of your worms in your worm composting bin. I am an impatient person, and many many times I neglect to read instructions; this has, of course, resulted in various worm massacres at my irresponsible hands. So just in case you're an idiot like me and you can't handle reading for 5 minutes to save thousands of little lives in the future, here's what you do when they all kick the bucket. 

How to know you've got a problem:

• Use your sniffer. If you smell fish or anything remotely fishy, you've got quite a problem on your hands.
• Check on them every once in a while. If you don't see any worms or you see slime, you've got a problem.

When you determine that there have, in fact, been casualties from your worm composting efforts, time to put on some gloves, get out the hose, shoo the kids away and get to work cleaning up the mess. It is NOT going to smell good, so make sure to wrap a shirt over your face or something to help with the smell. 

First you want to remove all the compost related debris from your bin. I suggest making a large pile on top of a trash bag. Then, if you're lucky enough to have a hose (I do not, at least not at home in my apartment), spray the whole bin down well and let it dry in the sun. In the past I have had success in reusing the contents of the dead bin as food for the new worms, but I advise this cautiously. I suggest you buy a simple ph test kit from your local nursery to make sure that the ph is in an acceptable range and that the worms didn't die from too much acidity or too much alkalinity (acceptable range is roughly 6.5-7.5). 

If your worms have died due to heat/sun exposure or not enough air and NOT ph issues, you can reuse the contents from the dead bin. Layer it like a lasagna with lots of dry bedding in between and add your new worms. The benefit of this is that, even though the worms are dead in the old materials, there may still be several cocoons that are viable. You also get to use the resulting compost that the worms were working on before their untimely demise. The new worms will eat the old ones as they decompose. Gross, I know. 

You will not want to reuse your dead bin materials if you are composting inside due to the bad smells that will take a week or two to subside. And obviously, if the ph is off, do not reuse the contents. If the ph was the reason for the death of your worms, make sure you test your bin every month or so just to make sure the problem isn't happening again. 

How NOT to kill your worms:

• Use ample bedding
• Make sure there is enough moisture, but they're not drowning
• Keep them OUT OF THE SUN
• Make sure they have enough air to breathe (ie: lots of air holes and, again, lots of bedding for air to leak through to them)
• Check the ph levels every once in a while, especially if you start to see fewer worms or worms on the surface of the bedding when you look in on them. 

Here's hoping everyone stays alive as a result of your worm composting efforts!

Good worming!

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Everybody Needs A Harvesting Buddy

This is Captain Jack Sparrow. I met him at the warehouse last week and just wanted to share the cuteness. He followed me all around, peed on my manure pile (who cares, right?), and sat at my feet for a good long while while I harvested worms. I wanna steal this doggie away and make him my own! I love you Captain Jack!

And here's a handful of worms from the other day. 

Good worming!

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Worm Composting Recap

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. If you're new to this blog, here is a list of subjects about worm composting that you may find interesting or useful. If you ever have questions about my products or your worm composting system, please email me and I would be happy to help. Enjoy!

Pests:

How to kill fruit flies

How to kill fungus gnats

General pests

Ants

Maggots

Bins:

How to build a flow-through bin

How to get started with a basic bin

Apartment composting

Winter composting

Can-O-Worms

Gusanito worm bin

Alameda County discount bins

Troubleshooting:

Escaping worms

Books

Choosing bedding

General Questions:

Meat in worm bins

Composting pet poop

Harvesting

Build a harvester

Worm tea

Why to compost

Composting ALL your waste

Harvesting from the Gusanito

School Composting

Land:

Revitalizing land

Garden aeration

Good worming!

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Worm Compost Harvester

As the neverending quest for the perfect worm compost harvester continues, I thought I would give an update about a small bit of progress. This weekend my little munchkin, Evan, and I built a cheap and easy worm compost harvester. It's a shaker screen made with 1/4" mesh from the hardware store (we were able to have them cut it for us) and four 2' boards that were precut (I ain't so handy with a saw...). Since the boards were precut, this worm compost harvester cost a whopping $10. However, I'm sure some of you folks out there with more time and mental stamina could make it for close to free.

So here's how it works. You pile a bunch of worms and worm compost materials onto the screen. Lay down a tarp. Then do a shimmy and a shake and watch as the worm compost falls through onto the floor. Voila! You can further screen the worm compost to get pure castings by using a 1/8" screen after you collect the first round if you really want pure worm castings. 

Now, of course, I've been using this thing all morning and my back is killing me (the search continues). But for the average Joe or Jane this harvester works great (really the best method I've tried). If you're harvesting compost, you're golden with this. If you're harvesting worms you will still have some work to do by hand to remove the additional uncomposted materials from the pile. 

Onward to perfection!

Good worming!

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Worm Composting Harvesting

I am on a continual mission to find the best and most efficient way to harvest my worms for sale. It seems I spend an awful lot of time with my hands deep in poop of some sort or another these days, so you can see why it's a priority for me to figure this puzzle out. There are many options for harvesting worm compost including hand sorting, using a trommel screen, or using a shaking screen. I happen to have a trommel screen that I use when possible, but it is not motorized (which triples the time I spend using it). It gets me about halfway there and then I harvest the rest by hand. 

Harvesting the average sized worm composting bin can be a relatively easy process by hand, but if any of you are more ambitious with your worm composting projects you may be interested in learning about some of the other ways you can harvest. Here are a few you tube videos that I find interesting on this particular topic. One shows a motorized trommel screen (can you imagine me drooling over here?) and the other shows the hand sorting process. 

Click HERE to see hand sorting.

Click HERE to see trommel sorting.

I'm off to harvest worms and so will not be learning all about html and inserting youtube videos today. You must click to enjoy! Next time, I promise, I will get with the program.

Good worming!

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Worm Composting Challenge Updates

I wanted to share a few images of my worm composting projects 'round the house and to send an update into the void about how things are going.

First, our planned trench / worm composting garden is starting to move along. The plot has been dug up and is just waiting for Saaba and I to get off our butts and start weeding. Pictured here are my teeny little seedlings, a variety of winter veggies (well, California winter at least). We'll be weeding and digging our worm composting trench in the next week or so, and hopefully we'll be planting soon after that after these bad boys grow a little more. 

Next up is an update on the worm composting challenge: How Many Worms? I'm pleased to say that I counted at least 18 worms in the cup today and saw at least 7 or 8 cocoons as well. Mama and Papa worm have been getting busy, indeed! But, owing to the fact that worms don't like light and that I don't have a macro lens, they are proving difficult to photograph! Here's just a snippet. 

Lots of castings in there, too, eh? I love my little guys... 

Got an idea for a Worm Composting Challenge? Please send it my way! Coming soon will be an update about the cat poop composting system I'm working on. 

Good worming!

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Peat Moss vs. Coconut Coir for Worm Composting

There is a lot of debate in many online gardening forums and among worm growers about which type of bedding is best for worm composting, and also the most ecologically sound. I love using both coir and peat moss for worm bedding because they both hold moisture well, allow for some air flow, are near an acceptable ph level (I put a small amount of lime in my peat moss to make it a little more alkaline), and are dense enough to help with flying pests. In my area, peat moss tends to be more affordable than coco coir for worm composting, so I use peat moss almost exclusively. 

However, which of these bedding materials is the best for the earth? A recent commenter named Lacy brought her concerns over the use of peat moss to my attention, and also attached a link to an informative article (below). 

Here's the basic idea...

Argument AGAINST peat moss: The harvesting of peat moss for gardening uses and worm composting involves disturbing natural ecosystems and displacing animals. While companies in Canada are supposed to be responsible for restoring the habitat once harvesting takes place, it takes literally centuries for a peat bog to be created (and thus, completely restored). And there is little monitoring of this restoration.

Argument FOR peat moss: The peat moss that is harvested yearly represents a teeny tiny amount of the available peat moss that exists in Canada. While the companies cannot possibly completely restore the habitat, the areas that see restoration are generally thriving with life within 5-8 years. Peat is also more affordable than coir.

Argument AGAINST coir: Coco coir is a waste product and most of it comes from India. A large amount of fresh water is required to rinse the coir and make it usable, and since water is scarce in India this is quite a burden. Additionally, the material then needs to be shipped to the US from India, using fuel and polluting the earth.

Argument FOR coir: Coir is a waste product that already exists, so there is a strong inclination that it is environmentally friendly. Coir is already ph neutral and so requires no additives when used with worm composting. 

Worm composting is a great way to do something good for the environment, not to mention your garden. However, the whole idea is that we want to practice good habits by using sustainable materials. Which of these materials fits the bill? For me, the jury is still out. Please have a peek at the articles below to get some additional information.

Argument FOR Peat Moss

Argument AGAINST Peat Moss

Argument About Peat Moss vs. Coco Coir

Good worming!

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Top 10 Reasons To Practice Worm Composting

Worm composting is something that isn't exactly mainstream yet, so it can be hard to explain to people why they should compost with worms, much less compost at all. Take my family, for example. We live in a condo in a pretty urban area, and we have about 15 square feet of balcony as our outside space. Why should we compost? I've let it be known that I often kill anything I plant out there, so what's the point of fertilizer when my plants will just suffer untimely deaths anyways? Here are a few things I've come up with in regards to worm composting.

10. Worm composting is addictive.

If you decide to start worm composting you will also be deciding to have a new hobby. Keeping worms healthy, keeping them alive, keeping a well maintained bin and reducing your waste are all things that will fascinate you in one form or another. 

9. Worm composting doesn't smell.

A well-maintained worm bin does not have a foul odor, unlike many traditional composting systems.

8. Worm composting can be done indoors all year, no matter where you live.

Folks in the arctic, take note! Due to the lack of smells from composting with worms, you can compost your waste all winter long indoors.

7. Worm composting is fun for kids (and adults!).

You just wait until you pull out a worm for your friends to see when they come over. They will freak out (which is probably what you will do the first time you see a pile of worms). Worms are great to show your adult friends and start conversations about eco-friendly living over wine, and they are also a favorite of many-a-child who has come into my house. On most days I have a line of children waiting at the pantry so that they can each hold a worm. Having worms in the house starts similar (more sober) conversations about the environment with the little ones.

6. Worms are cute.

You're not going to think this when you first see a bunch of worms writhing around. You may scream. You may run away. You may smack yourself in a "get-them-off-me" sort of fashion. But give it a little time. In a couple of months you'll start to feel braver, and you'll realize that worms are just little animals who are dependent upon you for their survival. Try holding just one worm at a time, and if you're like me you'll be reminded of things like the caterpillars in grade school we used to put into little jars and carry around as pets. They're darned cute.

5. Fertilizer

If you ARE a gardener, then you will be thrilled with both the quality and quantity of organic fertilizer that your worms produce for you. 

4. The soils of the earth need it.

I was watching a show about agriculture the other night and it was talking about how fields become unusable due to too much farming. The soil loses nutrients over time, nutrients that worm castings could provide. If you live in an urban area and don't have an outlet for your worm castings, consider donating them to an urban garden, or even an organic farm a little outside the city. Your efforts and the efforts of your worms will be improving soil somewhere, even if it's not right in your backyard.

3. About 30% of our landfill space is taken up by uneaten food.

Ahem. Need I say more?

2. Worms eat more than just food.

Worms eat all sorts of paper as well as regular kitchen scraps, so you can reduce your landfill-output even further by feeding them any paper that comes into your house that isn't recyclable (think paper napkins, paper towels, dryer lint if using eco-friendly soaps and fabric softeners, and other small paper items). 

1. Because I said so.

I'm a mom. In my house my rules are that the kids must do what I say. Why? Because I said so. Do they fight it? Yes. Do they whine? Yes. Do they DO IT? Yes. So start composting today! Why? Because I said so!

Good worming!

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CHECK OUT MY COMPOST TUMBLERS HERE

AND THIS URBAN COMPOST TUMBLER

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The Biological Role of Earthworms in Soil Fertility - Worm Composting

By: James W Shaw

Worm composting is the perfect way if you want to have a bountiful paradise garden. Earthworms or night crawlers, as some may call them, are considered "a farmer's friend" all over the world. They are under the invertebrate category, but taxonomically, they fall under Phylum Annelida, class Oligochaeta and under the order of Opisthophora. The importance of worm composting or worm casting has been studied by many scientists all over the world in full detail. Their research has shown that relatively, worms play a vital role in improving soil fertility. In line with that, researchers have enumerated four thousand species of worms, each with a unique biological, physical and behavioral trait that can be beneficial for both worm casting and as worm compost.

Earthworm Classifications for Worm Composting

The earthworm used for worm composting is usually classified under tropic and habitat lines. Tropic class divides these worms into three categories: geophagous, phyto-geophagous and phyto-phagous. On the other hand, the habitat line also has three sub-categories: endogeic, epigeic and the anecic category. Using them as worm compost, you can find that both systems of categorization or classification overlap each other. For example, epigeics are deemed phytopagous - they are represented by the Perionyx Excavatus (oriental), Edrilus Euginiae (African) and Eisenia Foetida. All these mentioned live and feed on decaying animal parts and decaying plants. The epigeic type builds itself no permanent burrow and prefers loose, top most layer of the soil that is rich in organic matter. These are just some examples of species in which you can use for producing worm compost. All categories are proven beneficial.

Soil Fertility and Worm Composting

All the categories mentioned above are perfect for worm composting or in soil fertility, in general. Each and every one of them plays different or same roles. The contributions that these worms provide ultimately come in their fecal matter, which is also referred to as worm casting. Another thing that makes worm compost a perfect soil fertilizer is because of their extrusion or secretion as both are considered eteroneprhic and exonepheric. The worm's gut is known as bioreactor wherein idyllic conditions of pH, temperature and moisture level provide multiple desired aerobic bacteria strains, and the undesired anaerobic strains of bacteria are digested. All in all, the contribution of worm composting in soil fertility is seen in effect of the fungal and bacterial biomass that they excrete in the soil. This type of effect, as most researchers say, takes nature about a hundred or so years before it can be achieved, but takes only a mere year for worms to accomplish! With that, using a worm composting means that you only need minimal care for the fertility of your soil, as long as you take proper care of your worms.

Worm composts also provides your soil with its much needed nitrogen as exemplified in the nitrifying bacteria such as Azospirillum, PSB or Phosphate Solublising Phospholube Bacteria and Azotobactor, which are all known to be aerobics. The micro flora of your soil also improves with worm composting; it becomes more complex as compared to mixing it with daintily-grounded organic materials and microorganisms. A worm composting gives you 3x concentrations of transferable Mg, 7x of readily available P and 11x of K as compared to 150mm soil.

James Shaw is an organic gardener and a worm farm enthusiast. Save money and go green by raising Red Wigglers through worm composting.

My Winter Worm Composting Garden

Isn't it pretty? Is it mine? No, it's from Sunset magazine. Will mine look this pretty? Um, no. I can barely keep my flowers alive. 

Enter Saaba, my good friend and gardening enthusiast. She not only has a green thumb, but she also has a sizable backyard with a section of land that is already (almost) ready to go. In addition, she's an excellent cook, which means that when it's time to harvest scary vegetables like kale, she can be counted on to whip up a feast, as long as I hold the baby while she cooks. 

How am I going to grow vegetables in the winter, you ask? Well, it just so happens that I live in sunny California, so the fall and winter will be a great time to grow some crops. The spin on this project is that this will be a worm composting garden. We will be creating a U shape, as above, and down the center of the two rows we will dig a trench to do worm composting right in the earth. This will allow the plants to access the worm compost directly through their roots, a tactic that I know others have used with great success. 

Check back here to see our worm composting garden grow. I will be updating the blog weekly.

Good worming!

WHERE TO BUY RED WIGGLERS

WHERE TO BUY EUROPEAN NIGHTCRAWLERS

CHECK OUT MY COMPOST TUMBLERS HERE

AND THIS URBAN COMPOST TUMBLER

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