Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I compost using worms? Isn't regular composting good enough?

Worms are great to use for composting for a couple of reasons. First, they produce compost much more quickly than would be the case with a "regular" composting system. A worm bin with a healthy population of worms can make an entire bin of castings in as little as 6 weeks, compared with 3+ months for standard composting systems. 

Another advantage that a worm bin has over traditional composting bins is a noticeable lack of smell! A well maintained worm bin should have little odor, and if it does have any odor it should smell like earth. This makes it possible, and practical, to compost indoors (many people compost right in their own kitchen!). 

Additionally, worm castings are thought to be some of the best composted materials on earth. Worm castings are gentle on plants and roots, and it is literally impossible to use too much. Plants that were seeded in pure castings have been known to grow much, much larger than their traditionally seeded counterparts. Using the castings on existing plants will have a similar effect on growth.

And, of course, my favorite reason for using worms for composting is the little critters themselves. If you choose to use worms to compost then you will, if you're anything like me, eventually become a little bit attached to them. This might sound like hooey right now, but give it some time! 

Can I compost during the winter?

Yes! The flexibility of a worm bin and its lack of nasty smells means that you can compost indoors no matter where you live. The ideal temperature for worms is between 55 and 77 degrees fahrenheit, so they do very well in a kitchen, pantry, or heated garage during the winter in chilly climates. Here in California (or at least in the Bay Area), they do well in a regular garage without added heat. 

How did you get into the worm business?

I'm a stay-at-home-mom with a passion for eco-friendly projects and social change. I started a blog a while back called Mama Does Good in which I make a lot of changes to my lifestyle (ie: no more car!), and also document the volunteer work that I do. In the process of working on the blog, I was drawn into worm composting. I soon realized that I liked the little buggers and decided to give it a go at making a business out of it. 

What kinds of worms do you sell?

I sell Eisenia Fetida, or Red Wiggler worms. They are a very good all-around composting worm. They reproduce quickly and eat, eat, eat your garbage! 

How long will it take for my worms to produce usable compost?

As stated above, from about 6 weeks onward you should be able to start harvesting usable compost. After 3 months or so many find that they can harvest an entire bin full.

What do I feed my worms?

Worms. Love. Everything. Well, almost everything. 

FEED ME

Fruits and Vegetables and their peelings

Grains

Eggshells

Coffee Grounds

Teabags

Aged manure from cows, rabbits, horses. Try a little at first before you go overboard. Rabbit and Chicken poop can overheat your bin if you add too much.

Birthday cake (well, maybe that was just MY worms...)

NO, THANK YOU

Citrus...YUCK!

Meat

Fish

Dairy

Human waste

Dog or cat waste

Chemicals

What are some good "bedding" materials?

Worms do well in many types of bedding. I often use a mixture of whatever is available and free! I have a heavy duty paper shredder that I use to shred junkmail (non glossy), cardboard, brown grocery bags and newspaper. A note: use the junkmail in moderation as too much bleached paper does not a happy worm make! 

I use "open" bins for my worms; it allows me to be certain that they are not overheating or drowning in too much liquid with a simple poke of my garden fork. On top of the open bins I add a thick layer of hay (about 6"+). It keeps out the bugs. Many people use coconut husks (coir), and I have tried it as well. However, coir has little nutritional value for worms, and it is very costly, making it something I'm not interested in continuing to use. If you have a yard with dead leaves and clippings you can use some of that for bedding materials as well. 

My bin smells; am I doing something wrong? 

You should start by adding more dry, absorbent bedding. Bad smells in a worm bin are likely a result of anaerobic conditions (too much food that compresses and doesn't receive enough air to decompose nicely). The bedding will absorb some moisture and also allow for more air flow. You also want to give things a good mixing when you do this. If you're able, leave the bin open for a day or two to let any noxious gases exit the system, otherwise your worms might try to escape! Don't start adding food again until the smells stop and you aren't seeing large patches of uneaten scraps. 

My worms have disappeared; what happened?

Sorry to tell you this, but it sounds like you've lost your little buddies. This might be from too much heat (get that bin out of the sun!!!), too much moisture combined with heat, excessively dry conditions, or overfeeding that results in anaerobic gases. I've been cautioned in the past to toss out the bin and start anew (as this once happened to me), but I have also had success in ignoring that advice. You may want to try again in a new bin by adding some of the yucky failure to heaps and heaps of dry bedding. I found that when I split up my mass homicide bin into layers with lots of dry bedding that the new worms handled it just fine (though it took a couple of weeks for the smells of my failure to go away...). 

I have fruit flies; what do I do? 

Bury that food and use a thick crust of dry bedding or straw on top. Then try laying strips of fly paper along the top of the bin or near any holes where the flies might be coming in. I've noticed fly paper is extremely effective with fruit flies (much more than regular flies). I've also read that the Hypoaspis sp mite is a good fruit fly predator. 

How do I harvest my compost when it's ready?

The easiest way to harvest castings from your average rubbermaid bin is to dump the contents out onto a large table in a well lit area. The worms will begin to burrow down into the depths within a few minutes. You can start to remove the compost and bedding and any uncomposted materials and set it aside. After a while you will have mostly worms in front of you. Put the worms back into your original bin with some new bedding. Then use a mesh laundry bag to shake out the composted contents. The castings will fall through the bag and the remnants in the bag can be added back into your worm bin for the wigglers to finish off. Let your castings sit for a day or two to air out and then use them in your garden!

Worms really freak me out, but I know that they're good little soldiers for the environment. What can I do to get over my feelings of creepiness?

My mantra when I get the creeps is "They're just little animals. They're just little animals. They're just little animals." It's ok that you're feeling nervous around your squirming worms; I don't blame you. Try first to touch a single worm, just to see what it feels like (cold and slimy, FYI). Then, when you're ready, try holding a single worm. You'll see that he's just like the little caterpillars you played with when you were a kid, just squirming around gently in your hand. After a while of handling them, they won't bother you so much. 

If you just can't get over your fears of worms, that's ok, too. Try to limit your physical contact with them and just let them be. A symbiotic relationship does not need to be a love affair with wiggly worms! You can respect their work and admire them from afar. 

Comments

[LizE]

1) How many lbs of worms shall I start out for a 4-tray Gusantio worm bin?
2) I cut up my orange rinds for the ordinary compost..shall I use them for the worm bin? I read on your page that they dont like citrus - does that apply to the citrus rinds?

[Jen Cantwell]

Here are the answers to your questions:
1)The number of pounds you start with really depends on how fast you want your worms to start producing for you. I happen to have a lot of worms, so I went ahead and used 2.5 pounds to get my 5 tray started. However, you can easily start off with one pound and just ramp up a little more slowly. The worms will reproduce within a couple of months and you will have lots of them!
2) Citrus and citrus rinds are too acidic for worms. They will shy away from them in the bin, and if there is too much citrus then the bin will go "sour". Stay away from citrus altogether. Onions, too.

Good worming!

[Neelima Baird]

We have a 5-tray Gusanito bin, and we are on our second try. The first time (Feb) we started with two pounds of worms and had to leave town on an emergency. Our neighbor stepped in and fed them 1/2 a cup of food a day (I think this was a typo in the instructions that came with them). They all died within three weeks, but left behind legions of babies and cocoons. In April we tried again with another 2 pounds (we did not know about you yet, and I can promise future orders will be through you!), about 1/3 of which arrived dead (pe-ew!) due to being smashed in transit. The company offered to replace the whole order, but I wasn't sure we made enough waste to support three pounds of worms- so we just took a pound. So, now... four trays of the Gusanito are active. Most of the worms are in the bottom tray, which I wnat to harvest. BUT it is very wet, and FULL of babies as well as adults who seem happy and don't want to leave. I've tried coaxing by putting watermelon rind in the trays above. I've tried turning them over and replacing their cloth with brown paper (I was keeping a cloth- really the bag they were shipped in- over the bottom of the bottom-most tray to stop them from diving into the drip tray)... since it's so wet I've also put cardboard on the edges- I don't want to add more paper or coir unless I have to because our garden/farm really needs intense compost when we change over to late crops after the early ones harvest soon. Also, one of the upper trays is suddenly host to something I can't identify but which has me curious - it looks like seeds but not from anything we eat, it's not cocoons, and at first I thought it was some kind of creature but they don't move or change. I'll add the photos I took to this post. So the questions, to sum up, are:
What are the things in the pictures and do I need to address them?
How do I dry this bin out without adding much dry stuff?
How do I get the babies out of the tray whose compost I want to harvest?
How do I stop the bottom tray dwellers from diving into the drip tray without retaining excess moisture (or do you not think the cloth was a problem? Someone suggested weed cloth. What do you think?)
Thanks very much for what you do; we are very sustainability motivated and really appreciate your work and your website is lovely!

[Neelima Baird]

A follow up to the above... oh yeah, they don't eat much! I give them maybe 1/2 lb once a week, and they are barely keeping up. The bedding is coir, because I got a good deal on it and it is so easy; the shredded brown paper was getting hard to manage. We juice 4 days a week at a minimum and are gardeners with a mostly raw diet, so we would love to see them turn food into compost... it is more like babysitting the worms than having them work for us though. Ideas?

[Jen Cantwell]

Please check out an answer to your questions here: http://www.mamaswormcomposting.com/2009/07/reader-question-how-to-harvest-worm-compost-from-the-gusanito-worm-farm.html

A couple other things: Don't feed too much, if any, citrus (you mentioned juicing). Make a new bottom tray and line the bottom with cardboard. The worms will love it, eat it, mate in it, and eventually it will turn into compost. Any excess water will flow through. Good worming!

[Ute Olsson]

Great site -- lots of wonderful info.
Found lots of good info & love your sense of humor (your husband's suggestions of harvesting spaghetti-style just cracked me up!).
Living in Alaska, I'm limited to indoors on account of bears in summer and cold in winter.

I've had a simple worm box (Rubbermaid box w/ holes) in the garage that has worked well for me, but am ready to move up to a worm bin systems such as the one you sell. Do you ship to Alaska? Sorry, I can't make your "contact us" work with my computer -- would you please email me back?

[Patti Chandler]

Thank you for your prompt responses to my questions. You are both informative and friendly. I intend to make this my first stop for worming!
I make all natural body lotions, sprays, and bath salts. Also lip balm...and other items... please visit my website at www.allnaturalforme.com

[Neil]

You don't need to waste citrus by not including it in worm bins.

This works as long as you are not a huge citrus eater, also depends on the size of you wormbin and other ingredients you add.

Experiment and watch the results.

When adding citrus, sprinkle ground limestone over the rind (not lime as it's too caustic for worms) preferably over the the moist part so it sticks. Make sure it's a good dusting.

I have found this neutralises the acidity and the worms get to work on the rinds.

[Katherine Lewis]

Do I need to turn the compost and bedding in my Gusanito trays?

[sara aarhaus]

I have been reading over your website and other about how to start up a worm bin. I am planning on building the OSCR Junior this weekend. however, I know they have a lot of bins systems that you can buy. Is there a benift of buying one -v- making one. Is there a higher success rate with the bought ones?

thanks for the info.

[Katherine Lewis]

I built one originally, and my worms just weren't as happy. It was difficult to keep sectioned off areas. The bedding tended to get packed down, any my worms didn't thrive. Within a month after moving my worms to a Gusanito bin they are flourishing and it's a lot easier to control the environment (including any pests - mine is an outdoor bin). I wish I'd started with it originally! If you're really trying to pinch pennies, it might be worth it to build your own, but in the long run I think it's probably cheaper to just buy one because you get faster results and more worms. But that's just from my own personal experience. Happy worm farming!

[John Vidano]

I was reading an earlier blog of yours and you had said you found out the hard way NOT to use horse shavings with their manure because it contained their urine and it ruined your composting. I think that is what has occurred for me. what did you add to your compost bin or bedding to counteract the urine in the horse manure ?? I also have a new worm compost bin from stopwaste.org and will be buying my worms from you. I live in Alameda near the Naval Air base and the weather is temperate in the winter/summer. Can I keep the bin outdoors in the shaded part of my large yard ??

thanks for all you do and any advice you can give now and in the future ---

John V.

[Jen]

I ended up mixing the material with water and garden sulphur. This worked alright, but it's still not the worms' favorite materials. I have started using compost from Sonoma Valley Compost for my bedding material (the "Vineyard Mulch"). I have found that the worms love it and it's just below 7 ph value. I think eventually the manure mixture will get incorporated.

Yes, as long as your bin is in full shade you will be fine! Thanks for the kind words.
Jen

[Richard Streett]

I love worm composting and your site is great. I haven't been able to find what the nutritional value of worm compost is. For example, the organic composted cow manure I buy says its 1.0-1.0-1.0. I figuring worm compost is probably something like .5-.5-.5 or similar to cow manure. Do you have any idea? Most of the organic fertilizer I use is 4-3-3 and when I use compost and castings I try to keep tract of the value of what I add so I know how much blood meal or bone meal to add. I guess what I'm asking is can my organic garden be sustained just on worm compost or will I need to continue to add organic fertilizer?

[Kim]

I just started worm composting about four days ago and bought a pound of your worms from Flowercraft in San Francisco. We get a lot of fog and dew now in SF and my worm bin is outside in an area that does not get any direct sun but does get wet as it is not stored in a covered area. Will this create a problem? Should I bring the bin inside? (I've kept it outside just because I am not a lover of most insects and would prefer to keep them outside than inside.) Please advise on what would be best for the worms. Thank you!

[Jen]

Hi Kim,

I would suggest simply placing a plastic sheet over the bin when it's raining. Otherwise, you can leave the drainage spout open at all times so that any rainwater that does come in drains through and doesn't drown your worms. Hope this helps!
Jen

[Leilani Burns]

Help!
I have a very healthy bin. BUT I noticed some weird clusters of tiny brown egg looking things. They are not worm cocoons, for sure. And I also have some very teeny white bugs, they look almost like ants but are white, they are NOT baby worms, these things have legs and are kinda jointed bodies. But really small and in the hundreds of thousands.

[Jen]

Hi Leilani,

How are you? Nice to hear from you. :-)

The white guys are good and normal. They are among the many types of tiny bugs that pre-digest the food for the worms. In fact, they probably originated from the bag of worms I sent you myself. The eggs I'm not sure about, but unless you are overrun with flies or your worms are starting to die off, I wouldn't give it much thought. Wouldn't it be great if they were cocoons? Sadly, not so, of course. They are probably larvae of some other sort of microorganism. They could even be the larvae from the little white bugs (I have 1400sf of horse poop, so I don't have much time to dig around and diagnose which larvae is which).

Good luck! Let me know if anything starts to turn or smell bad.

Jen

[Jan Mullen]

I started a plastic composting bin in May and now I think it may be time to change bins, because some worms are crawling up the sides of the bin (although there are many happily hiding in the compost). What do you think? How do you know when it is time to change bins? And how do I get all the worm poop off the sides of the plastic bin?
Thanks for your help,

Jan

[len raphael]

oakland/emeryville, can i come by to kick the tires of the compost tumblers and ask a few quick questions re odor and need for two? don't know if you keep any on hand or only by order.

-len raphael
4922 desmond st
temescal