How well do you think humans live and care for our earth? Is the condition of our planet good enough for you, for your children and grandchildren? Like it or not, what we do today determines our tomorrow. In fact, all we do affects the world around us.
Be it small or great, each of our actions results in a positive, negative, or neutral impact. And as we have seen over time, even the little stuff adds up. Today you will see how even small-scale worm composting is a step in the right direction. How one worm bin at a time we are able to shift a growing waste and pollution problem in a positive direction. You will learn why transforming food scraps and paper trash into fertilizer creates a better environment for us all.
Worm composting is the process of turning organic matter into compost using the mighty power of Eisenia fedita , red wiggler compost worms. In vermi worm composting, we take what would otherwise be trash and repurpose it as food for red wigglers. These specialized worms consume, digest, and expel naturally nutrient-rich casts worm poop. The accumulated mixture of their casts and decomposing bedding create the ultimate soil amendment and fertilizer.
The value of these worms as a resource is appreciated around the world. But are we making the most of it? Consumer culture has brought us a world of disposable razors, disposable diapers, disposable cameras, and so much more. Where our ancestors would say, Waste not, want not, we too often say, Just throw it away and get a new one.
We see that the same thinking applies to our abuse of food. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United States, nearly a third of the overall food supply is thrown away each year! Every meal prepared, and every haul of junk mail is an opportunity to reduce your contribution to this crisis.
When you reuse a newspaper or the shell of an avocado, for example, you give new and greater value to what would otherwise be thrown away. Would you believe we each toss an average of 1 pound of garbage per day!?
Here in the U. Worms need moisture, air, food, darkness, and warm but not hot temperatures. Bedding, made of newspaper strips or leaves, will hold moisture and contain air spaces essential to worms. You should use red worms or red wigglers in the worm bin, which can be ordered from a worm farm and mailed to your school.
The scientific name for the two commonly used red worms are Eisenia foetida and Lumbricus rubellus. When choosing a container in which to compost with worms, you should keep in mind the amount of food scraps you wish to compost, and where the bin will be located.
A good size bin for the classroom is a 5- to gallon box or approximately 24" X 18" X 8". The box should be shallow rather than deep, as red wigglers are surface-dwellers and prefer to live in the top 6" of the soil.. Whether you choose a plastic, wooden or glass container to use as a worm bin is a matter of personal preference based primarily on what is available.
Some teachers have extra aquariums available. Some have wooden boxes which they would like to reuse. Others may prefer to buy or reuse a plastic container, such as commercially manufactured storage bin e.
No matter what material you choose, make sure to rinse out the container before using. For wooden bins, line the bottom with plastic e. Cover the bin with a loose fitting lid. This lid should allow air into the bin.
If you take care of your worms and create a favorable environment for them, they will work tirelessly to eat your "garbage" and produce compost. As time progresses, you will notice less and less bedding and more and more compost in your bin. After months, when your bin is filled with compost and very little bedding , it is time to harvest the bin. Harvesting means removing the finished compost from the bin. After several months, worms need to be separated from their castings which, at high concentrations, create an unhealthy environment for them.
To prepare for harvesting, do not add new food to the bin for two weeks. Then try one of two methods for harvesting:. Push all of the worm bin contents to one half of the bin, removing any large pieces of undecomposed food or newspaper. He also claimed that his conclusions were further supported by independent research done in Germany. This was a worrying conclusion for worm farmers as what they thought was environmental had suddenly turned into a potential world killing problem!
Luckily, Dr Clive Edwards stood up against these claims and examined the results in more detail. Edwards found that the experiments were designed poorly and that not all areas of controls were monitored, with one of the more important ones being moisture control. Moisture is really important as it changes variably in vermicomposting systems, and moisture levels will affect the diffusion of oxygen and nitrogen in and out of the compost.
In regards to the German research, Dr Edwards further states that Dr Jim Frederickson has misquoted the discoveries from the German researchers. The German researchers did indeed find that their experiments showed an increase of nitrous oxide production, but these were from Earthworms in a garden soil setting within the laboratory without the full eco-system, and definitely not within a vermicomposting system.
It does in fact help solve one of the bigger problems in modern society: organic waste. Even scientists get it wrong sometimes, and it is important for us to research things in more detail about certain subjects and not rely on believing the media.
Originally published in the excellent free worm composting newsletter — Worm Farming Secrets. With over 17, readers, Worm Farming Secrets is quite simply the leading worldwide authority on composting with worms.
As you note, there is something good about it. The native worms on your property are not the ones recommended by vermicompost people — so yes you have to buy them. If you dump your worms into the garden along with the vermicompost, they will die and you need to buy more. Pardon the time lapse, Robert, but am really curious about your comment that vermicompost worms will die in the garden. Why is that? Freezing although not an issue for me, in zone 10b? The soil compost mixtures were made up based on volume and there is no indication that they were normalized for nutrient content.
It is not clear how easy the results can be interpreted. Consequently, it seemed likely that MSW vermicompost provided other biological inputs such as plant growth regulators PGRs and plant growth hormones PGHs , which could have a considerably positive effect on the growth and yields of P. Worm compost is often blended with other organic material that may have a lot of silt sized particles.
This can reducing drainage as the organic matter decays. A common example in CA in rice hulls. Always important to distinguish between permanent landscape that will not have regular additions of amendment and gardens that are tilled. Plant exudates and root debris will dwarf any exogenous OM additions on a permanent landscape. Pavlis, My post should be eliminated since I realized only after posting it that I had missed the subject completely, I.
I was induced to write because of your comment that you throw scraps on frozen compost which I do as well. I just want to tell you here briefly how much I enjoy your articles and videos , how much common sense you have, and how much de-mystification you employ on a subject where people often make things more complicated than they are. Best wishes for you and thank you. Last year I had 3 types of compost processing going at once , bin, vermicomposting, and my usual compost heap.
So I made an aerated tea out of it! Not worth the mither no fantastic results at all. My overall winner was my old compost heap which I keep well turned and produces every 6 months. Hi Robert. My understanding is that the claim about increased root growth has to do with the presence of higher levels plant hormones in vermicompost e. Claims about plant hormones in vermicompost would make a great part 2 on this topic.
You would change some of your claims if you studied them thoroughly. And all work was done in pots in the greenhouse, using soil-less mix. Did a quick look at the study. When food waste vermicompost was tested, they found that the humic acid extracted from g of vermicompost had no statistical effect on the number of fruits in strawberries.
When g was used, the number of fruits doubled. Worm-composting is fantastic for those of us in climates where our bins freeze solid for about 6 months of the year. Much of my kitchen scraps that would have gone into the landfill are now converted into something useful. I would question your notion that the inside of a worm is anaerobic. Most biological processes require oxygen and I assume the breakdowns going on in the digestive tract are no different.
You can ignore a worm bin for months and still have plenty of composting going on. Yes, they eat and re-eat the castings. Everything went on there: ratios were unknown or unobserved , the pile was never turned would have taken 3 men to do so anyway — exaggeration. This had gone on for generations in our family backyard.
Father: excellent gardener; compost of a quality I have not encountered since. AND — no one ever did a bloody thing except throw stuff on there. I am copying that and yes — I throw my scraps and paper on it even in the snow.
Works for me. And in my experience, the benefits of vermicomposting are mainly whooped by those who are selling worms or bins to do the composting in. Any thoughts on how compost from soldier fly grubs stacks up versus worm composting?
My backyard bin has been a roiling mass of soldier fly grubs the last two summers, and they break my kitchen waste down amazingly fast. Black soldier fly grubs break down the kitchen waste and convert it to their own body mass. You get grubs rather than castings. They are great chicken food but would have to be composted before becoming useful as a soil amendment.
The flies will not be attracted to your worm bin if you bury your kitchen scraps deep enough when you add them. Odors tell the fly there is rotting organic material nearby to nourish its hatchlings. If the grubs mature turn black but cannot escape the bin, they will die, but you will not have the patience to wait for them to decompose in the bin. They will decompose in the soil or feed wild birds so you can go ahead and use your vermicompost. Humic acid does not actually exist in the soil so I doubt it is found in worm castings.
Humus Does Not Exist. Humic acids always plural refer to humic substances that exist in most soil. There is scientific disagreement whether the humic acids extracted by a chemical process are identical in molecular structure to the original substances, but there is consensus that the substances exist in soil.
Similarly, scientists disagree whether humus is a single, stable, long lasting substance or various substances that form a continuum during the long lasting final stages of decomposition. Both distinctions concern scientific semantics but neither supports doubt about the abundance of humic substances in worm castings.
Press here to subscribe. Garden Myths - Learn the truth about gardening. By on Vermicomposting is a popular way of getting rid of kitchen scraps and proponents of this form of composting make all kinds of claims.
This post will have a close look at vermicomposting and compare it to bin composting. Commercial Vermicomposting. Easily done inside the home Clean, odor free — true only if the process is well managed Added to soil it increases the organic content and adds nutrients Adds microbes to the soil — this is true, but are there any benefits to adding them? Improves soil porosity — true for any added organic matter Improves moisture holding capacity of soil — true for any added organic matter Provides slow release nutrients — true for any type of compost Will not burn like synthetic fertilizers — true, but then synthetic fertilizers only burn plants if used incorrectly.
Improves plant vigor — like any type of compost, if it is added to soil deficient of nutrients it will help plants grow. But if it is added to healthy soil that has a good organic content, it might actually make soil toxic to plants because of nutrient overloading. Vermicopsting is no different than other forms of compost in this regard. Takes up less space than traditional bin composting — true, the worm bin takes up less space but it also produces less compost. It does allow you to compost small amounts of material.
To compost larger amounts of material, both methods would take up the same amount of space. Produces nutrient-rich compost — like all compost it does not contain high levels of nutrients. But too much compost results in weak plants that are more prone to pests. Stimulates root growth — nutrients do not stimulate root growth. In fact the lack of nutrients stimulates root growth more because the plant needs to produce longer roots to find the nutrients.
Adds beneficial microbes to the soil — there is no evidence that the added microbes benefit the soil and soil already contains lots of beneficial microbes. Easily done in small batches. Works during cold weather if done indoors.
Less nitrogen loss.
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