Vermicomposting is the process of taking organic waste and turning it into high quality compost in a short time and without a big demand of space, time or equipment, using worms.
Vermicomposting it’s a fantastic way to to take your household kitchen waste and change into something excelent for your garden.
Just piling the scraps in the corner of the garden is a slow process that doesn’t take full advantage of the decomposition process and that is were vermicomposting enters.
Composting
We need organic waste in our soil to keep it healthy but, for aesthetic as well as sanitation reasons, we don’t want organic materials to decay where they fall. So we collect leaves, grass clippings, and manure and we take them to another location to rot. This process is called “composting”, and the decaying organic matter is known as “compost”.
Once the composting process has decayed waste to an acceptable point to serve as a nourishing fertilizer, the compost is carted to a chosen area and integrated back into the soil.
Vermicomposting
A practical way of speeding this natural process of composting is to introduce specific worms into the decaying organic matter. One worm eats per day its weight in organic matter. In optimal conditions, one 1kg of worms eats daily 1kg of organic matter.
The great advantage of vermicomposting compared to traditional composting (without the use of worms) is that it can be made in large scale, but is even easier when used on a small scale, allowing a family of any size, value and reuse up to two thirds of their daily household waste without any difficulty, in an economic, hygienic and fun way!
Required Components
- Vermicomposting bin
- Worms
- Organic Waste
Vermicomposting bin
Wood, plastic and styrofoam are commonly used in the construction of vermicontainers. The choice of material is largely a matter of personal preference. However, plastic containers for its lightness and easy handling are normally for vermicomposting inside buildings, while the wood by its robustness, is usually chosen to perform this procedure outside. Another reason for wooden containers being more suitable for an outside location is that the wood is a great insulator that maintains the container cooler in summer and hotter in winter.
In general, any quality vermicomposting bin must meet the following requirements:
- It must protect the interior from light
- Should ensure good ventilation and drainage
- Must have a cap which fits perfectly to the container
In order to meet the quality requirements, the present vermicontainers are completely closed except for openings made in the base for the possible runoff drainage and ventilation.
Vermicomposting systems can range from a box of worms in the kitchen (eg: home vermicomposting) and a mechanized system capable of handling large quantities of waste continuously (industrial systems).
Worms
Not every species of worms is suitable for vermicomposting. Common excavator worms are abundant and although they are indicators of a healthy soil, they are not the most suitable for vermicomposting.
There are mainly three types of worms used in these systems:
- Californian Red Worms – Red Worms (Eisenia fetida)
- European Nightcrawlers – Nightcrawlers (Lumbricus Rubellus)
- Giant African Worm – (Eudrilus Eugeniase)
They can be purchased at specialty growers online.
Organic Waste
While feeding the worms may vary from species to species, the worms mainly eat:
| Vegetables in general | Fruit in general | Egg shells (few and grinded) |
| Melon (rind and all) | Watermelon | Coffee grounds |
| Pumpkin (peel and all) | Potatoes | Bananas(peel and all) |
| Beans | Tea leaves (and bags) | Garden waste |
| Grapes | Corn cobs and husks | Rice and Cooked pasta (Spaghetti, …) |
| Apples | Straw | Paper and Cardboard (cut and wet) |
| Bread | Cereal | Cake |
| Pancakes | Pizza dough | Molasses |
Not all types of waste should be given because it is harmful to the health of the worms:
| Meat | Fish | Seafod |
| Fried foods | Citrus (Lemon, Orange, …) | Seasoned salads (Vinegar, Oil (Olive and others) |
| Ashes | Faeces | Residues treated with pesticides |
| Textiles | Glass | Plastic |
| Metal | Batteries | Chemicals |
How to start
You should cover the base of the tray with the so-called “bed”. A bed appropriate for your vermicomposting bin should consist of one or more of the following: strips of newspaper, paper, cardboard, dry leaves and earth (small ammount).
Avoid paper with color inks because heavy metals are harmful to earthworms and contaminate the compound. You must shread, tear, cut and moisten out the different materials to create a suitable environment for the worms.
- Make the bed using the materials described above and you can also join the compost that came with the worms.
- Place the worms on top of the vermicomposting bin bed.
- You can rip some more sheets of paper into strips of 1 to 2 cm wide. Soak the strips in water to moisten it and then crumple them without compressing too much.
- Place the food, cut into small pieces to fasten the decomposition.
- Leave the box of worms at rest, without adding food for 1 week so that the worms can get used to their new environment and begin to decompose food scraps.
- After the initial week, add food to the box 3 or 4 times a month: move the bed a little and spread the food scraps evenly, cover again with the bed. Stir material cautiously with a rake.
Add strips of moistened paper or leaves whenever necessary to keep the food covered, moist and to avoid attracting flies. Close the lid after each addition of worms, food or maintenance of bed.
Keep up to 2 cm of waste above the bed. If the vermicomposting bin starts to smell, you’re probably putting
too much residues, stop by 1 or 2 days placement residues. Stir gently using a handpiece with rounded ends or your hand to allow air into the bed.
Collect Humus
In 3 to 6 months after the beginning of vermicomposting the earthworm compost (humus or clippings) is ready to be collected (renewal should be done 2 to 4 times a year). There are several methods for collecting compost or to renew the bed, but despite being the slowest, the most desirable is the Migration Method.
The natural beauty of this method is that you do not have to decide when it’s time to collect the compost. It is also the method most convenient for the earthworms because they decide by themselves and you don’t need to do anything, just prepare a new bed and they will move when they do not have enough food.
- When the 1st tray (work tray) is full, lay the 2nd tray on top (make sure the base of the new work tray rests on the bed of the bottom tray, allowing the worms to move up) and continue to add waste becoming this the work tray.
- Again, when the 2nd tray is full, place the 3rd.
- After some time (1-2 weeks) the worms already migrated from the lower to the upper tray and you can collect the humus.
- If the vermicomposting bin only has one tray, drag the contents of the tray to one side of the box
- In the part that is empty, put a new bed and add food to that side only
- After some time (1-2 weeks), the worms have migrated to the side of the new bed and you can collect the humus.
Adding coffee grounds to the new bed will accelerate the process because it is one of the favorite foods of earthworms.
Proceed to our Q & A Section, Troubleshooting or check out out the construction of our vermicomposting bin.
