Vermicomposting is the practice of composting kitchen waste with worms. The Worm Firm has achieved excellent results by composting indoors with worms.
Here are a few helpful hints to ensure you're vermicomposting experience is successful:
 Dennis proudly displays a prizewinning watermellon grown in his garden and nurtured with the firm's nutrient-rich worm castings. |
- BIN
The size of your bin will determine the amount of worms you can introduce, which in turn determines the amount of composting that can be achieved in that particular bin. The Worm Firm recommends one cubic foot of space per pound of worms. Under ideal conditions, worms will reproduce to occupy the space available to them.
- BEDDING
Worms spend most of their time in bedding. Since the breakdown of organic waste gives off considerable heat, worms use the bedding to escape from the heat. In addition, bedding keeps odors trapped in the bin, thus making vermicomposting an odorless process. Bedding in your bin should not exceed 10 inches in depth. There are many types of bedding mixtures, such as peat moss, paper, sawdust, manure and leaves. The Worm Form recommends finely-shredded newsprint (black ink only because of the chemicals in colored ink), mixed with several handfuls of soil, and then dampened.
- FEEDING
Once your bedding has been dampened and mixed thoroughly, and worms have been added, feeding can begin. Begin slowly, giving the worms time to adjust to their new environment. Use a marker to indicate the bin location where the worms were last fed. Compostable waste should be buried deep in the bedding to ensure odors are eliminated.
- FINISHED PRODUCT
Worm castings make for an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer which can be used on houseplants, in your garden, or on your favorite shrubs and bushes. To extract this rich soil from your bin, simply push all the contents to one side. Then add new dampened bedding to the empty portion of the bin, and feed the worms in the new bedding. The worms will move to the new bedding, and the soil can then be extracted for immediate or future use. Fill the remainder of the bin with bedding, and begin the cycle again.
The Worm Firm's red wigglers expedite
the composting process, no matter what
the scenario. The composter at right is
part of the firm's product line.