Why do I want to make vermicompost?

Because vermicompost is what will save the earth from the damage mankind has done to it. This may sound like an overly broad-sweeping statement, but if you examine the subject thoroughly, you will see why. The soil in which we grow our food and other plants affects the quality of those plants. The micro-organisms (all those tiny creatures you cannot see without a microscope) and larger living creatures that reside in the soil all impact their environment. They feed on each other as well as other things present in the soil and leave behind castings that are chemically broken down.

The roots of growing plants search for and suck up these chemical compounds with the aid of water present. The water is like the straw humans use to get food inside. The chemicals are the vitamins inside the liquid. Both moisture and the chemicals need to be present to enable the plant to survive. The type of compounds your plant is able to suck up and feed on is determined by what is present in the soil. If we want healthy and vigorous plants we must feed them the best food. And that is vermicompost.

What is the difference between vermicompost and compost from a composter?

Composters convert leaves, grass, kitchen waste and other organic natural materials into a nutrient-rich, loamy soil amendment that will feed your plants and change the texture of the soil so it will hold enough water and allow excess water to perculate out. The nutrients that are in compost may or may not be immediately available to the plant roots. It takes further breaking down of the material to make them available.

That is where the micro-organisms and worms come into the picture. They eat the compost and convert it to vermicompost, which is then available for the plant roots to use. Vermicompost is the final phase of the composting process. When we make vermicompost, we are creating a product that is going to feed the plants instantly; boosting their growing ability, health and production quicker. Plants respond quickly to the availablity of nutrients on the chemical compound level and it shows up in their growth and color.

Why Compost with Worms?

A composting worm bin system is an incredibly efficient and effective way to quickly convert your kitchen waste, cardboard, newspaper, junk mail, dried leaves and most other organic materials into the most nutrient rich compost for your plants, planters, flower beds and garden.

In nature, once-living material is slowly broken down into the nutrients that plants use. It is an ongoing process in nature's food chain. You will see it happening if you leave the grass clippings on your lawn; they dry up and then sink down between the blades of the uncut grass. This is now called thatch. If you leave the thatch alone, the layer that is on the bottom, touching the soil will begin to compost, the micro-organisms in the soil will begin to work on it, eating it and converting it.

Those micro-organisms and larger creatures like worms, will only be able to work on the portion of that they can reach, which is why the bottom layer is what is composted first. As that layer is slowly process, the upper layers sink lower into contact with the soil and provide food for those micro-organisms, worms, etc. This entire process can take up to two years to complete. If you continue to cut the lawn and leave more clippings on it, the process will never be entirely finished, as it has new fresh material to work on.

We greatly speed up this natural process when we use a worm compost bin system to recycle the natural materials. We gather the material up, and place it where the worms can get to it much quicker and with many worms present, they go to work on it and quickly convert it in as little as one month, as compared to 2 years or more.

In full operation, a worm composter, which is called a vermicomposter, can house 10,000 to 12,000 worms. That is a lot of eating power. They can process up to 5 pounds of material every week. That would probably be all the junk mail and kitchen waste a household creates each week.

If every household in America maintained a vermicomposter just for junk mail, newspapers and kitchen waste, the impact on our waste disposal systems (dumps) would be phenomenal in scope. For decades, the way mankind exists on earth (on average), has moved so far away from allowing nature to take it's natural course of recycling and replenishing the soil, we now have to make an effort to assist Mother Nature to bring back the balance needed to sustain her and us.

We also desire to live in areas that in the natural state do not provide for good gardening, like the desert states. Since people like to eat and garden, no matter where they live, we help nature along by providing the best materials needed to make it happen. Composting with worms is the most effective way to do that.

What kind of worms are used in worm composters?

Different worm species have different behavioral patterns. There are worms that live six feet underground, and worms that live in the ocean. The best worm to use in a worm composter is the red wriggler, or Eisenia fetida. Using worms that are going to be happy where you want to put them just makes good sense. The behavior of red wrigglers is perfect for the job we want them to do. They are very ferocious feeders, they reproduce quickly, and they move readily between the upper and lower layers, staying mostly at a certain level below the surface. Most of us have turned over a log or board and found worms on the surface. Once we move the board, the worms go underground because they do not like light. We are utilizing the natural behavior patterns of the red wriggler to our advantage in the worm factory bins. This is less stressful on the worms and makes it super easy to harvest the finished vermicompost.

The Red Wriggler

Red wriggler worms are not best suited for in-ground gardens because they are very aggressive and may attack and consume regular earth worms and night crawlers. Keep them separated. If you are getting an overabundance of red wrigglers in your worm factory, move some of them into another worm factory, give some away to new owners of worm factories, sell them to fishermen as bait.

Where do I get red wrigglers (Eisenia fetida)?

>When you purchase your worms, make sure you are getting the right kind of red worm, as the different species are difficult to tell apart. They are sometimes available at bait shops, or you can find them on the web. Try to buy them locally, as they won't be as stressed by a long shipping trip. You can start with just 1/2 pound of worms, about 500, as they will multiply. You can go to FindWorms.com on the web to find the closest dealers. You may want to look around to compare prices, shipping fees and guarantees.

Read our article on how to use a worm composter