How to start a worm farm

While most people have started to recycle some of their rubbish such as, glass, paper and plastic, each year more and more rubbish is produced worldwide and our landfills are not coping. One way to reduce the amount of rubbish your household throws away (by up to 25%) is to start a worm farm and minimise the amount of organic waste we produce.

Vermiculture is the technical term used to describe worm farming, and the remnants left after digestion is called castings. Castings are one of the best and safest fertilizers available and it feels and looks like good quality soil. In fact, castings are 5 times richer in nutrients than good topsoil. Made popular by the Mount Nelson Hotel gardens ’worm tea’ is another non-smelly by-product made by soaking castings in water and using the water to fertilize the soil, it is also a natural pest repellent. The liquid that seeps through the material that the worms eat is called leachate, another highly prized brown odourless fertilizer.

The earthworms can be fed:

• Paper
• Cardboard including egg cartons
• Coffee grounds and tea bags
• Vegetable peelings and waste
• Eggshells
  

Never feed the worms any meat or dairy products. If the waste is plant based, the worms will eat it, there are, however, a few exceptions:

• Pineapple, as it contains an enzyme that will dissolve the earthworms
• Citrus and highly acidic vegetables, such as onions, should be added to their food sparingly
• Green grass clippings should also be added sparingly, as large amounts generate excess heat and produces ammonia which will kill the worms.
  

You can purchase worm farms from Full Cycle, Wiggler magic worms, Wizzard worms or Organic Solutions. Or you could build your own worm farm.

What you’ll need:

• A plastic tub with a lid
• A tap attached to the bottom of the tub
• A pan underneath the tub for leachate runoff
• Mesh and pebbles
  

Drill a series of small holes in the walls of the tub to allow air to circulate and holes in the bottom of the tray to allow for drainage. Place a layer of small pebbles at the bottom of the tub, followed by a layer of mesh to assist with drainage and prevent the worms from falling out the bottom. For the next layer you will need to add a layer of damp newspaper as the bedding for the earthworms, this layer should be about 5cm thick. Next you will need to add the worms, remember to add them with the soil that they came in. Now all you need to do is add your waste when available.

The worms will chew their way up through the material leaving their castings behind. When your tub is full, remove the layer of waste and a few centimetres of castings as this will contain most of your worms. What’s left will be the best garden fertilizer you have ever produced. Add a layer of damp newspaper to the bottom of the tub and then place the scraps and worms back into the tub and start the process all over again.

The worms won’t escape as they don’t like light, if they are escaping, their food may be too acidic, don’t feed them any tea bags, coffee grounds, citrus fruit or onions for a while. They may also try to escape if the farm is too wet or too dry.

Most worm farms that you can purchase come with removable panels that allow you to easily remove the castings with less mess.

Leachate and castings are safe to use without dilution, but if you prefer the recommended mix is one part leachate/castings to 4 parts soil or water.

Your earthworms will never overpopulate, as they self-regulate repoduction. The more food there is the more they will reproduce and visa versa. Don't over feed the worms in the early stages while they are establishing the population.

Remember to keep the farm in a shady place and only use composting worms, as garden worms will not be able to do the job correctly.

One of our innovative readers, Matt Benic, has written a blog on creating a worm farm with basic everyday items. Check it out: http://matt.benic.us/2009/01/diy-wormery.html

Thanks Matt :-) 

If earthworms are not for you, then here is an article on how to start a compost heap.