starting-a-worm-bin

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Vermicomposting 101: How to Start a Worm Bin

Starting a new home worm bin is easy and only requires a bin, bedding, some food, and yes, the worms. Anyone can learn how to do it.rubbermaid worm bin

But as I learned a few years ago, starting a successful, thriving home bin from scratch where worms won’t try to escape the first night is another matter.

While the following directions are necessary, they are not sufficient to ensure you make a hospitable environment for your worms to eat, poop, and reproduce.

Vermicomposting, especially at the beginner level, is not mechanical. It requires paying close attention to conditions and using a little trial and error to see what works for you because differences in feedstock, ambient humidity, temperature, and breathability of your bin is going to affect all of the other conditions.

According to legend, Abraham Lincoln once said: See More!

what-causes-protein-poisoning

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What Causes Protein Poisoning and What to Do About It

An example of protein poisoning, courtesy of The Squirm Firm

A particularly devastating problem in a worm bin is protein poisoning, also called “string of pearls” or sour crop, evidenced by a serious deformation of the earthworms as their intestines rupture, inevitably killing the worm itself. So let’s check out what causes protein poisoning, what we can do to prevent it, and what we should do if we encounter it.

What Is Protein Poisoning?

While opinions vary on what is exactly happening with protein poisoning, one of the most succinct hypotheses of it comes from Trent Holmes, a member of a very informative Facebook Group dedicated to vermicomposting and vermiculture.

Trent writes: See More!

how-much-to-feed-worms

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Vermicomposting 101: How Much Should I Feed My Worms?

The question of how much to feed your composting worms can vex the beginning vermicomposter, and if you’re in an area like I am that features both hot and cold weather, then that amount can vary wildly.

So if I were you, I would get out of the mindset of trying to looking for a one-size-fits-all number.

For example, if you’re under the assumption that worms eat 50% of their own weight each day and you mindlessly feed your 10lbs of worms 5lbs of food waste each day, you might find that you’re grossly overfeeding them.

worms-escape-bin

Overfeeding = worms escaping your bin!

You may also find that you’ll soon have zero lbs of worms to feed because they’ve escaped the hot, stinky mess, you’ve made of their home.  You might also inflict protein poisoning and/or kill them by overfeeding them, especially in a small, closed system. See More!

composting-vs-vermicomposting

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Vermicomposting 101: What Are the Differences Between Vermicomposting and Composting?

Probably the most misleading thing about vermicomposting is that it includes the word “composting.”

Wikipedia tells us compost is “organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment.”

And while that is a fitting description of vermicompost as a product, it communicates the entirely wrong message this when it comes to vermicomposting as a process.

This leads to some pretty bad outcomes to people who treat composting and vermicomposting as the same thing.These outcomes include:

  • tossing worms into a 150°F hot compost pile (or tumbler) when 95°F would actually start cooking them to death
    or
  • introducing worms to a 6ft-high compost pile and expecting them to process it top-to-bottom

See More!

compost-garden-earthworms

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Vermicomposting 101: Can I Use The Worms I Find In My Garden To Vermicompost?

No.

Or I should say, in nearly all cases, no.

There are 2700 species of earthworms in the world and only about 4 of them of them are good vermicomposters.  They are:

Composting worms, especially the top 3 above, are the oddball worms that don’t like dirt.  If you find them in nature, you won’t find them in the kind of soil they’ll have to burrow in.  They’ll be in loosely-compacted environments like leaf litter and the detritus on the forest floor. See More!

what-do-worms-like-to-eat

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Vermicomposting 101: What Do Composting Worms Like to Eat?

Just the idea of getting composting worms to recycle our household waste into awesome fertilizer is pretty exciting, but once you actually start doing it, it’s wise to consider what worms actually like to eat. As a general rule, composting worms will eat any non-meat, non-dairy organic material, but there are some foods that they seem to enjoy more than others, namely:

Curcurbits

Composting worms will absolutely destroy members of the cucurbitaceae plant family like pumpkins, squash, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, etc.

These fruits break down very quickly and lack the sinewy nature of plants like broccoli, so worms are quick to move in on them.

Spent Coffee Grounds

Some folks express concern over high acidity, but this is only true of unused grounds or the coffee itself in liquid form.  The coffee grounds themselves are pH neutral. But they are also sterile immediately after being drenched with scalding water, so I find it takes a few weeks before the worms really move in on them. See More!

BSFLvsFood

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Video: 5 Epic Battles Between Black Soldier Fly Larvae and Food

Screw cremation.

When I die, my instructions to my family will be to order a keg of beer for my funeral guests and about 500,000 Black Soldier Fly Larvae.

This way, funeral guests can watch in a mixture of horror, amusement, and admiration during the quickest decomposition of my body that nature can offer.

But until then, we’ll have to settle for seeing how BSFL destroy – or at least try to destroy – various food items.

Warning: If you’re disturbed by videos of innocent food getting demolished, then maybe sit this one out.

BSFL vs. a Hamburger

Elapsed Time: 5 Hours
Winner: BSFL by Knockout

See More!

stencil.show-art

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Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Pest or Partner?

As if the potential “ick factor” with worms wasn’t enough, some vermicomposters have moved beyond earthworms to eradicating organic waste with the Black Soldier Fly Larvae, a nice way of saying maggots.  I resisted learning more about BSFL because a man in the suburbs has his limits.

Many vermicomposters I speak to, especially those in warmer climates, encounter BSFL in their bins by accident.  At some point, the Black Soldier Flies themselves found themselves a nice worm bin, laid their eggs and left, only to die themselves no more than 8 days later.

People post pictures of the larvae on the extremely helpful Facebook groups, wondering what these “pests” are and how to get rid of them.  Hell, I’d probably want to get rid of them too. See More!

stencil-show-art

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Urban Worm Interview Series: Paul Piccirillo of Worm Farming Revealed

I’m thrilled to be interviewing Paul Piccirillo today.  If you’ve poked around the web for information on vermicomposting and vermiculture, you’ve no doubt run across his vast library of helpful content at Worm Farming Revealed.

Pauly’s an interesting character. He’s a mix of teacher, mentor, author, evangelist, showman, and marketer.  And if you handed me 10 blog posts without telling me who wrote them, I would pick out Pauly’s work without a doubt, he’s that distinct.

But instead of me telling you about him, let’s get right to it.  Here’s Pauly!pauly-melons See More!

texas-worm-ranch-site-visit

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How Texas Worm Ranch Produces 10,000 Lbs of Vermicompost Per Month

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to interview Heather Rinaldi of the Texas Worm Ranch.  As luck would have it, Heather and I hit it off over our e-mail exchanges and that interview turned out to be one of my most popular yet.Heather-Rinaldi

Though vermicomposters tend to be very knowledgeable about what worm castings do for soil and plants, Heather has a next-level grasp on why the microbiology of vermicompost, especially her fungal-dominant variety, is so beneficial for plant growth, pathogen suppression, water retention, and soil remediation.

My “day job” as an pilot for Southwest Airlines requires that I make an annual trip to Dallas each year to demonstrate that I’m no danger to the flying public.  So I was more than pleased when Heather offered to give me a tour of the Texas Worm Ranch on my latest visit in August. See More!

how-to-identify-finished-vermicompost

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How Do I Know If My Vermicompost is Ready to Harvest?

A common vermicomposting conundrum is how to recognize when your vermicompost is finished and ready to harvest your worm castings.  This is a tough question, especially if you don’t have a system like the Worm Inn Mega, which allows you empty the finished contents from below, where worm castings will tend to settle.

The question gets tougher when you are shifting the goal posts by continuing to add new food (and hopefully bedding.)  This ensures your vermicompost is never really “finished.”

Let’s say you started vermicomposting a few months ago, didn’t kill your worms a couple times like I did, and have been diligently recycling your food scraps into black gold for your garden.

Sweet!

What should you be looking for to decide now is the time to harvest? See More!

Bentley Interview Series Part III

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Urban Worm Interview Series: Part III with Bentley Christie

I am really excited about Part III of the Urban Worm Interview Series with fellow Bentley Christie. We dig fairly deep into the world of online entrepreneurship and how to gain traction on the web.

For vermcomposters specifically, I’m not sure that the audience for this post is going to be as large as my previous interviews with Bentley and other expert vermicomposters, but I think a Bentley Christie Headshotfew of you who have either started or are sitting on the fence about starting your own business AND promoting it online are going to absolutely love it.

In Part II, Bentley sang the praises of Worm Farming Alliance members and their aptitude for hustling their way to some really robust physical businesses. See More!

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