Worm Composting Basics

Starting your worm compost or vermicompost is easy. You can even setup your worm composting in one day. It will be fun and environment friendly. It will not cost you much as well if you start small. First, you will need to acquire the materials for worm composting. Once you have these handy, then you can start setting up your worm farm. Follow the worm composting basics below.

Setting up the worm bin

Setting up the worm bin is easy. What you need is just a box with a cover which can hold all the other materials that you have. You can either purchase a worm bin or make one. Just take into consideration that the composting worms need air, moisture, darkness and warmth. Use what you have as long as you clean it first prior to using the container.

Preparing the worm bedding

Aside from food, composting worms also need a place to live. Worm bedding serves as both. It is where the worms will leave and it will serve as their food as well. Ideally, your worm bin should have a lot of bedding to start with. Great materials for worm bedding are newspapers, cardboard, leaves and  coconut coir. It is best to shred the paper and cardboard but if you do not have a shredder, cutting it into thin strips (about an inch) is fine.

The bedding material needs to be moistened first before putting it in the worm bin. Remember, composting worms need moisture. Wet the bedding just enough so it contains water but is not dripping wet. Think of a wrung-out sponge as a comparison. Once you have this, you can put it inside the worm bin ready for your worms. You can also add a handful of grit, fine sand will do, in the bin to help the worms digest their food.

Typically, the amount of worm bedding should be half of your worm bin. Filling your worm bin with 3/4 full of worm bedding is ideal.

Adding worm food

Worm bins are usually setup at home unless you are doing this for business then you will need a yard. Worm food can be anything from your table except meat, dairy products, oils, pet waste and other things that has harsh chemicals. Minimize grains and citrus fruits as well since this will make the bedding acidic and can kill your composting worms.

When first starting up your worm composting, after adding the worm bedding, you can add a little worm food in the bedding. Make sure to cover the worm food once added to discourage flies and worms usually eat food beneath the surface.

Vegetable and fruit wastes are great worm food. The composting worms also love coffee grounds, tea bags and grounded egg shells.

Introducing the worms for composting

After adding the worm food in your bin, let it stand for a day or two before introducing your worms. You can directly put the composting worms on top of your bedding and they will normally find their way beneath the bedding and to the food and start working or eating. Now you are all set with your vermicomposting and all you have to do is feed your worms regularly and in no time you will have worm poop or worm castings which is actually the vermicompost.