Saturday, May 18, 2013

How to Grow a Worm Farm

A worm farm is a small scale project to multiply red wiggler worms for processing of kitchen scraps for educational purposes. We offer half pound containers of worms and worm bedding to start your worm farm. Once again this year we have an abundance of red wiggler worms from our compost. The presence of worms means the compost is in prime condition and is enriched by the worms. The worms will eat their weight of organic matter each day and they are very efficient.

Worms are low maintenance and very easy to care for. Start small with a medium size rubbermaid tub or 5 gallon pail and our worm bedding. Add the worms to the bedding and gradually add kitchen scraps over the first few days as the worms get adjusted to their new environment. Don't overdue it on the scraps. It will take time for the worms to multiply and get used to eating kitchen waste. Don't put meat or grease into the worm bin. Vegetable waste is the best.

Keep your bin in the garage or other space outside the house where it won't freeze or get too warm. Worms reach adult maturity in 60 days. You will already have some adult breeders in your container so they will multiply quickly. Add new bedding periodically, good compost, news paper strips soaked in water will work or you can get a refreshed bag of worm bedding from us. Keep the bedding moist but not too wet or the bedding will sour. Don't let the bedding dry out or the worms won't be able to breath well and become sluggish.

You can remove some of the bedding and use it to pot garden plants or use it in the garden. It will be enriched and the plants will love it.

Red wigglers thrive in a high organic matter enviornment such as a cool compost pile or leaf mold. They typically don't do well in the open garden environment. You can use a bright light to harvest some of the bedding by scraping the bedding  away from the worms and the worms will crawl deeper into the bedding. You can use the enriched bedding in the garden.

Worm farms make a great teaching tool or summer project. There are some great books in the library and some good articles on-line. If you have questions please stop by our booth.

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