You have purchased lots of moist, and humid bedding, a great worm bin and you are now ready to introduce your occupants to their new home.
Also you have purchased your little package of worms and are ready to get them started on their composting venture, Now what?
Once you've got the worms situated in their new home by placing them on top of the moist bedding material, they're going to need to start eating.
Vermiculture - What Worms Eat
The basic way to consider what it is that worms are interested in eating, is anything that can be added to a compost pile without problems, can be placed in your worm bin as well. Consider adding such things as garden plants, paper, kitchen scraps and even lawn clippings or a quantity of leaves. Most people do not use worm composting to its ultimate for full range of use, by only dumping their kitchen scraps into the bedding.
One way to approach this composting chore is the more flexible you are in the appropriate food you afford your worms to eat, the richer and the quicker result you will see from your finished compost. Here's a listing of some of the worms' favorite foods to munch on.
Tea (including tea bags), old bread, mushy fruits (melon, pumpkin, etc.), any vegetables, raw or cooked, ground up eggshells, coffee grounds (including the filter!), \fruit rinds and cores (not too much citrus, though as this can compromise your atmosphere.)
Vermiculture - Worms Are Happy When They Are Hungry
You next task is to keep the worms environmental conditions as close to the natural worm world as possible. By doing this they will consume lots of food and waste scraps, and be at their top efficiency. A worm bin that's working efficient ought to be sweet-smelling if it has any odor at all. In order to keep the worm bin circumstances optimal, follow these simple tips.
Ideal Temperature: Try to keep the temperature between 55 and 77 degrees for red wigglers. They can survive temperatures that are a bit higher or lower than this for short periods, but their production will slow and they will not eat as much.
Bedding Moisture: This is one of the most significant measures in vermiculture - the appropriate amount of moisture within the bedding. Shoot for a moisture content of between 60 and 85 percent. As you add food scraps to the bedding, this will contribute the necessary moisture, but it probably won't be adequate. You will need to add additional moisture with a spray mister. Just keep in mind that if worms dry out, they will surely die.
Too much moisture is not a good condition, though. Bedding that is too wet will start to smell and your cue that things need to dry out a bit.
Light Requirements: The darker the environment you provide for your worm home, the better they will like it. Pure and simple. The worms are very sensitive to exposure to light, even though they don't have eyes. If worms are exposed to direct sunlight for an hour or more, they will be paralyzed, and will eventually die. Make sure your worm bin is created out of material that doesn't let light pass into it, and keep the bin in a dark location if at all possible.
Air Requirements: Successful vermiculture additionally is subject to an adequate introduction of oxygen to the bedding medium. Bedding that is too wet, or adding too much food at once, can lower the oxygen levels in the bin. Like a bedding that is too wet, bedding with too little oxygen will result in a smelly mess. To solve this, gently aerate the bedding by gently fluffing it at least once per week. You can complete this by using a spatula, a large mixing spoon or gloved hand to genuinely mix things up.
It isn't uncomplicated to keep a worm bin functioning properly and efficiently, but with any composting system, there are occasional issues that may arise. Follow these simple tips and your worms will generate plenty of rich, organic compost for your garden.
Also you have purchased your little package of worms and are ready to get them started on their composting venture, Now what?
Once you've got the worms situated in their new home by placing them on top of the moist bedding material, they're going to need to start eating.
Vermiculture - What Worms Eat
The basic way to consider what it is that worms are interested in eating, is anything that can be added to a compost pile without problems, can be placed in your worm bin as well. Consider adding such things as garden plants, paper, kitchen scraps and even lawn clippings or a quantity of leaves. Most people do not use worm composting to its ultimate for full range of use, by only dumping their kitchen scraps into the bedding.
One way to approach this composting chore is the more flexible you are in the appropriate food you afford your worms to eat, the richer and the quicker result you will see from your finished compost. Here's a listing of some of the worms' favorite foods to munch on.
Tea (including tea bags), old bread, mushy fruits (melon, pumpkin, etc.), any vegetables, raw or cooked, ground up eggshells, coffee grounds (including the filter!), \fruit rinds and cores (not too much citrus, though as this can compromise your atmosphere.)
Vermiculture - Worms Are Happy When They Are Hungry
You next task is to keep the worms environmental conditions as close to the natural worm world as possible. By doing this they will consume lots of food and waste scraps, and be at their top efficiency. A worm bin that's working efficient ought to be sweet-smelling if it has any odor at all. In order to keep the worm bin circumstances optimal, follow these simple tips.
Ideal Temperature: Try to keep the temperature between 55 and 77 degrees for red wigglers. They can survive temperatures that are a bit higher or lower than this for short periods, but their production will slow and they will not eat as much.
Bedding Moisture: This is one of the most significant measures in vermiculture - the appropriate amount of moisture within the bedding. Shoot for a moisture content of between 60 and 85 percent. As you add food scraps to the bedding, this will contribute the necessary moisture, but it probably won't be adequate. You will need to add additional moisture with a spray mister. Just keep in mind that if worms dry out, they will surely die.
Too much moisture is not a good condition, though. Bedding that is too wet will start to smell and your cue that things need to dry out a bit.
Light Requirements: The darker the environment you provide for your worm home, the better they will like it. Pure and simple. The worms are very sensitive to exposure to light, even though they don't have eyes. If worms are exposed to direct sunlight for an hour or more, they will be paralyzed, and will eventually die. Make sure your worm bin is created out of material that doesn't let light pass into it, and keep the bin in a dark location if at all possible.
Air Requirements: Successful vermiculture additionally is subject to an adequate introduction of oxygen to the bedding medium. Bedding that is too wet, or adding too much food at once, can lower the oxygen levels in the bin. Like a bedding that is too wet, bedding with too little oxygen will result in a smelly mess. To solve this, gently aerate the bedding by gently fluffing it at least once per week. You can complete this by using a spatula, a large mixing spoon or gloved hand to genuinely mix things up.
It isn't uncomplicated to keep a worm bin functioning properly and efficiently, but with any composting system, there are occasional issues that may arise. Follow these simple tips and your worms will generate plenty of rich, organic compost for your garden.
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Interested in learning more on the fine art of raising worms for compost production? Be sure to visit our article vermiculture. If you want to learn more about this, be sure to visit Green Living Made Easy for not only the raising of worms, but general composting articles as well.