Worm composting how long does it take

November 3, Choosing Plants for Fall Color October 20, Harvesting and Storing Onions from the Garden October 4, Gabriele A O'Neill: I seeded a blue only variety Alison Collin: I had a few wan specimens last Sherida Phibbs: Beautiful garden area. You put a Combine shredded paper, soil and just enough water to dampen everything.

Put the mixture into the tall bin and fill the bin about three inches deep. Add your worms to the mixture and let them get used to it for a day before feeding them. Make sure the mixture is very moist, but not forming puddles of water. Collect food scraps, such as vegetables and fruit scraps, bread, tea bags, coffee grounds, and cereal in your food scrap container as you prepare and clean up after meals. Do not include any animal by-products fat, bone, dairy, meat, waste.

Also, it may take the worms longer to process woody or dry items like stems or the outer layer of onions. Worms will eat paper as long as it is thin or cut into small pieces, but they will not eat plastic or fabric tea bags, coffee filters or the labels placed on produce by grocery stores. Once every few months, scoop the liquid out of the lower container and use it as fertilizer outside on soil near plants, or water it down to use on indoor plants. When the worm bin is full i. Skip to main content.

They should start eating one feeding before you add another. An entire feeding should be completely gone in 1 to 2 weeks. Worms need a healthy diet in small pieces. Whole cabbages and watermelon rind halves will take too long to break down. Processed food, meat scraps, salty snacks, spicy foods, oily sauces, yogurt, pineapple, and bushels of tomatoes can spoil the bin.

Most non-food items are also bad ideas. The ideal diet for composting worms is non-acidic fruit and vegetable scraps. Grains, bread, coffee grounds , tea bags, and pasta are also fair game. Aged grass clippings, hair, and herbivore animal manure are compostable. Add shredded black-ink newsprint in moderation.

Torn or shredded brown corrugated cardboard is acceptable. Clean, crushed eggshells add grit and calcium.

All items should be small. Larger items should be cut up or run through a food processor. Smaller pieces break down faster.

This reduces odor and discourages pests. The over-enthusiastic worm bin owner pours gallons of water on their worms. The negligent owner lets the bin dry out.

Too wet, and the bin becomes stinky and the worms might drown. The easiest way to check worm bin moisture levels is by picking up a handful. Squeeze it. Worm bin bedding should have the feeling of a wrung-out sponge.

See our instructions for drying out a wet worm bin. Also find out how to keep the bin moist. Avid gardeners eagerly look forward to removing finished compost from their worm bin. Gardeners mark the days until the worm castings are ready for harvesting.

However, non-gardeners typically focus on reducing trash and odor. For them, the worm castings are a side-effect. Their worm bin eventually fills up with worm castings. Adding more trays or getting a larger bin puts off the inevitable. Harvesting finished compost means separating worm castings from the worms.

You will leave bedding behind for the worms to live in. Using a screen should only take 30 to 60 minutes. Making mounds takes a day, mostly waiting time. Tray-based composting bins might only take 10 minutes. Just like people, composting worms have an ideal temperature range. The worm bin and bedding help regulate the temperature.

When the air temperature is below 54 degrees Fahrenheit, worms slow down. Below freezing, they can die. Above 84 degrees can cook the worms. Do you live in a climate that has temperature extremes? See our tips for keeping composting worms cool in summer and warm in winter. Bin location is the primary issue.

You can mitigate some of the temperature hazards using ice, bin blankets, insulation, relocation, and moisture regulation. Peruse our blog , check out our product descriptions , and read our Frequently Asked Questions. We are the 1 supplier of composting worms in the USA.

I used large bins with combination of mulched cardboard and fresh greens. I constantly had the problem of worms wanting to escape. They would be happy for a while and then they would be crawling up the sides of the bin and getting out. I just could not get a median environment to keep them in there. Normally the lower portion of the worm bed is more wet then the top half. Keeping a packing-cardboard sheet on the top and spraying water with a spray bottle can address the problem.

During the cold months I kept them in the basement. THey consumed all the table refuse we gave them. Now i have them in an outdoor raised bed. I am going to let them enrich soil for a few weeks , then move them. I live in a city where temps have been over F daily. My worm bin is in my garage but have found by adding frozen water bottles capped daily keeps the worms comfortable and happy. The condensation keeps the bedding watered perfectly. They are doing great and are not water drenched from loose ice, another idea for those hot summers.

Put a LED note light over the top of them. Not all leave to find more food in the next tray up. The next layers up have plenty of worms and food.

How can I get the worms to migrate without picking them out one by one? I usually only have two trays going. If too much waste is added for the worms to cope with then the wormery may start to smell. This could also attract flies and possibly vermin.

Remove and dispose of excess or undigested food. Wait until the worms start digesting the top layer of food before adding further waste. Another reason for the wormery producing unpleasant odour is if it becomes too wet. Drain off excess liquid and add some shredded paper or card to absorb excess moisture and increase air circulation. Check if the worms are alive. Dead worms can be a problem especially when left unattended e.

Make sure that the wormery has drainage holes. If you improve drainage but the smell persists , the conditions may have become slightly too acid for the worms. To correct this, apply a small dressing of calcified seaweed or calcium carbonate garden lime, ground chalk or ground limestone. Join the RHS today and get 12 months for the price of 9. Take action Why take action? Support us Donate Careers Commercial opportunities Leave a legacy.

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