RED WIGGLER

Article Index
Earthworm Composting with Red Wigglers
Starting a bin
Harvesting
Reproduction
Worm Castings
Feeding Red-Wigglers
Common Worm-farm Problems
All Pages

• Earthworm Composting: Worm composting is the decomposition by a type of earthworm called  RED WIGGLER Eisenia fetida which eats your organic raw food waste and leaves rich compost and a liquid fertiliser in return.
• Worm Castings

Worm castings are the richest form of natural fertiliser known to man. It promotes a
higher than average growth in plants (ideal to start seedlings, when mixed with
potting mix or as a top-dressing around plants).

• How Much Will Earthworms Eat

Earthworms will chomp (suck, really!) their way through about ½ their own weight in
food each day. 1kg of worms will consume about 500g of food per day.

• Basic Worm Farming

· Provide a dark moist environment that is not disturbed too often.
· Provide loads of bedding (for e.g. shredded and damp newspaper, cardboard, straw, leaves, compost or Hessian bag). Layers of bedding laid over the surface of the bin helps prevent the worm bin from drying out too much.

• Provide food.

• Where to place farm

· Place your worm farm in a convenient, cool and shady spot.
· Worms do well in temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees.
· Your worm farm can be kept indoors (in the garage, shed, laundry or even under
the kitchen sink) or out doors.
· It is important that your worm farm stays cool and moist, and is kept out of direct
sun, (heat build up in the bin from direct sun will kill the worms).

• Bedding

Bedding is what the worms live in. The worms will also eat the bedding so it needs to
be replaced regularly. Shredded damp newspaper (no colour ink preferably) is the
most convenient type of bedding. Straw, shredded paper or cardboard, coir
(coconut fibre), Hessian, cotton rags or old leaves can also be used. A mixture of
these things makes a good bedding material. 'Aged' horse or cow manure can also
be used. (Fresh manure can heat up). Soak the bedding materials in water for a
while, squeeze out the excess water before placing it in the bin. IMPORTANT all new
bedding and soil must be moist before placing in bin. 

Easy steps to calculate surface area of a round wormbin

• Starting a Bin

1. Line the worm farm with wet newspaper.
2. Fill half the bin with bedding materials.
3. A few handfuls of soil should be added to the bedding to supply a "grit" to aid in the worm's digestion process and to introduce helpful digesting micro-organisms into the bin.
4. Add the worms to the bedding material.
5. Make sure the worm bin has a lid. This helps prevent the worm bin from drying out, helps keep “undesirables” out and helps keep the light out.
6. Layers of unshredded newspaper, Hessian or cotton fabric should be placed over the bedding and it acts as an additional covering.
7. Your worm farm should be kept moist (the consistency of a damp sponge is ideal), especially in hot and windy weather.

• Feeding the worms

Start by adding food scraps regularly in small amounts. Put the food into the worm
farm underneath the newspaper, carpet or Hessian. Be careful to not overfeed your
worms. Only feed them once they have partly eaten their previous food. The secret
is not too much of any one thing – worms like a varied diet just like people do!
Worms also don’t have teeth, so if you chop or mash your food scraps it will be
eaten quicker. Pick a new spot each time.

• Worms will eat:

· Most Fruit & Vegetable Scraps & Peels (except citrus fruits, onion, garlic and chilli).
· Tea bags/tea leaves.
· Coffee grounds and filters.
· Crushed Eggshells provide calcium.
· Newspaper, cardboard, egg cartons and pizza boxes (shredded and soaked).
· Old flowers and small amounts of garden waste.
· Pasta (No Meat) & Rice
· Bread & Cereal (ideal to moisten before adding)
· Hair and small amounts of dust from vacuum cleaner

• Worms don’t like (i.e. avoid feeding these to your worms):

· Onions, garlic, citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins) and chillis – worms
breathe through their skin and these are too acidic for them.
· Meat
· Seafood
· Dairy products (milk, cheese)
· Oil
· Too much bread, pasta and rice
· Pet droppings (some people do feed their worms these)

• Harvesting

After about 6-8 weeks (this can be longer depending on how many worms you start
with and the seasons) you will notice that there is less bedding material and the
worm farm will start filling up with dark, crumbly worm castings at the bottom part of
the worm farm. When your bin has built up sufficient casting the castings or worm
compost can be harvested.

• There are various techniques to harvest compost
  

- Technique One

1. Gently stir up existing bin and tip/scoop contents into a temporary storage container.
2. Put new bedding material, moist soil and food into your now empty bin.
3. Place shade cloth with big enough holes for worms to crawl through over new bedding and food.
4. Tip contents from the temporary storage container on top of shade cloth.
5. The worms don’t like the light and will move down through the shade cloth to the new bedding and food.
6. Once all worms have moved out of castings the shade cloth can be lifted and emoved.
7. The harvested compost can then be used.
8. There are likely to be eggs in this compost. One of two things can be done, either use compost and eggs or place the harvested compost into a temporary hatching container and place loads of moist newspaper over the harvested compost. The paper will provide food for any eggs that hatch. Once eggs hatch
and the worms become visible they can be removed by hand and placed with other worms or the same harvesting technique mentioned above can be carried out. The worms usually congregate in and around the newspaper so are fairly easy to remove still attached to the newspaper.

- Technique Two

1. Place a layer of moist newspaper or plastic sheet on a table or the ground or you can use the lid of your worm bin. (If you have a tray or large piece of flat wood it helps with moving the compost once harvested and cleaning up afterwards).
2. Gently stir up existing bin and tip/scoop contents onto paper/plastic sheets.
3. Make pyramid shape mounds.
4. Leave for about an hour. Worms will all move to the middle of the mounds.
5. Gently remove the outer layers of compost from the mounds.
6. Towards the middle you will find all the worms knotted together in a ball.
7. Gently pick them up and place them back into the bin. (Obviously you have prepared the bin with new bedding and food).
8. Some worms may still be in the compost so you can repeat the pyramid making process if you like.
9. The harvested castings/compost will contain eggs see point 8 in technique one.

• Worm castings/compost

Worm castings is a very concentrated compost so it should be mixed into compost orthe soil. It is most effective if dug into the drip line of plants, or mixed with potting soil when potting plants. You can also dilute a handful of worm castings in a bucket of water to make a “tea” and use it as a liquid fertiliser.

• Vermiliquid

The liquid that collects in the bottom of the tray/collection container under your bin is “worm wee” or “worm juice” and is a great liquid fertiliser. Simply dilute it to the colour of weak tea and water it into your plants.

 

• Reproduction

Worm Capsules (Eggs) and Babies
· Each worm is both male and female, and can produce as well as fertilize eggs.· The swollen white band on the worm’s body will shed and become an egg (or cocoon) in approximately three weeks.
· On average about 4 baby worms hatch per capsule.
· Capsules take about 3 - 4 weeks to hatch.
· 1000 capsules can be expected to yield about 4000 worms (about a kilo when hey are adult size).
· Numbers of capsules and hatching will depend on the season and bedding temperature and the correct moisture level (damp) of the bedding.
· Babies are hard to see and may take a week or two to be visible.
· When capsules are a rusty brown colour, they are close to hatching. If they are transparent, the babies have probably hatched.
· New baby worms are transparent, with a slight red tinge. Can sometimes be seen crawling on the sides or lid of your worm bin.
· The worms will reach breeding age in about 2 or 3 months, and maturity in about12 months.
· When worms mate they look like they are 'knotted' together.

· Once new worms hatch you will notice an increase in the feeding rate. (Worm
population will have doubled). Increase food.

 

 

• Worm Castings

Worm castings are the richest form of natural fertiliser known to man. It promotes a
higher than average growth in plants (ideal to start seedlings, when mixed with
potting mix or as a top-dressing around plants).

• How Much Will Earthworms Eat

Earthworms will chomp (suck, really!) their way through about ½ their own weight in
food each day. 1kg of worms will consume about 500g of food per day.

• Basic Worm Farming

· Provide a dark moist environment that is not disturbed too often.
· Provide loads of bedding (for e.g. shredded and damp newspaper, cardboard, straw, leaves, compost or Hessian bag). Layers of bedding laid over the surface of the bin helps prevent the worm bin from drying out too much.

• Provide food.

• Where to place farm

· Place your worm farm in a convenient, cool and shady spot.
· Worms do well in temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees.
· Your worm farm can be kept indoors (in the garage, shed, laundry or even under
the kitchen sink) or out doors.
· It is important that your worm farm stays cool and moist, and is kept out of direct
sun, (heat build up in the bin from direct sun will kill the worms).

• Bedding

Bedding is what the worms live in. The worms will also eat the bedding so it needs to
be replaced regularly. Shredded damp newspaper (no colour ink preferably) is the
most convenient type of bedding. Straw, shredded paper or cardboard, coir
(coconut fibre), Hessian, cotton rags or old leaves can also be used. A mixture of
these things makes a good bedding material. 'Aged' horse or cow manure can also
be used. (Fresh manure can heat up). Soak the bedding materials in water for a
while, squeeze out the excess water before placing it in the bin. IMPORTANT all new
bedding and soil must be moist before placing in bin.

Starting a Bin

1. Line the worm farm with wet newspaper.
2. Fill half the bin with bedding materials.
3. A few handfuls of soil should be added to the bedding to supply a "grit" to aid in the worm's digestion process and to introduce helpful digesting micro-organisms into the bin.
4. Add the worms to the bedding material.
5. Make sure the worm bin has a lid. This helps prevent the worm bin from drying out, helps keep “undesirables” out and helps keep the light out.
6. Layers of unshredded newspaper, Hessian or cotton fabric should be placed over the bedding and it acts as an additional covering.
7. Your worm farm should be kept moist (the consistency of a damp sponge is ideal), especially in hot and windy weather.
   

• Feeding the worms

Start by adding food scraps regularly in small amounts. Put the food into the worm
farm underneath the newspaper, carpet or Hessian. Be careful to not overfeed your
worms. Only feed them once they have partly eaten their previous food. The secret
is not too much of any one thing – worms like a varied diet just like people do!
Worms also don’t have teeth, so if you chop or mash your food scraps it will be
eaten quicker. Pick a new spot each time.

• Worms will eat:

· Most Fruit & Vegetable Scraps & Peels (except citrus fruits, onion, garlic and chilli).
· Tea bags/tea leaves.
· Coffee grounds and filters.
· Crushed Eggshells provide calcium.
· Newspaper, cardboard, egg cartons and pizza boxes (shredded and soaked).
· Old flowers and small amounts of garden waste.
· Pasta (No Meat) & Rice
· Bread & Cereal (ideal to moisten before adding)
· Hair and small amounts of dust from vacuum cleaner

• Worms don’t like (i.e. avoid feeding these to your worms):

· Onions, garlic, citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes, mandarins) and chillis – worms
breathe through their skin and these are too acidic for them.
· Meat
· Seafood
· Dairy products (milk, cheese)
· Oil
· Too much bread, pasta and rice
· Pet droppings (some people do feed their worms these)

• Common Problems and Solutions

“My worm farm smells”

This can be the result of too much food, to wet and/or not enough air.
· Stop feeding your worms and give the materials in the worm farm a stir.
· Sprinkle some wood ash or garden lime diluted in water onto the worm farm.
· Don’t start feeding again until all visible food scraps have been eaten.
· Avoid foods such as citrus, onions, garlic, chilli, meat, seafood and dairy products.
· Also avoid large amounts of bread, pasta and rice.
· Eggshell help keep pH balanced.

“My worms aren’t eating”

· Worms will avoid eating certain foods, such as citrus fruits, onions, garlic and chillis
which are too acidic.
· Don’t overfeed your worms – only put more food in once they have partly eaten
their previous meal – and keep their diet as varied as possible.
· It may also help to chop food scraps into smaller pieces.
· Check that the worm farm is moist enough – spray some water in it if it’s dry.

“My worm farm is too wet”

Food is 80% moisture, so even though you are not actually adding water to your bin it
may appear to be getting wetter over time. If there is pooling in the bottom of the
bin or there are several drops of water dripping from the bedding when you squeeze
it, the bedding is too wet. Some easy solutions are:
· Make sure there is sufficient drainage for your worm farm and that it is under cover if outside.
· Worms can’t swim so make sure that any liquid is able to drain away.
· Add shredded newspaper or cardboard to absorb some of the moister and mix this into the bedding material. A full toilet roll or paper egg boxes will also do the trick (Worms will eventually eat it).
· Mix in dry bedding near the bottom
· Periodically leave the lid off or ajar until bedding returns to normal dampness.
· Dig a trench in the middle of the bin and insert a full roll of toilet paper or paper egg boxes.

“My worm farm is too dry”

· The water cycle should occur in the bin. The easiest way to see if this is happening
is to check if condensation is occurring on the lid of the bin.
· If the lid is moist the water content within the bin is probably good. If no moisture on the lid your bin is probably to dry.
· Another way to know if the bin is to dry is to look at the newspaper sheets covering your worms. Is it drying out?
· The position of your worm bin especially if it is outside will also influence the moisture content. Wind, hot days etc all cause evaporation and as the worm bin needs some air circulation moisture will be lost due to evaporation.
· A spray bottle filed with water kept next to your bin can be an easy solution to
create a gentle “rain” when things start drying out.

“Will My Worms Crawl out of the Bin?”

· Generally No. However if conditions in the bin become undesirable the worms will try and escape.
· If too much acidic food is given the worms will try to leave the bin.
· If the worms are leaving and it is not due to too much acidic food being given, it may be a result of acid build up in the bin.
· Remove all food (it may be rotting and causing changes in pH), gently stir in crushed egg shells – this usually solves the problem.
· Can also add garden lime mixed in water to neutralise.

 

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