dirt ball have savvy their mode into my heart , and you ’re about to understand why ! Using the power of worm castings , you may completely transform your garden naturally . Master the practice of vermicomposting with this guide on how to use worms and kitchen scraps to create the better constituent thing .
When it come to well-disposed bug , why do bees , butterfly , and ladybugs get all the love ? While I appreciate thesebeneficial bugsas much as the next individual , I ’m here to shout out my passion for dirt ball from the rooftop gardens around the world .
Whether you reckon of worms as friend or hard - working employee , they are a welcome addition to my garden every day . Even if I ca n’t see them .
Red Wiggler worms (Eisenia fetida)
An unnamed drill to many , vermicomposting harnesses the superpowers of the worm to create some of the most virile fertilizers around . With vermicomposting on your side , you will have the fullest , greenest plants in the neighborhood by far !
Here ’s what I ’ll be covering today …
What is Vermicomposting?
Vermicomposting is the fancy word for having worms as pet . Or , more technically speaking , intentionally using worms to decompose kitchen refuse and atomic number 6 cloth like paper and straw .
This results in worm castings . And yes , worm molding is a nice word for dirt ball poop .
Why on world would you desire worm tail , you ask?Worm molding have a much finer grain than soil and are excellent when it come to holding moisture . If you want a balanced garden fertilizer , they are highly nourishing , though the N - P - K value will waver base on the worm ’s diet .
Worm castings look like very rich soil . You will see disconsolate brown , teeny lilliputian bits of material . When you reap them , you endeavor to leave behind all the dirt ball and take their casting in gratitude .
Composting vs Worm Castings
you may add worm casting directly to your grunge or as a tremendous addition to your compost .
interchangeable tocomposting , you need greens , browns , water , and airwave to make vermicompost . BUT , you necessitate another very all-important ingredient … worms !
As mentioned earlier , vermicompost holds wet . This is due to its high concentration of humus , a carbon copy - base substance that not onlykeeps soil hydrated but spongy grain also helps to oxygenise the soil . Combined with the high levels of nutrients , vermicompost tends to be more worthful than compost in the garden .
You will see that chew over at the store too . you’re able to purchase worm castings anywhere that also sell compost . Vermicompost will have a higher terms tatter than compost , which is why making your own vermicompost bin is so worthful !
Since you have living creature in your vermicompost , you call for to keep your bank identification number cool . Compost on the other hand values heat to decompose material and this serve to belt down pathogen , smoke seeds , and other issues . This means that vermicompost may still have some pathogen and other tiny microbe inside .
However , the extra nutrients and benefits of vermicomposting are well deserving it . The summons is completely good for you and your works babe .
Types of Worms
Not all worm are born equal . When it rains , you ca n’t only go out of doors and collect worms off the pavement to put in your vermicomposting bin .
For vermicomposting , you do n’t use the earthworms you would find out and about in your garden . rather , you want hungry worms who will blithely eat away your kitchen scraps .
Red Wigglers(Eisenia fetida)are the most vernacular worm used for vermicomposting . They do n’t like soil , instead choose to survive in decomposing leaves , manure , and other break up materials . This is why they flourish in a vermicomposting bank identification number !
Another pop selection isred worms(Lumbricus rubellus ) . They wish similar conditions , although you will determine them further down in the bin , and they may regurgitate a tad sluggish than red wigglers . But they will happily exhaust off and create some dirt ball casting for your benefit .
Taking Care of Your Worms
Create a Home
To make a home suitable for a insect king , you need to satisfy their 4 motivation :
You ’ll also ask a bin itself . See below for an soft DIY version . If you supply all these materials , your worm will quickly get down to business and jump brook the solid food and bedding . Every month , their population should double , and they will easy build up the space .
Do n’t concern about expanding your worm bin . More often than not , you do n’t have to worry about taking worms out or adding more . They ’re ego - regularize wight . Once the nutrient or space ravel low , the worms will stop multiplying and control their own universe . It ’s a louse - eat - worm world out there .
Feeding Your Worms
Think of worms as gluten - free , raw vegans . They have a very particular diet ! louse have a go at it to deplete any bare-assed vegetable scraps , eggshell , coffee grinds , flowers , and green folio from the garden .
In terms of kitchen fleck , there are sure things you will require to leave out from your vermicomposting bin .
Avoid …
Like us , they call for a balanced dieting to stick around healthy . verify that no more than 20 % of the food is made up of one material . A commixture is good !
Worms on Vacation
Worms may sound like high maintenance , but they will do just ticket on their own . They can easily last a month on their own without any Modern intellectual nourishment being tot up to their bank identification number . tip them before you leave and when you get home , and they will happily do their own thing while you ’re away .
Troubleshooting
Some thing may go askew with your binful . To verify your bank identification number is a hospitable place for the worms to live , alternative where you rate your food scraps in the bin .
Each hebdomad , destine a raw corner for the food waste . After a calendar month , the worm will have exhaust and concentrate the first corner of the fleck .
An olfactory sensation is also possible and indicates something has gone wrong . Look at your four corners and see if you could get to the solution of the problem . For representative , lots of acidic material can commute the pH , and the louse transmigrate away to the opposite side of the bin where aliveness is good .
pick out the materials that seem to be get the problemand replace any bedding as necessary . The bank identification number should be immaculate and span again in no time .
If fruit fly ca n’t get enough of the vermicomposting bank identification number , ensure the bedding stays on top of the food . You may also require to avoid any fruit or sweet - smelling scraps that attract fruit fly ball .
And if all else neglect , you canmake a fruit fly trapand nest it on top of the bedding to examine and capture the pests .
DIY Vermicomposting Bin
Over the years , I have used many different vermicomposting bins . However , my deary comes from Pau Farré , who teaches workshops on vermicomposting at City Farmer here in Vancouver , BC . This undertaking and 80 more can be discover in myGarden Alchemy Book .
This design work dead formy urban garden , remain small but provide plenty of worm castings .
But I also have a worm hotel interpretation throughout my garden that I have shared in my book , The Regenerative Garden . It helps folks solve with nature rather than against it by show the steps to make over 80 permaculture projects I use in my garden .
Materials
Make It!
Using your power practice ( or pounding and nails),make drainage holes at the bottom of your two nesting bin . Make melodic phrase holes on the sides of the ABA transit number . The air holes should be spaced around the perimeter of the bin , above where the two bins overlap .
make full one of the tall bins1/3 full with the mixture of wry bedding materials . Wet down the bedding until it reaches the consistency of a wrung - out parazoan .
Add your worm to one corner of the bin . On top of the worms and bedding , add 4 cup of roughly chop kitchen flake . Cover the kitchen refuse with another layer of dry materials , leaving them dry this time .
home four of thewooden risers in the shallow binto allow room for the leachate to drain . Set down the middle bin on top of the riser main , then add four more risers in the bin . Place your worm bin on top and secure it with a lid .
Keep the vermicomposting bin outside in acool , shady fleck in the summer and a fond , cover smudge in the wintertime . The temperature should be between 5 - 30 ° C . If you live in an area with a cold-blooded winter , move the worms to a garage or localise a blanket over the top of the binful if it does n’t get too cold .
Harvesting Worm Castings
My DIY vermicomposting binful make harvesting dirt ball sick bins easy , pick up in one easy bin . When you are ready for worm casting , end feed the worms for a few hebdomad until you notice that all the kitchen scraps have been digested .
transfer the dry top layer of bedding and move the worm to the middle bin . You want to set up up the empty middle bin with unexampled bedding and kitchen fighting , just as you initially set up the bin . This sentence , pull up stakes out the worms .
Put your new ABA transit number on top of the one that moderate all the worm and casting . The worms will now transmigrate up through the hole to get to the bin with the nutrient . This leave you with a nice , clean supplying of castings to use in the garden . you may harvest worm castings every 3 - 4 months for your garden .
How to Use Worm Castings
Vermicompost is just for any and all plants , including potted flora such ashouseplantsandsucculents . To use insect castings , you could dust them over top of the soil and let the nutrients knead their way down .
Alternatively , you may mix the vermicompost with the regular surface soil when planting potted plants inside or in the soil outside . It especially helps to give clay or flaxen stain more constitutive stuff . They also go extremely well in take in aseed startingmix .
The only time you would n’t want to employ worm castings is when you already have soil rich in organic material . After all , too much of a good thing can sour bad .
Just like add too much fertilizer to a plant , you could overdo it with nutrients . Use insect castings meagrely , treating it as potent fertilizer .
FAQ About Worm Castings
you may add dirt ball castings whenever they ’re ready . dirt ball castings generally take about 3 - 4 months to be quick for harvest . I like to tot up it particularly in the spring and summertime during the growing time of year since it acts as a stiff fertiliser . you’re able to leave the dirt ball castings for long in the fall and winter , look to add them to yourseed - starting soil mix .
The N - P - K values will vacillate based on what the worm is eat on . Overall , the castings are highly nutritious and well - balanced if you are feed a just mixture of kitchen scraps .
Treat your worm casting as a potent plant food . So yes , too much of a expert affair is perfectly possible . If your soil is already gamy in organic cloth , you do n’t postulate worm castings . Overall , you could add it as frequently as you might fertilizer , and your plants would be completely all right .
Worms like temperatures between 5 - 30 ° C ( 41 - 86 ° 100 F ) . For those with mild winters , keep them in a covered position in the wintertime . For those with harsher wintertime , you want to move your worm bin to a garage or place a cover over the bin . I’ve lost worm before in the winter . I do n’t beat myself up over it , instead starting fresh in the springtime with some new worms , bedding , and kitchen scrap .
DIY Vermicompost Bin
Equipment
Supplies
Instructions
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