Worm farming

Content: Worm farm option 1 | Worm farm option 2: Wanda Wastabuster and her ‘Do-it-yourself’ worm farm | Common problems and questions

Worm farming is a rapidly becoming more popular and is a fun, effective way to get rid of household food scraps. Worms are wonderful garbage disposers. In ideal situations they can eat equivalent to their body weight of food scraps a day. As a guide worms will eat anything that was once living. For example – fruit and vegetable scraps, crushed egg shells, tea leaves/bags and coffee grounds, paper and cardboard, vacuum clearer dust, hair trimmings and small amounts of plant material. The only things they don’t like are citrus fruits, onion and garlic.

Uses for worm produce

• Plant food: add a 3-6cm layer of castings around plants and the drip line of trees. Cover with mulch. Dilute the worm juice so that it is the colour of weak tea. Pour the juice around the drip line.
  Potting mix: add 10-20% castings to a poor potting mix.

Worm castings are a rich soil conditioner and plant food.

Ordinary garden worms don’t like the confined spaces of a worm farm and don’t chew through as much organics material as other species such as red worms and tiger worms. It is best to buy your worms from a worm dealer.

This worm farm works just like the commercially available products yet it is made from mostly recycled materials and doesn’t cost much.

Worm farm option 1:

Setting up

1. You can use small containers (such as styrofoam box) with drainage, or purchase a commercially produced worm farm.
2. Locate the container in a shaded area that will not get too hot or too cold, worms prefer temperatures between 20 and 25#C. 
3. Place a few sheets of moistened newspaper on the base of the tray. Some commercial bins include cardboard for this. 
4. The worms need bedding to live in that is about 10-15cm deep – it is easy to make: a mixture of shredded newspaper and either composted horse or cow manure, worm castings or coco peat; add some soil for grit, then add water so that the mixture is as wet as a lightly squeezed sponge (i.e., you can just squeeze drops from it). Some commercial bins include a fibre material for use as bedding.
5. Add 1,000-2,000 worms to the surface. There is no need to bury them as they will quickly move away from the light.
6. Cover with a damp hessian sack or newspaper and leave for a week. This allows the worms to adapt to their new home.

Adding food scraps

• Begin adding small amounts of food scraps in shallow troughs; only add more food scraps when the worms have worked through the existing scraps. After a number of months, you will be able to increase the amount of food. 
• Add small sprinklings of lime if a lot of acidic materials (fruit peelings, etc.) are used.
• Shredding food scraps will speed up the worm system. 
• Add water if the bedding material becomes drier than a lightly squeezed sponge.

Harvesting worms and castings from a single box
When the entire container has been converted to castings (worm manure) you can harvest the castings and the worms as follows:

1. empty the contents of the container onto a flat surface;
2. leave the material for a few minutes to allow worms to bury away from the surface;
3. scrape away the outside layer of material - this should be mostly free of worms;
4. leave the material again to allow the worms to burrow further; 
5. continue scraping the castings away, layer by layer;
6. at the end, you will be left with a ball of worms, ready to use again.

References

• Earth Works Participants Notes, NSW Environment Protection Authority, August, 1996.
• The Worm Factory, Questions and Answers, Reln Plastics, Pty Ltd.

Warm farm option 2: Wanda Wastabuster and her ‘Do-it-yourself’ worm farm!

Materials:

• one ordinary house brick;
• a used hessian potato sack;
• two used broccoli boxes with one correctly fitting lid;
• a compressed coco prêt brick or small packet of coconut fibre (can be purchased from nurseries, worm farmers, etc);
• a 450mm length of clear vinyl tubing 8mm in diameter (can be purchased from hardware shop);
• a piece of fly screen to cover the bottom of one box (can be purchased from hardware shop).

Tools:

• a sharp knife with a non-serrated scalpel type blade;
• a drill with a 10mm speed drill bit, or a sharp ended poker (pencil);
• a texta or white board maker;
• roof and gutter silicone sealant.

Instructions:

• use which ever carton the lid fits best for the top, or worm farming living area. Make sure that the other carton has no cracks or leaks as it will catch liquid run-off that percolates down from the upper box;
• place the brick flat on the base of the bottom carton and trace a line around the inside of the box about 1cm above the top of the brick;
• cut along the line you have it draw with the sharp, non-serrated blade. At one end of the box drill a hole close to the base. 
• take the box which will go on top and drill, or punch, 30-40 evenly spaced holes in the bottom. Lay the fly screen over the holes to allow moisture to drain through but keep the worms from falling through;
• place the brick in the base of the bottom box. The brick helps support the weight of the top carton when it is filled. Place the box with the drainage holes on top and make sure there are no gaps between the two (The bottom box may need trimming to make sure there are no gaps).

Introducing the worms to their new home

• Place two sheets to newspaper over the flyscreen in the top bow – the worm living area.
• Soak the cocopeat brick as per instructions or if using coconut fibre also soak. Separate seven sheets of newspaper and soak them. Gently squeeze some of the water from the paper and roughly shred.
• Fill the box two-thirds with loose mix of coconut fibre and newspaper to make the worms bedding.
• Gently spread worms over the surface of the bedding. Worms don’t like light and will burrow down into the darkness. Leave the lid off for a few minutes to allow worms to settle in.
• Soak the hessian bad till it is well moistened and place it over the surface of the bedding.
• Now you can begin to feed your worms – just a little to begin with. Keep an eye on them and regulate the amount of scraps to the rate at which they are consuming the food. As they multiply they will consume more and more scraps.
• Works don’t like acidic conditions so sprinkling a handful of lime in every now and then will also keep your worms happy.

Designed by Angus Cambell

Common problems and questions

How can you help the worms eat faster? 

• Shred or mash the food scraps. 
• Don’t add too much acidic food such as citrus fruits and garlic; add lime with these. 
• Keep the worm system at around 24degrees.

Apart from food scraps, what else can I feed my worms?

• Soaked and ripped pizza boxes and egg cartons, cardboard and paper. 
• Composted manures - fresh manure will heat up and may contain vermicides if the animal has recently been treated for worms. 
• Garden materials.

What are the little white worm-like creatures? 

• These are not compost worms, but another type of worm. They indicate acidic conditions. Add lime to lower the acidity.

There are ants in the worm system - what do I do?

• This is a sign that the worm system has become too dry and acidic. 
• Moisten the system and add lime. 
• If ants persist, isolate them by placing the supports of the worm system in containers of water.

There are lots of small flies. Are these a problem?

• These are vinegar flies. They are not a problem, but an indication that you are over-feeding your worm system. Reducing the feeding rate should help.

My worm system has maggots, what should I do?

• These are most likely soldier fly larvae (about a 2-3cm long and heavily segmented) or vinegar fly larvae (6mm long). Both of these are beneficial — as they help break down the food scraps. 
• To remove larvae, apply lime, or leave some bread soaked in milk at the surface. Remove after 2-3 days.

My worm bin smells. What should I do?

• This is a sign of anaerobic conditions. Stop feeding and stir the material with a small fork and add lime. 
• Only resume feeding when the smells have gone.

There are worms in the collector tray. What should I do?

• The worms need a path to return to the upper trays - an ice-cream container covered with moist newspaper should work.

Where can I buy a worm farm?

• Worm farms can be purchased from most local hardware stores and select nurseries.

Where can I buy start-up worms?

• Max Norden at WormiFert on 0414 733 823 for home delivery.