BASIC STRUCTURE:
Tray 1: This is where the magic happens. This tray sits on top so it's easily accessible. Fill it with worm bedding and food until you want to harvest the compost. Then, you switch it to the position of....
Tray 2: This is the inactive tray, and it sits between Tray 1 and Tray 3. Set Tray 1 on top of this tray and the worms will naturally move up in the soil, into Tray 1 above, where the food is at. Once they do, you can harvest your compost.
Tray 3: The bottom tray, Tray 3, has no holes. It is there to collect "worm tea", the liquid that is generated by composting. "Worm tea" is really rich in nutrients, and can be used as fertilizer. Harvest this whenever you like.
You can add as many trays as you want, depending on the amount of compost you want each week.
STEPS:
1. Find 2+ plastic bins (depending on how many trays you want), with an area of 200-400 sq in. and a depth between 18" and 25". Find one lid that fits securely.
2. Ventilation Holes: Use a 1/16" drill bit to poke around 30 holes in the top of the lid and around 16 holes around the top of the sides of the bins (except for the bottom tray).
3. Drainage Holes: Use a 1/4" drill bit to poke about twenty holes in the bottoms of the bins (except for the bottom tray). These holes should be big enough so that the worms can crawl up through them.
4. Start with two trays. One that will be the active tray, and one will be the bottom tray. Rip old newspaper (and/or magazines printed with soy ink but nothing glossy) into strips for bedding. You can also use coconut coir, the fancy pants version, or dryer lint, which my worms instantly loved. Wet it so that it's as damp as a wrung out sponge, and add it to your active tray.
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I stole a bunch of dryer lint from the garbage can in my apt. laundry room. Gross. I know. One man's waste is another man's treasure. |
5. Get your worms. Some claim that if you put wet cardboard on your lawn for a couple days, the worms will flock, and you can collect them. I've never tried it. You can. I ordered my worms from Uncle Jim's. They were about $20 with shipping. I got 500 red wigglers, which are superstar composters. They came healthy, happy, large, and only one day later than expected.
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There were even instructions! |
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Strong, healthy, squirmy |
6. Put your worms on the bedding, add food (here are some good rules on feeding), and top it off with a piece of damp cardboard (or more ripped up paper). Snap on the lid, and let the worms start their new, wonderful lives. They may take a couple days to adjust to their new environment.
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Damp newspaper and lint bedding |
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Worms |
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Food and cardboard |
IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE:
- Temperature: It should be between 55F-77F. Otherwise, the worms could either freeze or overheat.
- Moisture level: If you're getting a lot of "worm tea", it's probably because it's too wet. If you reach in, and the newspaper/lint/soil feels dry, you might want to add water. Remember the wrung out sponge rule. A bad moisture level makes unhappy worms, and they might die, try to escape, or worse yet, smell.
- Don't let the light get in. Not only can they paralyze the worms, they can also foster fruit flies and unwanted microorganisms.
Happy Worming!
Concerned that you don't have any purpose for your compost? Here are some good reasons to do it anyway.
(Thanks Sloane!)
