In this
section we’ll have an ongoing accumulation of practical tips about caring for
your bin.
Some people are squeamish about
worms. Everyone has a different
tolerance for slimy, slithery creatures.
I think you should be reasonably comfortable with the idea before you
take on the responsibility of caring for these living creatures.
I think we all have a little
in-grained revulsion about these kinds of creatures and about rotting food
because the instinctive, primitive parts of our brains. We subconsciously equate worms with disease,
wounds and unhealthy living conditions.
Taken to an extreme some people plaster their houses with chemicals to
try to make it sterile. If you can get
over this you will recognize that worm composting is extremely sanitary and
safe.
I recommend that you visit someone
who has a successful worm composting bin and check it out to see if it is
something you can “handle”. I’ve also
intentionally placed detailed photos of worms on this site to help measure your
“disgust” factor.
In a well-run bin there is no bad
odor and no other critters. You can
wear gloves when you feed the worms. It
is not smelly like outdoor compost bins tend to be!
However as you learn, or if you don’t
take good care of your bin, you may experience fruit flies, maggots, mites and
some other creatures, as well as some smells of your rotting food. Ironically, it is only if you are too
squeamish to take good care of your worm bin that you will find it actually
does become gross. I have a friend who
wasn’t taking good care and it really did become a nasty moist, smelly mess.…
(But amazingly there were still some living worms in this more hostile environment
and by adding newspaper and burying the food properly we were able to bring it
back to good conditions)
I don’t want to frightening anyone
who wants to try vermicomposting, I just want to give a realistic picture of
why some care will be required to keep it in good order. I encourage you to try it, the worst that
can happen is that you won’t like it.
I think in many households there is
at least one person who can happily take care of a worm bin.
If you realize you won’t be able to
keep a worm bin please pass on your bin and worms to someone else before the
worms die. Hopefully in the future more
cities will provide compost pickup as part of their recycling programs. If you are squeamish maybe you can donate
your kitchen scraps to someone with a garden or a large worm bin.
To get started, with fresh newspaper,
you will need to dampen the paper, I use a spay bottle. The paper should be moist but not
soggy. I find that this is only needed
at the beginning, after that the bin stays moist on its own.
However this depends very much on
your ventilation and the contents in the bin.
You may be too wet or two dry and have to take steps.
The worm bin needs drainage. If you give a lot of lettuce and other moist
fruit then there can be excess fluid. I
have many small holes drilled in the bottom of the bin, and my bin is on top of
a rubber foot mat that collects the runoff.
The fluid is coffee colors and not smelly, but I don’t suggest leaving
it to dry out. I drain the fluid any
time it accumulates into a sealed plastic container, and then that fluid
diluted into water as a nutrient when watering plants. I wash the rubber foot mat every few months.
It seems
hard to avoid these creatures completely – in Canada we have them mostly in the
spring and summer. They are the
probably the #1 problem for worm composting.
Yet some worm bins have no fruit flies at all.
Burying the food
scraps under newspaper and soil is very important.
Simon
recommends: “Instead of using some screen, you could use some old (or new if
your want!!!) nylon stocking. If stretched across the ventilation holes it will
let enough air flow through it but no flies or gnats.”
Joseph
tells me that Banana Peels are a big source of fruit fly eggs. I’ve found that even having fresh fruit in the
kitchen can result in fruit flies so your worm bin may not be any worse that
what you already experience.
Dawn writes: “I
think people have some success with either microwaving scraps before putting
them in the bin, or by freezing them for about three days before putting them
in. This kills the eggs. Also by burying the scraps well so new eggs can't be
laid.”
I think that the
number of fruit flies seem to be reduced by keeping the holes in the bin small,
or covered by a mesh, and leaving the lid on.
This isn’t complete protection but I think it helps.
In the summer I
took my bin out onto the balcony before taking the lid off so that any flies
inside escaped into the open air.
You could keep
your bin outside whenever the climate is suitable for this. For example fruit flies are worst in the
summer in Canada but that is a suitable time to have the bin outside (in the
shade).
I got a tip from
a wormer that you can put some apple vinegar or beer into a small jar, cover to
top with plastic wrap, make a small hole for the flies to go in, and put this
in your bin to catch the flies. (In my
experience I couldn’t get it to work very successfully)
Derekt has some
fruit-fly squishing recommendations here: http://www.people-link.net/~durruti/Worms/Faq.html
You will not be able to put as much
food in a new bin because the worms needs some time to reproduce. A common cause of failure for first time
wormers is overfeeding the bin. The
worms should be able to eat all the food you give them within two weeks.
If you start with a margarine
container full of worm and soil please don’t start throwing pounds and pounds
of kitchen scraps in!
When you bury new food keep an eye on
how much food there is already in the bin.
Take a peek in the corner you feed them last week – there will still be
lots of activity but the food should be diminished. And the corner that you feed the worms in two weeks previously
should pretty empty of remains. However
some food takes along time to break down – seeds, avocado peels, onions,
potato, eggshells, carrot chunks.
(Another reason it is good to chop your food scraps up). So don’t worry if you see that kind of food.
Another good rule of thumb would be,
if you have trouble with smells and trouble covering up all the food scraps
with non-bedding then cut back on the food!
When
I’m producing too much kitchen scraps I try to give the worms the “best stuff”
– a nice variety of different things and especially easy to break down things
like lettuce, fruits, coffee grinds.
In the food
section I recommend not to put Citrus in the bin. This was based on my experiences with citrus being really, really
slow to degrade. However things aren’t
so “cut and dry” as some experienced worm composters have pointed out:
As Manuela
writes:
And Joseph
provided these detail:
The first thing that I say to people is that you can give ANYTHING to
your worms. Anything that is organic that is:)
That being said, when you go to workshops such as those by wormswap, and
other organisations, as well as general information on the web and in books,
they tend to discuss the common items that you can put in the worm bin to avoid
a lot of the common probelms.
When I say problems, these are the common problems. The main one
that comes to mind is the worm bin turnign anaerobic (lack of oxygen creating
stinky, smelly conditions).
The foods that is avoided is totally doable BUT, must be added with more
care, planning and potential maintenance. As we already know, they just
need a balanced diet, including citrus and other things we are usually advised
to avoid.
Once you add oranges, and other citrus fruits, you are adding something
very acidic. If you have a balanced system, a small percentage of them
shouldn’t really affect it too much, and it will continue just fine. I recently
learned that the reason that we all cry when we cut an onion is due to the
onion juice contain sulfuric acid. I am sure that adding too much of this
might create an imbalance.
You can help the imbalance by adding things that are known to be alkaline.
I add a little bit of powderized eggshell from time to time. It is has
alkaline properties. It acts as a buffer to acidic food.
Next thing, it is commonly stated to avoid meats, bones, eggs, fats,
oils, etc... Why, they create stink and smells in your worm bin.
They don’t create the stink all alone. They need more oxygen to be
broken down, and if you put the same volume of meat vs vegetables, the meat
will need a lot more oxygen to break it down. The problem is that the
natural circulation of air in the soil/dirt does not increase just because
there is meat in the soil. So, when using these food sources, two
consideration have to thought about.
**make sure that you add small pieces of meat, fat, eggs, etc...
(smaller pieces equals smaller oxygen needs)
**a probable need to physically aerate the bin would increase the oxygen
available (stir the bin, and bring the bottom part of the sol to the top,
etc..)
Now, I am not saying jump right in and start adding all those excess
hamburgers )that you used for science experiments stored in the fridge) all
atone time and make a huge test for you bin. I just want to say that you
can use them. BUT, you need to proceed with care. Try small amounts
at a time, and make sure that the bin is not too wet, or too compact.
I've been trying fat in small quantities recently with no
problems. Again, I’m not dropping a cup of fat in the bin and covering it
up. Not at all. I put small pieces around the entire surface of the
bin, and stir it in.
So, don’t be afraid of all those "untouchables". They
are usable. Just proceed with care, and pay a little more attention to
your bin to maintain good worming conditions.