Earthworms for composting and better soil health

Well I've been kicking around the idea of getting some worms and setting up a vermicompost bin for several years now. I keep reading about the benefits of composting with worms. The addition of earthworm castings to your garden soil, what it can do for soil health and how good it is for the plants.

I'm always getting in my own way

I've been very reluctant though, I get stuck in my ways and I want to believe I keep an open mind about things. I often find I must force myself to try new things. Vermicomposting is no different. I and my family have been taking all of our kitchen scraps, lawn clippings and anything else compost-able and doing just that. We compost everything in a hot compost pile. We usually build and turn two piles a year. One in the spring and one in the fall. The pile made in the fall sits through the winter and we use it in the spring and until the next pile is finished. It works out well.

A while back I was listening to a podcast by Tad Hussey over on the KIS Organics website. He was interviewing Clackamas Coot about how he makes a good worm castings for his gardens. Tad's Podcasts are very interesting if you're into the nuts and bolts of growing cannabis and anything else really, you should check it out. I don't know Tad or Clackamas but the podcast over there has a lot to offer anyone who wants to learn about the science behind organic growing.

So anyway that whole podcast thing sent me down a rabbit hole about earth worms and composting. My grandson (he is three years old) and I watched a few you tube videos about composting worms. Then he would ask to we watch earthworm videos daily. I was having terrible problems in my grow room at the time. I was hoping to find solutions to my problems. Healthier plants more disease and pest resistance and all of that happy stuff. And that's when I realized. Three year old's have very open minds compared to me!

My grandson started asking me things like, “when are the worms going to be here” and whenever a package would show up. He would yell, “The worms are here!” I had to tell him that we don't have any place for the worms to live. A few days later, my wife and I were at the store and I found a couple of bins that looked like they would work well for worms. I already had sphagnum peat moss. The Grandson and I were armed with the knowledge of a hundred YouTube videos. So the little dude and I set up the worm bins. He likes to mix stuff and I, at age forty five am learning patience once again.

In the worm bins we put the following:

• Sphagnum peat moss enough to fill bin when wet. Keeping about two inches away from the rim of the bin.
• Shredded newspaper, about four sheets.
• Basalt rock dust about one cup, earthworms need the grit.
• Soy bean meal high protein food source for the worms.
• Calcium carbonate in the form of Ag lime to help balance the PH of the bin.
• A small amount of Diatomaceous earth (DE) more grit for the worms.

We mixed it up and added enough water to make everything good and moist. The next day we added even more water as the peat material had absorbed it all and was still a little too dry. We let it sit for about a week before we purchased the worms. Of course I had to consult the project manager about what kind of worms to get. So I asked my Grandson. “European night crawlers or red wigglers?” He yelled as loud as he could while throwing his arms up, “RED WIGGLERS!” So that's what we ordered.

After Several days the package of 1000 earthworms arrived. There was much excitement as we opened the package and put half the worms in each bin. The worms worked themselves down into the bedding in short order. We put wet news paper on top of the bins to keep things moist and that was it.

It's good to have goals

Our goal is to produce worm castings for our indoor grow bed and for the garden this summer. We aren't sure how long this will take. The amount of worm castings we will get. Or what the ratio of worms to worm bedding (feed stock) should be. There are a lot of questions at this point. We have learned that food scraps can actually cause too much moisture in the worm bin. And that composted materials like kitchen scraps or leaf mold are better for what we are trying to accomplish. Also feeding the worms with supplemental feed on top of the bin may be a better approach when trying to make good quality castings.

For the purpose of top dressing the worm bins. I Purchased some chicken feed and mixed in some chicken feed supplement for added vitamins and minerals. I then ran this through our grain mill to produce a mostly fine powder. Worms mouths are small. The goal here is to have the worms actively munching on the feed stock (bedding material), effectively turning it all into worm castings. Meanwhile occasionally giving them some high protein food with some good nutrition and grit. This will help the worms continue the work of making good worm castings and also multiply the worm population.

Once the worms have been in the bins for a month or so, we plan on looking at how well they have turned the bedding (feed stock) into castings. This will also give us a chance to see how well the worms are doing. We will check for worm eggs (cocoons), baby worms, and make sure we don't have any issues. Depending on the condition of the material in the bin, we will determine if they go back into the bin or if the worms go into new bedding. The grand son and I are pretty excited about this project. We check on the worms daily and make sure the moisture in the bins is good. We occasionally will feed them, then after a few days the worms will have eaten all the food. It's a very interesting process. I'll keep you posted on how the worms are doing as time goes on.

@stanmr