Composting with Worms

    We’ve lately had a few questions about composting with worms. Can you put them in a tumbler? Will they get too hot? How do you compost with worms? (Disclaimer: I am not yet a worm farmer, but I have turned to one of my most trusty sources: The Rodale Book of Composting to bring you some answers.) I just built my own compost pile, about which I will write this week, including pictures. It is quite the piece of sculptural wonder. (NOT!) However, hopefully, it will make me some yummy compost. My neighbor with the most beautiful vegetables in the world was scoffing at my soil yesterday. It’s time to show him what’s what. Back to worms!

    Basics of Worm Composting

    Here are some basics for worm composting wannabes. You need to know this stuff in order to have a good chance at worm survival.

    Worm composting is also called “Vermicomposting.” So, when you see things written about vermicomposting, pay attention!

    There are different types of worms that are active in worm composting heaps. Red wigglers (Lumbricus rubellus), branding worms (Eisenia foetida), field worms (Allolobophora calignosa) and night crawlers (Lumbricus terrestris) are the most common. You can buy red wigglers from different worm suppliers online.

• Worms cannot tolerate soil/compost temperatures above 100 degrees F. That means, you can’t just dig a hole in your steamy compost pile and dump the worms in, because they will die. You also shouldn’t put worms in your compost tumbler, because the tumblers heat up quite rapidly in during the summer.
• If your compost pile doesn’t have a concrete or wood bottom, worms will naturally migrate up through the pile, until they reach a point where the temperature is too hot.
• You can compost with worms inside. You need to build a little inside worm bin with bedding. (More about that later in this post.)

    Why Compost with Worms?

    Conveniently, this relates to my blog post about humic acid. Worms are a one way short cut to your own pile of humus in your yard, worm bin, etc. Humus is compost at its finest: a poorly understood (in terms of science), but hugely beneficial concoction that happens when organic matter is broken down into its most highly digested form. Worm castings (worm poo!) are a rich source of humus, and much cheaper than purchasing a soil conditioning product with humic acid in it. (Although, if you don’t want to farm worms, a soil conditioning product with humic acid does actually work and is worth the money. I know, because I helped plant some things in impossibly terrible soil about a month ago, and we added a great soil conditioner, which has already helped the soil start morphing into something plants can grow in, not die in.)

    Your garden will grow large and lovely with worm castings as part of the soil mix. The Rodale Compost book has great info about a study from the 1940s that compared agricultural plots with worms and without worms, and otherwise similar soil and crops. You guessed it: a year later, the area with worms produced healthy, lush growth of barley, bluegrass and lespedeza, while the plot without worms grew only weeds.

    Worms are also a great way to compost/digest your kitchen scraps. You can feed worms banana peels, among other things, which take quite a while to bread down in a regular compost pile. You can even keep a bucket of worms under the kitchen sink for instant gratification re: cleaning up the kitchen.