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• *Home composting* roadshow rolls into Rushden

October 24, 2009
- Wouldn’t it be great if we had home composting road show here!

• Begley Points Way To Green, Sustainable Living – The Morning News

October 24, 2009
- Ed Begley is truly an inspiration. I didn’t realize he had written a new book, but I’ll be reading it soon!

I read about someone whose worms were escaping from the compost bin and my first thought was that they were not using the best composting worms. Red Wigglers are the mentioned in just about every article on worm composting as the best worms for getting the job done. They like it dark, so during the day, they are going to want to stay not only in the bin, but usually buried in whatever is in it. Some other worms are accustomed to light, so they may feel free to leave. Red Wigglers also have an ideal digestive system for composting.

Some people have had problems even with Red Wigglers escaping in the first week or so after they have been shipped to them, but they do settle down quickly. I had mine shipped from a nearby city and thus a short time in transit, but none of them tried to escape.

The geckos are still running around on the porch, but seem to have no interest in the worms or composter. Maybe they just cannot get inside the Worm Factory 360, but either way, all is well. Since I asked the question in a previous post, I thought I better deliver the answer when I found out for sure.

Worm bin composting is much easier than I expected… at least so far.  I can clearly see worm castings (nutrient-rich compost) in my Worm Factory 360, where there was once food and coir.  As I’ve mentioned before, composting with worms was not what I had in mind when I set out to become a home composter, but after doing the research it seemed like the way to go for my limited space.

For me, here is what stands out about the ease of having a worm composter:

• The initial set-up takes 20 minutes max. The Worm Factory 360 came with instructions and just about everything necessary for getting started.
• When the worms arrived, I dumped them into my prepared composter, covered them with shredded newspaper and then a couple of sheets of newspaper and closed the lid.
• You don’t have to feed the worms very often – once a week will work nicely, but they can go up to a month as long as you leave them enough food. I wouldn’t do this early in the process, but later when everything is humming along.
• With all the shredded newspaper on top, there really is no “gross” factor. Even when I lift it to check things out or add more food, it’s not a big deal.
• Even though I haven’t been sure that I’m doing things correctly, there are no bad smells coming from the bin.
• There is no evidence that I even have worm bins, unless you recognize the Worm Factory. It looks like a small table on my porch.
• Although the temperatures were over 90 degrees when I started and I’m not totally sure what “too wet” or “too dry” would mean, the worms seem to be alive and eating. And I repeat, no bad odors.
• Best of all… THERE IS COMPOST WHERE THERE ONCE WAS FOOD!

Most of the time I’m spending on my worm composting is just because I’m curious or concerned about what’s going on in there. I do spend an extra few minutes cutting any large pieces of food waste into smaller pieces, but you don’t even have to do that. Of course I had to change a few habits with regard to shredding paper (no more plastic envelope windows) and handling food waste (in now goes into the Rubbermaid container), but neither take any extra time. One thing that does take a little time is wetting the shredded paper, ringing it out and separating it to put in the bin. It doesn’t take that long, but I”m thinking of putting it in dry next time and giving it a quick spray with the shower nozzle of my hose next time. I know I will get a feel for the amount of moisture or dry material that I need to add as well as when it needs carbons or nitrogens, but so far, this is nothing bad has happened even with my inexperience.

Before I decided to buy the Worm Factory 360, I was seriously considering the Envirocycle Composter.  It’s a small compost tumbler that can be used in the backyard or on the back porch. If my porch was a little bit larger, I probably would have chosen to go with this tumbler.  In fact if I find that my worms don’t keep up with my food waste, I may buy the Envirocycle next summer and use both. The reviews on Amazon are very strong and the price is comparable to the Worm Factory. It will keep critters out and make compost fairly quickly, which works for me.

I have found worms to be very easy so far, but if you’re not quite up to dealing with a worm composter, this is another nice option for home and urban composters.

Before buying or building a composter, check with your local government to see if they offer a  free compost container to residents.  Many cities and counties have realized that there are financial benefits to getting their residents to compost and offer free or discounted compost bins to encourage participation.

New worm composters will certainly have some concerns about how things are going. I know I do! Here are some of my question and I will update the answers as I discover them.

Q: Is it okay to put food into my worm bins before the worms have arrived.

A: Yes. In fact it’s probably good to have some in there a few days so the microbes that the worms eat can begin feasting.

Q: How do I know if I receive the amount of worms that I ordered?

• Check out this video. I wish I had seen it before I put my worms in the Worm Factory 360.
  

Q: How do I know how much to feed my worms.

• Mostly trial and error. Put a couple of handfulls in to start and wait a few days. Hopefully you will see some worms in the area of the food and some of the food will will no longer be recognizable. However, I will say that I didn’t see many worms at all, even when digging around in the food. I did see what I thought were worm castings in the part of the tray where there was no food. There had been coir all over the bottom of the whole tray and I believe that is what they ate first. I added a couple more handfuls of food waste after three days. Three days after that I was happy to see more worm castings. There was also some mold on the food, but I guess “some” is okay. I added more food, but probably should have waited until they had finished off more of what i had previously added. I think the key is to start paying attention to how much food you’ve added and how long it takes for the food in that part of the bin to become unrecognizable. You should get a feel for how much to add every few days or once a week. If you get a bunch of mold, then you’ve added too much food. That’s when odor can become an issue.

More Q & A will be coming soon!

Kitchen Compost Crock

Although I really like the idea of using a kitchen compost crock like this Norpro Countertop Keeper, we are limited on counter space, so we’ve been using our Rubbermaid leftover container as our kitchen compost bin. So long as there is room, it will stay in the fridge, but at some point, I imagine we’ll have a problem with space in there too. I don’t really think it would stink even if we left put it under the counter because the seal is so tight. I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

I think I’m going to start a special section of this blog called Worm Composting for Beginners for discussing issues that new worm composters may encounter.  In all the research I’ve done, I haven’t found anything that talks in depth about the first days and weeks of having worms and  worm bins in your life. I’m feeling a little insecure about what’s going on in there and could use a little reassurance. Hopefully by documenting my experiences, I can help someone else who is starting out  with vermiculture.

If you weren’t familiar with the Worm Factory, would you really think this was a worm compost bin? Okay, it may not be the best looking piece of patio furniture, but tucked in a corner, it’s not bad. I’ve put the three bins that I am not yet using upside down on top of the Worm Factory 360 (per its design), but you could put them away and reduce the height by several inches if you wanted.

After three days, I can also say that there is no odor or noise coming from the bins! I think there is something going on in there, but as a newbie, I don’t know for sure that everything is as it should be. When I rake the pile a little, I see a few worms moving around, but not too many crawling around in the food waste. I know they came packed in something that could either be worm castings or else something they will surely eat. There was also the coir that came with the Worm Factory and I believe they will eat that, plus there is a lot of shredded newspaper in there. So I don’t know really know if or what they are eating at the moment, but am hoping that we’re on the right track.