Preparing your worm bin for the winter
Winter is coming, at least in the northern hemisphere, and that means that you need to spend some time thinking about your worm bin. I had a reader (Linda, my future mother in law) as about this.
Now, if your worm bin is inside, the only thing you need to do is make sure it can handle your food waste. If you have been splitting your feeding between an outside and inside worm bin, or an inside bin and a compost pile, then the inside worm bin probably doesn’t have the population to handle all your waste. Up the feeding slowly, and throw some of your food waste away.
If, like me, you have an outside worm bin, then you will want to do a couple of things.
- Clear out some of the vermicompost and castings. This is the perfect time to do so (or, maybe last month was). Your worms have been working hard all summer, and you’ve probably had the chance to give them a lot of food. You might have been so busy enjoying the summer that you let them fill up their bin. I took out about 18 gallons of worm castings and vermicompost (and I’m sure, a few worms and cocoons) from my worm bin, and put it in my garden for next summer. This will open up space for you to feed the worms for the winter.
- Make sure the worms have the ability to ‘go to ground’. If your compost bin is in contact with the ground, the worms can retreat into the ground if the bin starts to get cold. This is good advice for the summer as well. If you have an independent bin, you can bury it in the ground a bit. If you have your worm bins on a balcony, you might want to bring them inside, at least on any nights where it is going to be freezing for a long period of time.
- Make sure you can still feed your worms. Your worms can last for weeks without food, but not months. Also, the composting of the food can provide some warmth to counter balance the cold.
- You can provide them insulation (here’s an example of using straw to insulate against the Canadian winter), but make sure you can get in and feed them at least once every couple of weeks. I insulate them by making sure plenty of leaves are on top of their food. (Fall is also a great time to pick up leaves to provide bedding for your worms all next year.)
That said, I live in Boulder, Colorado, where we have some cold weeks and some warm weeks every winter. (We’re USDA zone 5.) And by warm, I mean ‘above freezing’. If you live in zone 8 or zone 9, you probably don’t have to worry at all. And if you live in zone 1 or 2 and want to keep worms outside, I’d suggest heavy insulation, or moving them to the garage.
1 comment November 5, 2009
I’m now twittering! You can follow me here. For now, it’s just another way to find my blog posts.
Add comment October 31, 2009
Myco-vermicomposting article
The Mad Bioneer, over in Arizona, has a fascinating post on combining vermicomposting with mycoculture, or the raising of mushrooms. I’ve raised mushrooms briefly, but only for food, not for composting purposes. It looks liek worms and mushrooms complement each other, at least when your primary material is wood chips. The mushrooms can break down the wood chips, and the worms can eat what’s broken down, as well as the mycelium (mushroom ‘roots’).
He also shares lessons. He talks about what you can expect in terms of mushroom production:
The worms will reduce the number of mushrooms you get from the wood chips by at least half. I don’t think they can really get into the log to steal from there. They eat the mycelium, weakening the mycelium and reducing its ability to produce mushrooms. So if you are doing it for mushroom production, have more of a two-bin system. Let the mushrooms grow alone on the wood chips first, then let the worms have a crack at it to finish it off. If you try the worms first and then the mycelium, the worms get a lovely snack and you get no mushrooms at all. I tried inoculating a worm bin with some mushroom spawn that I didn’t really have plans for. I came back a few days later to see if it had taken off and it was completely gone. The worms had eaten it.
Watch out for those red wigglers! They eat everything.
And also about what he thinks the soil nutrition content is for the broken down wood chips (not too balanced):
Lately some of my plants in the compost have been kind of pathetic looking. I think it might be due to the nutrient content of the soil. After all, it was made from pure wood chips. I haven’t had a chance to test the soil, but my guess is that it is a little low in nitrogen at least and possibly potassium and phosphorus. I would recommend the addition of a good organic rock-based fertilizer regularly with the various layers of organic matter that you add. The rock-based fertilizer, such as greensand for potassium and rock phosphate for phosphorus, will have more staying power in the soil than the quick-fix type fertilizers. I don’t know of a rock-based source of nitrogen, so I use blood meal. They will also be good for the mushrooms that you get in there, as they are used to breaking down rock for minerals. A little sand or pea gravel in the layers might also be good to help out the soil structure. Of course, ignore this if you are composting in one place and using the compost elsewhere.
This makes sense. The redworms can turn nutrients into different, more accessible forms, but, as I mention in my post about sending my worm castings to a soil lab, the chemical contents of your bin depend on what you put into it. Earthworms aren’t alchemists!
Regardless, this sounds like an adventure in composting. Definitely read the whole article. I also enjoyed one of his other articles about mycorrhizal fungus.
Add comment October 26, 2009
Upcoming composting workshop with John Anderson on Nov 7
From the Broomfield Enterprise:
John “The Worm Man” Anderson, an expert in the art of vermicomposting, will present a workshop on the basics of using worms to compost kitchen and yard waste from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, in the Lakeshore Room of the Broomfield Community Center at 280 Lamar St. Cost: $10. Sponsored by Broomfield master gardeners. Registration required: 720-887-2286.
Here’s all their upcoming events.
Add comment October 19, 2009
Vermicomposting on Wikipedia
I strongly encourage you to visit the Wikipedia page on vermicomposting. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Isn’t that cool? So much information packed into one page.
One of the things I love about worm keeping is that it is such a hands on experience. Are you curious if worms like cabbage? How about carrot tops? Rotten apples? The answer is try it, if you have the room in your bin. This culture of experimentation is prevalent everywhere I look in the worming community.
However, a lot of the knowledge people have is locked up, in mailing lists and on the web. And, if a newcomer looks for advice on the web, they can find all kinds of crazy conflicting advice (yes, I realize I’m adding to the madness).
This is where Wikipedia comes in. It can serve as a jumping off point, with references to other blogs and papers. The Wikipedia article is already the top result for ‘vermicomposting’ on google. But the best part is that you can edit the article yourself. Notice an incorrect fact? See a typo? Found an article that explains an aspect of worm keeping? Have a great picture of your bin? Add it to the article, and keep pushing the knowledge of worm keeping forward.
Note, please be aware that you shouldn’t put links to your own blog posts on Wikipedia; it’s bad form to do so. I did this, until someone else removed them. And that brings up another point–editors and writers on Wikipedia can be a bit brusque, so be prepared with a thick skin. Here’s the Wikipedia manual of style to get your editing started on the correct path.
Add comment October 16, 2009
Available on the Kindle
Now, you can read Boulder Vermicompsting on your Kindle. Please let me know if you do, as I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences.
Add comment October 8, 2009
Worm Bin Components: The container
The container of a worm bin, especially a home worm bin, fulfills a couple of needs.
- keeps worms in a habitat that they enjoy: humid and dark
- keeps worms and other bin inhabitants in
- pleasing to the eye
- durable
- cheap
- light, so you can move it if you need to
I’ve used the following containers for worm bins:
- compost bin
- rubbermaid box
- wooden box
Each of these has benefits and drawbacks.
The compost bin is what I currently use. It is very durable, looks alright, and provides a great environment for the worms. They especially like the fact that they can get into the ground–giving worms more control over their environment leads to happier worms. However, the compost bin is not mobile at all. If I had moles or some other pest, it would not do a great job of preventing that pest from invading the bin (though I did put some chicken wire underneath the bin). This bin was also about $50, and I got a special deal through the county of Boulder. So, not all that cheap.
The rubbermaid bin is cheap, durable, and light. My major issue with it is that I need a lot of rubbermaid bins to process all of my materials. I’ve read of people stacking bins 4 and 5 high, so if you want some concentrated worm power, this may be a container to use. Melanie, a longtime vermicomposter, uses a “10 gallon rubbermaid tote”. And here’s a great pdf from the Boulder Compost Company about making your own worm bin.
The wood box I build was fun. You can build just the size of worm bin you want (mine was 2ftx2ft), and make it look anyway you want. If you make it out of scraps, you can’t get cheaper. However, wood is heavier than plastic and definitely not as durable. The humidity that red wigglers like causes wood to break down. I used my bin for a year or two and saw some wear and tear, though it did not fall apart. I have read that wood bins should be rested every few years to maximize their longevity.
In short, you’re looking for a container that will fit well with your needs. Just getting into worming? Consider a cheap plastic tote. Have a lot of worms–think about a bigger container. Just keep the criteria at the top of this post in mind, and you’ll do fine.
Add comment October 6, 2009
Worm Bin Components: Bedding materials
A key component of the redworm bin system is the bedding. This is the carbon rich environment into which you will place the worms and the food scraps. (This entire post is probably of interest only to the home worm keeper–industrial worm operations have different needs.)
Bedding materials need to have the following qualities:
- carbon rich; if not, then hot composting and ammoniaifcation can occur
- capable of absorbing water; as the worms like to live in a wet environment
- relatively light; for moving the bin around
- cheap; you’ll go through a lot of bedding
I’ve used the following materials successfully:
- shredded paper and newspaper
- shredded cardboard
- leaves
- paper towels
- yard waste (dried grass clippings, etc)
Each of these has their pluses and minuses, but my current favorite is leaves. I typically will find 6-10 bags of leaves on the street in the fall. I gather those up and use them throughout the following summer. For an indoor bin, shredded paper might be better, as leaves introduce other insects and can mat.
Don’t be shy about adding more bedding. Redworms (and their attendant microorganisms) will not only eat your food scraps, they’ll also break down the bedding matter.
Add comment September 27, 2009
Silage as worm food
On the_worm_bin, someone posted about using silage for worm food–does it make sense?
First, what is silage? Silage is a fermented grain, usually (always?) corn, that is often used to feed animals over the winter. The fermentation process preserves the nutrition for longer than fresh corn would keep. However, silage will not keep forever. For more on silage, see these pages (at the top of Google’s search results): Corn Silage, Silage Fermentation and Preservation,
Someone asked: “Has anyone had experience in feeding their worms silage? I have a dairy operator friend that has some slightly spoiled silage that he is willing to allow me to have.”
There were a variety of answers. Someone suggested experimenting, and putting some on a location that the worms could either migrate towards or away from. In general, this is always a good practice when feeding new kinds of food to worms. They’re smart enough to run from what isn’t good, so give them the opportunity to do so! This advice was seconded by another member.
I found some links of interest. Here’s someone using silage, along with manure and hay, and precomposting it first: “RTS began accepting and actively pre-composting approximately five tons of separated dairy manure solids and off-specification dairy-cow feed (hay and corn silage) per day.”
I also made some points about the pH of silage; according to this, it has a pH of 4.3 (although I imagine the pH depends on where the silage is in the fermentation process). Worms like more neutral environments: “Redworms do best if the pH is around 7.0, however, they can tolerate levels from 4.2 to 8.0 or higher. Lime (calcium carbonate) may be mixed with the bedding material to correct acidity or to maintain a more
favorable pH. Pulverized edd shells also correct acidity. (Warning! Use only limestone and never hydrated lime. The wrong kind of lime will kill the worms!)”
Of course, all the links in the world aren’t worth real world experience. Someone else said: “When I use silage as feed for my goats, the upper portion of my silage drums are mostly spoiled and these go direct to my wormbins. I have not had any problem with doing that.”
So, in short, it appears that silage can be a worm feedstock. If you are a home worm keeper, this probably isn’t of much interest to you, because if you were offered silage, it probably would be spoiled and would come by the truckload 
. But if you’re in commercial vermicomposting, perhaps you can find a farmer willing to give you free worm food!
Add comment September 17, 2009
Composting with Red Wiggler workshop in Frisco
Via an article in the Summit Daily News about getting your garden ready for winter (summers are short up in Summit County!), I found out about a vermicomposting workshop happening up there.
If you want to learn more about composting with worms, attend the Conservation Center’s Compost Tea and Vermicomposting Workshop Sept. 16 from 5:30 to 7:30 at our office in Frisco. The workshop is $10 and you can pre-register by calling 668-5703.
The full article has more steps to take as your garden winds down this year. Here in Boulder, we have a few more weeks until our average first frost.
Add comment September 11, 2009
