Worm Factory
I love our little squiggies! Tim got me a Worm Factory for my birthday in October and I’m just getting around to writing about them because I wanted to see how it all worked first. I know lots of ladies at the October camp out told him it wasn’t a very romantic gift, but I LOVE IT!! It was easy to set up and it even came with a reference to find worms.
It’s basically a tower of plastic trays that have holes in the bottom. You place one tray on the stand and fill it with some moist bedding material. The bedding consists of some compost or loose soil, dried leaves, shredded paper and cardboard, and it came with some coir although you can substitute that with other fibrous material. The bedding should be wet enough that when you squeeze a handful of it you just barely see water droplets. Too wet and the worms can drown! You fill the tray about half full with the bedding and then you tuck a handful of food scraps into one corner of the bedding. You can ;)
feed the worms all types of scraps – even coffee filters and laundry lint! You just need to make sure that if you use real green material like fresh plants from the garden that it doesn’t compost in the bin and heat up making it too hot of an environment for the worms. The final step is to cover the entire surface area of the tray with 3-4 sheets of damp newspaper.
I had the bedding tray prepared the day before the worms were to arrive. The worms came through the mail in a cardboard box of similar bedding. I put them in the tray and covered them back up with the newspaper. I wasn’t supposed to check on them for 3 days so that they could get adjusted, but I must admit that I sneaked a peek! They were busy working their way down through the bedding and into the food corner. All was good!
I have had the worm factory going for almost two months now. The only chores are to give them another handful of food everynow and then and to make sure the environment is at the right moisture level. The booklet that came with the factory said that it could take up to 3 months for your factory to really get cranking and so I patiently wait. So far, they seem really healthy and comfortable but they just don’t eat as much as I thought they would. Maybe they need these first few months to reproduce and populate more? Anyway, once they really start working, then they should fill this first tray up with good compost and castings. Once full, I will just add another tray on top and put in some more bedding and food. The worms should work their way up to the fresh level leaving the bottom level full of black gold for the garden. I love peeking in at them and talking to them about their work. Everyone needs a pep talk now and then. The only thing is that worms hate light so when I take the cover off they all quickly tunnel out of sight.
Worms can be a great way to get rid of some of your scraps and also make wonderful nutrients for your garden. I can’t wait to see the effects as the factory grows!
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