Everyone should have a worm farm, even if you think you haven’t got room, I bet you can squeeze one in, and you will be contributing towards a greener future so go for it.
Worm Farms are great for the environment, helping to reduce the methane produced by the natural breakdown of food waste. Worms eat the waste, transforming it into worm castings. The worm castings are a highly nutrient rich fertilizer that is good for plants and vegetables, in turn reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
It was the green aspect of worm farms that first got me interested in them so this topic is an interesting one for me. Let’s find out more about how worm farms are doing their bit towards saving the planet, and why having a wormery in your home is a win win situation.
How Does A Wormery Work To Create The Fertilizer?
A wormery is a simple setup but is fascinating in my opinion. You house worms in a tray stack system, providing them initially with bedding and a small amount of bought ‘worm food’ to get them settled into their new home. After a couple of days you start introducing food into the worm farm by placing small handfuls of food waste into the corners of the tray. The worms will discover the waste and start chomping.
When you notice the first lot of waste has been eaten, or nearly eaten, you can add more, and as you do so you add a little food more each time. Repeating this process will mean in time you will have the entire tray covered with waste and the worms are feeding through it regularly.
You do have to be careful with over feeding which is why introducing the food and building it up is the recommended method.
The worms eat the food, digest it and pass it out the other end. Once the food has made it through to the exit you call it a worm casting. So worm castings are in essence worm poop and are shaped like tiny cacoons. The castings are rich in nutrients and anti microbes and eventually fill the tray. When the level is near the top you add another tray, the worms will migrate into this top level leaving the bottom one full of the newly made compost, known as vermicompost.
Why Is Vermicompost So Green
The worm castings have been created by the breakdown of food in the worms digestive tract and are known to be very high in nutrients. According to an article I found on the web from Griffith University in Australia, you will find the following types of chemicals and quantities in vermicompost:
Nutrients Found In Vermicompost
- Nitrogen 2 – 3 %
- Potassium 1.85 – 2.25 %
- Phosphorus 1.55 – 2.25 %
- Microbes
- Micronutrients
- Macro Nutrients
- Plant Growth Hormones
- Plant Enzymes
Benefits of using Vermicompost
- Organic
- Aerates Soil
- Provides Protection Against Disease
- Provides Protection Against Pests
- Promotes Plant Growth
- Improves Water Retention
- Helps Restore Soils Natural Fertility
The use of vermicompost over chemically made fertilizers has big impacts on the environment. One of the main reasons is chemical fertilizers are made using petroleum and we all know the environmental impact of this fossil fuel.
Not only that but vermicompost provides more than the man made stuff anyway. For example the level of Nitrogen found in vermicompost is upto 38% more than that found in a chemical fertilizer. Likewise phosphorus is up around 72% and Azotobacter, a bacteria which is found in the soil, is up over 1000% using vermicompost.
It’s True, Size doesn’t matter! How Much Compost Does A Wormery Produce?
When looking at the size to output ratio, worms must be in poll position compared to most other living things on the planet. They eat waste every day without a day off, and in doing so, consume as much as their own body weight in food waste on a daily basis, depending on the type of composting worm they are. The night crawler will eat upto half their own weight and the tiger worm will happily equal their weight in waste food consumption every day.
The main diet for the worms in our wormery, is the food waste we produce, and they can devour a decent amount and subsequently churn out some good amounts of compost. Depending on where you decide to look up this fact, the answer can vary pretty dramatically, but there are also quite a few different variables to consider. Time of year and how old the worm population is both play a part in the calculation. But indeed every worm farm will be different.
The figures I lean towards the most are those published by WormCity. They state that for every 75 kilos of waste the worms will produce 2-3 kilos of compost per week. The amount my wormery is producing is quite close to this figure and has been consistent which is why I go with it.
As you establish a wormery you will have the option of increasing the output by adding more setups. Worms reproduce quickly as well so you can easily build up your stock and divide into another housing if you wish. You can gauge how big and how many setups your house would need to use up all of your household food waste and find your optimum level.
Greener Quicker – Speedy Composting
Another big advantage of a wormery is the speed these little guys work. Although quantities are a lot smaller compared to say a composter bin for garden waste, if you compare the production rate the worms win hands down.
Believe it or not it can take upto 2 years for your compost bin to give you the end result. Obviously what you add will make a big difference and i’m not saying you cant cut that down a fair bit.
Your worm farm will start churning out vermicompost within around 3 months. So you could have 8 yields within the same time as the composter finishes. Add a second unit in and you could be creating some serious worm poo.
Want To Go Even Greener And Own A Pet? – Dog Poo Wormeries
Take your worm farm to the next level of greenliness. Having a dog poo wormery has become quite popular over recent years but it’s serious business. Disposing of dog poo in this way is very environmentally friendly, I mean where we live we have dog poo bins, but why not just make it a wormery you drop it into?
The compost made in this way does have to be used in the correct way though. You can’t be digging it into your veggie plot as it will be harmful to human health and advisable to be kept away from child play area. It is great for plants and garden shrubs though.
In 2011, Earth Essentials had their first appearance at Cruffs, the worlds biggest dog show. They took with them one of the first dog poo wormeries in the UK and uses a modified wheelie bin as the container. You can see them here on amazon.
It is not just dog poo you can use them for, you can add many types of pet poo, and as many households have pets what a great and easy way to do something green.
I shall be writing a dog poo wormery guide in the coming months, so when it’s ready i’ll drop a link should you be interested in creating one.