Supercharge Your Soil: Worm Castings - Nature's Fertilizer
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Having your own worm bin to harvest fresh worm castings is a great way to take your gardening to the next level.
This article will answer these questions:
What are worm castings? How do I start a worm bin? What can I use worm castings for? What kind of worms should I get?
What are worm castings?
Worm castings are essentially the waste products excreted by the worms after digesting organic matter. These castings are not your average garden compost; they are teeming with beneficial microorganisms and essential nutrients.
You really can't go to the store and buy anything like fresh worm castings. You can buy worm castings, and if you don't have your own, I recommend it, but once the castings are packaged in plastic bags, creating an anaerobic environment, many of the valuable microorganisms have already died.
What are the benefits of fresh worm castings?
When added to your garden soil or potted plants, worm castings provide numerous benefits, such as:
Natural Fertilizer: Worm castings are a potent and natural fertilizer. They contain a balanced blend of essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, ensuring your plants receive the nourishment they need to thrive.
Improved Soil Structure: The rich organic matter in worm castings enhances soil structure, making it lighter and better aerated. This promotes root growth and helps prevent soil compaction, ultimately leading to healthier plants.
Disease Suppression: Worm castings are teeming with beneficial bacteria and enzymes that help suppress plant diseases. They create a hostile environment for harmful pathogens, reducing the risk of common ailments like damping off in seedlings.
How do I start a worm bin?
Keeping your own worms can be easy if you keep it simple, and oh so satisfying! Worms need very little attention; in fact, I have learned they like being left alone. The more I ignore them, the more they multiply.
Water
You need to make sure that they have enough water. Worms can go quite a while without food, but they can't go without water. They will shrivel up and die very fast like the ones you see on the sidewalk after a rain. Poor things.
Shelter
You might not need to go out and buy anything but the worms. For their bedding you can use old potting mix or shredded newspaper. A concrete mixing bin works great to hold them, but you can use anything you have.
Food
It's a good idea to keep a container in your refrigerator for worm food. Coffee grounds, banana peels, tea bags, and veggie scraps are all good choices for worm food. When you fill the container up you can pop it in the freezer if the worms still have enough food in their bin. You don't want to overfeed and attract unwanted insects or make the bin smelly.
How often you feed them depends on how many worms you have. You will get a feel for it. Overfeeding is a common newbie mistake, I would know.
Bury the food on one side of the container. This will keep the flies away and allow the worms to come and go from the food as they please.
Harvest
After a few months it will be time to harvest the worm castings and give the worms fresh bedding. You want to plan on this by not giving them more food when they still have food to work on.
They may need a few weeks without a feeding of solid food. Don't worry, they won't starve.
Its also helpful for sifting to let the bin try out a little bit. Remember, the worms can't handle it completely dry, but if it's too wet you will have trouble sifting them out of the castings.
When it comes time to sift, I like to use this quarter inch sifter.
If you have a large bin you may want to make your own large sifter. But this little one works fine for my purposes. It is impossible to get all the baby worms out. I do my best but some of the little guys slip through and end up in the castings.
What can I use worm castings for?
1. Seed Starting: You can mix them in potting mix for seed starting. Unlike chemical fertilizers that can harm delicate seedlings, worm castings provide gentle, slow-release nutrients that encourage strong, healthy growth.
2. Vegetable Gardens: It is also great to throw a handful of castings in with each of your vegetable plants when it's time to plant them in the ground.
3. Potted Plants: For potted plants, add a few handfuls of worm castings to the potting mix. This will help maintain a nutrient-rich environment for your potted plants, reducing the need to fertilize.
4. Long-Lasting Containers: When you have large containers that you don't want to change out every year, stir in some of your worm castings to recharge the soil. This is what I do in my green stalk tower garden to keep my strawberries going.
What kind of worms should I get?
Choosing the Right Worms for Your Worm Bin
When it comes to starting a worm bin, one of the key decisions you'll need to make is selecting the type of worms to populate it. Not all worms are created equal when it comes to vermicomposting, so let's delve into the primary choices and their requirements.
1. Red Wigglers (Eisenia fetida)
Requirements:
Ideal temperature range: 55-77°F (13-25°C)
Moist, but not waterlogged bedding
High-quality food scraps like fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds, and crushed eggshells
The red wiggler, also known as the red worm or manure worm, is the superstar of the vermicomposting world. They are voracious eaters, capable of consuming their weight in organic matter every day. Red wigglers thrive in shallow bedding, making them perfect for worm bins. They prefer a stable, moderate temperature, so ensure they stay within the specified range.
2. European Nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis)
Requirements:
Tolerate a slightly wider temperature range: 40-80°F (4-27°C)
Deeper bedding due to their larger size
Prefer a diet similar to red wigglers
European nightcrawlers, often referred to as "Euros," are a bit heartier and can handle a broader temperature range compared to red wigglers. Their larger size makes them an excellent choice for those who want to create deeper worm bins. They also consume organic waste and reproduce well under the right conditions.
3. African Nightcrawlers (Eudrilus eugeniae)
Requirements:
A warm, tropical environment with temperatures around 70-85°F (21-29°C)
Moist bedding with good aeration
Consume a variety of organic materials, including more fibrous items.
African nightcrawlers are well-suited to warmer, tropical climates. They are known for their ability to break down tougher, fibrous materials, making them a great choice if you have a lot of kitchen scraps and garden waste to compost. These worms excel in high-temperature conditions and can reproduce rapidly.
Choosing the right worm species for your worm bin largely depends on your location and the specific environmental conditions you can provide. Red wigglers are the most popular choice for indoor worm bins due to their adaptability and voracious appetite, but other species may be more suitable if you have specific needs or live in a particular climate. Regardless of your choice, providing a comfortable environment with the right food and bedding will ensure the success of your vermicomposting journey.
I hope this article encourages you to start a worm bin of your own. It is a very rewarding experience to watch these magnificent creatures work!
