Worm Composting

[Prashun Patel]

Anyone tried this? Anyone make a worm composting bin? Bought one? A greenthumbed co-worker swears by it, and I've got visions of red wrigglers dancing in my head. My wife's gonna kill me for going this route, though, so I gotta know it's gonna be worth the feud.

What say?

[Rod Sheridan]

Shawn, before the city began a composting service we had a worm composting bin.

It worked very well, however once the city provided us with weekly curbside composting, we put the worms in the two big outside composters.

Regards, Rod.

[Josh Reet]

We got a worm composting bin almost 5 years ago as a wedding gift (my wife had wanted one for a while). It has been exactly ZERO trouble. Doesn't smell, doesn't attract flies, doesn't require any upkeep aside from adding some food in for the worms. It's been sitting in the kitchen for the whole time and you would never know that there are worms in there.

I have actually been pretty surprised at the whole thing.

[Mark Patoka]

My wife started one as a classroom project about 4-5 years ago. We just used a large plastic bin with lid, cut some air holes and put screen over them. It's been relatively trouble free. We have it at home now and empty it maybe about twice a year to retrieve the usable castings/compost. Good way to use up kitchen scraps.

There's quite a bit of info online for doing it yourself. Just order your starter set of worms and you're on your way.

[Frank Guerin]

[QUOTE=Josh Reet;1260989]We got a worm composting bin almost 5 years ago "as a wedding gift" (my wife had wanted one for a while). It has been exactly ZERO trouble. Doesn't smell, doesn't attract flies, doesn't require any upkeep aside from adding some food in for the worms. "It's been sitting in the kitchen" for the whole time and you would never know that there are worms in there.


I am printing this out in the event that I ever think about getting married again. If they can't see the beauty in this, it will no doubt be a red flag.

[Jim Becker]

Yes, Professor Dr. SWMBO did worm composting for a number of years...it was the start of our more serious composting efforts which have made for a very rich soil in our veggie garden and beyond. It's absolutely true that it's a "clean" activity as these critters break down the organics fast. We never had a smell. We only stopped because we frankly, wanted to go much larger for our composting. And did.

Oh, we had the round stackable worm composting setup. We still use the base unit in our small off-patio pond to support some plantings and give the fish a safety haven from danger.

[Heather Thompson]

A few months back my husband and I went to Milwaukee Wisconsin to visit Will Allen and his aqua-ponics operation, he uses fish waste to feed his plants. The base material he uses is from worm castings as a base to his plant growth, I've done some research and it has been projected that one square city block 33 stories high can feed 50,000 people (poultry,fish and greens), all solar powered. Fossil fuel will not sustain the worlds food supply overall, I think there is hope for this world.

Heather

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks all for the posts! Lots of awesome info here!

Jim, what are you doing for your 'larger composting'?

I compost heartily - but mainly just grass and leaves and coffee grinds from work.

I used to throw kitchen scraps in the outside pile but it was a pain for SWMBO, and we got fruit flies in the house that she swore were from that effort...

[Jacob Mac]

Could worms break down paper? If I could kick all of my junk mail to the worms, that would be cool.

[Prashun Patel]

They can eat paper, but spam is technically meat, so they can't eat junk mail.