Opening up a can of worms

Opening up a can of worms

Vermiculture ( worm farming) is the compact, odourless system for composting organic household waste to create two forms of rich plant and soil conditioner for the garden. Eating and processing at least their own weight in food daily, worms firstly create vermicasts ( solid matter) that contains five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorus and twelve times more potassium than so-called 'natural' soil. And there's worm liquid, variously called worm "juice", "rum," "wee", "wiz," or "slurry" and is so wonderfully concentrated that it needs diluting 10:1 before spraying on or around your plants.

Worm facts

♦ 10 of the approximately 200 species of worm in NZ are valuable to agriculture

♦ Worms mature in 60-90 days

♦ They are hermaphrodites, (both male and female reproduce) and need to mate every 7-10 days and can produce over 1200 young each year.

♦ They have five contractile hearts

♦ They are light sensitive and cannot tolerate extremes of temperature.

Tiger and Red worms are best or composting and differ from our common garden earthworm.

Tiger worms (Eisenia Foetida) red and yellow striped, or red worms (Lumbricus Rubellus) live naturally closer to the surface in moist decaying vegetation and can be found working the tasty bacteria in cowpats and horse manure.

A wormery is basically a raised construction of several layers of plastic, wood or polystyrene bins (bathtub, sink or tyres, can also be used) filled with differing layers of bedding, soil, compost, aged manure, damp newspaper, ripped egg cartons, and vented to allow good air circulation and drainage. The worms are introduced and fed well-chopped kitchen scraps. A heavy lid keeps them dark and moist and keep unwanted flies or pests out while they work their special magic.

They can eat?

♦ Vegetable peelings and fruit scraps

♦ Bread pasta rice

♦ Tea bags coffee grounds

♦ Vacuum cleaner dust , pet hair

♦ Soaked shredded newspaper, paper towels, cardboard, ripped egg cartons

♦ Aged manure

♦ Crushed eggshells

♦ Chop all these to speed the process.

But not ...

♦ Onion and garlic skins, spicy foods,

♦ Citrus skin (which is too acid) and fresh lawn clippings

♦ Cooked meats fish or oils or dairy products

The process

♦ The important elements of a worm farm are good aeration and correct moisture. Keep covering scraps with fresh damp newspaper but don't overfeed.

♦ Locate the farm where it is protected from extremes of temperatures (worms can tolerate roughly 10 -30 degrees). If it's too hot and dry the worms will die. If too cold, their activity slows dramatically. In this case, cover their home with old carpet or move to a shed or garage.

♦ A handful of lime added periodically will keep pH levels right and reduce acid levels.

There is a huge amount of resource material online for constructing your own inexpensive worm farm with clearly illustrated methods for starting from simple recycled materials to maintaining the wormery. It's surprising how many schools in the Far North already have productive and well-maintained worm projects on the go.

Many commercial worm farms are available from local hardware or garden centres and include the barrel type multi-layered "Can-o-Worms"or rectangular bin "Worm Cafe" retailing from $185 - $200. Worm supply is additional at around $30-40 for 250gms (1000) worms.