Vermicomposting - starting small in a planter box

So you want to start a worm farm for vermicomposting. You wanna go green and save some money on fertilizers. You have read all the blogs and watch all the youtube videos that are either too long and are talking about the same thing. 

So have I, and I am sure some of you have the same questions I had. Who has the best design or idea. if you are observant some designs that we have watch just doesn't cut it. They are not sure what they are doing or they have not thought their designs through.

So I had chanced upon this video that was so impressive, simple and informative.

The best video on Vermicomposting I have seen.

Now came the task of making my own. If you are like me and like anything DIY, then you must have been thinking of a design that would best suit your needs and space available. I have contemplated making it the cheapest way possible and using as much recycled components as possible.

Sure, the video showed using styrofoam boxes, these you can get from your grocers and maybe even fish mongers. You just have to ask them and it is practically free. I have not the time to get seek out these people but I had already been digging for worms. I wanted to test out the application before spending on getting my stock of worms.

Now, I had dug up some worms about 10 to 12 of them from the field next to my house, and placed them in a small deep basin with soil, paper and some veggies. I forgot all about it as the worms did their job. As I opened the container it stunk to high heaven and I thought all the worms had done a harakiri. To my surprise the were FAT and happy. Cool, so now. I have to get cracking at getting them a new home. 

I still have not gotten the styrofoam boxes. I could have modified old plastic container boxes but that would take up so much more time. Time that I did not have. I was in the midst of setting up a small Aquaponics experiment (which will be in an upcoming post). I have to re-pot 30 large Ademiums. All this only on mornings of my weekends.

Then it hit me, I actually had a miniature worm bin. It was all set up and all it needed was to get the worms in. It was a planter box. 

Planter boxes have been designed to be a self watering and good drainage pots.It comes with a plastic mesh to separate moisture and soil. With slight modification it would be ideal for the purpose of vermicomposting.

Here is How I did it. Hopefully it will help you.

If you have this sort of planter box and if you are already familiar with it, you will notice that the plastic mesh at the base has some conical or square protrusions. In normal circumstances, these protrusions are normally placed facing downwards towards the base. When the soil sits in this protrusions it help to drag water up back to soil to keep it moist for the plants.

Now for vermicomposting you do not want to have the Vermicompost tea to be reabsorbed back into the system and making it too moist for the poor little guys. So just flip it over and make them point up like this picture

There is also a little islet in this planter box that allows extra water to run off when you over water it. Plug up the islet. This shall serve as a catchment to save the Vermicompost tea should there be any. This Vermicompost tea is a good source of nutrition for your plants and it can be used as a plant growth booster. Just remember to dilute it wil water. Applying Vermicompost tea without dilution may kill and overpower your poor plants and herbs.

So now comes the rest of the process similar to everyone else. Adding down shredded newspaper bedding for the worms, and putting the worms in. Back to the worms in the basin. Well they have had an extremely moist habitat, kept in a low light area and had plenty of veggies to munch on. The problem was the newspaper bedding initially put into the basin was completely soaked with vermicompost tea. It was so wet and sticky, I thought I had lost all the worms in there. To my great surprise they double in size. Nice, juicy, fat, plump compost makers. 

As I am not familiar as yet with worm species recognition, to me this are just regular garden earthworms I have all over my lawn garden compound. The kinda look like the red wrigglers that we are supposed to use for composting but I  cannot be certain until I get my hands on some proper red wrigglers stock. 

Since the worms are safe and happy, its time to put them to their new home. Spreading this wet mess of compost goodness on the shredded newspaper bedding, I found that it was a very nice size for up to "test" run on vermicomposting. This will allow me the opportunity in the next few weeks and months to observe the actions of composting using worms and also to recognize what is required for a larger scale. 

Now the final steps are to cover up the worms with some nice organic soil and have it ready for fresh kitchen veggie and fruit discards. I won't go into detail of what you can and cannot put into the vermicompost bins as it has been covered extensively in many other sites. But do note, No Dairy stuff, No oily stuff and No Meat products. Oh yes, No Garlic or Onions too. Worms hate the stuff.

I had left the worms to acclimatise into its new habitat and instead of using a plastic cover (which doesn't come with planter boxes. Should you need one you can modify a flat plastic sheet), I used sheets of folded wet newspaper to keep the climate cool. 

This is the final outcome. Add only what you think is enough for the worms to eat. Overloading the planter with too much veggie cuttings will mean that those not eaten quickly enough will actually rot, stink and attract unwanted guests like maggots and flies. When the worms multiply, and they will, you can add more stuff. Should you use more worms the breaking down of kitchen scraps will generally be faster. The main reason I believe this a vermicomposting bin of this size is better for the small gardener is because you will be able to reap the benefits of worm composting sooner than that of those larger models available on the other internet sites. It is also a very convenient size for those living in smaller homes that don't have the luxury of space.

So if you find this information to be helpful, please try it, let me have your feedback and questions. I will try my best to help you find answers. 

Happy Gardening Y'all.

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