Worms NOT to use:
Lumbricus terrestris
This is the night crawer. This variety is the most studied of all earthworms and most sold to farmers and gardeners. They are very important for soil improvements and are widely raised for that purpose. They like to tunnel in the soil, sometimes 3 feet deep. They come to the surface foraging for organic matter, which they take into their furrows. They mix sub-soil with their food and deposit their castings on the surface. Their burrows aid in soil aeration and allow for better water penetration. Nightcrawlers have a very important role in our ecosystem but don’t adapt to the shallow worm box environment.
Garden worms:
There are more earthworm varieties that might show up in somebody’s garden. To identify worms you have to count the segments, study their sexual organs and their behavior. It’s best to stay with redworms for your worm box.
The Sex Life of a Redworm
Hermaphroditic:
Redworms have both sexes, but mating is still necessary. If the worm has a swollen band, called the clitellum, at about one third between head and tail, this means that the worm is sexually mature. Redworms mate in their bedding at different levels, sometimes even on the surface. They may mate at any time of the year. They are attracted to each other (maybe for their beautiful body face, or other irresistible qualities.) They find each other and lie with their heads in opposite direction, bodies closely joined. They produce a secretion and secrete this through their clitella, a mucus that forms a band around each of them. Sperm from each worm move down a groove into receiving pouches of the other worm. The sperm enters in a storage sac. Some time after the worms have separated, the clitellum secretes another substance called albumin. This material forms a cocoon in which the eggs are fertilized and baby worms hatch.
Redworm cocoons are round shaped and small. They change color during their development, first white, becoming yellow, later brown. When new worms are ready to emerge, the cocoons are turning red. It takes at least three weeks for the worms to develop in the cocoon. Temperature and other conditions are factors in the development of the hatchlings. Although a cocoon might hold as many as 20 eggs, usually only 3 or 4 worms will emerge. The young hatchlings are whitish with a pink tinge showing their blood vessels.
Population Control
Conditions that determine Redworm population:
If worms have to compete for food, the population will go down. If there is a lot of food available for a time, then worms multiply at a high rate and more young worms then compete with their parents. Then this greater population produces more castings. To solve the problem you can feed them more food, but you might also need a larger box for the greater numbers of worms. It's important to note that castings are toxic to their own species, so it is advisable to harvest the castings regularly.
How many worms to start with?
The number of redworms needed depends on the daily food waste. There is a worm to daily food ratio. The ratio is 2 pounds of earthworms for each pound of food, in short: 2:1.
For example, 1 lb. Worms can eat 3.5 lbs. Food waste per week, or .5 lb. per day.
How many redworms there are in a pound of worms depends on the size of the worms. Commercial growers estimate that there are 1000 breeders (sexually mature) in one pound of worms. A dealer in baits for fishermen expect not more than 600 worms per pound, otherwise his buyers might complain. New hatchlings are very small, and sometimes 150,000 are needed to make one pound. If you order pit-run worms (worms of all sizes and ages) by the pound, you will have lots more worms than if you should order breeders by the pound.
Setting up a Worm System
You need:
A worm box
Bedding
A couple of handfuls of soil or sand
A scale, if you want to know how many pounds of food waste you have.
Moisture. Worms’ bodies & the bedding should have the same amount of moisture content. This amounts to 75% to 90% moisture content.
Water: Bedding ration = 3:1 by weight. Three pounds water to one pound bedding.
If using dry bedding such as shredded paper, newspaper strips or cardboard, you need to wet it. One way is to put the material in a bucket and add water to it, until it is saturated. (That would be about a minute or two.)
Manure bedding:
If using composted manures, it is more difficult to determine moisture. Be careful not to make the manure soggy! If the manure is too soggy, add some dry material to it, such as shredded paper cardboard or leaf mold. The goal is to keep your worm bin under aerobic rather than anaerobic conditions.
Moisture & Temperature:
A few drops of moisture released by squeezing could be a guideline for the right amount. If five or more drops are produced the material is too wet. The ideal temperature for worms is between 55 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Adding worms to bedding:
When bedding is ready for the worms place the worms on top. They will disappear in a short time in the bedding. They don’t like light. By keeping some bright light close by the box the worms will disappear faster in the bedding. If some stay on the surface after some time, assume that they are unhealthy or maybe dead, and remove them.
Food:
Most kitchen waste or table scraps, any vegetables, grapefruits, orange rinds, apple peels, lettuce and cabbage, celery ends, spoiled food from the refrigerator, coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells are all suitable worm meals. (Remember, no meat or dairy products belong in a worm bin.)
Don’t use meat or milk products in the worm bin. Mice and rats could be attracted to the odors!
Also, non-biodegradable materials don’t belong in a worm box.
Cat litter should not be used, either. The odor of cat urine is intolerable to worms, plus the ammonia in the urine could kill the worms! Cats can carry the disease Taxoplasma gondii. This can transfer to humans. For example, a pregnant woman could inhale some of the protozoan and pass the disease on to her fetus, causing birth defects.
Burying kitchen waste:
One way to manage a worm box is to pick a different spot to bury kitchen waste in the box. A 2’x2’ box has approximately nine locations where you can bury wastes. That gives you nine feedings before you have to repeat the cycle.
You need some air circulating in the box, or bad odors could occur.
Worms will usually like the earlier buried food wastes. They like decaying organic wastes best. They do not always wiggle to the newly added fresh food waste. They like the bacteria, fungi, and protozoa to break it down first! Worms help keep the decaying material aerobic and help keep conditions free of odors. They produce castings at the same time.
There are many other techniques for adding kitchen wastes, which vary with owner preference and the type of box or container. Some people may just have worms in a garbage can with holes drilled on the sides for aeration. Some bury this foot deep in the back yard, and worms can come in and out as conditions vary. They just throw the kitchen wastes on the surface. (Make sure you have a tight lid that is racoon proof!) They may add some materials such as sand, soil or peat moss on top. Just be sure not to fill it too high with food and bedding, or it will pack down and may become anerobic. Whatever works for the specific situation is fine—provided there are no odors or other problems.
Grind food waste?
Grinding food waste is extra work. These kitchen wastes break down in a very short time. Eggshells should be pulverized. Although redworms have very tiny mouths, and ground food would be easier for them, we want them to help us with kitchen waste! Too much time and energy spent preparing their food can be discouraging.
Overloading the system
The size of box and amount of worms are deciding factors for how much food should be put in the box. Remember the 2:1 ratio for worms. Two pounds of worms is needed for one pound of food per 24 hours. The surface area of the box should be 7 square feet if 7 pounds of waste in one week is consumed.
If too much kitchen waste is produced on certain occasions, the wastes could be temporarily stored in another container for use later. An overloaded worm box can become anaerobic, and stinky! If that happens, don’t add any fresh kitchen waste. If you leave it alone for a while, the situation will correct itself.
Observe the worms
The less you disturb worms, the better off they are. However, you should make regular observations to know what is going on in the box. The best time to do this is at feeding time. Is the bedding still moist? Is the temperature inside the box between 55-77 degrees? Sometimes you find many worms at one spot in a feeding frenzy. Note what they like and don’t like. Look for worm eggs and baby worms. Are there any mating worms? Worms usually fascinate children. It is a good science project for children. However, point out to the children that the worms don’t like to be too much or too often disturbed. They can’t tolerate bright light. A red light could be practical for observations of the worms.
Different foods for different worms
Younger worms often are all congregated by a certain food item. Older worms sometimes are feeding on another. Older worms love to fill up the inside from halved grapefruits or oranges.
Harvesting castings and changing bedding
