I don't own a digicam and so I took the opportunity to take some photos of my vermi-worm composter when someone lent me one. How fantastic!
Vermi-worms are great-- they compost household waste that would otherwise go to a landfill site (since many apartment complexes, small businesses and householders aren't able to compost in their cities due to a lack of facilities and/or some pretty strange rules about who gets pick-up at their home/office). They're also great if you're a gardener and in the business for some sweet sweet castings to make those veggies grow super fast! Ooooh baby!
Vermi-worm composters are simple to make and your worms will eat a ton of stuff: fruits and veggies and their peelings, tea bags (remove the staples if they're those single serving bags!), cooked pasta, cooked rice, leaves and/or grass and plant clippings, manure (though I'll bet for most this is in short supply), coffee grounds and unbleached coffee filters, crushed eggshells, hair clippings (anyone trimming their own 'do at home? Put 'er right in!), sawdust from untreated wood, brown paper towels (the white ones are bleached and bad for the world), breads, cereals, generic grain products of your choice (including crackers), beans of all sorts, paper.
Things to avoid: meat products, dairy products (aside from egg shells), chilies and other spicy products, sauces (it's too hard to tell what goes into these things if they're from a bottle and they might end up making your vermi worms sick), pet waste, glossy paper.
Steps to Making Your Very Own Vermi-Worm Composter
Your first step is to make a hospitable home for them. For this you will need two large rubbermade (or generic brand) storage bins. One will serve as a home for your worms and the other will serve as the "catch bin". Worms tend to create a bit of liquid when they're eating your food stuffs, plus they like things damp in the first place, and so you're going to need some ventilation. That liquid shouldn't sit in your worms' home-- it will drip into the catch bin.
Your first step, then, is to drill at least 15-20 holes in the bottom of one of your bins. This bin will serve as their home and will allow that water to drip through into your "catch bin". In each side of your "catch bin" you're going to want to cut two large-ish holes for ventilation. An unventilated compost leads to some odour problems that are less than pleasant. Once you have drilled the holes in the bottom of the home bin and the side of the catch bin, fit the home bin into the catch bin.
The next step is to drill holes in one of the covers. Decomposition requires air, air air! Drill approximately 15-20 holes in the cover. Don't make them too big! You wouldn't want vermi worms to crawl out! This cover will be secured to the top bin, to keep the worms inside.
The next step is to make the worm bedding. For this you will need a substantial amount of shredded paper (not glossy). Just take some paper and rip it into sections-- nothing too nerve wracking! You will also need about 1 litre of black earth and 2-3 litres of water. It's also nice to add some egg shells if you've got them.
Add the paper to the bottom of your bin. Next, add water and soil (and eggshells if you have them). Add more paper and stir the mixture. Vermi worms require a moist bedding and a 25:1 carbon: nitrogen ratio (carbon is mostly "brown stuff" like paper and nitrogen is mostly "green stuff", kitchen waste such as celery!). Make sure there is lots of paper in there!
Once you've mixed in paper, soil, eggshells it is time to add the worms. Do this under direct light. They dislike light and so when they're placed in their new home under direct light they will be forced to crawl deep into the soil. Wait a day and then start adding food scraps!
Look at 'em digging their way out of the light!:
Feeding Your Worms
You should feed your worms approximately 1-2 times a week as they do not like to be disturbed. Do not overfeed them. If you find that your waste is not being consumed in this time, cut back until they've had time to reproduce. If you add more coffee grounds, I find they reproduce quickly! Whoopee!
Cut your food waste into small pieces. Shift aside some soil and bury the food. Make sure it is covered. If you can't seem to cover it, add more paper. Fruit flies will develop if you don't make sure you cover the food. Plus things will start to smell. If you keep things buried, the worms will do the work of keeping smells at bay. A well-functioning compost should have little to no odour.
This is what it shouldn't look like (see how you can see the food?):
If it looks like that, do this in order to hide the food:
Keep your composter in a cool, dark place. Worms aren't a fan of the heat and they really hate the light. Keep things cool and dark or they tend to die. . . 15-20 degree Celsius seems best.
Harvesting the Compost
Harvesting should be done every 4-6 months.
For a few weeks before harvest begin feeding your worms on one side of the bin. Bury your food on one side and worms will be forced to migrate to that side, leaving only castings on the other side. Remove the castings that remain on the worm-less side and then replace with new bedding (paper, soil etc). Repeat the process on the other side (bury food in the new bedding), forcing the worms to migrate into the new bedding. After they have settled in the new bedding (about a week or so, resume feeding as usual).
Have fun! They're awesome! I've got tons-- so let me know if you need some worms to get yourself started.
