I know you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for the second installment of the “Wonderful World of Worms” blog series. Wait no more.
Earthworm Fun Fact: The Giant Gippsland Earthworm is one of the world’s largest earthworms and is restricted to a small area in the Bass River Valley of South Gippsland. It can grow up to 2 meters long! Despite wide publicity in the 100 years since its discovery, very little is known about the worm’s basic biology. It is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a ‘vulnerable’ species. This means that the species may be at risk of becoming extinct if there is continued pressure on the population through habitat destruction and disturbance.
CHECK OUT THIS GIGANTIC AFRICAN WORM being held by Houston Zoo Carnivore Supervisor, Sara Riger on her recent trip to Kenya and Rwanda!
Back to business, worm composting “how to” continued-
THE WORMS:
Brown-nose worms or redworms work best in containers; don’t use night crawlers or other large, soil-burrowing
worms. Composting worms are available from various stores and catalogs that sell garden soils and supplies.
THE MATERIALS:
■ Paper: Paper serves as a “bedding” for the worms to live in. The worms consume it along with the other materials. You can use any kind of paper, but worms will consume newspapers, cardboard, paper towels, and other coarse papers faster than fine printing and writing papers. Avoid coated or “slick” paper.
■ Food Scraps: Almost any fruit, grain, or vegetable material other than oil is good for worm composting. Egg shells, coffee grounds, and tea bags are also fine.
■ Other Materials: Add a little soil or fine sand to provide grit. Leaves and other yard trimmings can be
used as part of the bedding. Livestock manure is excellent food for worms in outdoor containers.
MATERIALS TO AVOID:
■ Cat and dog droppings can spread disease.
■ Meat and other animal products, fish, and oil can produce odors and attract pests.
■ Some colored inks contain toxic metals.
THE CONTAINERS:
You can use wooden boxes, plastic bins, or holes in the ground. A 1-foot by 2-foot by 3-foot box or four 10-gallon
containers are big enough to compost the food scraps from a medium-sized family. Punch 1/8- inch holes in the upper sides for ventilation. Tight-fitting lids help keep pests out of outdoor wooden boxes, but don’t use a lid with a
plastic container unless the container is well ventilated (holes 1 inch apart, or two 2×4-inch holes covered with fine mesh screen). A poorly ventilated plastic container will not let enough air get in and will not let excess moisture get out.
GETTING STARTED:
■ Tear newspaper or cardboard into strips. Dip it in water, and let it drain.
■ Add this paper bedding to a bin until it is 1/3 full. Mix in a little soil or fine sand.Start with a pound of worms
for each pound of food scraps you plan to compost each week. For example, start with 2 pounds of worms if you will
compost 2 pounds of food scraps per week. Unless you start composting more food scraps, you should never need
to add any more worms.
■ Add a 1/2-inch or smaller layer of food scraps on top, mix it lightly into the top 2 inches of bedding, and cover
everything with at least 1 inch of shredded paper. Don’t leave any food scraps at the surface. Wait two days or longer, and then repeat these steps as materials are available.
HARVESTING:
■ When a worm bin is full, scoop out any undigested food scraps and the material that contains
the most worms – usually the top 3 to 4 inches of the material. Use the rest as compost. Put the worm-rich material back into the bin. Mix it with an equal amount of fresh bedding, and cover with 1 inch of shredded paper.
■ To recover more worms from the compost, spread it thinly on a tarp in sunlight, leaving a few small mounds. The worms will gather in mounds as the material dries. Be careful, because the heat and rapid drying can kill them. Another method is to sift the compost gently over a finemesh wire screen and save the worms that don’t go through it.
IN PART THREE OF THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORMS, FIND OUT MORE HELPFUL TIPS ON WORM COMPOSTING AND HOW TO PREVENT PROBLEMS.
Actually, the Gippsland Giant Earthworm can grow to around 4 metres, and it is just the largest of the giant earthworms. In many other parts of Australia there are large worms which can grow to more than 1 metre. The most interesting is the beautiful blue earthworm from tropical Queensland. It is a beautiful electric blue colour (and its slime glows in the dark!!). It grows to around 1 metre. See it here: http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/2008/05/giant_blue_earthworms_and_frie.php