The Benefits of Worm Composting & How Do You Get Started

The Rusted Garden Seed and Garden Shop

The Benefits of Worm Composting & How Do You Get Started

Worm composting is a method used for composting down kitchen vegetable scraps and other garden materials. Instead of piling up the organic waste, and letting it breakdown over time, as is typically done to make compost... we use red wiggler worms in a container.  Red wigglers are different than earthworms in habit, appetite and reproduction. Composting worms live around the surface of the compost bedding and digest new organic matter. They have a huge appetite and reproduce quickly, matching their population to the amount of food and space available to them. 

The Rusted Garden Homestead  - Feeding Worm Composting Worms

Your composting worms will create worm castings from what they excrete after digestion. I like to call that "the end product of Nature." They also excrete liquid, which is often overlooked, that can be collected with many, but not all, worm composting systems and I like to call that "liquid gold." Castings and liquid is what a worm composting system creates for you to use in your gardens. 

The Rusted Garden Homestead - Red Wigglers Eating Kitchen Scraps

To get started you need to purchase or make a worm composting bin. There are many different kinds of bins to purchase. I use and recommend the Hungry Bins worm composting system. I chose it because of the simple set up, the easy collection of materials and the use of a continuous flow system for feeding the worms and harvesting the castings and liquid. The latter means I dont have to move containers or shelving around to collect castings and manage the bin. I like putting the food in at the top and collecting a castings brick from the bottom. Whatever system you chose, the basic set up and benefits to your garden are pretty much the same.

Once you have your worm composting bin, this is how I recommend setting it up but you will have to adjust it, based on the type of system you are using. All bins need bedding material for worms. You can use potting mix, peat moss, coco coir, compost and even shredded paper.  The bedding material should be loose and hold moisture. I use 'Leaf Gro' which is local to my area and is essentially composted leaves. I recommend using quality compost or 'Leaf Gro' for the bedding material. The others work. I feel my suggested materials edge out the others. 

In the Hungry Bin system, to get started, you fill it 3/4 the way up with the bedding material. I purchased 2000 red wigglers and added them to the top of the bedding. Your bedding material should be moist but not soaking wet. If it seems dry to you, add some water several days before introducing the worm and let it absorb through the bedding materials. Damp bedding material is the goal.

The Rusted Garden Homestead - 'Liquid Gold' from Composting Worms

Composting worms do not want rotted organic matter. It should be fresh. You should also give the worms all they can eat but not so much it rots and begins to smell. In the video below, I talk about how the liquid and bedding have no odor at all. If your bedding is to compact or wet, it might cause an anaerobic state with odor. You dont want that. Rotting food will attract other insects.  

In the Hungry Bin system, once up and going for 4-5 months, the worms can eat 2-4 pounds of food daily. That total can be a combination of kitchen scraps and garden waste. The worms will increase or decrease in population based on the available food. You dont have to have pounds of scraps available daily. When the worms are first established, start with 1/2-1 pound of food, based on the number of worms in your bin. Slowly increase that over time. Your composting worms will adjust to the amount of food you feed them over the week.

Your compost worms can eat most organic matter. It is recommend not to feed them citrus fruits as the oils can irritate them.  Onions and garlic are also on the list but I do feed mine onions. They eat it without issue. An established worm composting system can take several pounds of organic matter daily.

Your bin, once set up, should be placed in a completely shady area. If not, the heat of the summer sun will bake and kill your composting worms. My bin, in the video, sits in full shade. We get high 90 degree temperatures with high humidity. The red wigglers managed just fine and really took off in August. It is a good idea to put some burlap or cardboard over the food, if you need to manage moisture in the bedding. If your bin is going to freeze in the winter, it will kill off the worms but the eggs are insulated and survive. They will repopulate the bin with worms as the seasons change. I recommend putting your bin in a garage or a basement. My outdoor basement holds temperatures above 40 degrees.

The Rusted Garden Homestead - Worm Composting Bin

Worm composting systems vary on when the first castings will be available. The Hungry Bin takes about 4-5 months before rendering the first brick of worm castings and that is because it is continuous flow system. The casting will work their way from the top to the bottom of the bin over time. Once the cycle is establish, you can get a brick of casting every 6-8 weeks depending on the worm activity and amount of organic matter processed. The liquid is collected in a tray that sits below the system I use. The liquid starts dripping regularly about 2 months into the process. You can see all I collected over a month in the video. Realistically, you can get about 1/2 gallon a week based on humidity, amount of worms, and the amount of organic matter processed. I'll be doing future articles on how to use the castings and liquid.

Now, when I said castings are the end product of Nature, it meant the worm castings have everything Nature intended for your garden plants to thrive. You are collecting what Nature has created since the beginning for plants to grow. For perspective, chemical fertilizers may have a nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium rating of 24-12-12. And organic granular types may have an N-P-K percentage of 5-4-3. We are accustomed to thinking bigger numbers are better. That is not true for garden plants. What holds true for them is a consistent supply of the things they need to thrive. What they need is more than just N, P and K. Compost, the other gold standard, has a rating well below 1-1-1.

The Rusted Garden Homestead - Keep Your Worm Bin in the Shade

Worm castings supply the major macro-nutrients of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P) and Potassium (K) to your plants. They supply the minor macro-nutrients of Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg) and Sulfur (S). They supply micro-nutrients and trace elements. They are pH neutral and help adjust the pH level in your soil. They contain growth hormones (humic acid) and healthy microbiology for plant growth and soil development. The key is regular use of the castings and liquid. I use castings to set up my container soil and in the planting hole for my garden transplants. I use the liquid, diluted 50% with water, as a regular feeding to my container plants when available.

There is a lot of research, if you want to do a search, that show castings help with managing diseases and pests. They help increase seed germination rate, plant growth, flowering, and production. There is good research that shows the worms have an enzyme (chitinase) that breaks down the exoskeleton of insects for digestion. These enzymes, which are present in the castings, my deter beetles and other insects. Now... this is not a 1 use cure all. These benefits come from regular use and presence of castings in the soil. The old adage that a healthy plant fights off diseases and pests better is true when the soil holds what it needs.  Worm castings will bring that to your plants. 

Good Luck in Your Gardens,

Gary (TRG)

Here are some links to learn about the technical  benefits of worm castings and worm liquid:

Vermicompost a Living Soil Amendment (Cornell University)

About Worm Castings (University of California)

Using Worm Casting for Insect Repellent (Chitinase) (OptiGrow Group)

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