Discussion about entry: Women, Wisdom & Worms

Hi Annie! Excellent question...
In order to have a successful vermicomposting system worms need a few basic things: a stable habitat (aka good bedding)that includes room to breath and enough moisture so worms don't dry out; food scrapes that may range from fruits, vegetables, coffee grounds/tea leaves to eggs shells and moldy bread; and lastly tempreatures they can tolerate.

The basic rule of thumb is that worms don't like it to be too cold (as in frosty weather) or too hot (sizzling tropical heat). The ideal climate for worms and the compositing process is around 20°C (68°F), but they are happy within a 15-25°C (59-77°F) range. Climate conditions that reach above 35°C (95°F) would inspire worms to escape the composting system and/or die, for this reason a worm bin should never be in direct sunlight.

Vermicompositing systems have been successfully set up and studied in regions all around the world. In general, moisture content will need to be regulated with greater care in regions with higher temperatures, and indoor systems may be more appropriate for regions that are steadily below 10°C (50°F) outdoors. Overall, worms are very resilient and different species of composting worms may be more suitable for particular climates than others. Since the Women, Wisdom & Worms project occurs in Guatemala we use Red Wiggler Worms (Eisenia foetida)that thrive in this climate and are readily available.

I hope this answers your question Annie, and please let me know if there is any other information I can provide!

Hi Deborah, thanks for your question! I hope the following information provides some answers:

Worm composting is similar to regular composting but through the addition of worms, the process is sped up and enriched. Using a container made of plastic, metal or wood simple bedding is set up. This can consist of various materials including shredded newspaper and/or cardboard, leaves, and crushed eggshells. Once the bedding is ready, the worms can be placed in the bin along with food scrapes that are buried within the bedding. The amount of food and where you place the food scrapes in the bins will depend on the style of vermicompost set-up you use.[*see below for descriptions of bin categories]. The worms will then move about the container eating their hearts delight, worms can eat more than half their weight in food each day! The food scrapes, coffee grounds and tea leaves digested by the worms then produce nutrient-rich manure, or castings. As the months pass the bedding begins to decompose. This decomposition combined with the worm castings produces vermicompost. This compost can then be removed from the bin (and the worms) and placed directly in the garden or house plants.

The harvesting of castings may occur every three to four months when all the food is eaten and you have the desired consistency of the fertilizer. You can ease this process for you and the worms but shining a light (or letting in the sunlight) into the bin. Worms don’t like light, so they will dive down deeper into the bedding giving you a chance to remove the top layer worm-free. The more you take off, the lower the worms will dive. Doing this in a cone shape allows the worms to always have bedding to crawl into. Then, once you harvest the castings, the worms can be placed in fresh bedding and the process begins again. In regard to your question about a cache basin, the entire system is set up on bricks or blocks and a tray or basin is set underneath to catch any excess moisture. Any liquid that is collected may be recycled back into the vermicompost or directly into plants or gardens.

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Types of bins:

*A common vermicomposting system for small homes or families is known as a non-continuous bin. It is a one bin system that is very basic and easy to set up simply adding some bedding, worms and food and then emptying the bin when its time for harvest. Another method with this bin is separating the box into four sections. Each time you feed the bin you place the scrapes in a different section so that when you “harvest” (or collect the fertilizer) you have a rotation system in the set-up.

*Another set-up, and the one AIDG uses in Guatemala, is the continuous vertical flow bin (or vertical migration worm bin). This is a stack of bins set one on top of the other (there is a photo attachment to this entry that shows this set-up). The bottom bin is used first; with bedding, worms and food scrapes. When it is time for harvesting, instead of removing the harvest a layer of bedding is added to the top and food scrapes are placed in the second or middle bin. This encourages the worms to migrate from the bottom bin to the second bin – as they seek more food to eat - making it easier to collect the harvest on the bottom bin since it will be virtually worm-free. You can use any many bins as you’d like or when one is finished, simply rotate it to the top of the stack to await the worm migration.

*The third set-up is called a continuous horizontal flow and functions like the vertical flow bin but the bins are set up side-by-side.

A vermicompost system can be set-up to compost a lot of food (big system, lots of worms) or a bit of food (smaller system, less worms), naturally this will also effect how much fertilizer is produced. In general, a worm bin should be one square foot for each pound of food waste a family disposes per week. So if a family produces 6 pounds, a good bin size would be 3¹ x 3¹. Additionally, for every pound of food leftover daily, it is widely suggested to use 2 pounds of worms (each pound of worms equals about 1,000 worms). If it is not possible to start with this many worms, an alternative option is to start with less food scrapes and increase the quantity as your worm population grows. Worm populations will double approximately every 3 months.

I hope this information covered your questions, if not I am happy to provide more information.

All the best,
Dorit

Hi Yet,
Thanks for checking out this entry and I'm looking forward to working with you and the cooperatives you work with. We are in the process of translating the materials into Quiche so that we may serve our non-Spanish speakers as well. I'll keep you updated as we begin the sessions and we can set up a date to meet! :)

Saludos,
Dorit