What is vermicomposting?
Composting is a natural process whereby organic material, such as kitchen scraps and yard waste, decomposes into a dark nutrient-rich soil amendment called humus. Vermicomposting is simply composting with worms. The use of worms speeds up the process of decomposition to produce a richer end product, and also allows the process to occur indoors, making it an ideal system for apartment-dwellers. It’s true that earthworms aren’t pets for the squeamish, but they are great little composters! If you have considered composting, but live in an apartment, or fear tramping through your backyard in blizzard-like conditions, then vermicomposting is for you! To produce proper compost, you will want to use the kind of worms commonly known as Red Wrigglers, and not ordinary field worms from someone’s garden. Red Wrigglers normally live in barnyard manure piles, and feed on fresh organic material. Field worms are better at digesting things that are already well decomposed and aren’t likely to survive
Vermicomposting is simply composting using specialized worms to speed up the process of decomposition. The worms make a big difference. Most people would not believe how fast they can eat garbage, waste, scraps, etc. It is a fast-developing way of controlling waste and has been the center of a three-year science experiment for us. We have experimented with many aspects of vermicomposting, including different materials that may be composted, different ways to speed up the process of vermicomposting, and the reproduction rate of worms in vermicomposting bins. Besides being a very easy and reliable way of disposing of common household materials, vermicomposting is also a lot of fun. How to Get Started Maintenance Odor Problems?
Why use worms? Known also as worm compost, vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, vermicompost is similar to plain compost, except that it uses worms in addition to microbes and bacteria to turn organic waste into a nutrient-rich fertilizer. Vermicompost, or vermiculture, most often uses two species of worms: Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida) or Red Earthworms (Lumbricus rubellus) rarely found in soil and are adapted to the special conditions in rotting vegetation, compost and manure piles. How does vermicomposting work? It works like this: after procuring a container and setting it up (more on that in a sec), feed your worms the same organic waste you’d toss in a compost pile — which includes just about all of your food waste, save the animal leftovers — and let them have at it. They chew on it for awhile, and when they’re all done eating, they poop (hey, everybody does it) and there you go: vermicompost.
