Introduction to Composting Worms

What are Composting Worms

Composting worms, also known as vermiculture, are specific species of earthworms that are very quick at breaking down organic waste materials into nutrient-rich compost through the process of decomposition. These worms have unique characteristics that make them highly efficient at converting organic matter into valuable soil amendments. Worms are predators consume raw food waste or partially decomposed organic matter and produce from their “poop” valuable vermicompost rich in nutrients that fertilizers cannot provide, and therefore are called regenerative amendments for dead soil. You need worms, or vermicompost, or vermicompost tea if you have not been successful growing plants and vegetables in your garden. tildeWorms can help you with the supply of these products and support you along the way how to use worm products successfully.

Types of Composting Worms

There are several types of composting worms, but the two most common species used for vermicomposting are Eisenia fetida (otherwise known as Red Wigglers) and Eudrilus Eugeniae (African Night Crawler). Both species have voracious appetites and thrive in decomposing organic matter. African Night Crawler (ANC) can compost waste faster producing more worm compost. However, Red Wigglers have the capacity to produce faster and with a larger decomposing worm quantity will be just as equivalent as the ANC. As time passess choosing Red Wigglers as your composter will produce more worm population for your whole garden.

Importance of Composting Worms

Composting worms play a vital role in nature’s recycling process. They accelerate the decomposition of organic waste and facilitate nutrient cycling, ensuring the conversion of waste materials into nutrient-rich compost. Their activities help maintain soil fertility, improve soil structure, and contribute to overall ecosystem health. The enzymes produced by worms are not synthetically reproducible by fertilizers. Additionally, the results on vermicompost use, as shown by other worm gardeners, prove that vermicompost is a substitute for fertilizers.

Benefits of Composting Worms for a Household

Waste Reduction and Recycling

Composting worms enable households to divert a significant portion of their organic waste (leftovber food) going to landfills. By composting kitchen scraps, yard trimmings, and other biodegradable materials, families can reduce their waste volume, minimize landfill impact, and contribute to a more sustainable environment. Landfills passively composting organic waste produce large amounts of methane gas harmful to the environment. California mandated laws (SB1383) requiring large food superstores to divert their expired food products to organic waste processing facilities to separate non-organic (plastic) from organic materials. The law also suggests that household make the habit of throwing their leftover food waste or organic materials to be collected by local neighborhood processors.

Nutrient-rich Compost Production

One of the primary benefits of composting worms is their ability to transform organic waste into nutrient-dense compost known as vermicastings. This vermicompost is rich in essential plant nutrients, beneficial microorganisms, and humus, enhancing soil fertility and promoting healthy plant growth. Fungus, bacteria, and nematodes present on vermicompost completes the microbiology life of soil. When applied to your plant roots, it promotes healthy growth free of pests.

Odor Control

By composting organic waste with worms, households can minimize unpleasant odors that often arise from decomposing materials. Worms accelerate the decomposition process and maintain aerobic conditions, preventing the release of foul-smelling gases. Worms do this by tilling the bedding they live onto, creating burrows that allow oxygen to seep through preventing anaerobic conditions. This constant aeration becomes a rich biology for other microbial organism to thrive.

Cost Savings

Composting worms provide an economical solution for producing high-quality compost. Instead of purchasing commercial fertilizers or soil amendments, households can generate their own nutrient-rich compost using kitchen scraps and other organic waste, saving money on gardening supplies. On the average, household produce 8.7% of food waste compared to what was actually consumed. With vermicomposting the food wasted still has value to the household. It can actually produce more food again for future consumption. Nothing is wasted with vermicomposting.

Educational Opportunities

Keeping composting worms at home offers educational benefits, particularly for children. It allows for hands-on learning about the natural cycle of decomposition, soil ecology, and the importance of waste reduction. It also fosters environmental stewardship and promotes sustainable practices within the household. The major problem with our industrial process of growing food is the irresponsible extraction of soil nutrients. If we teach our children now of grass roots knowledge of soil biology then they themselves will take care of their world in the years to come. However, it is our responsibility, we, the adults, to start the movement of introducing the importance of soil biology to them.

Benefits of Composting Worms for the Whole World

Reduction of Landfill Waste

The widespread adoption of vermicomposting can significantly reduce the amount of organic waste sent to landfills. By diverting organic materials through worm composting, less waste needs to be transported, treated, and disposed of in landfill sites, reducing environmental impact and conserving landfill space. America has a big landfill problem. China stopped accepting plastic waste from any country. If organic materials are not separated from non-organics then it will definitely not be sorted in landfills, producing methane, a green house gas much more harmful than carbon dioxide. Separation starts from the source of the leftover organics – the household and the grocery store.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction

When organic waste decomposes in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. Composting worms accelerate decomposition, promoting aerobic conditions that minimize methane emissions. By utilizing vermicomposting, we can mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming. In landfills, compostin uses anaerobic processes (covering the whole area with tarps to prevent oxygen from entering the landfill volume), producing methane and plainly released to the atmosphere.

Conservation of Resources

Composting worms facilitate the recycling of valuable resources present in organic waste. By converting this waste into nutrient-rich compost, we can close the nutrient loop and minimize the need for synthetic fertilizers. Additionally, vermicompost enhances soil structure, reducing erosion and promoting water conservation. Reducing the use of synthetic fertilizers also reduces the extraction of natural gas from the ground. It is not necessary to use natural gas, which is a carbon-positive process, if vermicompost is easily producible from the huge amount of organic waste we have.

Soil Health Improvement

Worm castings from vermicomposting contain beneficial microorganisms, enzymes, and organic matter that enhance soil health. The addition of vermicompost improves soil structure, water-holding capacity, nutrient availability, and overall soil fertility, leading to healthier plants and increased crop yields. A seedling can grow bigger and faster on a pot amended with vermicompost. We have to give back what we take from soil. If we want food grown from soil, then we have to give back to it; all we need to do is compost the leftover back.

Biodiversity Promotion

Composting worms contribute to biodiversity by supporting diverse soil ecosystems. They improve soil conditions for beneficial microorganisms, fungi, and other macrofauna, fostering a healthy soil food web. A rich and diverse soil ecosystem promotes ecological balance and resilience in agricultural and natural environments. A biodiverse ground will have many different kinds of plants and trees growing in it, because all the different microbiological organisms provide support as either feed, or protection.

Growing Composting Worms for Your Garden

Selecting the Right Worm Species

When starting a vermicomposting system, it’s essential to choose suitable worm species such as red wigglers or red earthworms that are well-suited for composting. These worms are readily available from local suppliers or can be ordered online. The recommended type of worm is Red Wigglers because of its ability to reproduce fast. But any known “composting worm” type is possible. Earthworms (the worms you find in your ground) is not suitable because it does not reproduce fast and will cause your failure; it looks like Red Wigglers but these are not for composting. Buy your worms from tildeWorms to ensure the right specie.

Creating a Worm Habitat

Worms require a suitable habitat for optimal growth and composting activity. This includes providing a well-ventilated container with proper bedding material, maintaining ideal moisture levels, and ensuring adequate temperature and lighting conditions. The primary concerns are heat and pH. Your worm population can quickly die-off in intense heat above 80°F or will escape from your bin if too acidic. tildeWorms have free learning materials to ensure your success.

Feeding and Caring for the Worms

Proper feeding is crucial for the health and productivity of composting worms. They thrive on a diet of organic kitchen scraps, vegetable trimmings, coffee grounds, tea leaves, and other non-animal-based food waste. Care should be taken to avoid feeding them oily or acidic foods, as well as meat, dairy, and citrus. One thing to note is that all foods are acidic once it starts decomposinf so never give raw leftover food to worms, it has to be pre-decomposed first.Placing the leftover food on the side of the bin and not on top of the bedding prevents acidity from seeping to the bedding. The bedding is the safe space for the worms. The worms extract (eat) from the leftover food as it starts to decompose.

Harvesting Worm Castings

Over time, worms will convert the organic waste into valuable worm castings. Harvesting these castings involves separating the worms from the finished compost. Several methods, such as the “migration” or “screening” technique, can be used to separate worms from the castings effectively. tildeWorms production is completely different and innovative. We used observations from the biology of worms and apply automation and computerized techniques to assist in the monitoring and prevention of worm mortality. We implement a no-till harvesting procedure to separate the worms from their habitat bins. Our system reproduces the most amount of worm population compared to traditional worm farming.

Expanding and Maintaining Worm Population

To ensure a continuous supply of compost and a healthy vermicomposting system, it’s important to maintain and expand the worm population. This can be achieved by providing suitable conditions, monitoring the population size, and occasionally adding new worms to the system. However, it also can become an issue feeding the worms. Yes, the worms need to be fed too – 25% of their body weight per day. So be sure you ony produce the amount of worms that you can feed with all the leftover and garden organic materials you have. If you can supply only 2 lbs. pre-composted feedstock then you can only grow 8 lbs of worms any given day. If you have more than enough worms for yourself, try to promote other people into worm farming. tildeWorms can assist in showing everyone how to farm worms for a proven success. Of course, it does noeed a bit of work, but the good feature of worms as animals is that you can feed them more than they can eat in a day (maybe for a week), then check on their feed next week.

Benefits of Worms for Plants

Enhanced Soil Structure

Worms help improve soil structure by burrowing through the soil, creating channels for air and water movement. Their activities loosen compacted soil, increase porosity, and enhance root penetration, resulting in better nutrient and water uptake by plants. Worms produce the enzymes that is needed by fungus and plants to prevent bugs and disease. The other microorganisms that exist in vermicast is needed by plants also. There are bacteria that live inside fungus. Fungus produces nutrients that plants can readily benefit from.

Increased Nutrient Availability

As worms consume organic matter, they break it down into smaller particles and excrete nutrient-rich castings. These castings contain increased levels of essential nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, making them readily available to plants for uptake. Contrary to old belief leaving organic materials on top of the root of trees is not proper composting as it will take more than a few monthsr to turn it onto bacterial feed which also depends on the moisture level of the soil and heat. Active composting by piling up the organic materials and keeping it aerobic attracts all the microorganisms present everywhere. Only hot composting kills all the pathogenic bacteria so that the beneficial bacteria can take over when the cold composting stage starts. Feeding the compost to worms as bedding or food will give it additional nutrients and enzymes only worms can produce.

Improved Water Retention

Worms improve soil’s water-holding capacity by creating channels and pores that allow for better water infiltration and storage. This leads to improved water retention in the root zone, reducing water runoff and increasing plant resilience during dry periods. Worms are considered nature’s tillers. With worms present on plants and trees, water can flow through deeper into the soil improving root moisture and reducing water use. You do not have to till the soil, worms will do it for you. This is especially important when water shortage is a problem.

Disease Suppression

Certain species of beneficial bacteria and fungi present in worm castings help suppress plant diseases and harmful soil pathogens. These microorganisms compete with and inhibit the growth of pathogens, promoting healthier plants and reducing the need for chemical pesticides.

Plant Growth Promotion

The combined effects of improved soil structure, increased nutrient availability, enhanced water retention, and disease suppression provided by composting worms result in overall plant growth promotion. Plants grown in vermicompost-enriched soil often exhibit increased vigor, productivity, and resistance to environmental stressors. This cycle of improvement starts with you with efforts in worm composting – giving back to nature.

How tildeWorms can help

Composting worms offer numerous benefits both at the household level and for the entire world. From waste reduction and nutrient-rich compost production to environmental conservation and improved plant growth, these remarkable creatures play a significant role in sustainable waste management, soil health, and ecosystem preservation. By harnessing the power of vermicomposting, individuals can make a positive impact on their gardens, communities, and the planet as a whole. Learn more innovative techniques in growing worms from tildeWorms’ Learning Materials.