Sustainable Living Stack Exchange
Sustainable Living Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [vermicomposting]

Making compost with the use of worms

Vermicomposting is the process of making compost with the use of worms. The worms eat decomposing organic material and produce castings. These castings, also called vermicasts, are considered high quality nutrient-rich fertilizer. Vermicomposting has also been shown to reduce the levels of pathogens present in the organic material.

Vermicomposting is used on a large scale to process agricultural waste and livestock manure, but is also popular for home use to process kitchen scraps and garden waste. Small scale wormbins can be bought commercially or made as a DIY project by following one of the many tutorials on the internet.

Use this tag for all questions on composting with worms.

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Purpose of a bottom container beneath a worm farm

I followed a video on building my own worm farm using styrofoam boxes. The video suggested having a box underneath the main box to collect the worm castings, so it required I put holes in the base of the main box and have an empty box…
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How can I tell whether my earthworms are healthy?

I keep a vermicompost bin and I sometimes worry that I haven't given the worms enough food or if it's not wet enough. How can I keep track of the worm's general health?
tM --
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Is mixing species in vermicomposting beneficial?

What are the consequences of mixing worm species? To increase "processing" throughput rate, would it be better to have two worm bins of x m³, where each on uses a different specie (i.e Eisenia fetida and Eisenia hortensis), or one huge bin (2x m³)…
nairboon
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Do I need to change the soil inside a worm farm?

I want to know if it is necessary to move a worm population to a second container with fresh soil after a period of time? If so, how often does this need to be done? I followed a DIY video from a popular gardening program and they said to have three…
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Where should I place food in a worm farm?

I've tried searching and looking at videos on youtube but all I can find is people storing and preparing food scraps but none of people actually placing food in the worm farm. I'm wondering if worms will eat the scraps quicker if I dig the scraps in…
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Do worm farms smell?

I live in a small inner-city apartment. I am lucky to have a small courtyard area with a modest garden. I was thinking about getting a worm farm but am worried about the smell. Obviously, up close they would stink a bit, but could this permeate the…
MeltingDog
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Should I turn vermicompost?

After adding plant matter to vermicompost, it kinda just sits there for a while, attracting fruit flies and growing mould. Would it be better to try to turn the compost so that the new matter is at the bottom, covered from mould and fruit flies? How…
Tomáš Zato
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Controling humidity of Vermicomposter in winter to prevent mold

I've recently inherited the responsibilities of taking care of a vermicomposting box. We used two of these plastic bins to make the composting box: http://torontobestmoving.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/basic-plastic-bin2.png The handles on the…
Raiyan
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