Worms in your backyard composter will not only consume all your organic
matter (eg. food scraps, yard scraps), they also aerate the compost
and provide nutrient-rich castings as a bonus.
To compost effectively, a traditional composter must be turned or aerated
regularly. This encourages airflow and speeds up the composting process.
With worms in your composter, there is no need to stir things up. The
worms do it for you!
Guidelines to Prepare Backyard Composter:
- Make sure you have a good Carbon: Nitrogen mix.
Carbon comes from the brown materials such as dried leaves, old grass
and shredded paper (yes, you can put paper in your composter). Nitrogen
comes from the food scraps and organics that you add.
- Add water as required.
Make sure your composter is always moist. - If the contents dry out,
all decomposition stops.
- Stir the contents of your composter prior to adding the
worms.
One method is to use a pole and poke it into the composter contents
and turn it like a caldron. Repeat several times to provide aeration.
- Add worms on top.
- Leave the lid off the composter for about ½ hour.
This encourages the worms to make their way down into the composter.
They really don't like the light.
- Feed your composter as usual.
When adding food scraps, be sure to cover with a thin layer of soil
or carbon material (brown leaves, shredded paper, etc.). This will
reduce fruit flies as they lay their eggs on exposed food matter.
Stirring is not required once worms are added. They will do this function
for you.
- In the fall, you may wish to remove some of the worms to
bring inside.
Simply empty the composter as usual, collect the worms and place in
a prepared bin. If left outside, the cocoons will last over-winter
and hatch in the spring. Many adult worms will survive if the thaw
is gradual enough.
If you encounter any problems or would like
more information please contact
us. We want you to be successful!
