Indoor Worm Composting

[gludeman]

I originally posted a comment about worm composting in a general composting thread, but felt that perhaps a thread specially focused just on indoor worm composting would be beneficial…

First, some facts about worm composting:

• Worms eat their own weight in food every 1-2 days, i.e. a pound of worms eats a pound of kitchen waste every 1-2 days or roughly 250 pounds per year. That is waste not going in a dump (primarily inaccessible for natural decomposition) or down the garbage disposal.
• A small colony of worms (one pound) takes up very little room, about 8 cu ft (the size of a small file cabinet), which can be placed just about anywhere in the home.
• Compared to most household pets, worms require very little care and maintenance. They usually only need to be feed 2-3 times per week at most. If properly used, the bin has very little smell, unlike a cat litter box. Worms don’t make any noise, they don’t chew up the furniture; actually you seldom even notice them at all.
• The kitchen waste and waste paper products are transformed by the worms into high quality, nutrient rich, all natural, organic compost that can be used for house plants or home gardening. If you don’t garden, you can give it to friend, neighbors or even sell it.

So, in May 2009, I received a worm composting kit and a pound of worms to get started. Unfortunately, some fruits and vegetables tend to get lost and forgotten in our fridge. Before we got the worms, we just threw the spoiled foods and normal kitchen wastes either in the trash or down the garbage disposal. I have a one gallon tub in the fridge which my family has been really good about putting scraps in, along with coffee grounds and egg shells. We just make sure not to give the worms any meat, dairy or especially spicy foods.

Once a week, I use the food processor to grind the scraps up into small pieces and mix them together. Sounds kind of gross, but it really is not all the bad. I don’t need to be done, the scraps can be through in the bins whole, but it aids in getting it mixed more thoroughly into the worm bedding. By hand, I carefully turn the bedding and mix in the scraps. Again, this doesn’t need to be done this way; the scraps can just be placed on top. However, I’ve noticed the worms seem to consume the food more efficiently this way, reducing any smells, and I haven't had any problem with fruit flies.

The worms must be happy, since their population has already double in the 3 months that I’ve had them. In fact, it seems they were becoming a little overcrowded. As much as I like the UrbanWormGirl bins, I just don't have the money to afford another, so I went to Lowes and bought three 18 gallon storage bins, made of 99% recycled plastic, for $3.50 each. I used these to create a new worm bin. I then transplanted half the worms from the old bin to the new bin.

In addition to the food scraps, the worms need a small amount of grit (sand) and a bedding of wood fiber (paper). This means we get to recycle our paper waste into compost, and I found a really cool way to “kill two birds with one stone”. We own a gerbil, which requires bedding material as well and that needs to be changed out regularly. So, we put newspaper and cardboard that would normally go in the recycle bin into the gerbil tank. Gerbils need to chew almost constantly (a little OCD), which works out great for us, because she processes all the newspaper and boxes into small shreds which work wonderfully for the worm bedding. So we are saving money on buying bedding for the both of them while recycling paper waste. And I don’t have to spend an hour trying to shred the paper by hand.

A couple of weeks ago, I got my first batch of completed compost; about 5-10 pounds. Since this was my first time, it did take me a while to remove the worms, but I think in time I will refine this process and find better techniques to save time.

Roughly calculated, we have reduced our dumping of food wastes into the trash or down the garbage disposal by about 90% or 5-10 pounds per week. About 50% of our recycled paper products are now being used for both gerbil and then worm. The worm tea has been great for the house plants. The compost we plan to use for re-potting the house plants and eventually for use with a container garden to raise our own herbs and vegetables.

My next goal is to begin collecting the coffee grounds from work. I work in a large office that typically goes through about 6 pots of coffee each morning. That is about 3 pounds of premium composting material being thrown away each day, which I hope to instead feed to my worms.

[zach]

Thanks for the great post on worm composting! I've been meaning to post on my experiences as well but haven't had time. I had Urban Worm Girl come out and show us how to set everything up shortly after you won your composting kit. My 2 year old loved it and still asks to feed the worms. Anytime we use the food processor he thinks we are making worm food. I've been doing the same thing with the food processor and a container in the refrigerator. I did over feed my worms once and had to stop feeding them for a couple weeks so they could get caught up but things are going well and it's pretty amazing how fast they turn our food scraps into soil!

We keep our worm composter in the basement in the storage room. Sometimes we almost forget it's there. Very little maintenance and if you go on vacation for a week or two they take care of themselves. There's no smell unless you stick your nose right up to it and it just smells like soil. Just like gludeman, we keep a sealed container in the refrigerator and every few days we grind everything up in the food processor and feed it to the worms.

We recycle everything we can so our garbage bin was always pretty much empty except for the food scraps. Now that we are worm composting it's really empty!

For anyone interested in learning more you can check out Urban Worm Girl - Worms eat your garbage! Begin your adventures in worm composting. or ask any questions here.

[Prismseed]

I personally use standard bacterial composting outdoors as I am blessed with far more outdoor space than indoor. Still Worm composting is a wonderfull technique.

I read once in a gardening book (John Seymour is the man!) about a worm composting system using old tires. Stack up the tires into a colum, worms at the bottom, gradually fill up the collum. Then you just slide a piece of plywood between the tires and pull the bottom tire out once it is compost and the worms have ascended to the higher tires.. Bit labor intensive, but if you have an extra set of hands to help you pretty effective.

Watching green tv once I saw an organic farmer that processed all organic waste through worm composting. He had a good method for sifting the worms out of the compost. He took a wooden crate, remove the bottom and replaced it with a wire mesh screen that the compost could sift through, but the screen caught the worms. Large scale, but with a bit of ingenuity easily miniaturized, for example a screen on the bottom of an old coffee can.

Not an expert, but I hope these little tidbits help you guys out, best wishes.

[wormcompostingnewbie]

Hello, I would like to ask if it is true that I'll need to have a lamp or a light over my worm composting bin so that the worms wont wander or climb to the top of the bin when I move it indoors? I read somewhere that the light forces them into the compost/dirt. I would really appreciate answers.

Thank you very much in advance.

[zach]

Hi wormcompostingnewbie,

When I first got my worm composting bin I left the light on in the room until the worms settled into their new home. After the first week or two I didn't need to leave the light on anymore. Occasionally a worm or two will come hang out on the bottom side of the lid but for the most part they stay down in the compost now.

Hope this helps!
Zach

[wormcompostingnewbie]

Thank you Zach! I read this somewhere but I didn't want to risk my worms. heehee. I'm currently looking for a lamp that doesn't give out too much heat to the worm bin. I hope this will stop them from climbing out. Thanks again!

[gludeman]

I've had my worms for 10 months now and all is going great. The only real challenge I've had is harvesting the completed compost, because I want to do it without taking any worms out with the soil. I've found that the lamp with bright light helps. First, I take the bottom (done tray) and move it to the top. Then shine the light on them. As the worms dig deeper to get away from the light, I just skim off the top layer of worm-free soil. Wait a little, then repeat. So far, I've harvested about 20 lbs of compost and have lots more on the way. By spring time, I should have plenty to use for my container gardens.

[thegreenlivingplace]

Since this was my first time, it did take me a while to remove the worms, but I think in time I will refine this process and find better techniques to save time.

A friend of mine that raises worms commercially and also sells the worm castings as composte came up with a great way to seperate his worms from the castings.

It requires 2 tubs and a piece of rabbit wire (very stiff wire mesh with 3/8 squares between the wire) for the process. A larger tube for the everyday composting and a smaller one that will fit inside the first (make sure the 2nd is shallow enough to fit inside the first when it is 1/3 to 1/2 full of compost.

Start your composting process in the first tub as normal.

In the bottom of the 2nd tub cut out 2 large sections of the bottom (leave 1 to 2 inches between the cuts for strength). Line the bottom of the 2nd tub with the wire mesh. Pop riviting it in place works well.

A the 1st tub is nearing the end of it's process set the 2nd tub inside it and start placing your compost into the 2nd tub. As their food suppply runs out in the bottom tub the worms will naturaly migrate through the wire mesh into the 2nd tub.

Empty your 1st tub, dump the second one into the 1st and start over.

[LivingGreen]

Originally Posted by gludeman

I've had my worms for 10 months now and all is going great. The only real challenge I've had is harvesting the completed compost, because I want to do it without taking any worms out with the soil. I've found that the lamp with bright light helps. First, I take the bottom (done tray) and move it to the top. Then shine the light on them. As the worms dig deeper to get away from the light, I just skim off the top layer of worm-free soil. Wait a little, then repeat. So far, I've harvested about 20 lbs of compost and have lots more on the way. By spring time, I should have plenty to use for my container gardens.

That is so fascinating! And remarkably efficient. I'm really excited to consider implementing this into my home! So there are kits that you can buy to start doing this?

Where would I find them?

[zach]

I got mine from http://www.urbanwormgirl.com. There are lots of other options but the Urban Worm Girls are very helpful and the kits give you everything you need. One of our members that posted above looks like they are associated with http://www.gardenworms.com/composting-worms-c-6.html as well. You can also do a little searching around and start one with simple household items. Two plastic bins stacked on top of each other with hold drilled in the bottom of the one stacked on top would essentially do the same thing. Just make sure you buy composting worms, the worms you find in your garden won't work very well.