Day 7 – Vermicomposting with Jacqueline Dost

This post is a part of the “15 Days of Green Tips for 15 years of Keep Carroll Beautiful” Virtual Birthday Celebration. Every day between April 8 and April 22, a member of KCB Board, Staff, or the public, will share their favorite tips on how to Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle!

Jacqueline Dost is Keep Carroll Beautiful Board President and a Carroll County Master Gardener. Jacqueline keeps an eye on the KCB Worms during the temporary office closure and she is sharing some tips on how to use them in the garden.

Day 7 of Virtual Birthday Party – Keep Carroll Beautiful is turning 15! – Keep Carroll Beautiful is turning 15! Meet the Jacqueline Carol Dost, Keep Carroll Beautiful Board President, and learn all about worm composting and the use of worm castings & worm tea in your garden! https://www.keepcarrollbeautiful.org/vermicomposting

Posted by Keep Carroll Beautiful on Tuesday, April 14, 2020

What is vermicomposting

Vermicomposting or worm composting is “harvesting” the power of worms to recycle scraps of food and organic materials into nutrient-rich soil amendment called vermicompost. Worms eat and digest the scraps and turn them into compost. Compost exits the worms through their tail ends (yes! worm 💩 ).

How to use the worm compost

• Per this source: Dump the entire contents of the worm bin onto a sheet of plastic or paper.
• Make several individual cone-shaped piles. Each pile will contain worms, compost and undecomposed food and bedding. As the piles are exposed to light,, the worms will migrate towards the bottom of the pile.
• Remove the top layer of compost from the pile, separating out pieces of undecomposed food and newspaper. After removing the top layer, let pile sit under light for 2-3 minutes as the worms migrate down.
• Then remove the next layer of compost. Repeat this process until all of the worms are left at the bottom of the pile.
• Collect the worms, weigh them (for your record keeping) and put them back in their bin with fresh bedding.

Mistakes to avoid

• Do not overfeed the worms
• Feeding worms wrong foods
• Too wet or too dry composting bedding
• Forgetting to harvest the castings
• Putting your worms in too hot or too cold conditions (Source)

Here are some useful links for further reading:

🌱  Worm Composting Basics: http://compost.css.cornell.edu/worms/basics.html
🌱 Common Worm Composting Mistakes: https://unclejimswormfarm.com/composting-worms-mistakes/
🌱 Helpful tips for handing your worms: https://www.finegardening.com/article/worm-composting