Gardening by Cathy

Growing your own red worms is easy if you remember a few basic rules. Worms need oxygen just as humans do, only their exchange site of Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide is their skin instead of lungs. Therefore, worms need adequate circulation. Worms also live in temperatures that we are able to survive in as well-45 to 95 degrees. Red worms are different than the garden variety or even the night crawlers and should be grown in bins and not in soil. The purpose of red worms is to decompose vegetable matter waste whereas garden worms open up the soil for oxygen to reach the plant roots.

Do feed vegetables, leaves, eggshells, and some fruit rinds to the red worms. Do not feed them any dairy or meat products and limit grains as well. Our goal is to make an odorless compost, one that does not overheat and thereby kill the red worms or one that does not attract rodents or other animals due to dairy or meat products used.

A layered approach seems to meet the red worms desires for darkness and nondisturbance and keeps the smells down of decaying vegetable matter. One starts with a thick layer of shredded moistened cardboard that is the wetness of a wrung out sponge. Next, a layer of either soft vegegable matter such as table scraps or a slurry of the same that has been pulverized in a blender. Using a vegetable slurry is helpful allowing for a fast start in multiplying your worms since they do not have to wait for bacteria to breakdown the vegetables. In this manner, the now-sedentary worms do not have to expend much energy in obtaining the food. Hence, they can grow more quickly. This is a great way to have a multitude of worms with very little work.

Stay tuned for Part III