Instructions

Prepare a Bin or Box

1. Calculate the size of worm container your household needs based on either number of people or amount of household scraps produced weekly. Allow 1 square foot of bin space for each pound of scraps, or estimate 2 square feet of bin for each person. For three to six people, a 2-by-3-foot container is a good starting place. Aim for a large amount of surface area rather than depth.

2. Buy or recycle a plastic container or wooden box. Consider building a wooden box yourself out of exterior grade plywood. There are a large variety of inexpensive lidded plastic containers available. They should be opaque. For small quantities of scraps or small households, use a ventilated cat litter jug.

3. Wash the container thoroughly with hot soapy water and rinse well.

4. Drill 1/4 inch evenly spaced holes through the container bottom for drainage. For a 2-by-2 wooden box, drill nine to 12 holes. For plastic containers, drill 14-20 evenly spaced holes. Some worm growers advise drilling at least 10 holes in container sides as well.

Position the Worm Container

1. Look for a good location. It should be close to your home so adding scraps is easy. Worms grow best at temperatures from 55-77 degrees F, so the location should protect them from too much heat or cold. Basements, heated garages or breezeways are possibilities. In cold winter areas, gardeners bring worm cultures indoors to basements, closets or root cellars.

2. Place a protective sheet of heavy plastic down under the container. If the bin has a plastic lid, you can use this to protect the floor from drainage, or use a drainage tray for protecting garage floors from automotive fluid leaks.

3. Raise the container up from the floor. Place bricks or pieces of 2-by-4 lumber under the corners for air circulation and better drainage.

Bedding

1. Purchase or create worm bedding. Bedding choices are machine-shredded newspapers or computer paper, thinly hand-shredded newspapers or computer paper, shredded cardboard, or leaves. Exclude paper with colored inks or glossy paper. Combine bedding types if desired.

2. Weigh the bedding. Put the bedding in the container to a depth of 10-12inches.

3. Moisten the bedding with water. A guideline is a three to one ratio of water to bedding, measured by weight, according to the Master Gardeners of Smith County, Texas. Bedding should feel like a damp sponge.

4. Put in additives if desired. Suggestions are: peat moss, one-third the volume of total bedding; a couple handfuls of sterilized soil or potting mix; or, a sprinkling of finely crushed eggshell or limestone.

5. Let the moistened bedding sit for several days for the moisture to even out.

Adding Worms

1. Purchase worms from a reliable source. Red wiggler worms or Eisenia foetida work well. Eisenia foetida subspecies allobophora is called the brown-nosed worm, and it is preferred by Texas vermiculturists.

2. Collect worms from your own garden instead of purchasing them. Barbara Pleasant, writing in "Mother Earth News," recommends doing this and has termed it the "catch-and-release" approach to vermiculture. She states that local worms can tolerate microclimates and local soil conditions better than imported worms.

3. Dig a small amount of waste food chopped small into one part of the surface. Use your fingers or a trowel to put it about 1/2 inch under the bedding surface. Judge the amount of scraps by how many worms you have. One pound of worms can eat 1/2 pound of waste food a day. Pleasant suggests using carbohydrates like leftover oatmeal, cooked rice and stale bread to begin with.

4. Place the worms into the container.

5. Cover the container with its lid or a piece of black plastic or a blanket to exclude light and mimic the worms' underground environment.

Maintain the Worm Culture

1. Feel the bedding weekly at first to check for moisture level, adding more water as needed. As the culture stabilizes, check only occasionally.

2. Dig in more food scraps occasionally, each time in a different location. Adjust the amount needed as the worms multiply. Worms feed on decomposing already added food, not fresh food.

3. Look at the color and consistency of the bedding as time passes. Worms usually take four to five months to turn the culture materials into harvestable worm castings. When the bedding is a dark color and reduced in volume, it is harvestable.

Harvest Compost

1. Make new bedding. Hold in a clean bag or box.

2. Shove the harvestable bedding in the worm culture into half of the container.

3. Add half the new bedding to the empty side of the container.

4. Dig an appropriate amount of food into one area of the new bedding.

5. Cover just the side with the new bedding with black plastic or a draped opaque blanket. Expose the old bedding to light. Wait several weeks. The worms will migrate to the dark moist part of the container. Remove the compost and add the rest of the new bedding.