Home fertilizer -- harness the power of red worms
Oakland Tribune, Oct 1, 2005 by Elizabeth Jardina, STAFF WRITER
EARTHWORMS ARE your friends.
Specifically, red wiggler worms, scientifically known as Eisenia fetida.
OK, maybe you're put off by the fact that they naturally congregate in manure piles. To be fair,
they probably think it's freakish that we don't bury ourselves in the presence of the sun.
Despite our differences, red worms and gardeners can have a mutually beneficial relationship:
We give them vegetable and fruit scraps and shredded-up newspaper, and they give us an
organic, microbial rich soil amendment that'll make our flowering plants take off and our
vegetable garden flourish.
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Statement on the impact of the Code Red worm in the UK. Although it can seem intimidating --
and requires some patience - - worm composting is eminently doable for the home gardener.
And despite what you may be thinking, it isn't even messy. For example, San Mateo composter
Lois Carter keeps her worm bin in her bathroom.
Setting up a bin
The king of worm bins in the Bay Area is the Wriggly Wranch, sold at a discount by both San
Mateo and Alameda counties for $29. It's a black plastic bin perched up on legs, with a spout in
front that allows you to drain out excess moisture. (Don't throw this liquid away! Called "worm
tea," it's an excellent gardening amendment.)
The bins come with a supply of coir, a coarse fiber that comes from coconut shells. This is the
first bedding and food for your worms. Also collect a couple of days worth of newspaper and a
corrugated cardboard box (like a medium-sized pizza box).
Only after you have all your supplies should you order your worms. Getting your worms before
you have a place to put them is a classic mistake, says San Mateo County RecycleWorks
composting coordinator Jacqueline Rosine.
The best way to get red worms is ordering them by mail for $20 to $30 per pound. They're
delivered overnight so they survive the trip.
Once you're ready to begin, start out by soaking the coir in water for a few hours to loosen and
fluff it up. Put your cardboard box at the bottom of the bin. Shred your newspaper (but not the
shiny colored advertising inserts) into pieces no larger than 1 inch and put them in. Then put
the wet coir in and mix it around.
Now it's ready for your worms.
"Worm Lady" and composting teacher Alane Weber of San Mateo recommends putting them
into the bin for the first time under a bright light or out
in the sunny yard, so they get
the idea that they should bury themselves.
You can keep your worms outside or inside, but do not leave them in direct afternoon sun or
they will cook. A few hours of morning sun -- especially now that it's cooled off -- is fine, but
they should be kept at below 80 degrees.
Wormy business
Matt Abbruscato knows how to keep worms happy.
It was a worm bin in his daughter's kindergarten classroom that originally sparked his
interest. Now he's the proprietor of the Foothill Worm Ranch -- a 5-year-old worm-raising
operation he runs in the back yard of his 1- acre property in unincorporated Alameda County
near Pleasanton.
He sells both worm castings -- the worms' waste product and an excellent soil amendment --
and worms themselves for $25 a pound.
After retiring from a job as a production manager for a chemical company, Abbruscato got into
the worm business because he's committed to environmentally friendly gardening. "The whole
philosophy of diverting waste from landfills is important to me," he says.
But since he started his business, he's learned a lot about what worms like and don't like.
Their favorite foods are melon, avocado (but not the skins or pits), sweet potatoes, pumpkin
and soaked cracked corn.
Worms will even eat cotton clothing. When Abbruscato does classroom lectures, one of his
favorite props is a pair of Levi's that have been eaten down to the nylon seams.
But he's also made some mistakes. When he first started out, he killed a batch of worms by
adding a thick layer of freshly-cut grass clippings, which were too nitrogen-rich, started
anaerobically decaying and released ammonia gas. And he once killed 50 pounds of worms by
adding a huge bag of tortilla chips (salt is a no-no).
Citrus peelings -- especially lemons and grapefruit -- will also kill worms.
Also, do not expect your worms to eat meat, milk or sugary foods. They're not great for the
worms and they attract other critters such as raccoons or ants.
Worms will eat their bedding -- shredded newspaper and coir
-- but most composters raise worms to divert vegetable trimmings from the waste stream.
Still, avoid overfeeding them.
Weber, who teaches composting classes for San Mateo County, says a veggie-loving family will
likely produce too
many vegetable trimmings for the worms to eat -- especially when the bin is just starting out. It's
a good idea to also have a separate compost pile in the back yard for kitchen scraps your
worms can't eat fast enough or don't like.
Pay attention to how much the worms eat. Put in a handful or two of carrot peels or watermelon
rinds and wait till it disappears. A layer of newspaper on top of the bin's contents will
discourage fruit flies and keep the bin from drying out on hot days.
Go to our HOME PAGE for articles on worm composting, fishing with
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