Vermicomposting: How To Make Worm Castings
The first thing to know point out is that the worms about which we are talking are not your everyday backyard worms. Those little guys would die in a minute in a compost pile. The worms needed for vermicomposting are called Red Wrigglers. These Red Wrigglers love to spend their time in piles of manure and love eating organic waste, which is why they are so perfect for the job of vermicomposting. The worms that you find in your backyard garden are usually regular field worms which would not be able to survive in a pile of kitchen waste.
When considering what size bin you want to use, the container should be on the shallow side rather than really deep. It should also be wider than it is tall. The surface of the container should be about one square foot for every pound of waste you wish to place in it each week. There should be about 500 red wrigglers equaling about a half-pound for every cubic foot of the container. The container should have plenty of air holes, since air is necessary not only for the composting process, but for the worms' survival as well. There should also be holes on the bottom of the container to allow drainage. There should be a screen covering each air hole and drainage hole to guarantee that the holes do not become worm holes or compost holes as well as air holes and/or drainage holes. If you produce too much organic waste for one normal sized container, it is much easier to maintain several small worm containers than one really big one.
To keep your worms happy, it is important to make sure that they are in an environment with the proper temperature, ventilation, and moisture. The air holes should be able to provide the necessary ventilation. There should be enough moisture to give the compost pile the feel of a wrung out sponge - not too wet, but not too dry. The temperature should be room temperature. Although worms can survive in a wide range of temperatures, anywhere from forty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, they will be the happiest and therefore do their best work if they are at a comfortable room temperature.
There should be bedding on the surface of the container. This bedding should consist of shredded paper if the container will remain indoors. If the container will be kept outdoors, the bedding can consist of shredded paper or organic yard waste, such as dried grass clippings, sawdust, mulched dried leaves, etc. Yard waste should NOT be placed in an indoor container, because they can cause the compost pile to heat-up significantly which may kill your worms.
You can feed your worms a large variety of foods. Red Wrigglers will eat just about any organic kitchen waste you may produce, including carrots lettuce, cabbage, celery, banana peels, and tea bags. Tomatoes, coffee grounds, and citrus peels can be added into the container but only in moderation, since the acid could kill the worms. They also like to eat small amounts of bread, pancakes, grains, and noodles. Chopping up the food before you put it in the container will help it decompose.
You should harvest the vermicompost every two months or so. You will know that it is ready to be harvested when you can no longer make out the waste or the bedding, since they will have already decomposed. A good way to harvest the vermicompost without taking out the worms is to shine a light over the pile. This will chase the worms deeper into the pile in about ten minutes. You can then scrape up the top layer of vermicompost. Keep the light on to chase the worms even deeper into the pile, and then take out the next layer of vermicompost, and so on. It is very important to not take out any worm eggs that may be in the pile. They will hatch and turn into more worms which could make your vermicompost pile better, or enable you to use them to start another vermicompost container.
Once you have the vermicompost out of the container, you can use it to help just about anything grow. You can add some into your houseplants; you can sprinkle it on your flowerbeds; you can add it into the soil in which you want to plant seeds; and you can even sprinkle it around your lawn to help your lawn grow.
Article Source: http://www.bigfreearticles.com
We have all heard of composting. Composting is simply the decomposition of organic waste like yard waste and kitchen waste into a very rich and nutritional dirt-like substance. Vermicomposting is very similar to composting, but vermicomposting ...
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Worm Farm Composting-going Green In A Worm Way
Throughout history back to the time of ancient Egypt, savy farmers realized and used these little helpers to enrich soils and get better harvests. Flowers have been known to actually bloom before their regular seasons when worm compost has been mixed with the soil.Vegitable and fruit harvests are known to yield up to a twenty percent increase, with better flavor and crispness. And the soil benefits as well with plants having a higher resistance to diseases and pests, reducing the need for herbicides and pesticides.
Entrepreneurs caught on to this as well over the the years. Worm farming has long been known as a successful "niche business" in several ways. Many garden supply shops carry bags or boxes ofworm farm compost or castings as fertilizers. And, with the increase in home gardening due to our current tough economic times, the demand should go up. And while the "night-crawler" reigns as king for fishing bait, what school-boy fisherman hasn't dug a can of worms from out back and taken his bike fishing. Sporting goods stores do quite a seasonal business of the little wigglers. In recent years, a thriving online industry has developed as well for both the castings and the worms and accessories as well.
One of the biggest benefits of worm farm composting to consider is the portability and adaptability of the process. A home scale worm farm can be crafted with a container as small as several inches deep and wide by say 18 inches to a couple feet long. Worms are sensitive to light, heat, and vibration, so take these factors into account. Yourworm farm can be started on a back porch or patio, or in the back yard or garden, so it's adaptable to urban settings as well. Just side towards cool, quiet, and shaded, and you should see success. Add some moist paper, leaves, or cardboard and some soil, then add worms. Feeding your worms is easy. Toss, stir, or mix in your food scraps, yard clippings, or plant waste, and let them go to work for you. They consume up to their own weight per day. There are some things you wan to avoid like meats, salts, andacidy items like onions and citrus, but this information can be found on the web and in a variety of books on the topic.
These simple steps scaled to your needs or goals, will get you started on the path of organic gardening in a very simple but effective way. As noted earlier, we are seeing and should continue to see a rise in interest of home gardening as an offshoot of the economy. Our grandparents and generations before learned to work with Nature to survive, and as a society we face a return to some of this nearly lost knowledge. So just "being Green" could be the fashionable term today, but from a practical point of view, there's plenty of benefits to having your ownorganic garden today, and some simple worm farm composting can be a big help in many ways.
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Odour Free Composting In 3 Steps
One of the biggest complaints people have about composting is that it smells. And in some cases, this is true. When organic materials are heaped up in a pile and left to sit, they essentially rot, and we all know that rotting food and plants are going to smell. But did you know that composting doesn't have to stink? It's true! In this article we'll explain the 3 simple steps that anyone can follow to go from smelly to odor free composting.
The first step in odorless composting is to understand the two basic methods of composting: aerobic and anaerobic. As the name would suggest, aerobic composting requires air, specifically oxygen, to be successful. Anaerobic composting, on the other hand, is what occurs when the compost isn't exposed to the air.
The primary differences between aerobic and anaerobic composting are speed of decomposition and odor created. Aerobic bacteria work very quickly and efficiently. Compost that's properly aerated can decompose to a finished product within a month or two, under the right conditions. Anaerobic bacteria, on the other hand are very inefficient, sometimes taking as long as a couple years to produce finished compost. Anaerobic bacteria also product methane and sulfate gasses as a byproduct of the composting process. These gasses are bad for the environment; they are greenhouse gasses that deplete our ozone. Furthermore, these are the gasses that smell offensive to humans. When we think of a smelly compost heap, what we're really thinking of is anaerobic composting. Aerobic bacteria, on the other hand, do not produce these gasses, thus the reason that aerobic composting results in little to no odor.
One of the best ways to ensure that your compost is aerobic is to use a compost tumbler. These drum-shaped devices are usually mounted on an axel so they can spin or rotate freely. The action of the compost turning and tumbling inside the bin aerates the material, providing the necessary oxygen for the aerobic bacteria to do their job.
If you don't have a compost tumbler, or simply don't want to invest in one, you can encourage the growth of aerobic bacteria in a regular compost heap by simply turning the material on a regular basis. You may want to invest in a long handled tool such as a large shovel or pitchfork to make the turning process easier. Regardless of whether you have a compost tumbler or a basic compost heap, you should aim for turning the material every 2 to 3 days for best results.
The second step in odorless composting is to maintain the appropriate ratio of browns and greens in the bin. Examples of browns, or carbon rich materials, include dried leaves, shredded paper, sawdust, and dryer lint. Examples of greens, or nitrogen rich materials, include green grass clippings, vegetable or fruit peelings, cooked rice and pasta, and seaweed or other aquarium plants. If you get compost bin with too many greens, the material will begin to smell. This is easy to adjust by simply adding more browns. In addition to the items listed above, other browns might include peat moss, pencil shavings, shredded paper napkins, coffee grounds, chopped hay or straw, potting soil, nut shells, and tea bags. Finished compost will also act as a brown material.
The third and last step in avoiding a smelly compost bin is to keep out all meats, eggs, and dairy products. When the proteins in these items break down, they create an unpleasant odor. Also to be avoided are any fatty wastes including butter, shortening, cooking oils, lard, and other animal fats.
And that's all there is to it! With 3 simple steps, you can change your smelly and slow compost heap into a lean, mean, and odorless composting system that will turn out finished compost in a matter of weeks. So what are you waiting for? Begin your odorless composting system today!
About the author:
Ellen Bell works for Home Products 'n' More, a retail website offering composting tumblers and other compost bins, all with free shipping and handling! For more great gardening products, visit us at http://www.homeproductsnmore.com/Garden_Edging_s/144.htm
Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
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Odour Free Composting In 3 Steps
One of the biggest complaints people have about composting is that it smells. And in some cases, this is true. When organic materials are heaped up in a pile and left to sit, they essentially rot, and we all know that rotting food and plants are going to smell. But did you know that composting doesn't have to stink? It's true! In this article we'll explain the 3 simple steps that anyone can follow to go from smelly to odor free composting.
The first step in odorless composting is to understand the two basic methods of composting: aerobic and anaerobic. As the name would suggest, aerobic composting requires air, specifically oxygen, to be successful. Anaerobic composting, on the other hand, is what occurs when the compost isn't exposed to the air.
The primary differences between aerobic and anaerobic composting are speed of decomposition and odor created. Aerobic bacteria work very quickly and efficiently. Compost that's properly aerated can decompose to a finished product within a month or two, under the right conditions. Anaerobic bacteria, on the other hand are very inefficient, sometimes taking as long as a couple years to produce finished compost. Anaerobic bacteria also product methane and sulfate gasses as a byproduct of the composting process. These gasses are bad for the environment; they are greenhouse gasses that deplete our ozone. Furthermore, these are the gasses that smell offensive to humans. When we think of a smelly compost heap, what we're really thinking of is anaerobic composting. Aerobic bacteria, on the other hand, do not produce these gasses, thus the reason that aerobic composting results in little to no odor.
One of the best ways to ensure that your compost is aerobic is to use a compost tumbler. These drum-shaped devices are usually mounted on an axel so they can spin or rotate freely. The action of the compost turning and tumbling inside the bin aerates the material, providing the necessary oxygen for the aerobic bacteria to do their job.
If you don't have a compost tumbler, or simply don't want to invest in one, you can encourage the growth of aerobic bacteria in a regular compost heap by simply turning the material on a regular basis. You may want to invest in a long handled tool such as a large shovel or pitchfork to make the turning process easier. Regardless of whether you have a compost tumbler or a basic compost heap, you should aim for turning the material every 2 to 3 days for best results.
The second step in odorless composting is to maintain the appropriate ratio of browns and greens in the bin. Examples of browns, or carbon rich materials, include dried leaves, shredded paper, sawdust, and dryer lint. Examples of greens, or nitrogen rich materials, include green grass clippings, vegetable or fruit peelings, cooked rice and pasta, and seaweed or other aquarium plants. If you get compost bin with too many greens, the material will begin to smell. This is easy to adjust by simply adding more browns. In addition to the items listed above, other browns might include peat moss, pencil shavings, shredded paper napkins, coffee grounds, chopped hay or straw, potting soil, nut shells, and tea bags. Finished compost will also act as a brown material.
The third and last step in avoiding a smelly compost bin is to keep out all meats, eggs, and dairy products. When the proteins in these items break down, they create an unpleasant odor. Also to be avoided are any fatty wastes including butter, shortening, cooking oils, lard, and other animal fats.
And that's all there is to it! With 3 simple steps, you can change your smelly and slow compost heap into a lean, mean, and odorless composting system that will turn out finished compost in a matter of weeks. So what are you waiting for? Begin your odorless composting system today!
About the author:
Ellen Bell works for Home Products 'n' More, a retail website offering composting tumblers and other compost bins, all with free shipping and handling! For more great gardening products, visit us at http://www.homeproductsnmore.com/Garden_Edging_s/144.htm
Article Source: http://www.Free-Articles-Zone.com
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