Roger Drew Westminster ... Midwestern Red Grower

Welcome to the wonderful world of worms!!

Roger Drew Westminster.....

..... Midwestern Red Grower.


So, you are an avid urban farmer, with a myriad of
potplants overhead, underfoot and in every nook and
cranny available in your garden.

For some time, you have been toying with the idea of
starting a small worm farm to generate some castings
and liquid fertiliser for your pot plants and
vegetable patch.

Here's some practical help on getting your worm farm
started .... it's easy and you can scale it to your
needs.

There's a lady in a Singapore apartment, that I helped
to establish a small farm to generate plant food from
her household scraps.

At the other end of the scale, I had the use of some
farmland in return for rehabilitating a hillside, eroded
by wind and water. This rehabilitation was achieved by
establishing half a dozen medium-sized worm farms on
the bare ground. Within 12 months, the grass had
re-established itself on the hill and the erosion was
slowed dramatically.

Worm farms are easy to maintain and your efforts will
be repaid a thousandfold.

Let's do it!

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORMS

Let's use an example, where you have just bought one
of those plastic compost bins and you wish to establish
your worm farm, in a useless corner of your quarter
acre block.

You can get started by preparing some new bedding for
your new friends. To do this, first determine what is
readily available around your house and garden.

For example, you may have some decomposed compost or
other organic material such as, aged animal manure,
newspapers, cardboard, sawdust, chipboard, dead leaves,
lawn clippings, vegetable scraps, tree prunings, old
fruit, seaweed, stale biscuits, etc...

Any aged animal manure, like from pigs, horses, cows,
dogs, sheep or even rabbits is suitable for your worms.

DO NOT USE CHICKEN MANURE it raises the bedding
temperature too much and tends to be too acidic.

If you use newspaper and cardboard, tear it into small
pieces or put it through your mulcher before soaking it
in a bucket of water for a couple of days to leach out
the inks. After draining off the water squeeze the paper
and cardboard. If one handful of paper produces more
than a few drops of water, then it is too wet. Let the
water drain off until the material is moist, but not
dripping wet.

A good mixture of any organic material, with a small
amount of garden soil will make good bedding material
for your worms.

If you would rather start a portable worm farm,
then use a single sheet of newspaper in the bottom
of the lower tray to prevent bedding from falling
through to the collector tray.

These portable units can be used indoors or outdoors
and sell for less than US $50.00. They are fully
enclosed and produce no smell, if maintained properly.
Another advantage of the portable worm farms is their
ability to produce "golden rain" .... a rich, liquid
fertiliser that can be periodically drained off for
use on potplants.

If you use kitchen scraps in your worm farm, be sure
to CHOP them finely and bury them in the bedding
material or cover them with a little garden soil,
sand or aged compost.




WESTERN RED WORMS - Nature's Soil Enhancers


Well nourished soil plays host to an abundance of and as
soil becomes unhealthy and dry, the worms will leave to
take up residence elsewhere.

To encourage your worms to remain in your garden, you
must provide them with a friendly environment - not too
hot and not too cold, with plenty of organic food and a
little water.

By farming western red worms and tiger worms you will
produce the best natural plant food available and the
recycling rate in your compost bins will improve rapidly.

Add them to the EDGE of your compost pile - about six
weeks after it has been established .... by this time
the heat has started to dissipate in the organic matter
and it's ready for the worms to start their feast.


Add the worms to the bedding in your portable worm
farm, along with aged compost or garden mulch, like
lawn clippings, manure, vegetable scraps or old fruit.
In fact, any organic matter, except CITRUS fruit onions.

Even very small amounts of citrus fruit and onions can be
recycled through a worm farm, but a handful of garden lime
should also be sprinkledm over the whole surface area of
the farm to help reduce the acid in the soil.

About once a week, turn your compost or beeding over and
add a little water to keep the compost moist - but NOT
soaking wet.

As your worms consume the waste, they convert it into
worm poo or castings, which makes top grade fertilizer,
known as VERMICAST.

Use earthworm castings in your potting mix or spread it
around your outdoor plants, shrubs and trees.

When you have sufficient worms in your worm farm, you
can start to place them directly into any garden. A
shady spot uder a tree is a good place to set them free.

Too easy! just add them to the soil that needs
improvement, along with some mulch, manure and a
little water, then let your "underground farmers"
do the rest.


Decomposition of our waste needs a helping hand and
by employing western red worms and tiger worms you will
turn your compost into usable plant food - faster!

An average tiger worm may consume more than its own
body weight in organic food daily - the more they eat,
the more castings produced, hence more valuable plant
food.

Gardeners, nurserymen and organic farmers all hold
worm castings in high regard as a premium plant food.
Best of all it is virtually free from recycling your
organic waste.

Being rich in nitrogen, carbon, calcium, phosphates,
magnesium and othertrace elements, worm castings
provide plants with essential nutrition, yet it will
not burn your plants, like chemical fertilizers.

Producing your own worm castings is as easy as adding
western red worms and tiger worms to your compost.

Producing better pot plants is as easy as adding worm
castings to your potting soil mix.

So let's recap:

You can use use any organic matter as worm food.
Dead leaves, manure, cardboard, newspaper, grass
clippings, old chipboard, vegetable scraps, etc..
Try to avoid onions and citrus fruits, as these make
the compost too acidic.

Adjust water content in your compost heap or worm farm,
so that the waste material is MOIST (not wet).Water
content is often the critical point, where many urban
farmers fail with their worm farms.

In areas of high rainfall, it may be necessary to cover
the worm farm with some ply wood or sacks (not plastic)
to keep out excessive water.

Locate your worm farm in a shaded area outdoors or
ventilated indoor area.

Be sure to keep any green leaves, fresh manure or new
lawn clippings in a pile for 4 to 6 weeks, before adding
any worms. This is VERY IMPORTANT, as the heat generated
in your new compost pile ititially, will kill your worms.




MAINTENANCE OF YOUR WORM FARM.

Earthworms prefer a neutral environment with a PH of
around seven (7). As food scraps, particularly citrus
fruits, tend to be acidic, it may be necessary to
sweeten the worms environment.

To keep the food palatable for your worms SPRINKLE the
surface of the trays in your portable worm farm with a
little garden lime or dolomite every three to four weeks.
For compost heaps just sprinkle a handful of lime over
the top of the heap, about once a month.

Keep your portable farm in a cool place, either inside
or outside your house. If outside, place some plywood or
carpet on top off your farm to keep off excess moisture
and the sun.Place a rock or something heavy on top of
the plywood or carpet, to prevent it blowing away.

Be sure to leave the holes on the top of your portable
worm farm free to enable the air to circulate.

Add only enough water to keep the food and bedding moist
in your worm farm or compost heap. Too much water will
turn the food and bedding sour, hence the emission of
bad smells. In a well maintained worm farm or compost
heap, the only odour is a pleasant forestry smell.

Another sign of acidic or sour beds is the appearance
of "white worms". While these worms pose no threat to
the tiger worms or red worms, they do indicate less than
ideal breeding conditions for your compost worms.

Be sure to drain off the liquid castings, from the tap
on the lower collector tray on portable worm farms.This
ensures taht the lower breeding tray does not become
waterlogged and it also reduces the risk of souring the
beds. Do this regularly and use it on your indoor plants
or when transplanting shrubs from pots into your garden.

Don't worry if you see a few worms in the collector tray,
sometimes they will go down their for a swim, particularly
in hot weather. to help them climb out of the collector
tray again it is good prctice to roughen the inside plastic
walls of the collector tray with sandpaper.

Worms take about a week to adjust to a new environment and
food source. So, once you establish a new tray or compost
heap, leave them to settle into their new home for about
eight (8) days, before adding more food. Then, only add
finely chpped food every 4-5 days and never more than
they can consume in that period.

After about six months, you should have increased your
worm population substantially.You are probably feeding
three trays of hungry worms in a portable worm farm and
the compost bin is recycling the waste almost as fast as
you can generate it.

After about a month you will be expert at judging the
correct amount of food and water required. You will notice
as your worm population increase, naturally so will the
amount of food required.

Stay tuned for Part Two.......