Earthworm composting is a low maintenance, low effort hobby which can be carried out in any corner of your house. An earthworm farm does not produce offensive odours and is an environmentally friendly, natural process which you can use to compost your green waste that comes from your kitchen and vegetable garden. In this way you are benefiting the environment by putting carbon back into your own soil.
A Culterra earthworm farm therefore can introduce a new aspect to your kitchen recycling program. Now not only glass, metal and plastic can be separated, but organic waste can be recycled into your Culterra earthworm farm.
At the time of purchase, your Culterra Earthworm farm should include approximately 500 adult earthworms. Adult earthworms can eat approximately their own weight in food per day and weigh 1g. This means that your earthworm farm produces approximately 500g of food per day. As your earthworm population in the earthworm farm increases, so you can increase the amount of food. Remember that over-feeding can create an imbalance in your farm so always make sure that you are not over feeding your earthworms.
WHERE SHOULD I PUT MY EARTHWORM FARM?
Your Culterra earthworm farm must live in a controlled environment. The earthworms are at their happiest when kept at temperatures between 25°C - 30°C. The more controlled the temperature the happier your worms will be. Ideal choices for storing your worms will be:
· Kitchen corner
· Patio
· Garage
· Outside back door
· Basement
· Laundry room
BEDDING MATERIAL AND FEEDING
The earthworm's natural habitat is in surface litter where they feed on decaying organic plant material. Here is a list of suitable earthworm bedding that can be used for your earthworm farm:
· Cattle, Sheep or poultry manure
· Fresh food scraps from the kitchen
· Paper waste from the office
· Well crushed egg shells
· Decaying organic plant material from the garden
· Black and white news paper
Egg shells that are well crushed are a good source of calcium and grit. These can be added every month or so. Newspapers should be torn into strips that are 30 mm wide and wetted before being added to the Culterra earthworm farm.
Earthworms like to eat the food remains that come from your kitchen. These include stale bread, apple cores, coffee grounds and filters, lettuce leaves, vegetables, fruit peels, grain, tea bags and non-greasy leftovers. Your worm farm should be fed small quantities at a time. As soon as they start multiplying, larger quantities of food can be added. Added food should be buried into the bedding material at regular intervals. The worm farm should not be over fed, and the earthworms should be given chance to process added scraps. Brown cardboard and newspaper which has been shredded and pre-soaked with water can be added.
EARTHWORMS
The type of earthworm that is most well suited to the earthworm farm is the red wriggler or the red worm (Eisenia foetida). These worms are very well suited to feeding on kitchen waste as they are surface feeders that are well suited to living just below and in partly composted organic waste. The worms have a big appetite, reproduce quickly and thrive in confinement. Common earthworms and night crawlers do not survive well in earthworm bins since they live below the soil surface in their burrows.
HARVESTING VERMI-COMPOST AND WORMS
Your Culterra worm farm consists of a 3 tray system:
Tray 1 (Top) and 2 (Middle) are working trays
Tray 3 (Bottom) is a worm tea collection tray
You will start feeding in the middle tray. After 3 to 6 months the tray will become full with vermin-compost. You now need to start introducing your waste food into tray 1. The Earthworms will start migrating upwards to the new food source through the holes in the bottom of the tray 1. It can take up to 30 days for all your worms to migrate to the above tray after which you can harvest tray 2's vermin - compost and make sure that all the worms and their cocoons have migrated and hatched. At this stage tray 2 can be placed on top of tray 1 so that the cycle can repeat itself.
HARVESTING VERMI COMPOST AND WORMS
After a period of 6 months, your earthworms will reach a point where they are over-populating the bin and will stop reproducing. This is evident when cocoons and small earthworms are no longer present. Your earthworm population now needs to be divided in half for the population to start reproducing again. Options include a new farm, using the worms for fishing, or placing the new worms in your garden where they can further multiply and carry out their benefits in your garden soil.
Method # 1
Move the contents of your worm farm to one side of the bin. Place fresh bedding in the empty space and bury food waste into the new bedding. After a month, harvest the vermin-compost on the older side by removing it from the bin. Make sure there are no remaining worms in the vermin-compost.
Method # 2
Remove ½ to 2/3 of the contents of the bin. Place this in your garden where the earthworms can carry on with their benefit to your garden soils. Add fresh bedding and food to your earthworm farm.
Method # 3
Spread a sheet of plastic out under a bright light or in the sun. Dump the contents of the worm box into a number of piles on the sheet. The worms will crawl away from the light into the centre of each pile and you can brush away the worm compost on the outside by hand.
WORM TEA
As the worm population increases in your earthworm farm, the bottom tray of your worm farm will start to collect worm tea. This liquid is an excellent plant foliar feed or food, and can be used to enhance your soil fertility. Earthworm tea can be used as an insecticide and fungicide when sprayed onto plant leaves and stems. Add 1 tablespoon of worm tea to 1 litre of un-chlorinated or distilled water. This dilution can be used to fertigate plants through a fertigation system or apply as a foliar feed using a spray bottle every time you water. The diluted mixture will not burn your plants. The diluted expires after 6 months.
BREWED WORM TEA
Put your vermin-compost into an old sock and tie a knot at the end. Allow it to brew in a 5 litre bucket of water for 48 hours. Stir every 12 hours or allow a fish aerator to bubble in the bucket for 24 hours. The brew can be used in a fertigation system or applied as a foliar feed every time you water. The brew cannot burn your plants and expires after 6 months.
A Culterra earthworm farm therefore can introduce a new aspect to your kitchen recycling program. Now not only glass, metal and plastic can be separated, but organic waste can be recycled into your Culterra earthworm farm.
At the time of purchase, your Culterra Earthworm farm should include approximately 500 adult earthworms. Adult earthworms can eat approximately their own weight in food per day and weigh 1g. This means that your earthworm farm produces approximately 500g of food per day. As your earthworm population in the earthworm farm increases, so you can increase the amount of food. Remember that over-feeding can create an imbalance in your farm so always make sure that you are not over feeding your earthworms.
WHERE SHOULD I PUT MY EARTHWORM FARM?
Your Culterra earthworm farm must live in a controlled environment. The earthworms are at their happiest when kept at temperatures between 25°C - 30°C. The more controlled the temperature the happier your worms will be. Ideal choices for storing your worms will be:
· Kitchen corner
· Patio
· Garage
· Outside back door
· Basement
· Laundry room
BEDDING MATERIAL AND FEEDING
The earthworm's natural habitat is in surface litter where they feed on decaying organic plant material. Here is a list of suitable earthworm bedding that can be used for your earthworm farm:
· Cattle, Sheep or poultry manure
· Fresh food scraps from the kitchen
· Paper waste from the office
· Well crushed egg shells
· Decaying organic plant material from the garden
· Black and white news paper
Egg shells that are well crushed are a good source of calcium and grit. These can be added every month or so. Newspapers should be torn into strips that are 30 mm wide and wetted before being added to the Culterra earthworm farm.
Earthworms like to eat the food remains that come from your kitchen. These include stale bread, apple cores, coffee grounds and filters, lettuce leaves, vegetables, fruit peels, grain, tea bags and non-greasy leftovers. Your worm farm should be fed small quantities at a time. As soon as they start multiplying, larger quantities of food can be added. Added food should be buried into the bedding material at regular intervals. The worm farm should not be over fed, and the earthworms should be given chance to process added scraps. Brown cardboard and newspaper which has been shredded and pre-soaked with water can be added.
EARTHWORMS
The type of earthworm that is most well suited to the earthworm farm is the red wriggler or the red worm (Eisenia foetida). These worms are very well suited to feeding on kitchen waste as they are surface feeders that are well suited to living just below and in partly composted organic waste. The worms have a big appetite, reproduce quickly and thrive in confinement. Common earthworms and night crawlers do not survive well in earthworm bins since they live below the soil surface in their burrows.
HARVESTING VERMI-COMPOST AND WORMS
Your Culterra worm farm consists of a 3 tray system:
Tray 1 (Top) and 2 (Middle) are working trays
Tray 3 (Bottom) is a worm tea collection tray
You will start feeding in the middle tray. After 3 to 6 months the tray will become full with vermin-compost. You now need to start introducing your waste food into tray 1. The Earthworms will start migrating upwards to the new food source through the holes in the bottom of the tray 1. It can take up to 30 days for all your worms to migrate to the above tray after which you can harvest tray 2's vermin - compost and make sure that all the worms and their cocoons have migrated and hatched. At this stage tray 2 can be placed on top of tray 1 so that the cycle can repeat itself.
HARVESTING VERMI COMPOST AND WORMS
After a period of 6 months, your earthworms will reach a point where they are over-populating the bin and will stop reproducing. This is evident when cocoons and small earthworms are no longer present. Your earthworm population now needs to be divided in half for the population to start reproducing again. Options include a new farm, using the worms for fishing, or placing the new worms in your garden where they can further multiply and carry out their benefits in your garden soil.
Method # 1
Move the contents of your worm farm to one side of the bin. Place fresh bedding in the empty space and bury food waste into the new bedding. After a month, harvest the vermin-compost on the older side by removing it from the bin. Make sure there are no remaining worms in the vermin-compost.
Method # 2
Remove ½ to 2/3 of the contents of the bin. Place this in your garden where the earthworms can carry on with their benefit to your garden soils. Add fresh bedding and food to your earthworm farm.
Method # 3
Spread a sheet of plastic out under a bright light or in the sun. Dump the contents of the worm box into a number of piles on the sheet. The worms will crawl away from the light into the centre of each pile and you can brush away the worm compost on the outside by hand.
WORM TEA
As the worm population increases in your earthworm farm, the bottom tray of your worm farm will start to collect worm tea. This liquid is an excellent plant foliar feed or food, and can be used to enhance your soil fertility. Earthworm tea can be used as an insecticide and fungicide when sprayed onto plant leaves and stems. Add 1 tablespoon of worm tea to 1 litre of un-chlorinated or distilled water. This dilution can be used to fertigate plants through a fertigation system or apply as a foliar feed using a spray bottle every time you water. The diluted mixture will not burn your plants. The diluted expires after 6 months.
BREWED WORM TEA
Put your vermin-compost into an old sock and tie a knot at the end. Allow it to brew in a 5 litre bucket of water for 48 hours. Stir every 12 hours or allow a fish aerator to bubble in the bucket for 24 hours. The brew can be used in a fertigation system or applied as a foliar feed every time you water. The brew cannot burn your plants and expires after 6 months.