Keeping Earthworms and Getting Better Compost
by Dwayne Tiede, Calgary Aquarium Society
originally published in The Calquarium Volume 40, Number 10, July & August
1998
Aquarticles
Even before I took up tropical fish again after our move back to Calgary I had started
to compost our vegetable and fruit cuttings in an attempt to think globally but act
locally. My first attempt at composting (which is still going on) was with an outside box
containing about one cubic meter of volume. There are lots of problems with this box,
however, such as wading through snowdrifts to get to it and having only about five months
a year for the material to decompose. On top of those problems, the mould that grows in
the bin irritates my sinuses making emptying it a trial. Then after hearing about using
earthworms, and learning that their castings increase the amount of nutrition available to
plants, I decided I needed to set up a vermiculture (worm-growing) bin. My first trial was
with some worms from various sources such as the CAS Labour Day fish auction, a local gas
station, and a friend. But most of the food spoiled instead of being eaten by the worms.
So needless to say the worms were not allowed into the house, but stayed outside in the
garage. A conversation with a local retailer of vermiculture supplies here in Calgary,
also known as The Compost Queen (telephone 282-4765), resulted in the advice that there
was not a sufficient number of worms to do the job, and she recommended purchasing either
from ½ to 1 pound of worms. Even though I haven’t spent the time counting them,
there are about 1000 worms to the pound. Eventually the order went in, and after $40, one
pound of worms was received and then went into the bin.
The variety of worms purchased is called red wigglers (Eisenia foetida).
Regular earthworms from the garden cannot be used because those tend to be burrowing types
whereas red wigglers are the type that live on the top of the soil and eat decaying
material. They look very similar but seem to be a bit smaller. Another variety of worm
that eventually showed up in the box was the white worm, even though they weren’t
ordered. Maybe they came from the little bit of soil which had also been put in from the
garden. Supposedly they are as efficient as the earthworms in converting foodstuffs to
compost.
The worms’ home is a plastic box with a lid from one of the hardware stores.
Newspaper and shredded paper were placed on the bottom for bedding and then a little dirt,
food, small amount of sand, and then a final covering of bedding on top of that make up
the mixture. Usually there is too much moisture in their food so the lid is usually left
off, but other worm growers put holes in the bottom of the box for drainage. To keep the
temperature above freezing in a partially heated garage, their box is insulated with
Styrofoam and it sits on a waterbed heater, which controls the temperature with its
thermostat.
Their feeding routine consists of grinding up leftovers like banana peels, orange
peels, vegetable cuttings etc. in an old blender. Needless to say this is also done in the
garage. To make the stuff blendable, water usually has to be added, hence the need to
leave the lid off the box. If there is too much compost that week, the rest is thrown onto
the outside bin. Another method that I have also used is to allow the food to freeze, then
thaw it and add to the worm bin. The freezing helps to break down the food structure.
Others say they just dump the cuttings straight into the box.
Harvesting the earthworms consists of picking them out, washing them, then chopping
them up and feeding them to the fish. Another method is to take the worms out and put them
in cleaner food source such as cornmeal and then after they have vacated their digestive
systems they can be fed to the fish. A tip from one of our long time members was to put a
piece of bread on the compost and the white worms will bunch up underneath. They can then
be pulled out, washed and fed to the fish. These also cause quite a feeding frenzy. The
white worms are supposed to be higher in fat so should not be fed to fish as the sole (not
soul) food. Therefore these are rotated together with the earthworms, pellets and also
flakes.
Maintaining a constant supply of worms and compost requires emptying out the box a
couple of times a year and using the castings in the flowerbed. My method is to dump the
box out in a pile, then sort through the pile and gather up the worms to go back into the
next box.
For more information on this method of composting, there is lots of information on the
Internet under vermiculture or worm composting, and there are a few books in the library.
Oh, there is one other reason to keep them that I forgot to mention earlier and that is
that you would always have a supply of worms for fishing with a hook!
REFERENCE:
Applehof, Mary, Worms Eat My Garbage, Flower Press, 1982?
Other aquarium clubs and non-profit organizations can use this, or other articles,
in their own journals or web sites, provided that credit is given to the author, the
Calgary Aquarium Society, and The Calquarium. In the case of a reprint in a hardcopy
publication, two copies of the published work are sent to the Calgary Aquarium Society at
its mailing address. And in the case of a reprint in an Internet publication, a link back
to the original article site must be provided in a prominent location. |