A couple calendar month ago I was give a Worm Factory 360 vermicomposting bin to test in my garden , and my fiddling residential district — lovingly dubbed Wormville — has been stop up along fruitfully . Here ’s a aspect beneath the chapeau …
Every workweek I add a fistful or two of kitchen scraps to the bin , and a level of chopped composition on top to absorb the moisture and balance out the greenish - to - chocolate-brown proportion .
All those eggshells , banana skin , umber grounds , tea parting , and other odds and ends eventually turn into a fat , dark , hunky-dory humous call in worm castings . Or as it should really be call — louse poop .
What does wriggle turd look like ?
The tiny ignominious strands terminate up all over the bank identification number as the louse feed and poop their way through your compost . The castings settle in with the relief of the organic topic in your bin , becoming the black gold that ’s so good for your garden .
dirt ball are n’t the only residents go in Wormville though . A proper aerophilic compost flock — not too wet , not too dry — is home to millions of microbes that work in conjunction with your worms to fix the compost and speed up decomposition .
After two months , that mound of waste becomes a thick layer of humus that smack like impudent solid ground . It seems counterintuitive that a muckle of poop would actually smell skilful , but it ’s truthful !
Underneath the working tray , you ’ll come up the taking into custody - all tray that some of the humus drains into , taking a few insect along with it . The black plastic frame is a “ worm ladder ” that serve your worm make their manner up into the workings tray , so if you see some strayer , you do n’t have to worry about getting them back “ habitation . ”
If you lift the worm run , you ’ll find a pool of smuggled liquidness at the very bottom of the bin call leachate .
Leachate is the moisture collect from the composting process , and it ’s full of nutrient - rich good . This is not the same as compost tea , which is made by brew the actual worm casting in urine to make fluid plant food . Leachate is simply seepage ( from the worm castings , or the natural moisture of the food ) that may not have been process through the worm ’ bodies . Because of this , its nutrient layer is uncertain and it ’s well used to fecundate firm plants or landscape gardening plants that are not as sensitive as your edible works .
Turn the tap on the bin to debilitate the leachate from the stop - all tray . If it reek down-to-earth and unused like the relief of your compost , it is safe to apply . If it smell foul , the big bacteria may be toxic to your garden , so you should throw out it .
Leachate should be well oxygenise before use . I care to pullulate it into a humble pail and create a vortex with a stirring wand for at least 10 bit , then break the vortex and stir vigorously in the other commission for another 10 proceedings . you could also pour the liquid back and off between two buckets … whatever works to oxygenise the environs for all those beneficial microbes swim around in it !
There ’s no tough prescript about how to apply leachate to your plants . If your leachate is very light colored ( meaning it likely contains more urine and less humus ) , you could probably apply it full strength to your plants . If your leachate is very drear colour , like mine , it has likely been brewing with your worm castings and should be diluted with water system before use , anywhere from 1:1 to 10:1 . Before you drench your total garden with leachate , test its potency on a few plant first !
I did n’t begin draining my leachate until right before I sum up my second tower , since it assume time to accumulate in the arrest - all tray . Once you have a couple towers set up , however , it ’s a good idea to drain the leachate every week or two . you could also just keep the spigot open with a orotund cup underneath to pick up the liquid every day , so you do n’t have to worry about overflow . ( If you retrieve alotof liquid in the cup every week , your compost is credibly too squiffy ! )
With my first tower more than halfway full , I stuff another level of shredded paper on top and stupefy to work on the second tower .
Once you already have a working tray in theWorm Factory 360 , subsequent tray are a ginger nut to rig up .
First , rehydrate the remnant brick of coir that come with your scheme with a couple cups of piss . The fibre should be soft and fluffy as you overstretch them apart .
Add an inch or two of food fighting to the bottom layer of the second tray . Your louse population has probably double by now , so they ’ll work through this layer fairly quickly .
Combine about a cupful of the rehydrated coir , a smattering of pumice stone ( which also came with the system ) , and some dried matter ( such as idle grass or decompose plants ) and add that as the in-between layer .
Finally , brood everything with a mound of shredded paper , then a few sheets of drizzle newspaper on top , and you ’re all set !
Stack the second tray on top of the first tray , get across with the eyelid , and keep course your worms every week with food fight and shredded paper . Always add intellectual nourishment scrapsunderneaththe shredded paper , and keep the top sheet of newspaper moist at all prison term .
It may take your worms a couple weeks to migrate into the upper tray , but as they exhaust their food supply in the bottom tray , they ’ll find their way to the new food .
I ’m give way to permit them finish up sue the bottom tray for another month or so before I pull together the castings , so bide tuned !
If you want to start vermicomposting with theWorm Factory 360 , now is the everlasting time to do it . Let the dirt ball work out on your compost through all of fall and wintertime so by the meter spring rolls around , you ’ll have several trays of amply processed worm casting quick to go !
