LET WORMS EAT YOUR GARBAGE

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BEDDING DOWN

Shredded corrugated cardboard, machine ripped newsprint or computer printouts, hand-torn newsprint, leaf mold, and animal manures all make satisfactory bedding for the worm bin. Whatever materials are used, they must be able to hold moisture, allow air exchange, and provide a safe medium uncontaminated by harmful chemicals-in which the wigglers can work. Because they're light, fluffy, and easy to dampen to the proper moisture content, shredded corrugated cartons are among the best materials to use . . . but they may be difficult for the average worm-raiser to obtain. The least costly bedding is hand-shredded newsprint. To make it, simply open a section of newspaper, tear it in half, tear the halves in two, and so on, until you have a pile of strips about one to three inches wide.

The native habitats of red worms are decaying leaves, manure, and leaf mold, so any of these can serve as bedding . . . or as amendments to other bedding's. Peat moss added to shredded paper aids in water retention and helps prevent the paper strips from matting . . . but don't use peat moss alone, as it's too acid for the worms.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

There are earthworms and earthworms: Some are better for vermicomposting than others. In my experience, red wigglers such as Eisenia foetida or Lumbricus rubellus are the most satisfactory for several reasons. They process large amounts of organic material . . . reproduce quickly and in confinement . . . and are easily obtained. (Sufficient markets exist to encourage people to cultivate red worms on a full- or part-time basis, so you can buy them by mail during almost any season. Look for advertisements in gardening and fishing magazines.)

You'll want a worm-to-garbage ratio of 2:1. For example, if you bury an average of one pound of garbage per day, you'll need two pounds of worms to consume it. I normally put about half a pound of organic waste a day into my 8" X 2' X 2' bin, so I use one pound of worms in my setup. Most ads price worms by the thousands. To calculate your needs, just figure about 1,000 wigglers per pound (because unsorted pit-run worms come in all sizes, there could be many more than 1,000 of them in a pound).

Bait-size, or breeder, worms are quite large and fat, and have a swollen band, or clitellum, around the middle that indicates they're sexually mature. These grown crawlers lay cocoons-egg capsules from which baby worms will hatch-more quickly than pit-run worms do, and thus rapidly increase your bin's population . . . but breeders usually cost more to begin with because of the extra labor required to sort them. In addition, since breeders are relatively large, there may be only 700 to 800 of them in a pound. (How did I find out the number of worms per pound?Well, the first season that I marketed some of my own worms, I sold them for bait and counted out 50,000 creatures one by one. Count 50,000 of anything one by one, and you'll soon figure out another way to go! I now sell by the pound.)

Whichever type you start with, pit-run or breeders, their population will eventually stabilize at the number that can best be supported by the amount of food available and the condition of their environment.

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