Vermicomposting with a Worm Blanket - Uncle Jim's Worm Farm

Vermicomposting with a Worm Blanket

Indoor Composters, Outdoor Composters, Red Worms, Vermicomposting

vermicomposting worm blanketWhether your vermicomposting bin is situated indoors or outdoors, you should consider adding a worm blanket. Even though most bins are already equipped with a lid, a worm blanket comes in handy. It helps maintain moisture, protects your worms from the elements, and keeps the bin dark. This article will help clarify any questions you may have about coverings.

What is the Purpose of the Lid on a Vermicomposting Bin?

Whether your vermicomposting bin is indoors or outdoors, you usually need a lid. Lids for indoor bins serve many functions:

  • Isolate odors from within
  • Deter insects such as fruit flies
  • Discourages dogs from foraging in the bin
  • Retains moisture
  • Helps regulate the internal bin and bedding temperature
  • Keeps the worm bin dark, which is the way worms like it

Except for feeding time, we suggest that you keep the lid on at all times for optimum results.

Insofar as lids for outdoors bins, there are two major reasons to have lids:

  1. Protect your worms from rain, which can drown them
  2. Protect your worms from evaporation during hot summer months

However, in inclement weather, you may still need to shelter your outdoors worm bin. We recommend a shelter such as an awning, shed roof, garage, mudroom, walled patio, or porch. This will help your worms survive the weather.

Why get a Worm Blanket if My Vermicomposting Bin Already Has a Lid?

Bedding in a vermicomposting bin should always have the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. If you find that the bedding in your vermicomposting bin frequently dries out despite having a lid, we recommend getting a worm blanket. A worm blanket helps retain moisture.

What Can I Use as a Worm Blanket?

Many experienced vermicomposting enthusiasts use different materials for their worm blankets. Their best home remedy is using newspapers in black ink only. Or, instead of that home-made recipe, purchase a jute worm blanket at Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. Jute is a natural, breathable material that retains moisture. The other positive attribute is that jute is biodegradable. The worms can eat both newspaper and jute if they are hungry.

How do I Use a Worm Blanket?

If you are using newspapers, fold or trim them to size. In hot temperatures, you can choose to soak them in water for a minute before applying.

Place the worm blanket on top of the bedding and food scraps. If a jute worm blanket is too big, trim it to size. Should you have a tray-based composter, place the blanket in the working tray.

For feedings, simply lift the lid and the blanket up to put the food underneath. Many choose to bury the food so the worms will eat it faster.

If the worm blanket seems too dry, you can lightly water it. Check the bedding to ensure it has the consistency of a wrung-out sponge.

Most importantly, the worm blanket is an excellent supplemental source of food when you are on vacation, out on holiday, or when food scraps run low. Your worms will be able to eat the worm blanket until you replenish their food supply.

Replace the blanket after it has broken down.

Conclusion

A worm blanket is a terrific accessory to protect your vermicomposting worms. And don’t forget to use the lid! You take care of your worms, and they, in turn, will reward you with organic, natural fertilizer. Feel free to access Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm website for additional supplies to improve upon your vermicomposting experience. Check out our blog for more information on this topic and others.

Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm is the top seller nationwide of live worms – Red Worms, the Kings of Composting and European Night Crawlers, great for aeration, and wonderful fishing bait. We grow our worms at our rural farm in Pennsylvania. We also offer awesome indoor/outdoor tray-based composting bins and accessories.

 

 

4 thoughts on “Vermicomposting with a Worm Blanket

  1. Burrr! Winter is here it seems. Plants are dormant, gardens are sleeping, but under the leaf litter there is still life busily working to recompose stored nutrients from the summer sun! In fact, Dr. Elaine Ingham of Soil Food Web Inc says that the greatest rate of decomposition anywhere on the planet is under a blanket of snow in the cold northern hemisphere s winter.

  2. Before everything freezes, create a huge pile of carbon: start with big logs and sticks on the bottom for airflow, then pile on woodchips, leaves, shredded cardboard, dry weeds, straw, etc until you have a mountain of mostly carbonaceous organic matter. Cover the pile with a blanket and a tarp. Throughout the winter, collect your food waste in a small indoor bucket and when full, make deposits throughout the pile. Make sure you deposit the food scraps in a different location each time. In the spring, you can hot compost this whole pile to make sure weed seeds and pathogens are killed by adding a high nitrogen source like your first grass clippings of the season, manure, or coffee grounds collected from local coffee shops.

  3. Red worm magic! There is a lot of debate around partnering with worms to make compost in Minnesota. While it’s true that our state’s beautiful forests are suffering from the inundation of earthworms, nearly all worm experts agree that the most common composting species, Eisenia fetida, is of little concern. These amazing recomposers transform food and other household waste into valuable nutrient-rich, plant-growth promoting, and extremely biodiverse microbial compost. Plus, they take up little space and can work hard year-round when kept indoors. There are many ways to improve the quality of red worm compost; things like including woodchips in their bedding, inoculating with indigenous microbes, and monitoring moisture and air flow contribute to the quality of the finished product. Using the precautionary principle, we can avoid using the finished compost near forested areas, but our urban lawns, gardens, potted plants etc can all benefit from this amazing, local recycling of waste! #vermicompost #redworms #wormfarming #soilfoodweb #bacteria #fungi #protozoa #nematodes #springtails #worms #growsoil #recomposition #decomposition

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend