Many composting enthusiasts worry about their composting worms dying in the summer heat. This is a rational fear. The worms are trapped in an enclosed bin, at the sun’s mercy. However, there are several easy ways to protect the worms from the heat. It’s Not Just the Heat The main problem with warm weather is not directly the heat. The primary problem is dryness. Worms breathe through their skin. If their skin dries out, they suffocate and die. Composting worms must remain moist. A worm laid out in the direct sun can die of suffocation in just three minutes. Worms get their moisture from their bedding. Heat causes evaporation. When the bedding gets dry, the worms cannot breathe as well. They may try
Read MoreCompost
Test
How to Add Compost to Your Spring Garden
Composting worms make a dark, rich organic fertilizer that gardeners love. Getting the garden ready for spring planting means building soil fertility and loosening the soil. These instructions will teach you how to efficiently dig worm castings into the garden. You can start a few weeks before planting time. Start with Worm Casting Fertilizer If you do not have a ready supply of worm casings, you can order finished compost from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. These packets contain worm castings made directly on the farm. If spring is at least a few months away, you can start a worm bin. Red Worms are excellent for making all-natural fertilizer. Buy or build a composting bin — Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm has specialty composting bins that can be
Read MoreHow Much to Feed Composting Worms?
Everyone who composts with worms has asked themselves, “How much should I feed composting worms?” Red Worms are ideal composting worms. They need regular feedings of kitchen scraps and gardening waste. Composting worms quickly convert these scraps into valuable organic fertilizer. Feed composting worms too little, and they starve. Feed them too much, and they can’t keep up. Too much rotting organic matter can cause odors, mold growth, excess moisture, and damage to the bin’s ecosystem. Find out how much food is just enough for your worms. In theory, red worms can eat half their weight each day. This number applies to a settled worm population under ideal conditions. Since worm bin owners start out with new composting bins, we will also start there. New Arrivals If the worms just arrived in the bin, they will need time to adjust. New composting enthusiasts tend to over-fill the bin with excess scraps. Like anxious new pet owners, they don’t want their new worms to starve. Worms shipped from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm arrive somewhat dehydrated. They have not eaten in a few days. Packed in peat moss, the worms had little to eat. The worms slow down and go into a partially dormant state. They need a little time in their new worm bin to dig in and get comfy. They are also starting to eat the bedding. When adding new worms to a new composting bin: Follow instructions for preparing the bedding. Usually this is, some combination of coconut coir, …
Read MoreOrganic Lawn Fertilizing with Worm Castings & Worm Tea
Fertilizing your lawn using worm castings is non-toxic and money-saving. Keeping a vermicomposting bin results in free organic worm castings. By feeding your kitchen and garden scraps to Red Worms, you will develop a supply of dark, organic fertilizer. You can make Worm Tea or apply castings directly. Using worm castings on your lawn is easy, economical, and good for the environment. In just one day, you can turn the castings into Worm Tea and spray them on the lawn. Applying raw worm castings directly treats and feeds the lawn in a slower time-released way. Worm castings cannot chemically “burn” your lawn. Over-using an organic
Read MoreEarth Day Workplace Composting Program
A workplace composting program could turn trash into treasure. Earth Day is the best day to start a workplace composting program. Ever thought about how much food scrap trash your workplace generates? The break room generates coffee grounds and tea bags. Left-overs and spoiled food from meals and snacks stink up the trash bins. And food service workplaces generate mountains of wasted organic matter. Human resources departments are often looking for projects for Earth Day, which falls on April 22 each year. A workplace composting program is an ideal Earth Day project. Some workplaces calculate that separating trash saves
Read MoreSpring Cleaning for Your Composting Bin
With warmer weather coming, people who compost with worms are anticipating the planting season! Gardeners are making lists and garden layouts on graph paper or computers. Lawn owners are contemplating whether to sow more seed and when to fertilize. Meanwhile, the composting worms are munching away, making compost from kitchen scraps. It’s nearly time for spring cleaning at the vermicomposting bin! The composter’s location has an impact on harvesting. The composter is either indoors or outdoors. Outdoor Composters In cold winter climates, outdoor composters have been
Read MoreComposting Worm Feeding Guide: Best and Worst Foods
What are the best foods to feed composting worms? What are the worst foods? People who compost with worms face these questions every day. Fortunately, Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm has this Worm Feeding Guide! Vermicomposting is easy if you know the right foods to feed the worms — and the foods to avoid. Qualities of Ideal Foods for Worms Composting worms are hungry for your kitchen left-overs, garden waste, and coffee grounds! The best foods for worms come from plants. This includes grains, fruits, vegetables, and beans. Plant matter is filled with nutrients and vitamins that worms need. Their excrement, called “humus,” contains digested nutrients and earth-friendly bacteria. Humus makes an ideal fertilizer for growing new plants. Worms do not have teeth. Their little mouths take in the
Read MoreMake Your Own Seed-Starting Mix with Compost
The anticipation of the spring’s plantings gives hope to gardeners throughout the winter. Get a taste of spring four to 12 weeks before the final frost by starting seeds indoors! Making your own seed-starting mix is economical. And if you compost with worms, your wiggly friends will produce a perfect seed-starting ingredient: organic fertilizer. Certain plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, grow best when cultivated indoors before spring planting. The little plants have time to develop roots and grow strong before being subject to outdoor conditions. Growing starts extends the growing season. In the case of nightshades, most gardens cultivate a relatively small number of them, so each one counts. Garden centers and nurseries cultivate food plants and put them out for sale as the spring approaches. This seems like an easy shortcut. Buyer, beware! Did you know these plants: have a limited selection of variety. If you want heirloom plants or special varieties, you will need to start from seed. have been treated with chemicals, except if they are organic. may be worse for wear after transportation and handling. How far did they travel? are more expensive than DIY Choose Your Seeds Look at your gardening plan. Choose which types of plants you would like to start in advance. If you are unfamiliar with this, do some research. When you purchase seeds, read the seed packet for more information. You can find seeds at grocery stores, gardening centers, hardware stores, natural food stores, and online. Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm …
Read MoreHow Vermicomposting Improves Soil Quality
The best fruits, vegetables, and decorative plants come from high-quality soil. Home-made compost is the most cost-effective way to improve soil quality in your garden. Generating your own compost using worms and scrap vegetation costs pennies per day. Let’s find out how vermicomposting improves soil quality. As soon as an apple hits the ground, the decay process begins. Nature’s cleanup crew includes microorganisms such as fungi and bacteria. Worms dig in. Eventually, the apple is gone, completely broken down into organic components that enrich the soil. When we compost kitchen and garden scraps, we are concentrating this process in a compost bin. The resulting finished compost is easy to harvest. We can then apply the compost to the soil, and grow new plants. The Parts of Soil To make plants grow strong, we need
Read MoreHow to Raise Worms for Live Bait for Fishing
Are you a fishing enthusiast who loves using live fishing worms as bait? Are you tired of the cost and inconvenience of buying live bait? You can easily keep a stock of juicy worms at your fingertips by composting with worms. Your kitchen scraps are going to waste! They would make great food for your fishing worms. As a bonus, you will get plenty of free fertilizer for your garden, lawn, and indoor plants. It’s inexpensive to start, and it takes just a few minutes per week. Vermicomposting, or composting with worms, is a fairly popular household activity. The worms are kept securely in a composting bin. You can make a basic worm bin from a tote in minutes. Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm offers three types of worms: Red Worms Meal Worms (Darkling Beetle larvae), and Super Reds (European Night Crawlers) Are Red Worms for Fishing? Red worms, or Red Wiggler Mix, are
Read More
