How to Make Backyard and Basement Worm Farms

Remember that worms ARE living creatures, and thus they ingest, digest, secrete and excrete, the four basic living routines, and elemental functions of life in itself. Concisely, you can get started with just a handful of worms, and expand farther as you need to. You can go full bore at once, and follow the guidelines of this article, and others for profit.

Decide what you want to make your worm bins from, and if they will last, and where you live and the climate also factor in on what you should build the bins you plan on using. Just about anything can make a good worm bin. Wood, and organic pots of clay that have tiny holes in the bottom, and sides, will rot, but the do work great as a worm bin. Earthen pots of clay also absorb water, so remember to add just a little more water if you plan to use them. Crockery should be avoided, as some crockery may contain lead. Plastic tubs, such as you would find at any construction site, or if you live close to an apartment that is being renovated, or if you live in a high-rise, or even level ground, the plastic five-gallon, or three-gallon buckets are great. Remember to drill holes in the bottom for water release, and a few holes here and there, mostly there, in the sides for ventilation. Regardless, make sure that they have no chemicals, insecticides, or paints that could be dangerous. Lacquer thinner, solvents, turpentine, gypsum type sheet rock or drywall mud, as it is called, and most cleaning chemicals are caustic, and will kill worms. *It is also not a good idea to use glass, as it can break easily.^[1]

Mix your bedding together; just about anything organic works. If you have access to a paper shredder, you are half there already. Newspapers, non-glossy paper magazines, or even brown paper bags or paper stuffing or packages made from paper, are great bedding when shredded. Glossy paper magazines can contain some toxic inks. If you have to used these magazines, shred the pages, and soak them in HOT water for awhile, pour off the water, and repeat with warm water, until the stains of ink are no longer visible in the water. About 4 or 5 times should do well. Be sure to soak them in COLD water for at least 5 or 6 hours before you use them as bedding. Some glossy papers will actually fall apart when hot water is used. If this happens, use them ONLY in a compost pile. They will be OK there, but will not be good for bin use. If your glossy paper stays together, you can use it in the bins.^[2]

Add a mix of wet shredded paper with clay, silt and sand, and some untreated wood sawdust or peat moss or bark chips, and if you want to, add a heaping helping of wet, but cured grass, hay, or rye straw soaked in water to your cleaned, rinsed, and sanitized 5 gallon (18.9 L) tubs, wooden bins or flat plastic tubs. You may want to add some organic potting soil, but DON'T get the kind that has plant food mixed in with the soil! This will surely kill your worms as it contains many acidic products. If you do use grass, make sure it is cured in the sun, if you mix it with the bedding. Green grass clippings on top also aid in giving them a form of organic greens. Later these can be mixed with the bedding if you wish.^[3]

Use a masons trowel to stir and add all the forms of bedding you want to use. This works better than a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, or any such utensil, but don't use them to dig for your worms. Use your hands and a glove. Place several trowels full or at least two full cups, of pulverized limestone into the bedding mix for good measure. Mix thoroughly, rotating the tub on its edge, and mixing with a small bricklayers trowel, or if you have flat, plastic or wooden bins, mix as well as you can, and then turn the entire mix over into another bin and mix from the bottom once again. Be sure that it is very damp, but not soaking wet. Worms CAN drown. Add more pulverized limestone to the mix if you wish. Be liberal with the pulverized limestone. Wooden bins will also absorb some water because of the porous nature of wood.^[4]

Add your worms. This is your choice since there are several types of worms that grow fast, and can really breed often. A European Night crawler seems to be a favorite. Canadian Night crawlers have to be kept between 39 to 50 °F (4 to 10 °C). Those touchily little crawlers are quite sensitive to the heat. Red Wigglers are good fish bait, and breed rapidly. They are best for composting, but can be used in bins. They are sold by the pound, and can be kept easily. Make sure they are Red Wigglers though, as some dealers will give you the wrong type of worms, and call them Red Wigglers.. If they look to small for a fishhook, then they are not suitable for fishing.^[5]

• African Night crawlers are a great choice, but they breed a little slower than the others. They can withstand moderately high temperatures, but are sensitive to cold. These work best if your worm farm is in the basement or enclosed to where it will not fall below freezing. They seem to go dormant, and do not breed at all at temperatures below 40 F. Regardless of the species you select, they cannot stand sunlight or high temperatures for long. Keep them in the dark and relatively cool place.

Feed them, feed them often, and watch them grow! You can buy commercially blended foods, or you can make your own out of a mixture of manure, coffee grounds, tea bags, old oatmeal, unseasoned wheat flour, most table scraps except meat, or bone, and cornmeal, make sure if it is seasoned (added salt and baking soda) that you wash it through a coffee filter, or paper towel filter first, before mixing it with other feeds. The water you use will dissolve the baking powder and salt, and take it out of the way. What remains, you can neutralize with some extra pulverized limestone. Be liberal with the limestone as it is calcium carbonate, and helps to sweeten acidic soil, and acids are something that no worm likes, and this adds calcium to the soil in large quantities, which earthworms need to breed. Also when watering, and if it is possible, use rainwater.^[6]

• Chlorinated water from the tap needs to sit for a day or so to get rid of the chlorine. Although it's not good for your worm beds, in an emergency, if your bin is too dry, you can use a small amount of mildly chlorinated tap water but the smallest sprinkle, the better.
• One other choice you have is go to the Feed and Seed Dept, or go to your local Farm Supply, and find out if they have the crumbles of laying mash, cattle or horse feed that has not enriched, and no salt added. Some cream feeds, chop as they call it, are good, but you usually have to buy it in a 50 pound bag! That's a lot IF you are not going to winter-feed the worms! You can moisten a handful of these feeds and feed them a mix once a week, adding other ingredients mentioned above, on a time-sharing status. Please note also, sprinkle the food on top of the bedding. Do not mix with your bedding, straw, or potting soil. Just remember to FEED THEM OFTEN if you do not compost them.

Make sure that your bins have adequate ventilation! If you are using plastic tubs, drill holes in the bottom to let out excessive moisture, and prevent the bin from souring. Heavily watered bins can kill worms. The water should be collected in a tray, and used as liquid fertilizer, but also remember that this is an organic liquid fertilizer, and it is high in nitrogen. Sometimes, it will attract other insects.^[7]

Beware of pests. There are a few pests that you DON'T want in your worm bins, and some are dangerous to humans.

• Millipedes, and centipedes are dangerous to humans. Millipedes can exude a strong acid, and some have been known to rupture themselves when seized, and exude this acid on a person's skin. Centipedes have powerful pincers and inflict painful bites to your fingers and hands. Use tongs to remove either of these pests, watching out for the dangers. Centipedes also are a threat to your worms, but remember, both are carnivores, and will kill every worm they can get to, and devour them in a short period.
• Snails and slugs may also try to invade, but a simple copper wire wrapped around the top rim of your bins can keep out snails and slugs. If you do find one in your bin, remove it immediately.
• Ants, cockroaches, mold and fungus are also not new to the worm farmer. Use ant traps to get rid of ants, and use roach traps and killer dusts, but don't let it come in contact with your bins.