Worm Farming

Starting a worm farm is easy- best to start in the warmer months.

Site the container near your kitchen on the east or west side of your house (not in full sun or full shade).

•Get a large open container with drainage like an old bath, kitchen sink (no plugs in) or rubbish bin with 10mm holes drilled in the bottom. Raise it on a base so you can collect the rich liquid manure that will come out into a tray or bucket.

•Add a 2-3 cm layer of gravel or sand for drainage on the bottom.

•A 2-3 cm layer of damp shredded newspaper, old compost or pile of leaves as a starting base (bedding)for your worms.

•Place a good handful of compost (tiger) worms* amongst the bedding. (Your old compost heap should have these under it. They are striped and also known as tiger worms. (The pink worms you find in your garden are not the ones you need). Ask a friend who gardens or has a worm farm- or buy them from a nursery.

•Cover with a piece of old carpet, sacking or circle of wood with holes to cover the container so it stays dark and moist.

Caring for your worm farm: Wait one week for your worms to settle in then you can feed them building up to 1-2kg of food scraps each week. Place them in one segment at a time rotating each week.
They especially love coffee grounds, raw food scraps, After 7 weeks the first place you feed them should be like soil- if not feed them a little less. Do not feed them citrus, dairy or meat products.
If you live in a cold area,for winter only, wrap the container in some insulation material e.g. old carpet, sacking. (Optimum temperature 15-25oC but can deal with smaller amounts of scraps at lower temperatures). If it starts to smell sour add a sprinkle of lime or dolomite.

You can harvest some wonderful rich worm compost by feeding them in one quarter of the container for two weeks then the other three quarters will be empty of worms an you can gently scoop it out. Always add some more bedding in the empty space left.

GOOD LUCK! Soon you’ll have thousands of little white baby worms which will grow into busy active workers; Making heaps of compost for you and only wanting food scraps for their efforts! After a few months you can give a handful of worms as gifts to your friends! (They will also need a copy of this)