I became interested in the idea of raising worms for the purpose of making compost after reading that worm compost was becoming the main fertilizer in Cuba. When Cuba's energy plug was pulled by the former Soviet Union, chemical fertilizer and fuel became very scarce, causing major disruption in agriculture systems. There was a several year period where there were serious food shortages there which caused an average Cuban to lose 20 lbs. Cuba seems to have stabilized its food problems by relocating its agriculture closer to and in the cities, and trucking in vermicomost made mainly from cattle manure from the countryside. Cuba is currently the cutting edge leader of organic farming in the world. So I started to think.... our gas prices keep going up.... maybe will keep going that way... and food production is closely linked to energy output. Food needs to travel a long way to market and modern agriculture is very energy dependent for production. Chemical fertilizer manufacture is dependent on very heavy energy output used to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere. Indeed last year I noticed a doubling of the price of Scotts turf builder concurrent with the increase in gasoline prices. So I started to wonder if maybe the Cubans were on to something with this worm compost idea. Can I produce a well balanced fertilizer in my back yard with nearby ingredients and maybe add a few exotic suppliments, and grow a garden that was large enough and diverse enough to provide my wife and I a well balanced diet most of the year with plenty of mineral nutrition to keep us healthy? This is the question that got me started on the road to red wiggler worm farming. I have been a gardener since the age of 7 and consider myself fundamentally skilled at growing vegetables. I have also made a serious study of soil nutrient management. So off I have gone on the tangent of learning all I can about the subject of creating worm compost fertilizer.

I have been raising red wiggler worms for 18 months now. I started out with an 18 inch deep by 2 foot long by about 16 inch wide rubbermaid box knockoff from walmart. I filled it with shredded paper about halfway, added 2 shovel fulls of peatmoss, 2 shovels of finished compost, and one handfull of lime. I got this mixture seriously wet and left it in the garage until my worms arrived that I ordered off the internet. I paid around $25 for 1,000 worms. They were puny little guys, I did not bother to count them but it was about a heaping handful. I put them in the box, covered it up and left them in my unheated, but insulated garage, starting in February. It does not get below 40 degrees out there. Instructions said to leave them alone to get used to their environment. I disregarded that advice and checked on them every day for two weeks. This may have retarded things a bit but I will never know for sure. After about three weeks I started feeding them, slowly with coffee grounds, and leftover bread. As I observed food disappearing, I slowly added more food. Once I added a whole bunch of spent grain, like 3 gallons all at once. I went out the next morning to see that the box was heating up. Uh Oh! I quickly removed as much of that grain as I could, and fed it back over the course of a week. Crises was averted. Worms like it best between 60 and 90 degrees. As the population and size increases, more and more food can be added. As a rule of thumb, worms eat about 1/2 to 1 times their weight every day. A thousand worms weigh about a pound, so its ok to feed them about 1/2 pound a day. A thousand worms in good conditions will double their population every three months or so. The population expands to fill the space and food available. About 2,000 worms can coexist in 1 square foot of surface area. My worms were filling to maximum capacity two of the rubbermaid bins by May of last year, and eating all of our vegetarian leftovers. (Two of us and a 3000 sq ft garden have alot of veggie scraps.)

In September I built a 2 ft deep by 10ft long by 4 ft wide box from recycled 2X6's, very sturdy. Untreated and unpainted, I figure this will last for some time outdoors under the maple tree. I put in a bunch of weeds and leftovers from the garden, a toyota pickup load of aged horse manure, all the compost laying about, and the two boxes of worms. I figured there was about 10 to 12 thousand worms in that big box. I let them settle in and around the first of December I added two pickup loads of fresh manure on the top. This kept the worms nice and cozy until we had a cold spell toward the end of January and added more fresh horse manure. For christmas I recieved from my wife a soil thermometer, which I employ to monitor the temp in the box. Twice I got the temperature too hot, over 100 degrees with the manure. But no harm was done as the worms went to the sides for cooler climate. In March the worms were thick, covering 40 square ft... thats about room for 80,000 worms. So then I got some horse floor mats I had in the garage, and 10 bales of straw, put the mats on some even ground and built up 3 sides with the straw bales. I put some composted horse manure about 2 ft high and made a wedge of it at about 45 degree angle inside the straw bale support, and added about half the worms from the box. The worms took right to this, and I have been feeding them composted manure, buckets of spoiled produce from a local produce stand, weeds,the now rotting sraw,and our scraps, and keep it damp. The worms keep moving forward into the new food, leaving behind worm compost that is very, very good fertilizer (relatively worm free). From the worm box I harvested 5 wheelbarrow loads of worm castings when I removed the worms and refilled with new food. The first wedge row in August is about 10 ft long, I will harvest the worm free compost at the rear and start coming back the other way soon. I also plan to start a new straw bin with the overflow of worms in the box this fall. I like the straw method best because the worms can escape to the straw if it gets too hot, and it provides good insulation from the cold. The worms in the straw pile are multiplying quickly as are the worms in the box. I am taking regular trips to the horse farm and produce stand in addition to our own garden and household scraps to keep up with worm food needs. I regularly supplement at least once a month a scatterring of corn meal, soybean meal, kelp, and azomite, a rock dust from Utah, plus a little dolomite lime, for calcium and magnesium.

The garden this year has been extremely productive. With just the 5 or so wheelbarrows of worm compost in addition to the regular amounts of Steve Solomons Complete Organic Fertilizer recipe ( You need to purchase one of his books or go to soilandhealth.org library to obtain this recipe.) I have not measured any weights or yields in any way but if one takes a look at the garden they will certainly agree it is productive. We eat two meals a day at least from the garden of very delectable fresh garden food. Anyone coming here takes home a bag of groceries. Since I have been feeding the worms a balanced diet, I expect them to be pooping out a balanced fertilizer that has many nutrients in a plant available form. Usual estimates of the ptency of worm castings range from a 1-1-1 to 2-1.5-1 plus trace elements. I plan to send my castings to A&E lab for testing soon. Next season I will be making trials of worm poop only fertilized versus comercial fertilizer, complete organic fertilizer only and worm poop plus complete organic fertilizer, and my neighbour who uses comercial fertilizer, soybean meal and worm poop - whatever he gets from me. At this point I estimate I have 2 yards of finished worm compost. This is from what I estimate an input of 8 yards of raw materials, horsemanure, garden weeds, cardboard , straw, spoiled produce and food scraps. I plan to spread this stuff 1/4-1/2 inch thick on each of my beds prior to planting.

Following are some pictures of the set up. You will notice that this is not fancy, I have only used recycled materials in the simplest way possible. My only montary investment has been the original $25 spent to buy worms, and around $30 for 10 bales of straw, which you will see needs to be occassionally replenished as the season progresses.

worm box

 compost bins

Heidi VanWincle's happy horseshit

straw bed with tomatos growing out the top

front load end of straw bed worms in front

handfull o' worms