Bedding material for worm bin

● Finished compost
● Dried leaves
● Cardboard
● shredded / torn up paper
● Law grass (dried)
● Coco coir
● Spent coffee grounds
● Straw / hay
● Wood chips

NB: use dechlorinated water (rain water )

Best worms for composting

● red wrigglers (Eisenia Fetida)
● African Night Crawlers (Eudrilus eugeniae )

Optimum Temp.
Scientific Min Temp Max
Common Name Range
Name (F) Temp(F)
(F)

African Eudrilus 75 to 85 60 90
nightcrawler Eugeniae

European Eisenia 68 t0 75 85
nightcrawler Hortensis

Read wrigglers Eisenia Fetida 55 to 70 40 85

Tiger worms Eisenia foetida 70 to 80 33 90

or
Eisenia fetida

Asian blue worms Perionyx 7o to 80 45 90

Excavatus
Choosing a Location for your worm bin
Most composting worms will do well between temperatures of 60 – 85F or 15 to 25 C.
The more consistent the environment the better. Keep your bin out of direct sunlight and
rain as much as possible. Under a shady tree, a shed or a garage is usually an ideal
location for your worm bin.

For home composting your worm bin should be small enough to move around. This
allows you to be flexible as things inevitably get rearranged in and around your home.
You don’t have to keep your worms outside, you can keep them indoors, you can even
keep them in an apartment if you so desired.

Because we are below the hurricane belt (currently, we are in Trinidad and Tobago)
hurricane prep hasn’t been an issue so far. But for our neighbouring Caribbean brothers
and sisters, this is something that should be planned for in advance if possible. If you
live in a temperate climate you may need to move the worms inside for the winter. In
most cases, a heated garage, barn or basement would be sufficient.

Feeding your worms

One of the most common mistakes when raising worms in a contained system is
overfeeding. Add about as much waste as you have worms. Only feed the bin when
most or all of the food is gone. Add more bedding with the waste

If you are adding garden waste ensure it hasn’t been treated with any weed killer or
other sprays. If the material is fresh/green material such as leaves, grass or anything
with a high moisture content it should be treated as food (not bedding) and only be
added in small quantities at a time.

Nothing in the onion family, no peppers or anything with a pungent odour. Especially in
small bins. Avoid anything that has a lot of tannings or is used as a meat tenderizer
these foods could be very harmful especially if the worm population is small.
Don’t add too much acidic foods such as Oranges or pineapples as these can make your
worm bin acidic. Rotting food will likely become acidic and harm your worms. Do not
overfeed your worms. Underfeeding is always better than overfeeding.

Don’t add bread, pasta, fats or oils.

Waste from vegetarian animals can be added if it is well-rotted and past the
thermophilic decomposition stage (so it won’t heat up the bin). Not cat waste, dog
waste or waste from any carnivorous animals should be added to your bin.

Powdered eggshells can be added to help manage the pH of the bin. Some worm
farmers say it adds grit and helps the worms’ digestion. Still, others claim it makes the
worms multiply quickly. I am not sure if either of these claims are true. But, at least we
can all agree that powdered eggshells are a useful addition to your worm composting
system.

If you are using the bokashi composting system you can use your bokashi compost to
feed your worms

Moisture
The bedding of your worm bin should be as wet as a well-wrung sponge. It needs to be
moist; not too wet but not too dry. Worms breathe through their skin. If it is too moist
(i.e. the bin is flooded the worms won’t be able to get enough oxygen) and if it’s too dry
they will become dehydrated and die off.

Drainage
Your worm bin needs to be well-drained to maintain an aerobic environment. Ensure
some liquid is coming out of the bottom of the bin periodically. If you aren’t seeing any
liquid leaving the bottom of the bin move the material and ensure the water isn’t pooling
at the bottom. This can happen when the holes become clogged.

This issue is more likely to happen if you’ve gone the DIY worm composting route. You
can solve this problem by either adding more holes, adding bigger holes, or both.

Temperature
The biggest difference between traditional aerobic composting and worm composting
has to be temperature. In our traditional compost set-up, we want the temperature in our
aerobic composting piles to increase. In our worm composting system we don’t. At
temperatures above 90F, the worm population begins to die off due to the heat and at
temperatures below 55F the worms will stop reproducing and reduce activity.
The optimum temperature for different worm species will vary slightly but this general
range given in the table below is a reasonable guide.

Ventilation
Worms need oxygen. Ensure there is adequate fresh air flowing through the bin. You can
do this by having ventilation holes in the cover or by leaving the cover slightly ajar so
adequate air can circulate.

Harvesting your castings

In most systems, if you’ve started with a pound of earthworms you should be able to
harvest them in about 2 to 3 months. There are various methods for harvesting
castings. The one you choose will depend largely on the type of system you have and
your personal preference.

Worm bin with trays

If you have a tiered bin system most of the worms will migrate out of the castings in the
lower tray and move up into the food and fresh bedding. This method can be used in the
worm tower or if you made a DIY system with multiple trays/containers that fit one
inside the other

Harvesting part of your bin

Worms, like most animals, don’t like living in their own poop. If you have a long enough
bin you could just feed one side and encourage the worms to migrate. For this to work
effectively the bin must be longer than 3 feet
Signs of a healthy bin
When managing your compost bin there are a few things that will let you know you’re on
the right track

● Little or no smell. A healthy bin won’t smell at all or have a very earthy smell,
similar to that of a natural forest. This is a good sign the pH of the bin is well
maintained.
● Lots of worms I the top 4 inches of the bin. Composting worms generally stay
close to the surface. If there is a pest problem or the pH near the surface is
unbearable you may notice your worms burrowing into the deeper areas of the
bin. Lots of worms at the surface is a really good sign your worm population
is in a comfortable environment
● Leachate is the colour of a strong tea with very little smell