The Basics Of Worms And Compost

It was a few years ago, and I was planning to go fishing. Unfortunately, I had no bait. As I considered forking over another $2.00 for a container of the usual "verge-of-death" type worms that were so common at the local bait store, I got to wondering why I didn't just hit the back yard, and dig up my own.

It was while I was out there searching high and low for my elusive quarry that it occurred to me, it would probably be a lot easier to simply grow my own (faster at any rate!). As is often the case, from ideas of one type,..... we can REALLY get sidetracked!

To speed this story up a little bit,(you could simply hit scroll) I'm going to jump ahead to the point. (Considerate guy that I am.)

I Became Expert At Raising Red Worms

Which brings us to the reason for this Lens.

You see, it was not very long before I had completely forgotten about fishing, becoming extremely wrapped up in a brand new obsession. While I was researching the techniques involved in "culturing" Red Worms indoors, I happened across some information regarding an old practice known as vermiculture.

Now when I say old, that is exactly what I mean. It seems on several different occasions during the last 100-150 years or so, various people had made studies of the Red Worm (there are several suitable varieties), and the Red Worm's inherent ability to consume organic waste material, producing a very fine soil additive in the process.

Though this practice has faded from sight several times in the ensuing years, the fact that we presently appear doomed to drown in our excess garbage has sparked a renewed interest in this procedure (vermiculture). Consider that Red Worms are capable of eating 72% of the waste material Canadians currently send off to our local landfills.

Never having been one to do anything halfway, I promptly spent the next 4-5 years, not only studying all the written material I could find on this subject, but actually raising Red Worms, and researching the process of vermiculture, right in the comfort of my own home. Which really does bring us to the reason (AND IT CERTAINLY IS ABOUT TIME) for yet again publishing this information.

With the rapidly-rising popularity of this (hobby?), it is more and more often that I am asked to share the information I have managed to acquire. (At times it can be quite difficult to locate literature on the subject). Since I have also wanted to set up a Lens for quite a while, I thought Hey! Why not? So, this is how I plan to do it.

THE PLAN

At the end of this introduction (and you thought it was a novel), will be found a list of various topics regarding Red Worms, and the techniques involved in convincing the little beggars to eat up all your organic waste. These same processes can also provide you with enough wonderful potting soil for all your house and garden needs. You are welcome to partake of any or all of this material, as the spirit moves you...enjoy.

The Smallest Horticulturist (Part 1)

"Earthworms, though in appearance a small and despicable link in the chain of nature, yet, if lost, would make a lamentable chasm...worms seem to be the great promoters of vegetation, which would proceed but lamely without them,..." -(Gilbert White of Selborne, 1770)-

"(Worm) casts are manufactured in the alimentary canal of the earthworm from dead vegetable matter and particles of soil, and contain everything the crop needs...nitrates, phosphates, and potash in abundance and also in just the conditions in which the plant can make use of them. Recent investigations in the United States show that the fresh casts of earthworms are five times richer in available nitrogen, seven times richer in available phosphates and eleven times richer in available potash than the upper six inches of soil. The earthworm is, therefore, the gardener's manure factory."-(Sir Albert Howard in "Organic Gardening", May, 1944)-

"Earthworms are the shock-troops of nature for the quick production of humus while she is waiting upon her slower processes. Climaxing her millions of years of experimentation, she created in miniature a perfect humus mill, easily adapted to the use of man. In the body of the earthworm we find a complete, high-speed humus factory, combining all the processes (both mechanical and chemical) for turning out the finished product, topsoil, properly conditioned for best root growth and containing in rich proportion, and in water-soluble form, all the elements required of the earth for plant nutrition."-(Thomas Barrett, 1976)-

"Golly, I hope Carolyn doesn't notice that a worm just bailed out of that spider-plant I keep forgetting to water, and landed on her head."-(Brian Paley of Prince Albert, 1994)-

As can be seen from the above-noted quotations (just ignore that last one), the idea of using earthworms, and their casts, to promote plant growth is not a new one by any means. Unfortunately, with the arrival of chemical fertilizers in this present century, this earlier system declined almost to the point of extinction. It seems agriculturalists became quite focused on growing both houseplants and food crops as large as they were able to, in as little time as possible. Only recently have we really begun to see the hidden cost of our "advancement."

Part of the financial problem is quite obvious to anyone who has ever bought a container of fertilizer, then another container five or six months later. Same box, same contents, whole new price. We accept this as simply being the way things are, the normal rise in the "cost of living," the reason our wages go up from time to time. Even if we accept the fact that money is, after all, meant to be spent, perhaps the time has come to consider those "costs" which are not quite so obvious.

With Canadian figures rather hard to come by, let me use an American example to illustrate the drain on natural resources brought about by our reliance on chemicals. According to government sources in 1992, approximately 2% of all the natural gas consumed in the United States goes into the manufacture of nitrogen fertilizer. On top of this, consider the gasoline and diesel fuel which is used to transport the fertilizer to market. We may get another paycheck every week or two, but once the natural resources of this planet are depleted, where exactly are we supposed to go with that money to buy some more?

Another problem which must be considered is the after-effect of using these products. As more and more of these chemicals get dumped into the soil, the soil becomes less and less productive. This results in using larger amounts of chemicals to produce the same kind of results (like drug addiction on a planet-sized scale), and a larger amount of damage being done to the soil. Though it may sound like it, this is not an endless cycle, but rather, a one-way street to destruction. There is something we can do, however, and our old friend the earthworm can help us do it.

The first thing we should be careful not to do is point a finger at the local farmer, and try to lay all the blame at his doorstep. (My mother was quite fond of telling me that whenever I pointed a finger at anyone else, three of my fingers were pointing back at me.) The farmer is, after all, usually in the business of providing food for people, and that sounds like a pretty decent idea to me. The farmer is also not the only user of these chemicals. How many people do you know who have houseplants, trees, shrubs, lawns, or gardens? How many of those people do you figure use fertilizers (or pesticides)? Well, those are the people who can make the difference.

Trying to fertilize an entire farm the natural way, without reducing the yields we have come to expect (and even require), would be a task of immense proportion. The term "herculean" comes to mind, as does the word "impossible." However, the idea of using a small population of Red Worms to produce a sufficient amount of fertilizer for our everyday at-home needs, is something we can easily handle. The worms, perfectly willing and able to help us in this noble endeavor, ask very little in return. A place to work, some garbage to eat, and in return, an unlimited supply of the most perfect plant food available anywhere!

Though there are several ways of using both the worms, and the resulting product, the majority of this information will be covered in various other sections of this home page (as fast as I can make it available), and for now we will simply take a quick look at two of the most popular methods.

Continued in "The Smallest Horticulturist (Part 2)"

The Smallest Horticulturist (Part 2)

First is the in-home worm-bin method, known more commonly as vermicomposting. You simply take a suitable container, fill it with a bedding material such as peat moss, shredded newsprint, or well-worked compost (for more info on bedding materials see those specific modules further on in this lens), add a small population of worms, and feed the little guys your daily kitchen wastes. Depending on how long you leave the worms in the bedding, and how varied your waste materials are, you will soon have a container of very nutrient-rich compost just waiting to be introduced to some fortunate plant.

If the worms are left in the bed until all the food and bedding is totally "converted", the finished product will more properly be referred to as "worm casts", or "castings". At this point, however, the resulting product is a very high-grade fertilizer, and caution must be taken to ensure it does not come into direct contact with the root system of any young plants. Although this is the method used by most commercial "breeders", the material is only sold after being blended with loam, sand and clay to form potting soil, the final price of the product being determined by the percentage of "castings" it contains. The most expensive potting soils usually contain 50-60% worm casts.

A major problem with producing material of this nature, however, is that it often involves sacrificing the entire population of worms. As the level of casts increases in the bedding, the worms will start to die off since no animal can live in its own waste material. For this reason I recommend removing the worms while there is still an amount of organic material left unconverted, eliminating the need to raise a new batch of "composters", and also ending up with a product that is much less delicate to work with. No extraordinary care is required when using vermicompost since the plants can use its nutrients at their own pace as the natural processes in the enviroment complete the decomposition, or conversion, of the remaining materials.

Over the years, vermicompost has been the subject of many laboratory studies,and it has never failed to prove its worth as both a plant food and a soil enhancer. This is due in part to the high levels of organic matter and humic acids it contains, topics we will deal with elsewhere in these pages.

For now, however, let's take a quick look at a second method of using worms to enhance your plants, one that has no need of a special container, and can be operated with a bare minimum of effort.

Since people that have seen the results of vermicompost on my plants invariably want to obtain some of this wonderful material for themselves, I am often asked to supply them with a bag or two for their personal use. Taking into account the reactions of a couple of these people when they discovered a live worm or two in the material, I have started "pasteurizing" everything before I give it out. As a result, two separate things occur again and again.

First of all, I have never given a bag of soil to a person who didn't show up later, raving about the results they had witnessed after giving their plants a hardy feeding of vermicompost. Secondly, I have never had one of these people fail to notice that as well as their own plants were doing, mine still seemed to be doing better. They are always sceptical when I explain what I believe is the reason for the difference.

Never bothering to sterilize the material I keep for use with my own plants, it is only inevitable that a number of worm cocoons, and baby worms (spawn) get mixed in with the soils I blend. It is my belief that even without feeding them, these worms live long enough to make a difference to the plant. A big enough difference that people notice. Rather than ask you to take my word for it though, I thought I would simply provide you with two excerpts from my notes, one from the scientific community, the other from a fellow horticulturist. Both of these comments refer to the practice of not only using vermicompost, but actually including a certain amount of living worms in the mix. First, let's see what science has to say:

"Wolney (a research scientist) has shown by direct experimental cultures in boxes, with and without earthworms, surprising differences between the cultural results obtained, and this has been fully confirmed by the subsequent researches of Djemil. In Wolney's experiments, the ratio of higher production in the presence of worms varied all the way from 2.6% in the case of oats, 63.9% in that of rye, 135.9% in that of potatoes, and 300% in that of the field pea, to 733% in the case of canola."-("Harnessing the Earthworm", Thomas Barrett, 1976)-

And now the horticulturist:

"I have planted moss rose in experimental pots, same age and condition, one pot with worms, one without; invariably, the one with the worms will take on a new zest and life, and I have had them make such wonderful growth as 16 to 1. I have also grown petunias in boxes, in such size and profusion as to be unbelievable to one who never had a demonstration of the earthworm's fertilizing and cultivating ability. Petunias in soil of identical fertility, with the aid of hundreds of earthworms burrowing about their roots, produced leaves 1 1/4 to 1 3/4" wide by 3" long while those in the boxes without worms were yet 1/2" wide by 1 to 1 1/4" long. And the worm-fertilized plants were several times as tall as the others."-(Portion of a letter from Mr. R. A. Caldwell of Georgia to Thomas Barrett, 1976)-

At any rate, whether you should decide to use straight earthworm castings, vermicompost, or live earthworms, I feel safe in saying, once you have seen the results for yourself, you may never buy another box of chemical fertilizer again. Oh, and remember, if you choose to use live worms, and you put them in with a hanging plant, either remember to keep the plant watered, or make sure your spouse or your friends aren't sitting beneath it when it drys out!

Copyright © 1996 D. Brian Paley

Bedding Materials
(Other Than Manure...)
(...which will require an article of its own.)

Table of Contents

Introduction
Peat Moss
Bog Soil
Newsprint
Machine-Shredded Paper
Cardboard

An Introduction

Of all the ingredients and materials necessary for the indoor culturing of red worms, bedding, which is one of the most important, is also quite possibly the most often neglected. The purpose of good bedding material is apparently one of the least understood aspects of a vermicomposting system, and improper maintenance of this bedding is frequently one of the main reasons for the failures encountered by those who are new to the process. At various times, I have seen worms which were housed in bedding that was too dry, too wet, too dense, and even too coarse. I have also witnessed worms living in their food--having no bedding at all--and while there are situations where this might be the proper practice, indoor culturing is not usually one of them.

Before we discuss the various materials which are suitable for this purpose, and the advantages or disadvantages inherent to each, let's take a moment to decide what we are trying to accomplish by providing the worms with bedding in the first place. We can do this by looking at what the worms need in order to lead healthy and productive lives, and then deciding which of these needs are dealt with most efficiently by the bedding.

A Worm Needs....

- Food to eat.
- Environmental conditions free from rapid fluctuation.
- Shelter from light sources.
- Access to potential mates. And...
- Delicate handling.

Now if we only had the worms to consider, that would just about do it. However, when we talk about cultured worms, we must also consider the needs of those who are doing the culturing, namely you and yours truly.

A Vermiculturist Needs....

- Healthy, productive worms.
- Freedom from foul-smelling bins.
- Freedom from intrusive pests. And...
- Easy access to required materials.
- (A winning ticket in the local lottery is probably out of the question?!)

With that in mind, we can now set down at least a couple of basic qualifications for what makes a good worm bedding. Though these are not the only considerations by any means, these points will go a long way to setting us on the right path.

Bedding Material Should....

- Retain moisture in a form that is accessible to worms.
- Stay loose and allow for air passage between the individual particles.
- Allow for drainage of excess moisture.
- Not be coarse enough to damage a worm's delicate skin.
- Not be a food source that is high in protein.
- Be aged past the heating stage. And....
- Be free of topsoil. (Red worms are compost or manure worms as opposed to earthworms.)

So, with all of these points in mind, let's get down to the job of looking at the available options, and the various pros and cons associated with each. Just before we do, however, I should point out that I am not trying to nudge anyone in one specific direction or another. All I am really interested in is giving everyone enough information so that they can decide on whichever bedding will best suit their individual circumstances, and a pointer or two on how best to use whichever one they finally decide upon. Each of the following materials are suitable as worm bedding, but some will simply be more suitable than others for your particular needs. So if that is clear to everyone.....we may proceed.

Peat Moss

With the exception of manure (a topic we will deal with in a later article), peat moss is probably the most widely-used of all the worm beddings. A few years ago, we could even have defined this material more specifically as "Canadian" peat moss, or sphagnum moss. The reasons for that particular preference had to do with the fact that the Canadian peat moss was a sterile medium, whereas the American peat moss was more likely to contain various impurities which might have proved harmful to the worms. Though many breeders still ship worms in Canadian sphagnum, often at the specific request of the buyer, if reasonable care is exercised, just about any peat moss may now be used.

Since I can already hear the multiple screams heading my way, let me explain what I mean by reasonable care. First of all, any suspicious moss should be thoroughly "leached" before it is used as worm bedding. This is a simple matter accomplished by soaking the material for a few hours (or overnight) in clean water, and then squeezing out the excess moisture. If the water you squeeze out is dirty, the process should be repeated until the resulting flow is as clean as when it was first added. At that point, resist the temptation to add your entire worm population to the moss until you have first allowed a brave handful of worms to try out the new accommodations for at least one entire night. If they survive, chances are the others will also. Of course, if you are fortunate enough to have access to some of the true Canadian sphagnum, you can probably skip the first step altogether, and proceed directly to the test with the partial population. I do, however, strongly suggest that you never skip the second test. You may get away with it 99 out of 100 times, but just one bad batch of moss and....well, you get my point.

Like most other bedding materials, peat moss has both advantages and disadvantages. The reason for its popularity, however, is that the advantages pretty much outweigh the negative aspects, and those things considered to be disadvantages can often be used in a positive manner. If we understand each of these characteristics, and make the best use of them, it becomes easy to see why so many worm breeders favor this material.

Among the advantages of peat moss can be found the following items:

Moisture Retention.

Because it retains moisture so well, peat moss can lessen the amount of daily attention required by the worm bed (a major plus in multiple-bed situations.) And less watering means you will have that much more time to teach the worms to dance, recite poetry, or run for political office. In all fairness, I have to admit I have heard at least one individual express concern that while peat moss does indeed retain large amounts of moisture, the water is trapped inside the fibres, where the worms cannot make use of it. I also have to admit that I find that a little hard to believe, since the worms ingest the entire fibre, water and all. If any worm has ever died of thirst while living inside moistened peat moss, I, for one, have never heard about it.

Cleanliness.

This is one of those characteristics you can only appreciate if you have had prior experiences with bedding materials that are not so easily handled, such as manure or leaf mold. Properly moistened moss is a pleasure to handle, and if you should drop a little here or there, just let it dry, and vacuum or sweep it up.

It Has No Inherent Odor.

Though worms tend to deodorize most materials simply by their existence within the medium, there is often a short period of time where some beddings might be just a little offensive to those of us with delicate sensibilities. No such problem with peat moss, a definite plus in my books.

Availability and Consistency

If you happen to live in a rural area, the availability of material for worm bedding should never be a problem. Urban living, however, can often present certain difficulties. Aside from having to gather materials, storing those which you manage to accumulate can present additional problems. For those with very limited storage space, or lacking suitable amounts of the time or inclination required to gather materials, peat moss offers easy access, usually at a reasonable cost. Any decent garden-supply shop will have this material on hand, and a medium-sized bag can usually be purchased for just a few dollars. For the average indoor system, a bag of moss will usually last several months, and if the same brand is constantly used, the worms will not be subjected to the rapid changes of condition that can so often raise their mortality rate.

Diversity

Last but not least among the advantages of using peat moss as a bedding material, we should make mention of the wonderful diversity of this substance. Not only can peat moss be used alone, but it can also be used to enhance just about any other bedding material, and even as a method of rectifying certain problems encountered with other products, and also some environmental problems. For instance, if a certain bedding material drys too rapidly, adding a 30-50% mixture of moss will help to retain the necessary moisture level. In beddings that are too dense, peat moss will add a little porosity, and in materials that are too far on the alkaline side of the pH scale, the acidic nature of peat moss can serve to bring things into a better balance. When used as a shipping medium, peat moss will retain enough moisture to cool the worms, without requiring so much water that it will easily freeze solid. The fact that this material is lighter than most will also save some of the shipping costs, and because of its sterile nature, you may encounter less hassle from Customs when shipping internationally. All in all, peat moss has a lot going for it, and eventually, just about every worm breeder or vermculturist will come to consider it an indispensable part of their operation.

Among the disadvantages of peat moss can be found the following items:

The Cost.

Now I know I already said that peat moss was inexpensive, and it is (as long as we are talking about a regular-sized indoor operation.) However, many other bedding materials are free, so we have to be fair and call any price-tag at all a disadvantage. In the situation of a larger set-up, the cost can rapidly add up, and for commercial applications, the expense would be simply ridiculous. What this means is that peat moss is a great choice for an indoor bedding for a regular-sized set-up, but can only serve very specific needs for anything much larger than a one or two-bed system.

Its Acidic Nature (pH)

By its very nature, peat moss is an acidic substance. Since the worms prefer a pH that is close to neutral (or very slightly acidic), this can present a problem if certain precautions are not taken. First of all, worms that were previously housed in bedding materials that were neutral or slightly alkaline, should never be transfered directly into straight peat moss. Though I have raised several batches of worms in sphagnum (moss), they were either hatched initially in that substance, or gradually acclimated to the new conditions. To acclimatize worms to new bedding, I simply transfer an amount of the old material, worms and all, to one side of the new bed, opposite to the fresh bedding. The worms will then move into their new environment at their own pace, and the number of casualties is considerably reduced. (This procedure should be used whenever you place newly-received worms into a bed that contains material other than that which they were shipped in.) On the plus side of this matter, the acidic nature of peat moss can be used to balance other beddings (or soils) that have become too alkaline for whatever reason, something that gardeners everywhere have known for years.

A Lack of Nutritional Value

Since peat moss is made up of very old plant matter that has been sitting in, or under, a bog for many, many years, whatever nutrients it may have contained in a previous lifetime (spooky, huh?) have all been thoroughly leached out, which means that not even a worm can live on a steady diet of this material for any length of time. As far as that being a disadvantage or not, I guess it's merely a matter of personal opinion. If you are more interested in getting rid of food scraps (or some other feed source), rather than peat moss, you might consider this to be a benefit, since the worms will rely on the feed for nutritional value, and the peat moss will add body as it gets blended into the final mixture. This tendency to add to the structure of the finished compost is one of peat moss's best selling points, so maybe this item should have been listed under advantages after all. (Too late. )

All in all, a truly remarkable substance, and as we've already stated, a bedding material widely-used by vermiculturists around the world.

Bog Soil

Though this material has a lot in common with peat moss, it must be understood that bog soil is a very different substance, with unique characteristics of its own. When we refer to peat moss or sphagnum, we are usually speaking about dead plant material that can still be identified as such. Bog soil on the other hand, is material that has been dredged up from the bottom of the bog, and is decomposed well past the stage where easy visual identification is possible. As opposed to peat moss, which is usually brown in color, bog soil that has any moisture content at all will be very black, turning slightly brown only when completely dehydrated.

During the period that I was maintaining my worm beds in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, I was directed by a customer of mine to a bog located just outside of town. (It was one of the nicer places I have ever been told to go. ) When I arrived at the site, I discovered that at some point in history, someone had dredged mountains of material from the bottom of the bog, and left it piled up in huge mounds all around the edges of the water. I suspect the absence of sufficient quantities of sphagnum was the main reason the "bog soil" had been abandoned. At any rate, the place was open to public access, and there had obviously been many people before myself who had loaded up large quantities of this material, probably for use as a soil additive in their gardens. For several months after that time, I periodically trucked a load of this "soil" home, screened the larger pieces of wood out of it, and used it as worm bedding. The worms loved it, and it made a really nice final product after the worms had mixed it with all the food wastes I was using as feed. (Finding a beautifully-preserved piece of fossilized tree bark in one of the batches I took home was also a very pleasant bonus.)

Among the advantages of bog soil can be found the following items:

Moisture retention.

This is one of the areas where bog soil is very similar to peat moss, holding several times its weight in moisture content. In fact, it seems to me that it might be even better than peat moss in at least one regard. Though I've never run actual tests to determine by how much, I would have to say that bog soil holds the water even longer than moss, apparently being more resistant to the effects of evaporation. Also, peat moss will tend to "crust" over at the surface as it loses moisture, but bog soil remains friable even when its dry. This allows the worms better access to the surface, with less chance of damage to their skin.

Lack of Odor.

Another similarity shared with peat moss, but beneficial for at least one reason in addition to the obvious one of not being offensive. When you use peat moss, it is easy to estimate how converted the bedding has become simply by watching the color of the material. As the level of the castings increases, the bedding will become darker in color, alerting you to the fact that a cleaning of the bed might be in order. Since moistened bog soil is already black, however, it requires a pretty good eye to tell what percentage of castings the bedding contains. (A close inspection will show that the converted material is slightly lighter in color than the fresh material, a dark grey as opposed to black.) This is where the initial lack of odor becomes very important. Since worm casts contain a large amount of actinomycetes, and actinomycetes account for the smell associated with good rich earth, we can let our noses substitute for our eyes. If we sniff a handful of the bedding material, and the bog soil now smells like fresh garden soil, we know that a fair amount of conversion has taken place. Like all casting-rich bedding, if you completely dry an amount of converted bog soil, it will turn in color to a light grey, quite easily distinguished from a sample of the fresh material.

Diversity.

In this area, bog soil shares the same benefits as peat moss in that it can be used to enhance other beddings that do not hold moisture as well, and it can still be used for its cooling properties, and its lightweight nature, though in all fairness, it weighs slightly more than moss, and packs a little tighter. In these areas, I would rate bog soil as a strong runner-up to peat moss, and way ahead of the remaining materials.

pH.

In the matter of pH, I consider bog soil to be superior to peat moss, since it tends to be a completely neutral substance. Of course, this means it cannot be used to correct the imbalances of another bedding, but that disadvantage is far outweighed by the benefit of its neutrality. Since it is neither acidic nor alkaline, worms can usually be transferred into this bedding with very little risk to their well-being.

Cost.

Whenever you can find this material, it will probably be free for the hauling, and that's a price you simply can't beat. A couple cautions, however, might be in order. First of all, always respect private property. Some bogs might be located on privately-owned land, and in that situation, either permission should be sought from the owner before removing any material, or the site should be removed from your list of locations. With all the many sources of bedding material which are available, trespassing is not only unnecessary, but very likely to give vermiculture a black eye which it simply doesn't deserve. Another point to keep in mind is the possibility of obtaining contaminated material. Though it is sad to say, the truth of the matter is that bogs have often been used in the past (and probably still are in the present), as illegal dumping sites. If the bog you are considering happens to be in the immediate vicinity of a large mill, or industrial site, you might want to look elsewhere. It would be a shame to produce castings that were later responsible for the contamination of your garden, or possibly the illness of your friends, your family, or yourself.

Among the disadvantages of bog soil can be found the following items:

Availability.

Since bog soil is basically an unprocessed material, you are very unlikely to find it in your local garden center. Even if you have a vehicle, and the ambition required to find a suitable source--a bog that is open to the public--there is still a fair amount of work involved in loading it into containers, and then unloading the containers upon arrival at your home. It will also require screening to remove the larger pieces of wood which always seem to be present, and finally, if the trip is to be made worthwhile, a large amount of this material will likely need to be acquired. The storage of this excess material until it is needed could present some problems of its own. In short, if your particular circumstances are not just right, acquiring this material just may not be worth the effort.

Possible Contamination.

We have already discussed this possibility a little earlier, but I wanted to mention it once again, simply because it is so important. I cannot stress it enough. If you have any reason to suspect the integrity of a batch of bog soil (or any bedding), find another source! There is simply too much material available for use to have to settle for something that may prove to be harmful to the environment (I include people in this word since we certainly are part of that environment.)

Lack of Nutritional Value.

(See comments under same heading in section on peat moss.)
All things considered, and all cautions taken, bog soil is an excellent bedding, and anyone fortunate enough to come across a good, reliable source of this material should consider themselves to be very lucky individuals indeed.

Newsprint

Now this is a material you just have to love. Not only is it relatively easy to use, and as plentiful as it gets, but using it as bedding solves the problem of bundling it up, and lugging it off to the recycling depot. Which brings me to another point, and my first real digression in this article (I really am getting better. )

In the time that I have been vermicomposting, I have been subjected on at least two separate occasions to lectures about the evils of feeding paper products to worms, when in fact I should be recycling those materials. The somewhat distorted logic at the heart of these lectures goes something like this. It is better to reuse a material several times than to feed it to worms once, whereupon it is forever lost to the world?! My personal view of that particular argument is best expressed in this manner.

First of all, material that is fed to worms is not lost to the world, but rather, it is transformed into one of the finest soil additives available to us from anywhere. Using this material in places such as tree nurseries can result in faster-growing, and even healthier trees. More trees equal more material for not only paper products, but building materials, and even other considerations such as food, air, and natural beauty. So vermiculturists are not taking something away from Nature, but in actuality, adding to it. And as far as the paper recyclers go, consider this. Even with the popularity of recycling these days, the process is still in its infancy. The truth of the matter is that the entire recycling industry is diverting just a fraction of the available waste materials from the landfills and incinerators of this planet. If we can feed another fraction of that particular part of the waste stream to our worms, fine. And if we ever reach a point where no more material is being landfilled, and the recycling industry cannot find enough paper to process, we can always switch our worms over to yard wastes, food scraps, or other such materials. In the meantime, we are only dealing with a portion of the material that is beyond the capabilities of a very young recycling infrastructure. (We are your allies, not your enemy.) And now, back to the business at hand.

Among the advantages of newsprint can be found the following items:

Availability and Consistency.

Newsprint is one of the most common materials available anywhere in North America. If you yourself don't receive a daily paper, you probably know many people who do. With only one or two of those people saving their papers for you (and being grateful to get rid of them), you can keep most in-home worm bins in perpetual bedding with no effort whatsoever.

Easy to Use.

Whereas certain bedding materials require a fair amount of preparation prior to use, newsprint needs only to be shredded and soaked. The excess moisture is then squeezed out, and the bedding is ready for use. Hand-shredding is probably the most common method of reducing the paper in size, with paper-shredders rapidly becoming more popular. Though newsprint can be ground into dust with larger industrial machinery such as a hammer mill, this results in the need of wearing protective devices to prevent the accidental inhalation of the finer airborne particles. (You don't want paper-dust in your lungs.) Since moist newsprint decays quite rapidly even in slightly larger pieces, however, reducing the material to the size of dust is really unnecessary. You could also decide to simply crumple up entire sheets of moistened newsprint, but then expect it to take a little longer to get eaten.

Cost.

As I have already mentioned, newsprint is readily available, at a very reasonable cost, or free. If you find you require a lot of this particular material, you might try approaching your neighborhood grocery store, and inquiring about how they dispose of the daily papers that do not sell. Often, you will discover that just the banner portion of the front page is saved as proof that the paper was not sold, and the rest of the paper is then cast into the garbage. Usually, a store owner would prefer to have someone pick up these unwanted items, rather than have them added to the garbage which he/she will later have to pay to have hauled away.

Convenience.

Any time you can arrange to have your worm bedding delivered to your door, rather than having to go out and locate it elsewhere, you can consider yourself ahead of the game.

pH.

This time I'll list the matter of pH as a benefit, which is where it probably belongs at any rate. Like peat moss, newsprint is naturally an acidic material, and as such, it also may be used to bring overly-alkaline substances back into balance. (Once again, gardeners have known this for a very long time.) Since it is acidic, however, the same cautions must be taken that were mentioned in our discussion of peat moss' pH, and the same methods should be used when worms are transferred into newsprint from a bedding that falls closer to the alkaline side of the scale.

Among the disadvantages of newsprint can be found the following items:

Possible Contamination.

This point is one that should never be neglected, but one that may also prove very tempting to those of us who find we have very little time which we can devote to bedding preparation. I'm talking about considering the use of newsprint that has already been pulverized for use as an insulation material. To put it plainly....DON'T DO IT!

Newsprint that has been prepared for use as insulation has also been treated with fire-retardant chemicals. Not only could these chemicals destroy your worm population, but even worse, the worms might actually survive, producing castings that could later be used to fertilize your garden, possibly contaminating a portion of your food supply. In short, saving yourself a little effort is just not worth the potential risk which it involves. For this same reason, machinery that has been used in the preparation of insulation should never be used to prepare bedding material.

It Drys Rapidly.

Unlike peat moss, or bog soil, substances which hold water extremely well, newsprint that is exposed to the air loses its water content quite rapidly. The key phrase here is exposed to air, and as long as we keep this in mind, the problem is easy to solve. What you want to do is place at least a couple of inches of a more water-retentive bedding (such as the already-mentioned moss or bog soil) on top of the newsprint, creating a barrier from the air, and resulting in a lessened need for watering. It is important that newsprint bedding remain moist, since it becomes very rough when it is dry, and this could cause a problem for the worm due to its delicate skin.

It Leaks Light.

Depending on whether you shred the newsprint, or simply crumple it up, a certain amount of light may filter into the lower regions of the bed. If we understand that a worm does not flee the light due to some unreasonable fear, but rather due to the fact that it is sensitive to ultraviolet rays (prolonged exposure to a light source will result in the death of the worm), then we can understand that this is not a good situation. Once again, however, a top-covering of peat moss, bog soil, compost, or manure can easily be used to solve the problem. A piece of dampened burlap will also work, but a top layer of another bedding material has an additional benefit, which we will discuss very shortly.

It Can Become Compacted.

This is another area where the degree of the problem will depend on the manner in which the newsprint was prepared as bedding. If shredded, rather than crumpled or pulverized, newsprint can become quite packed down, resulting in several situations which need to be considered. First of all, compacted newsprint is not the easiest material to bury a feed source into, or harvest worms out of. If this was the only problem, however, that good old top-layer of a different bedding material would once again solve the problem. That is the additional benefit I mentioned earlier, a more friable bedding material for the worms to use while the newsprint has some time to decay. However, there is a more serious problem that could develop which a simple top-layer cannot prevent. If the bedding becomes so packed down that it cuts off the available air-supply, anaerobic bacteria (which thrive in the absence of air) could rapidly invade the worm-bin, resulting in the same aroma that a garbage bag produces when built-up fluids drown the bottom layers of the waste material. Not only is this an aroma you will really want to avoid in your house, but the worms like it even less than you, and will probably desert the bin, setting off in search of a more suitable area to live in. This will probably result in great unhappiness for you, and a very quick death for the worms.

At any rate, if we consider all the positive points involved in using newsprint as bedding, we can see that it really is a very useful material with a lot going for it. On the other hand, there are also several negative aspects which must be taken account of, if we wish to avoid creating more problems than we are solving. With all of that in mind, I usually recommend that people who wish to use newsprint as bedding, do so in the following manner.
Reduce the material to the smallest size that is reasonably possible, then use it as only one ingredient in a bedding which is composed of several different materials. In that fashion, the newsprint can be used to compliment various other beddings, and at the same time, the other materials can help eliminate the chances of encountering one of the problems most often associated with using the newsprint all by itself. I personally consider newsprint to be a vital ingredient in several of my own worm-bedding mixtures, and appreciate it as a truly beneficial substance.

Machine-Shredded Paper

With machine-shredded paper, we come to one of the most neglected, yet plentiful sources of worm-bedding material. In every populated area of the modern world can be found office-buildings, libraries, schools, police stations, and countless other locations that have in common the fact that they produce amazing amounts of waste paper each and every day. A tremendous portion of this paper is simply shredded, placed into plastic bags, and sent off to the local landfill. All it usually takes to obtain this material is to ask the office manager, the janitor, or whoever is in charge of the particular site, for permission to haul it away, and your bedding requirements are satisfied. (If you tell them it's for your worms, they may look at you a little strangely in the beginning, but that's something we should all be used to by now.)

For most regular-sized, indoor vermicomposting operations, one location will suffice to provide all the bedding that is necessary. Since the material is already shredded, the work-load is reduced to transporting the paper to your home, moistening the required amount, and installing it in the bed. By giving a little consideration to the "disadvantages" listed below, and keeping them in mind when you pick a location, you can have all the safe bedding your worms require, for very little effort, and you will be doing something that is environmentally friendly at the same time. For that matter, if enough in-home vermiculturists each absorbed part of the waste from one or more of these sources, it would not be long before a large amount of paper was being dealt with in a much more suitable manner than it presently is. In that situation, everyone is a winner. Just before we discuss the disadvantages, let's take a look at the more positive aspects of this potential bedding source.

Among the advantages of machine-shredded paper can be found the following items:

Availability.

As I've already stated, there is not a populated area in the world that doesn't produce large amounts of this substance. Aside from the sources I listed above, keep in mind any location that produces flyers, such as the kind that are stacked in grocery or department stores, informing patrons of weekly, or daily specials. Any government office is a pretty sure bet, as are local telephone, or utility companies. With just a little effort, I'll bet anyone can come up with a list of 10 or 12 possible sources of various shredded papers. And if you belong to any kind of group or organization that includes several vermiculturists, the purchase of a community paper-shredder might be an investment worth considering. (Choosing your own source of raw material to shred will help you overcome the most significant of the disadvantages involved in dealing with this choice of bedding.)

Consistency.

This advantage is reliant on the fact that you first find a suitable source, and then stick with it. If you are fortunate enough to find a location that not only produces safe material, but enough of it that you have no need to use an additional outside source, hang onto it by fostering a good relationship with the producer of the material. You are performing a service for them by eliminating a certain amount of their waste problem, and they in turn are doing you a favor by supplying you with a free source of bedding material. If each of you appreciates the efforts of the other, there should never be a problem. If the source you have found produces a large amount of waste material, you may even want to introduce the producer to another vermiculturist or two. The producer will see even more of the waste being taken care of, and you may also advance your friendships with your fellow wormers.

Cleanliness and Lack of Odor.

This is another of the substances that are usually a pleasure to work with. Though machine-shredded paper can suffer from the same smudging problem as newsprint (since that could be the shredded paper you find yourself dealing with), it is already shredded, so the problem is nowhere near as bad. Odors are never a problem, and as I've mentioned elsewhere, I consider that to be a major plus.

Cost.

What can I say? Completely free, unless you count the cost of hauling it, and if you choose your source wisely, transportation should never amount to much. Even if you put out the expense of purchasing one of the community-use shredders I mentioned earlier, the actual bedding material you can produce with it will cover your costs in a very short period of time. If you take into account the labor you'll save by not having to shred the paper manually, you may even agree that the machine is profitable in the literal sense of the word. (That depends on just how much bedding material you have a need for.)

Diversity.

Like peat moss, machine-shredded paper can be used to bulk up other bedding materials that are simply too dense. By keeping the bedding loose, the worms will be healthier, and maybe even happier, in addition to the fact that you are a lot less likely to encounter anaerobic conditions.

Among the disadvantages of machine-shredded paper can be found the following items:

Possible Contamination.

This point makes up the largest possible difficulty when using machine-shredded paper as worm-bedding. Furthermore, the problem (at least as far as I, or anyone I'm aware of, has been able to determine) lies not in the possibility of endangering the health of your worm population, but in the possible health risks to yourself, or your family, if a contaminated source of raw material is used.

The problem lies in the area of obtaining waste material that has been used in a photocopier, and the main area of concern is the toner used in the photocopy process. (Toner is the powdery ink substance used to produce a photocopy, and may be plastic, or chemical in nature.) Since very little laboratory research has been done in the area of problems caused by transferring these artificial substances into the food chain, we have no way of knowing what ill effects might be caused by ingesting food grown in soil that has been enriched with compost containing these substances. We can assume, however, that since a worm's diet consists strictly of organic matter, these inorganic materials are passing through the worm's digestive tract, and becoming somewhat concentrated in the resulting casts. (The same situation occurs with the heavy metals contained in some sewage sludges. After being consumed by worms, the result is less overall volume to dispose of, but higher percentages of contamination in the remaining material.)

Since we are talking about your own health, and the health of your family or friends, I think if a mistake is to be made, we should err on the side of caution, and at the very least, follow some simple precautionary guidelines:

If any bedding material in your worm-bin originated from a photocopier source, then the resulting casts should only be used in soil mixes intended for use in potted plants, and care should be taken that the above-mentioned potting soil is properly disposed of after use. This means taken to a landfill site, rather than being added to your garden. (Remember to also avoid discarding the used potting soil on your lawn, since ingestion by your neighborhood birds might simply result in a more roundabout entry of the contaminants into the food-chain.)

If you are unsure about the origin of the bedding material, then treat it in the manner stated above. And finally,...

If you are ever in a position to encourage, or support research into this area, (a simple letter to your environmental agency or university could go a long way), then please take the time to do so.
With all of that said, I still have to point out that we don't know for sure that this matter actually presents a problem, but as I said earlier, when we are talking about the health of ourselves and our loved ones, it would be foolish to take unnecessary risks. And this brings us to the next aspect of this particular disadvantage.

Availability.

Yes...I know. I already listed this as an advantage to using machine-shredded paper, and it is. But considering what we just talked about, those of us who wish to use the resulting compost on our gardens now have to see a certain disadvantage in acquiring material of this nature that is also safe to use. Well, I assure you, there is still plenty of machine-shredded paper around that contains no photocopied material, but a little more effort will be required to locate a suitable source. Because this material makes up such a large portion of the waste-stream, however, I personally think the added effort is well worth the time. This is also where the idea of having a community-based paper-shredder comes in handy, allowing you to make your own machine-shredded from the plentiful supply of unshredded waste paper that is still available everywhere. And in the instance of in-school vermicomposters,and similar situations, the chances are good that there is already a paper-shredder available, which means that simple sorting of the material that is to be shredded will solve the whole problem.

We have already dealt with the next three disadvantages in our discussion of newsprint and I trust you can find your way back to that section if you need a slight refreshing on the details. In short, these disadvantages are:

It Drys Rapidly, Leaks Light, and Can Become Compacted.

Like many vermiculturists, one of the main reasons I keep worms is to help in the reduction of waste materials that are destined for some already over-burgeoned landfill. If I have to exert a little more effort in obtaining a suitable source of this particular waste, I can take consolation in knowing that I am at least dealing with a material that truly makes up a large portion of the problem we face in this area.

Cardboard

Now we come to my favorite worm bedding, the one that in my humble opinion (I heard those snickers), is the ideal material available for this purpose. When I started my first worm-bin, I decided that cardboard would be my bedding material of choice, and if I had either kept my operation at the typical in-home size, or if I had had access to the necessary mechanical equipment required for producing large quantities of this substance (in its most suitable form), I'm sure I would still be using cardboard and nothing else. Unfortunately, shredding cardboard by hand (with razor knives and scissors) is a long and difficult process for anything but very small amounts, and unless the material can be reduced directly to particles the size of dust, degradation of the bedding can take a lengthy amount of time. This matter of slow degradation is not always a bad thing, mind you, just for the type of situation I was into at the time. Rather than go off on a tangent once again, however, I'll try and include as many explanations as possible of the pertinent aspects of cardboard usage inside the listings of advantages and disadvantages which follow.

Among the advantages of cardboard can be found the following items:

Availability and Consistency.

Cardboard is very likely one of the most available sources of worm bedding in the populated areas of the world, second only to the rest of the paper products in general, and to newsprint specifically. If we consider that Canadians produce more waste material per capita than any other country in the world (including our American friends to the south), and that one of our largest sources of waste is in the area of packaging, then we should be able to begin imagining just how many cardboard boxes this country goes through every day. According to figures that were supplied to me by Environment Canada (and mentioned elsewhere in this article), of the waste cardboard available in my home province in 1994, only 8.5% was being recycled. That means over 90% of the available material ended up at the local landfills, and even if we assume that the recycling rate has doubled since then (which I personally doubt), over 80% is still being buried. All a vermiculturist has to do is intercept the material before it gets hauled away, and of all the available substances, cardboard is one of the easiest to do that with. The simple fact of the matter is that of everything that makes up our waste stream, cardboard is the material most often separated from the rest, before it is thrown out, and for people who raise worms, that is excellent news.

Access to quantities of cardboard is made even easier by one very simple fact. For many people that have a lot of this material, it can be very expensive to dispose of. Consider how many grocery stores, small and large, occupy every neighborhood, in every city in North America. Once or twice a week (sometimes even more often), these stores receive their grocery orders. Approximately 80% of what they receive will be packed in cardboard boxes, which will be emptied, usually flattened out, then placed in large garbage bins to await hauling to the dump. In case you weren't aware of it, most companies that supply those large dumpsters, charge for each time that the bin is emptied. The rates may vary from one location to the next, but I can assure you, it is often costly enough that many store owners will be quite happy to have you remove a load or two for them, whenever you are able. Like always, talk to the individual merchant before removing anything from their property, and once you receive permission to do so, treat that merchant in a polite and conscientious manner. That way, you will not only obtain a good supply of great bedding, but you might even make a new friend.

One last point concerning this availability issue. Very often, the larger grocery (or department) stores in the various metropolitan areas will produce enough of this waste material that a recycling company will already be contracting to handle their waste for them. For that reason, --though it certainly can't hurt to check things out-- it may save you some time if you approach only the smaller corner-store type operations. Besides, if you are running anything short of a commercial operation, just one or two smaller locations will probably be sufficient to provide you with all the bedding material you require.

With all that said, there is very little to be added on the consistency side of the matter. Basically, cardboard is cardboard, and except for a few related issues which we will deal with further on, the simple fact of the matter is, if you start your worms in cardboard, and continue to use cardboard as their bedding material, there is very little chance that your worm population should have anything to complain about.
Environmental Friendliness.

Is it possible that some beddings are friendlier than others?

In a manner of speaking, yes. I realize that using any waste material for worm bedding, rather than sending it off to the landfill, is an environmentally-friendly act (which is why I haven't included it among the earlier lists of advantages), but using cardboard in this particular manner has at least one added benefit.

You see, even though there are many substances that can be diverted from the landfill for use as worm bedding, very few of those materials take up as much space at the landfill (in relation to their total weight) as cardboard does. Cardboard boxes, for instance, are not always flattened out before being disposed of, and crumpled cartons tend to use up a lot of unnecessary space. If the boxes are flattened out prior to burial, they can still present another problem. Under tremendous pressure, and protected from the elements by a multiple layering effect, this cardboard can take an awful long time to decompose, thus causing the landfill to reach its capacity much faster than it normally would, if used only for rapidly-decaying materials. So you see, if we use 50 pounds of cardboard for worm bedding, as opposed to 50 pounds of green waste (for example), we save a lot more in the sense of available disposal space, and that is what I mean by a greater degree of environmental friendliness.

A Good Feed Source.

In most cases, a good feed source does NOT equal a good bedding material. The reason for this is that most feeds are too high in protein to double as a bedding substance. The worms (who by their very nature eat constantly) will soon burn out in a high-protein bedding, and when I say burn out, I mean that almost literally. The constant intake of protein will raise the internal temperature of the worm, which results in a binful of wigglers that are no longer wiggling. They will also not be eating, mating, or moving, since they will all be dead. What they will be doing, is laying around in the bed, racing each other to see who can rot first. I'm sure there is a very nifty scientific explanation for this phenomena, but I can only attest to it as the result of having killed several batches of worms in this manner. When someone was good enough to offer an explanation of the problem to me, I chose to accept it.

What this means of course, is that with many substances --such as newsprint or machine-shredded paper--, a feed source apart from the bedding material is required for happy, healthy worms. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and cardboard is one of the most notable among them. Not only can cardboard serve as an excellent bedding material, but if you are so inclined, you can have it pull double-duty, serving also as the only feed source in the bin. It has even been said by various worm experts that worms raised strictly in cardboard will be larger, healthier, and more prolific (sex-crazed ) than worms raised in any other material. There are a few explanations for these opinions, and also one or two qualifications which should be kept in mind.

First of all, why should cardboard make a good feed? Because of the cellulose (a complex carbohydrate derived from plant fibre) it contains, as well as the glue (usually made from animal by-products) that is used to bind the various layers together. In combination, these substances provide the worm with just about everything it requires to grow up big and healthy. If there is anything lacking in this particular bedding/feed, it is the additional protein necessary for giving the worm a firm, resilient body, something desirable to anyone raising worms as fishing bait, even though the worm itself may consider it to be an optional trait. (This deficiency is easily rectified by a weekly supplement of commercial feed.)

The main qualification that must be taken into account is the condition of the cardboard in relation to its availability as feed. When pulverized, this material is pretty much ready for instant ingestion by the worms, and conversion of the bedding into castings can be expected to occur in as little as 6-8 weeks. This is, of course, assuming the presence of an average worm population, which for the sake of argument can be approximated at 2 pounds of worms per cubic foot of bedding. If, on the other hand, the cardboard is not pulverized, but simply shredded or crumpled, it will take a considerably longer time before decomposition progresses to the point where the worms can use the bedding material as feed. In that situation, a secondary food source will be required until such time as the cardboard reaches a suitable state. (Continued next article.)

Texture.

I mentioned elsewhere in this lens the fact that peat moss, bog soil, or shredded paper could all be used to fluff up other bedding materials that were too dense, or heavy. Not only is the same thing true of cardboard, but of all the materials used in worm bins, none produce (in my opinion) a nicer final product than this one. When pulverized prior to use, cardboard is already light and fluffy, and even if used in a rougher state (shredded or crumpled), it will eventually result in an extremely friable compost. In fact, cardboard may be the only paper-based bedding material that doesn't present the home-based vermiculturist with compaction problems.

Usually Has No Odor.

Another of those wonderful materials that has no inherent odor unless it is left lying around in very large quantities, or in a dampened condition. (Once installed in a worm bin, even moist cardboard is usually odor-free, and if it isn't, the bin conditions should be checked.)

Among the disadvantages of cardboard are the several smaller problems which relate to this one main point:

Cost or Effort.

Considering everything I have already said about the availability of waste cardboard, you may be wondering why this matter of cost should be the disadvantage I mention, and you might even be wondering exactly what cost I am referring to. Well give me a moment and I'll explain.

First, it must be understood, cost is not always determined by an actual expenditure of cash. Time is also a valuable commodity, as is work, and unless you happen to be in a very fortunate situation, the conversion of raw cardboard boxes into suitable worm bedding can involve a considerable outlay of both. You see, the waste material is definitely available, but simply crushing the boxes and wetting them down is a very crude technique that is seldom satisfactory in the long run. This means you must either pulverize the cardboard, or at the very least, reduce it in size quite drastically.

There are two, possibly three main problems encountered when the boxes are merely crushed and moistened as a means of preparation.
First of all, unless you are using a relatively large bin-system, you will have to find very small cardboard boxes to crush, or you simply won't have enough available space in the container. (If later on, you should try to use the same method to add fresh bedding to the system, you may also find yourself squishing a fair portion of the existing worm population.)
Next comes the problem of harvesting those little wigglers from within such a system. You see, until the cardboard becomes decayed enough for the worms to ingest, they will feast themselves on the glue that is available between the layers of paper. They will accomplish this by squirming inside those various layers via the corrugations, and that is where you will have to find the little critters when you need them. Aside from having to peel the paper layers apart from one another, when you do locate the worms, they will be covered in the very slippery glue substance, making them almost impossible to pick up. (If you have no intention of harvesting the worms until all the bedding is converted, this particular point should not prove to be a problem.)

Finally, if you decide to supplement the cardboard with an additional feed source (kitchen waste, compost, etc.), you will rapidly discover the difficulties involved in "burying" anything in crumpled cardboard.

What this means, of course, is that for most practical uses, you will find that cardboard bedding works best when reduced to pieces of approximately 1 square inch or smaller, with pulverization working best of all. If you have read any of the earlier articles I have written on this subject, you may recall that I acquired the square pieces of cardboard bedding for my initial worm beds by cutting boxes into long strips with a razor knife, then cutting the strips down with heavy-duty scissors. (I eventually cut 145 pounds of one-inch cardboard squares over a period of roughly 45 days, and sometimes late at night, when the moon is full, I can still feel the resulting cuts and blisters which I acquired along with the bedding material. ) So if you figure the hours involved in this process, and assume even a minimum wage for my efforts, you can see the cost I am referring to.

Now, as I've already said, pulverization works the best, but unless you happen to own a hammer mill, or at least have access to one, you are not likely to encounter a great amount of cardboard in the form of dust (other than the unsafe material prepared as insulation.) The idea of purchasing a hammer mill specifically for "bedding preparation" is more than a little silly considering the cost, and even renting the use of this type of equipment from time to time can get expensive. (If you should obtain the use of such a piece of equipment, remember to wear a face mask to prevent the accidental inhalation of the airborne particles.)

So in the end, though I consider waste cardboard to be the finest bedding substance available for indoor worm composters, the problems involved in obtaining it in a suitable form, or the effort required to convert the raw material to the necessary condition by hand, makes this substance suitable only for the smallest of operations. That is, unless you happen to be one of the fortunate few who just happen to find yourself in a very rare situation. In that case, congratulations, you lead a truly blessed life.

Compost Critters
Pests and Pest Control

Very often, within a month or two of the installation of a new worm bed, either by one of my readers, or someone I have yet to encounter, I will find in my e-mail a message that usually says something along the lines of, "Help, my worms have bugs!!!" Suppressing the smile that usually attacks my face without warning, I quickly send a return letter asking for a few more particulars. The majority of times, it turns out as I suspected, to be a case of mistaken identity. In that case, I simply reassure the vermiculturist that they have no need to be concerned, and we all go on our merry ways...myself, the vermiculturist, and the worm associates mistakenly identified as "pests or bugs." If, however, the worm bin in question (or the surrounding area), has in fact been invaded by "pests", it is time to wage immediate, dedicated, and relentless war. NO RETREAT...NO SURRENDER...and most certainly...NO MERCY!

Now I happen to have it on very good authority (quite possibly an older sibling), that the first question asked by Hannibal, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Generals Custer and Patton, and even Rambo, before going off to wage battle was, "So who we fighting?!" That's also the question we have to ask ourselves before we take any action, or we may find later that that action was not necessary, or even worse, that the action we took served only to create a larger problem. So before we think about killing anything, let's take a look at what a worm bin really is, and as such, what it can be expected to contain (in fact what it must contain if it is to function properly.)

No matter how we look at it, or what fancy terms we tend to use, a worm bin is nothing more than a self-contained, adapted for the indoors, miniature compost heap. The precise manner in which we use the worm bin may differ from the outdoor pile (but not really very much), and it may house a proportionately-larger worm population than its larger outdoor cousin, but in the end, the fact remains, it is simply (and wonderfully) a small compost heap which produces an extremely high-grade finished product (there really is a difference between compost and vermicompost.) Therefore, like every other compost heap, it must, by its very nature, be teeming with life. Of the individual animals which make up this plethora (great word!) of life, very few actually deserve to be called "pests", since they are a vital ingredient for the successful decomposition of the organic wastes which all of us, as vermiculturists, are trying to have converted. With this in mind, let's take a quick look at exactly what it is that is happening during the transformation of organic waste into "black (or brown) gold." Some of what I am about to describe will be missing in a worm-bin situation (due to the smaller amounts of material), but it will be helpful as an aid to understanding the overall process.

Now when a large amount of organic waste is brought together in a heap, the following things tend to occur (assuming there exists a suitable temperature range, adequate moisture, and in certain cases, air). The pile is invaded, and occupied, by bacteria which specialize in breaking down organic compounds. Among the first of these invaders are those which are commonly referred to as mesophilic decomposers. These critters (much too small to be seen with the unaided eye), thrive in temperatures ranging between 50 degrees and 113 degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. Having gotten word of the "block party in progress", these little critters (25,000 of them laid end-to-end should measure close to an inch) do pretty much the same thing that you or I would do in the presence of all our friends, and all that food,...they party hardy. In no time at all, things begin to heat up, literally. What's really interesting, however, is the result of this increase in temperature brought about by all the energy which is being expended. The mesophilic decomposers fall victim to the heat and begin dying in large numbers.

If my admittedly limited understanding of this entire procedure is correct, the next step is the inevitable arrival of the party crashers, in the form of thermophilic microorganisms, which just happen to enjoy temperatures between 113 degrees and 170 degrees Fahrenheit, the very temperatures which are quickly eliminating the mesophilic bacteria, whose activity caused the heat increase in the first place. In the event that the food supply is running low (in the sense of fresh compost), not an immediate problem; the thermophilic organisms have plenty of mesophilic corpses to clean up (nice guys, huh?) And now things really get interesting!

You see, while all this frenetic (another great word) energy is being expended (bringing the temperature in the pile up to its peak of 170-180 degrees Fahrenheit), a new group of critters has been quietly massing their troops at the borders to the frontier (the compost heap), unable to effectively join the party due to the rather uncomfortable temperatures. As the thermophilic microorganisms deplete their food supply, however, the overall activity diminishes, and the temperatures start to drop (a process referred to as stabilization.) As the temperature continues to fall lower, and the party crashers begin to crash (again having been the cause of their own demise), this new batch of troops, comprised mainly of actinomycetes and fungi decide to make their move, and take over the pile which is once again nice and cool (at this point, a fresh supply of organic waste could be used to start the entire cycle all over again.) Also at this point, so many different actors take the stage, that I think I had better switch to a slightly different approach, such as referring you all to the wonderful (I sincerely mean that as a compliment) Master Composter Programs that are becoming more popular, and thus more available, every day. In all seriousness though (I will try to finish what I've started), these programs are well worth taking for anyone who is serious about their gardening and/or environmental concerns. An article of this nature, is simply no substitute for what these fine people can teach the rest of us.

Continued in "Pests and Pest Control (Part 2.)

Roll Call

Actinomycetes

These critters are basically a higher form of bacteria, which have several very notable characteristics. Just for starters, close your eyes for a moment, and imagine the beautiful smell so commonly associated with fresh soil. That's actinomycetes you're smelling. Now think of all the wonderful benefits you have heard of being derived from humus (if you haven't heard these things anywhere else, you certainly will when I manage to get my articles on "The Benefits to Plants Derived From Vermicompost" up onto these pages.) The actinomycetes are crucial to the formation of humus. Often working very deep in the soil, these ambitious bacteria convert dead organics into a type of peat, and also release various nutrients such as nitrogen and carbon, making it available for mixture into the top-soil. Since actinomycetes possess the ability to produce antibiotics, many other bacterial populations decrease as the number of actinomycetes increases.

Protozoa

When you speak of small animals (as opposed to bacteria) protozoa are about as small as you get. Other than that, there's not really much to add, except that they are present to a certain extent in compost, and are probably closer to bacteria in their actions than they are to the other animals.

Fungi

Fungi are very simple (primitive) plants which are incapable of producing their own carbohydrates, since they lack the chlorophyll present in higher-level plant-forms. The family of fungi includes yeasts, molds, mushrooms, etc., and they survive on energy which they obtain from the organic matter in dead plants and animals. The presence of mushrooms in your compost heap or worm bin (very common with cardboard bedding) is a good indicator that the temperature of the bedding is around 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit (a great temperature for red worms), since only a few fungi can survive the higher thermophilic temperatures (around 120 degrees Fahrenheit.)

NOTE: With the exception of some of the larger fungi, all of these things we have discussed so far have at least three things in common.

-They are microscopic in size (don't bother looking for them.)
-Their diet consists of the material you thought you were feeding your worms (dead organic matter.) And...
-They make up a large portion of what the worms really are eating (in the strictest sense.) It's a good possibility that if all these organisms were somehow removed from the feed source, the worms would make like frogs and croak.

Another thing the above-mentioned organisms have in common is that they are basically what is referred to as level-one (or first-level) consumers (or decomposers.) This simply means that as their numbers increase in the pile, other larger decomposers will come along and invite the first-level decomposers out to dinner (as the main course...of course.) In this manner, population levels are kept in check, and the same thing happens to the second-level consumers in their turn. Since the higher-level decomposers are usually more suited to moderate temperatures, they will only be residents of the pile at certain times. It is mainly the second and third-level decomposers which are most often mistaken as pests (I'll bet you thought I was never going to get around to that), but the true fact of the matter is that they are often among the most beneficial of the critters in both the heap and the bin. (Keep your eyes open, however, for also in the list which begins in "Pests and Pest Control (Part 3)" you will find those that are "Not So Beneficial", and even the "Downright Nasty".)

Physical Decomposers

Mites

Members of the same family as the spider and the tick (8 legs in common), this little creature is inevitably found in any compost situation, and if you think your bin is free of them, maybe take another look. Those most commonly found in a worm bin will be a reddish-brown in color, and very numerous. Moving around the surface of the bedding material, they attack dead plant matter, fly larvae, springtails, and even other mites. Several of the more popular books on vermicomposting describe these animals as hunting down red worms, paralysing them in some manner, and effectively reducing the worm population. Others talk about them stealing worm cocoons and drinking the fluid from them, also reducing the worm population. The most common fear I have run into among novice worm-breeders regarding the mite, is the fear of damage to their houseplants. For my part, I can tell you that the only time I have seen a worm and a mite share dinner, the worm was in fact the only menu item, but I have never deduced anything significant from it except that the mites (there were several at work) were cleaning up the carcass of a recently deceased worm. (You very seldom find dead worms in a bin simply because the other decomposers tend to clean them up very fast.) As far as actually chasing the little wiggler down and thus creating his own dinner, I have never seen anything even suggestive of that type of behavior. Nor have I ever seen even one mite in the process of making egg-nog, scrambled eggs, or even eggs Benedict. As for the plants, the mite which is to be feared in that regard is the red spider-mite, obviously some cousin of this mite, since I have planted numerous plants of various types directly in active worm bins which were saturated with these little animals, and never has even one taken up residence among the living portion of the plant. Aside from the fact that they are a little unsightly, they have never caused real grief in any worm bin in my care (and as I said, this is not due to lack of numbers, they obviously breed at least as well as the worms.)

Millipedes

Not to be confused with centipedes (a whole different story), the millipede can be distinguished by the two (2) pairs of legs attached to each body segment with the exception of the sections nearest the front (a centipede has only one set of legs per segment.) Vegetarians by nature, millipedes break down the larger pieces of plant matter, resulting in finer pieces being made available to the other decomposers which lack teeth, such as (you guessed it) the worms!

Centipedes

Now here is a third-level consumer (it feeds only on living animals such as insects, spiders, and worms), which must be hunted out in turn by something slightly larger, about the size of an average worm-breeder. Though more commonly found in an outdoor situation, just one of these things, in the confined space of a small worm bin, can do a lot of damage. On the upside, they're rather territorial (as are most predators....ask Arnie), so if you find one in a small bin, chances are you've eliminated the problem. The first real pest we've talked about.

Sow Bugs

This is one of those compost critters with a face only its mother could love. Even though it is strictly a vegetarian, and most common in an outdoor pile, that is probably where you would most like it to stay. Its fat little form would probably clash with the furniture anyway, and a good scream or two from your spouse should be enough to remind you that the best prevention for most of these particular animals is to simply never bring outdoor compost into the house without first cleaning it. (A good dose of solarization works wonders!)

Snails and Slugs

Another true pest as I'm sure any of you who garden have known for a long time. I'm just as sure that nature had a real good reason for these particular animals, but how she expected us to accept the fact that its favorite food is living plant material (such as that found in the garden you just wrecked your best jeans to get planted) is beyond me. The usual beer-traps (the non-alcoholic beer actually works better than the "real thing") is fine for outdoors, and if you have them in your indoor bin, try lightening up on your watering schedule. These animals like moisture.

Spiders

The big brother to that little mite we were discussing a little earlier, and one of the least appreciated animals in the garden. Rather than being a pest, this animal is a great form of natural pest control. Every garden should have plenty, and if the one in the house is particularly bothersome, try looking it right in the eye, speaking to it in a very calm voice, then give it a wink...and step on it!

Springtails

This is another of those little critters that I can almost guarantee will be present in virtually every vermicomposting situation sooner or later. Very small animals, usually no more than 1/4 inch in length, springtails will range in color from white to light grey, and even a sort of metallic blue from time to time. Feeding on decomposing plant matter, fungi, and pollens, as well as grains, they are most easily identified by their habit of "jumping" to a new location when they are disturbed. Since they accomplish this "jumping" by utilization of a specially-adapted tail-piece, their name becomes rather self-explanatory. Since they will die if they leave the environment of the worm bin, and since they are performing relatively the same job as the worms, I have never really considered them to be a problem. If you simply can't sleep at night (due to all that jumping around), then you may want to try method number one in the realm of "pest control." (The method I'm referring to will be explained a little further on, along with a couple of other "pest management strategies.")

Beetles

The largest number of these compost invaders will be made up of the rove beetle, and the ground beetle. Both of these guys are third-level consumers, preying mainly on insects, snails, and even slugs. As a matter of fact, the black rove beetle is so efficient at this particular task, many people deliberately import them into gardens where slugs and snails have become a problem. Both of these beetles, as well as their larvae, will also feed on decaying vegetables.

Ants

Now these guys are certainly not welcome in most homes, and we will discuss steps to eliminate this problem in the section on pest control (method two). In the meantime, you may wish to know that an ant's idea of a smorgasbord would include any, or all of the following: any fruit, fungi, seeds, anything that is sweet, most other food scraps, other insects, and even other ants. (Get the picture? They like just about everything.) To make matters even worse, ants tend to think that compost piles, indoors or out, are really nifty places to build their nests. I once came across a nest over a foot around in one of my outdoor compost piles. It looked like some crazed drug dealer had decided to stash thousands of little white "pills" in the middle of my compost, and the only way I knew what I was looking at was by the frantic efforts of the ants to remove those "capsules" to a place of safety after I uncovered them. Unfortunately for the ants, the portion of the pile they had built their nest in was only two or three feet from the still-hot section of the pile, and by quickly transferring a couple shovelfuls of "eggs" into the center of the heated area, the invasion was very rapidly squelched. In a normal compost situation (outdoors, and without worms), I wouldn't worry about the ants, since by their very presence, they tend to mix the minerals around in such a way that they increase the phosphorus and potassium balance of the pile, but when the pile is home to a population of worms, the situation changes (the ants tend to deplete the carbohydrates which the worms require for food.) Thus, when it comes to a choice between the ants and the worms, I'll have to resort once again to Arnie's wonderful words...."hasta la vista, babies" (or something like that.)

Continued in "Pests and Pest Control (Part 4)"

Flies

There are many types of flies, and many of them are true "pests." Some of them can also be very, very difficult to get rid of once they take up residence in or around the bin area. Most of those "strategies" which we will be getting to very soon now, relate to these airborne invaders, since they truly are the peskiest of the pests. Just before we get to that, however, there is one more type of "pest" to deal with, and I always find it strange that this is the "pest" I am most often asked about, and the one that people are most often bothered by.

Other Wormlike Critters

First of all, let me tell you straight out, the red worm population in your "worm" bin, is by no means the largest population the bin contains. Aside from the obvious winners in any contest which deals with population, the bacteria, there are also tremendous populations of "flatworms, rotifers, and nematodes, all of which are usually small enough that you don't have to bother looking them in the eye. There is also, however, at least (I stress at least) one other critter that is not only present in almost all compost situations, but usually in quantities vastly outnumbering the red worm population, and this little guy can easily be seen with the unaided eye. The animals I am referring to are the little tiny white worms, about a quarter of an inch long, that so many people mistake for red worm spawn. First of all, these are not red worms at all (red worm spawn are transparent at birth, with a visible red vein running the length of their body, and their normal red coloring is present within hours of the time they hatch), and these little white worms are also full grown. Commonly referred to as "pot worms" (since they're usually found in flower pots), I believe their proper name is "enchytraeid." Other than the fact that they're white in color, and very small, they are basically doing exactly the same thing as their red worm cousins, eating decayed organic matter. Since they are rather unsightly, however, it seems that most people would like to be rid of them, and though I am not of the same opinion, I will suggest a method (good old method one) that will help to at least keep their numbers down. In response to the various books which claim that these little guys could conceivably grow in such vast numbers that the resident red worm population might suffer from either lack of food, or lack of space, I can only say that I have never made it a point to deliberately try and keep the "pot worm" population in check, and I have never experienced any noticeable decline in the growth rate of my red worm population.

At any rate, though this list of "compost critters" is not exhaustive by any means, I think we've looked at the main occupants of both the indoor and outdoor-type compost piles. Next, we'll take a quick look at how we can possibly deter a few of the peskier ones from choosing our specific location.

Continued in "Pests and Pest Control (Part 5)"

Pest Management

Method One

This particular method is designed as a way to reduce an unwanted population rather than eliminate it totally (which may in fact be impossible in regards to the pests in question). I can't take credit for the system, but I can testify to its effectiveness, and also to its inherent danger. As a result, the first comment I need to make is directed at any younger readers (though I suspect most of them abandoned me somewhere around the middle of this admittedly long article), and the message is this:

Do not try this on your own. Adult supervision is required, and I don't want to hear any excuses or explanations! Got it? Good.

With that said, the following method is probably the most effective way I have come across to reduce the population of mites, springtails, and pot worms, should you decide that they simply must go.

Begin by watering the bin very heavily, soaking the upper layers of bedding thoroughly. (Make sure you have drip pans in place if this is indoors.) Wait a few minutes, during which time the red worms will head down in the bedding in an attempt to get below the excessive water, and the various pests we mentioned earlier will rush to the top of the bedding in order to avoid drowning.

Now simply use an acetylene, or butane torch, to scorch the surface of the bedding material (which should be sufficiently wet to avoid catching on fire.) A few slow passes in either direction will do the trick. Bye bye, billions of bugs. Remember to alter your future watering schedule to give the bedding some time to dry out. Leaving the bedding too wet for too long is a sure way to create a whole new batch of problems.

As an alternative to this solution, many of the older "worm" books recommend setting "traps" in the form of bread slices, or potato peels, around the surface of the bed, and then removing them when the offending "pests" have congregated (and they certainly will) on them, thus removing large quantities of the critters at once. My concern is that by using a food source that so readily attracts the little animals, you are probably supplying them with exactly what they need to actually increase their rate of reproduction, and it may be the case that you are simply aggravating the problem. Of course, I don't have this particular problem, since I don't regard any of these critters as an actual threat, and I'm almost certain that their populations just regulate themselves naturally.

There is one thing, however, I will recommend in regard to these particular "pests" and I do so because the thing I am recommending is of great benefit to the red worm population. Very simply, watch your pH levels. The pH level most suitable to the red worms we use for composting is right around the neutral range of seven. The mites and their friends on the other hand prefer conditions which are slightly more acidic in the areas they choose to breed in. Therefore, test your pH regularly (you can buy inexpensive kits at any garden shop), and if the bedding is too acidic, sprinkle a little dolomite lime onto the surface, or even add more crushed egg-shells to the food scraps you are feeding the worms. CAUTION: Make sure you use dolomitic lime, or another lime that is not going to heat up and kill your worms! And now, on to methods 2 and 3.

Continued in "Pests and Pest Control (Part 6)

Pest Management

Method Two

In regard to our industrious little friend the ant, I have learned by experience that "prevention" really is the answer. I personally, use a three-pronged defensive strategy, and though it has worked fine for me, you may decide to enhance it in any number of inventive and imaginative ways. (Should any of you come up with a system that either works more effectively, or is easier to implement, I would always love to hear from you.) In the meantime, my method consists of the following:

-First, I attempt to prevent the little monsters from entering through the "front door", literally. This is easily accomplished by sprinkling a little lemon juice (or a lemon-scented oil, etc) across the thresholds of both doorways into my house, as well as on the window ledges. Ants despise the smell of lemon, and this works very well to keep them on their side of the doorway. You should repeat this procedure at least once every two weeks or so in the summer months.

-Second, I never bring leaves or grass-clippings into the house for use as worm-feed, unless I take time to put the material into an old roasting pan I have, and then insert it into an oven at a temperature of 180 F. for at least 45 minutes. This will kill not only the ants, but many other critters, and their eggs which might later hatch, and decide to take up residence in your worm-bin specifically, or your house in general. Though I very seldom use soil for bedding, I do use it as an ingredient in the planting mediums I blend, and this same procedure is followed without fail.
CAUTION Temperatures in excess of 180 F., or times in excess of 1 hour in the oven, can drastically reduce the nutrient content of the material, bedding, feed, or soil.)

-For those "superbugs" that get passed these first two lines of defence, I utilize one final trick. As I may have mentioned elsewhere (and most likely will yet mention again), my worm-beds are built with six-inch legs designed to raise them enough to facilitate drip-pans. Each of these legs sits inside an old tobacco-can which I keep 3/4's full with water, creating a sort of moat which any little animal who has managed to get this far inside, still has to cross before gaining access to the bedding. I figure my first two methods must be quite effective, however, since I only found one beetle in the can of water while those beds were set up.

An Additional Note:

-Should you decide to make use of the various ant-traps which are available at any number of stores, keep in mind that they should not be placed directly in the worm bed, since the ant will first have to drag a mess of dead worms out of his way before he can discover what all the excitement's about!

Method Three

Now we come to the undisputed "King of the Pests", the fly, and the first thing we have to do, is clear up another common misunderstanding. It seems when people first start to suspect that they have a problem with flies (if the whole bin is drifting around from room to room, it may be too late to deal with it), the attempted solution is to start burying the food that is being placed in the bin, or in the event that it was already being buried, then to bury it even deeper. The reasoning goes something like, "If the flies can't smell the food, they'll leave." WRONG!

Once you have enough flies kicking around that it becomes obvious something is wrong, there is only one solution that has any real chance of working. A complete change of bedding material combined with follow-up measures designed to prevent a reoccurrence of the same problem. You see, it's like this. While it may have been the food which attracted the original flies to the bin (a very good possibility), the current reason they are so thick that you can notice them is because you are standing in the nursery. Many types of flies, such as "minute flies, house flies, and most insidious of all, the dreaded fungus gnat, spend the earliest parts of their lives living in compost as maggots. Add to these numbers, their cousin the fruit fly (found wherever fermenting fruit is available), and then work in one more rather disturbing fact. The average housefly, paired with a suitable mate, and in the absence of its natural predators, working in conjunction with its own off-spring, can breed enough of a family that their dead carcasses could cover the entire earth 47 feet deep, in one year. Oh boy, have we got a problem?! Not really, and once again, prevention is the key.

First and foremost, I'm going to assume that you are taking my word for it about the only possible solution being the change of bedding. There are less drastic methods which will even work, if (and this is a great big if ) the bedding is caught before it is saturated with potential off-spring, but do you really want to take the chance? If not, we will assume that the bedding has been changed (dispose of the old bedding outdoors, or use the "baking" method we discussed earlier to eliminate the future flies it contains), and now we just don't want this sort of thing happening again. In that case, there are a few things we should try to keep in mind:

-All food scraps being placed in the worm bin must be buried with at least 2-3 inches of "clean" bedding. By "clean", I don't necessarily mean it has to be fresh, just free of "attractive" food odors. Suppose you scrape away an inch or so of bedding, pour some left-over fruit-juice into the opening, and replace the bedding you originally moved. Since most "bedding" material is absorbent, the liquid which you just added, will soak "up" into the top layers of the bedding (the material at the top of the bed is almost always dryer than that at the bottom), and you might just as well have poured it on top in the first place. Unless there is at least 2 full inches of bedding on top of that juice, if it decides to ferment, hello fruit flies.

-When new food is being added to the bed, we should locate it in such a place that the last-used location is not exposed, if there is any danger that it is still only partially decayed. This is one of the biggest arguments for having bins which are large enough to provide several locations for adding the food scraps. A simple rotation of locations will guarantee that the first spot is completely cleaned up by the worms before it has to be used again.

-Another helpful point to remember is that most of these flies which lay their eggs in compost, require that a certain amount of moisture be present. Thus, a layer of dry leaves, or grass clippings (remember to bake them when they are first brought in) on top of the bedding, will often discourage any attempts they might make at installing their daycare center in your house. (This also works with outdoor piles.)

-And finally, we should always remember, that all the care we take with the bin and its bedding will amount to very little, if we forget to keep an eye open for other potential sources of trouble. If the container which we save our scraps in is sending a message to every fly within a hundred miles,...well you all saw "Field of Dreams", didn't you? To paraphrase Mr. Costner, "If you leave it lying around....they will come!"

But seriously, everything I am trying to stress simply amounts to good housekeeping. As in any other situation, a little effort before there is a problem will go a long way to preventing the problem from ever arising. In all the years I have raised worms, I have only had one major problem with bugs. How that little sucker got up my nose I just can't figure out, but man oh man, does he ever tickle my brain?!

Meanwhile, this has probably taken far too much time in the telling, but I hope these two articles have at least been of some help to at least a few of you. If there is anything you need more particulars on, or if there is anything you would like to share with me, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Introduction

The various species of earthworms have different environmental requirements which are necessary for their propagation and continued health. These requirements will inevitably dictate whether one particular "family" of worms will be suitable for culture in any given circumstance. For instance, though many people may be interested in the possibility of raising Lumbricus Terrestris (the Nightcrawler, or Dew Worm) in the house as a source of fishing bait, this is simply not very plausible when we consider that this particular worm prefers temperatures in the area of 5-10 degrees Celsius. During the heat of the day, this large member of the earthworm family retreats to the depths of his burrow, venturing out only in the late evening, or early morning, the coolest available times. (Burrows have been found to extend to a ground-depth of over 12 feet.) Thus, if we wish to culture this animal in the confines of our homes, we will require the ability to refrigerate at least a part of the available space. Even then, however, the number of additional considerations will eventually convince most people that nightcrawlers should be "harvested" rather than "cultured."

On the other hand, the two most commonly-used worms for vermicomposting, Eisenia Foetida and Lumbricus Rubellus, are the most popular precisely because of the ease in replicating indoors the environmental conditions they prefer. They are perfectly suited to an inside existence, so the culturing of these animals presents next to no problem, requiring only a minimum of effort, and presenting no hardship for those of us who share their place of residence. The fact is, in the absence of the normal hazards these worms usually face in their outdoor habitat, they are found to grow faster, stay healthier, live longer, and reproduce at an increased rate when kept indoors. Thus, indoor culture turns out to be heaven for them, and a benefit to the "landlord" who will have a great way to convert his organic waste materials into a wonderful "food" for his plants, lawn, and garden.

These environmental "requirements" can be broken into three main areas, and we will look at each of these in the following paragraphs. (It is assumed that the worms in question have already been housed in an adequate bedding material, and are being supplied with a sufficient quantity of food.)

Number One Is Moisture

If we consider that the earthworm (contrary to what its name implies) is actually a creature of the water, it is not hard to accept that moisture constitutes the most urgent of its requirements for life. In my own experience, however, the problems most often incurred in a worm beds involve too much moisture, rather than not enough. As in most things in life, a suitable balance must be found and maintained for optimum performance, keeping in mind that this balance may have to be altered to accommodate specific needs at specific times. Let's first take a look at the lower end of the moisture scale.

Research has shown that in the natural scheme of things, the greatest abundance of earthworms will be located in soils which average between 12% and 30% moisture content (Minnich, 1977). If this amount of available moisture should fall too low, the earthworm will begin to lose its internal water content, and a series of biological events will begin to occur which, if unchecked, will eventually result in the death of the animal. (In 1956, a researcher named Roots determined that a worm could lose as much as 75% of its moisture without dying.) During the final stages of dehydration, a worm will even expel colemic fluid from within itself in a desperate attempt to moisten its own body. At this point, total submersion in water may be the only way to prevent the worm's demise.

Back in 1995, I ran some tests in which I placed a population of worms in a bin which I consistently kept much dryer on one side than the other. Once the worms had become established in their environment, I performed two tests. First, I stopped adding food to the side of the bin which contained the adequate moisture supply, installing an amount of wet food at the far end of the dry region. The worms wasted no time in travelling through the dryer material to reach (and take up residence) directly inside the food supply, as well as in the damper bedding immediately surrounding it.

Next, I set up the bin in basically the same manner as before, but this time I placed in the dry region, a supply of food which contained no moisture of its own. It took a little longer, but this food also was consumed by the worms, though I never found them to actually take up residence in this portion of the bed. What I concluded from this is that the worms can store enough moisture in their bodies (obtained from the damper region) to not only travel through a very hostile environment to reach a food supply, but also enough to dampen the food once they acquire it, and still make it back to the friendlier region before sustaining critical damage. (The significance of these results will become apparent a little further on.)

In traditional vermiculture, it is generally accepted that the optimum moisture level for a worm-bin is somewhere between 50% and 80%. This, however, is not as wet as it may at first appear. Consider just how much peat moss, for example, is required to make up 10 pounds. Then consider that to achieve a moisture content of 80%, it is only necessary to add roughly 8 pints of water. (A pint's a pound, the world around.) If you take a handful of worm bedding, and squeezing it as hard as you can you produce a stream of water, the bedding is too wet; if no water is released, then the bedding is too dry. A few (I stress few) drops of water oozing from between your fingers indicates adequate moisture. There are times, such as when bait-sized worms are required, or immediately following an artificial drought (the reason for this procedure will be explained in another article), that larger amounts of water may be called for, but 80% is adequate most of the time. This is crucial to the health of your worms.

A situation of too much moisture is very often arrived at when a newer "breeder", or "vermiculturist", attempts to keep the worm bedding consistently, and evenly moistened. Observing that the top layer of the material is dryer than it "should" be, more water is added to the bed. What results, however, is a layer of "properly-moistened" material laying on top of lower levels which progressively become more and more swamp-like. The lower regions of the bed will always be wetter than the surface layers. Now if we go back to the results of those tests I mentioned earlier, we can see that as long as there is moisture available to the worms anywhere in the general vicinity, they will normally make out just fine. There is really no need to saturate the entire amount of bedding, though some moisture throughout is recommended to prevent damage to the worms delicate skin as it moves about in search of food (or a good-looking date to share the food with.) In addition to reducing the amount of time spent watering the beds, less watering will help to prevent a number of other problems.

First of all, one of the only reasons for a worm bed to develop a bad odor is the presence of anaerobic bacteria. (These are the same culprits responsible for the foul smell emanating from a garbage bag, or can, that is commonly left sealed.) These particular bacteria work in the same manner as aerobic bacteria, but in the absence of one vital ingredient...air. Thus, if too much water is added to the worm-bin, the air can be forced out of the lower areas, creating perfect anaerobic conditions, and resulting in an odor of indescribable proportion. By the way, the worms themselves will not tolerate these conditions, so if you see the entire population of your vermicomposter apparently heading south for the winter, you might think about easing up on the water supply. There is also another problem, though you may not notice this one until it kills your worm population.

When you first placed the worms in their new home, the bedding was made up of fresh material (hopefully), which in due course would become simply another ingredient in the final product. Then food was added, and the worms went about their usual business of eating everything in sight, altering the material as it passed through their remarkable little bodies, and finally excreting it back into the bed from which it will eventually be harvested, and used to "feed" some very fortunate plant. Like every other animal in the world, however, a worm is unable to remain healthy if forced to live in his own waste material. Thus, we change the bedding on a regular basis, preventing the castings from reaching a level where they would be toxic to the bin's inhabitants. By over watering, however, we speed up the process, spreading the castings with the liquid run-off. (The substance which will eventually kill the worms is also the same substance that we wish to save for the plants, and a lot of this can be lost in the excess water.)

At any rate, it soon becomes evident that while moisture is crucial to the survival of our friendly little worms, moderation is the key! So we keep the bedding moist, but never soggy, using as little moisture as possible to get the job done. Always check the lower regions of the bed (a moisture-detector commonly used for potted plants works very well) as well as the surface, and don't worry if there are some portions of the bed drier than others. As long as there is always some available moisture, the worms will be happy and when you see how much less time you spend worrying about precise moisture measures, so will you.

Continued In "Environmental Conditions Part 2"

Number Two Is Temperature

When we talk about temperature in regard to worms, the most important thing to remember is that while the worms will survive a fair amount of variation in their climate, they will only do so if these variations occur slowly, over a period of time. Taking a worm-bin from a house which is a comfortable 20 degrees Celsius, and moving it out into a winter temperature of -10, even if only briefly while on the way to the car, is a sure way to solve the problem of overpopulation in the bin. And the same problem can occur in reverse. If you have the worms out on the balcony for instance, and fearing an early frost you move them from a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius into the heated living room, try not to be surprised if you later notice that a lot of the survivors are in mourning for missing loved ones.

Generally, the most suitable temperature range for Eisenia Foetida and Lumbricus Rubellus has been shown to fall between 13 and 22 degrees Celsius, a range which is also quite convenient for those of us who live with them. Temperatures which fall outside this range can affect the worms in several different ways, not all of which are as final as death.

As the temperature drops below 10 degrees Celsius, the amount of food eaten by the worms will also decrease. The worms will be less active, and possibly move a little lower into the bedding (unless it is a cold floor causing the problem, in which case they will move nearer the surface.) At 4 or 5 degrees Celsius, the adult worms may stop producing cocoons, and the growth rate of the younger worms will diminish. And now this is where it gets a little tricky. Of all the material I have studied on the culturing of red worms, only once have I come across a writer who is apparently of the same mind as myself where this next matter is concerned.

Time and time again, I have read statements to the effect that a worm cannot survive a solid freeze. Now if what this statement means is that a worm cannot survive being frozen solid, then I agree 100%. However, if this statement is meant to imply that any worms left in the soil (yes, I said soil, but that's another article) after the onset of winter are destined for that great compost-heap in the sky, then I disagree just as strongly.

Two years in a row, I went out to my yard in the spring, while the ground was still frozen, and using very strong tools managed to remove a chunk of frozen earth out of the garden area. Upon looking at the profile of the ground, the presence of red worms curled up in little air pockets in the soil, is simply not a sight you can easily overlook. After knocking a couple of these guys out of the little air-pockets, I was very impressed on each of the two occasions when only a few moments passed before the worms in question slowly woke up, stretched out, and proceeded to look rather foolish as they tried to work their way back into the still-frozen ground. Since we are talking about holes which were only a few inches under the surface (and I was living in Prince Albert, SK, in Canada), no one will ever convince me those worms did not survive a solid freeze. Obviously, given adequate time to adapt and prepare, they somehow managed to avoid being frozen solid.

So just to clarify what I'm saying here, it is my belief that even though no animal can survive being frozen solid, worms do manage to survive in the ground, though immobilized of course, throughout the freezing temperatures of our Canadian winters.

Pushing things up to the other side of the scale now, we find a similar situation when we talk of excessive heat. Though the most suitable temperatures for consumption of food, and reproductive processes in regards to the worms we have been discussing are generally agreed to be in the moderate range mentioned earlier, when properly acclimated, red worms will continue to breed, feed, and grow very well in temperatures up to 30 degrees Celsius, if adequate moisture is always present. In fact, research has shown that worms raised from hatchlings to adulthood in temperatures considerably higher than the norm, may even develop, and reproduce, at rates faster than members of the same species raised at lower temperatures, or outdoors (Minnich, 1977; Hartenstein, Neuhauser, and Kaplan, 1980.) The same does not hold true, however, for worms originally raised at lower temperatures, with death often resulting (Hartenstein, 1978; Mitchell, 1978.)

So once again, we see that it is often a case of what the particular batch of worms is accustomed to, and it also bears mentioning once again, any change in temperature should be a gradual one.

There is a final point which should be mentioned in regards to temperature. Always bear in mind that if the worm-bin has sufficient moisture content, the temperature in the bedding will average anywhere from 5 to 10 degrees lower than the surrounding air. There are times when this will be an important consideration. And finally, a word of caution. Several of the books which are available on vermiculture recommend using cold water as a way of bringing down the temperature in a bed which is suspected of being too warm. Possibly there may be no harm in this idea, but I for one have had the experience of standing in the shower when the hot water suddenly ran out, and...well, you get the idea.

And Number Three Is Aeration

Though there is not an awful lot to say on this last topic, what there is to say really needs to be said. We have already mentioned earlier that worms are not fond of anaerobic bacteria, and if subjected to conditions of that nature, they will either leave the offending area (I really wasn't kidding), or if they are unable to take this course of action, they will die. In addition to this, however, there is yet another problem. Though it may not kill your worm population with any great speed, if it is allowed to occur at all, it can result in a worm bin becoming a mass burial site before the problem is even noticed.

As the worms go about the business of everyday life, simple as it is, they will need to breath, just like most other living creatures. (Actually, the process of osmosis makes a worm rather different than those of us with lungs, but the end result is pretty much the same.) Gradually, the available oxygen is used up and replaced with carbon dioxide and other miscellaneous waste gases. Unlike those of us who live aboveground, however, the poor little worm is stuck beneath the soil, or bedding, in close proximity to the "toxic" fumes. In addition to this, the decreasing amount of fresh oxygen can result in an increase in heat, and the increase in heat will result in a similar rise in the oxygen requirements of the worm. A truly vicious circle.

Fortunately, the whole situation is easily rectified, and only requires very infrequent attention. About once every two or three weeks, the top few inches of the bedding should be gently stirred, allowing for the escape of any built-up gases. (This will also go a long way toward preventing the bedding from becoming too densely packed.) The lower levels of the bedding can also be stirred, but on a far less frequent basis. If you are in the habit of burying the food you are placing in the worm-bin, it is quite possible that the bedding is already being stirred sufficiently, and all you really need to watch out for in that case is the accidental saturation of the bin. If you are just in the process of setting up a new system, you should keep in mind that a larger surface area is beneficial in this regard.

To sum up, if the basic sense of these various levels mentioned above, and the principles they describe, are maintained, and if sudden or drastic changes can be avoided, the end result should be healthy, happy, and productive worms, and less work and worry for yourself.

(A FINAL NOTE: None of the above procedures should in any way be interpreted as implying a substitute for regular cleaning of the bin, or refreshing of the bedding material.)

Original Text
Copyright © 1995, D. Brian Paley

An Explanation Of That Which Follows

As I mentioned in my Bio Blurb, the articles I am using to make up this lens are re-vamped pieces which I originally wrote several years ago while I was attending university. My Web Site of that time was called "The Burrow", and most of what is to be found on these pages appeared there in the original form.

One of my favorite things about developing The Burrow at that time was the number of youngsters the page attracted and the amazing interactions I had with so many of them, both at an individual level, and in numbers comprising entire classrooms. As a result of those interactions, and the warmhearted reception those youngsters gave my Page Mascot, "Willy the Worm", I ended up including on the Site a section entitled 'Willy The Worm's Wonderful Words Of Wisdom", which in the beginning was in essence little more than a letter page. It very soon became my favorite place in "The Burrow".

The young people who wrote me there at times made me chuckle, at and at other times made me sit for what seemed like hours on end trying to figure out the best way to answer in a simple straight-forward manner, questions about worms that for all their seeming simplicity quite often morphed into some of the most intelligent questions I had ever been asked. My respect for those letter-writers has never abated.

Beginning in the next module "Willy The Worm's Wonderful Words Of Wisdom (Part 2)" I will be presenting the best of those old letters, and all the information contained there. My hope for this section, however, is not just that it may be used as another vehicle to transmit basic information on vermicomposting, but that anyone reading it might become just as amazed by the spirit of those children of the past as I was. The two subjects (vermicomposting, and the children) are actually very closely related. After all, is it not those children for whom we, as vermicomposters, are working to help sustain a hopefully better world?

From: Brian J. Blue
(Brian is from The Woodlands, Texas)

This was actually the second e-mail I received from Brian, the first one read quite simply, "I'm Brian Blue, I'm from Texas, I'm 5-years old, I need some stuff about worms."

I replied to that e-mail, asking Mr. Blue, just exactly "what kind of stuff do you need?" Twenty minutes later, I received a second e-mail which stated, "Dear Mr. Paley, my dad said my first letter was rude. I'm sorry."

Anyway, we got through all that, and a while later I received the letter that is to follow. To make it a little easier to track the flow of things, I've interspersed my replies to several of Brian's questions as they appear in his letter. The comments in italics are Brian's. The boldfaced comments are my answers. (Because of length, I've had to split this into 2 modules - my apologies for any inconvenience caused by the breaks.

Dear Mr. Paley, Thank you for your message. I like science and all kinds of insects, but right now worms are my favorite.

Sometimes talking to you is just a little bit spooky, my friend, because it's a lot like talking to myself (we say a lot of the same things.)

I'm in Mrs. Price's first grade class at Sacred Heart School.

Since my friends at Crooked River Elementary School are in grade 2, and also interested in worms, you might have lots to talk about with them if they write you a letter. (If you would like to write them, their e-mail address is on my guest book page.)

Our school has a Science Fair each year. I picked a worm project because it sounded like it would be fun.

Willy tells me that's the reason he hangs around here so much...he thinks people are fun.

My Mom and Dad took me to the library to look up stuff about worms and come up with an idea for a good project. My Dad helped me get into your site on the Internet also.

Well it certainly sounds like you have a pretty special Dad there, and just think, if you feed enough "stuff" to your worms, the garbage bag will be lighter when your Dad takes it out, and he won't have to work so hard!

For my project, I'm trying to figure out whether worms like to be in dark places or light places.

That's a good question, and not really as obvious as some people think (depending on what type of worm, how much light, and one or two other things.)

I took a box and covered the bottom with damp paper towels. Then I covered half of the box with a dark piece of cardboard. I put the box under some light. I placed my worms in the box one at a time to see what they would do.

You, my friend, are going to make a great scientist one day. Your technique (the way you do things) is wonderful, and the fact that you PLACED your worms in the box, and didn't DROP them in, is very important, since an injured, or frightened worm, will react in a different manner than a happy, or healthy worm. (Putting them in one at a time was also a very good way to make sure they stayed calm.)

I found out that all but one of my worms went quickly to the dark side of the box. The other one moved toward the light side. Oh, I used nine worms in my experiment. I wanted ten but the bait shop only had nine in the carton.

If you still have these nine worms, you could try the experiment a couple more times, for one or two reasons. First, you should always duplicate any experiment, in order to see if you get the same results each time. That way, you know that the results were not just an accident. Also, if you keep the one worm who is behaving differently separated from the rest, you can see if he always moves to the light, or did he just do that the one time, maybe because he was confused or injured. (There are other reasons that he might move to the light, and we can talk about at least one of them when I answer the question you included in this letter.)

I do have a question.

Actually, there are a few little questions inside your bigger one. Some of the answers are located on my pages already (take a look at the letter from Crooked River Elementary, which you can find by clicking on "Willy the Worm's Wonderful Words of Wisdom", which is also where you will be able to find a copy of your letter, after I send you the original reply!) The main question you ask, however, was not really included in my other answers (sometimes I get real busy), so I will explain it a little better right now.

I learned that worms do not have eyes,

That is correct, worms are blind in the sense that we usually mean when we talk about animals with eyes.

ears,

That is also true, but though a worm can't hear things the way we do, they make up for it in a way that is contained in the answer to your "big" question at the end of this letter. (We'll get there yet.)

a nose

You are right once again, BUT....worms do smell, and they smell very well. (Pretty good poetry, if I do say so myself.) If you want to check that out at home, just put a few worms in a box, and place a little lettuce in one location in the box, and a little cabbage in another location in the box. Then see which location the worms end up having their lunch in, and ask yourself how come they all ended up in the same place? It's because they like some food better than other food, and they tell the difference by smelling it right through their skin (which is also how they find each other when they want to visit.)

or teeth.

Another one of those trickier things. You see,you're correct once again, they don't have teeth (which is why people should not be afraid of getting bit by them), so what they do is swallow small particles of "grit", like tiny stones and things, and then store these particles in an area of their stomach which is called a "crop." This is the same thing that birds do, since they also have no teeth. When the food is swallowed by the worm (or the bird), these little particles of grit are used to grind the food into smaller pieces. This is why, in worm bins that use paper for bedding, a little fine sand should be sprinkled into the bed to help the worms digest their food.

How do the worms know dark from light if they can't see?

Whew! I'll bet you thought we were never going to make it to this question of yours, but here we are, finally!

(Continued in "Willy The Worm's Wonderful Words Of Wisdom (Part 3))

(Continued from "Willy The Worm's Wonderful Words Of Wisdom (Part 2))

Remember I said that worms have a way of making up for not having ears. Well, this is related to one of the two methods that worms use to tell whether or not they are in the light. I should tell you first that the worm doesn't have to think about this problem in the way you might have in mind. This is one of the reactions that is built into the worm when he is born. We call things like this, "instinct."

If you look very carefully at a worm, you will see that it is made up of a whole lot of little pieces, which we call "segments", all joined together. Think of 10 donuts in a container lined up side by side so that you can see all the way through the holes to the other end. On a worm, each of these donuts would be one "segment", and they would be so small that in an average "red worm", there would be between 80 and 120 of them! (Sure would be a big worm if it were made out of donuts.)

Now I don't want to confuse you, so I should tell you that this is not how a worm grows. It doesn't get longer because it is adding extra "segments", but having all the segments as soon as it is born, the growth you see in a worm is the result of those segments getting bigger. (There are some other things involved with this topic, but this letter is already getting pretty long for a young scientist such as yourself. We can talk about those other things another time. For now, lets get back to your question.)

Each of those segments (donuts) that we were talking about, contain several nerves which serve various purposes, and some of the segments have more nerves of one kind than another. The nerves which are sensitive to light are contained mainly in the segments which are closest to the head and the tail of the worm. (Sometimes if you put a little dirt on the worm's head, and a little more on his tail, the worm won't try to dig down, because it thinks it's underground already once most of the light nerves [their big name is "receptors"] are covered up.)

Another interesting point about these "receptors" which are used to detect light, is that they don't "see" red light. If you put a red piece of plastic over a flashlight, and sneak up on your worm bins in the dark, you can shine the red light on them, and they won't even know you are watching them!

So, that is one of the ways a worm knows when it is in the light. The other way involves different nerves that work in a different way. These other nerves are like the ones in your fingertips and they respond (another big word which just means that they "do something") when anything touches them. There are three of these nerves on each of those segments we were talking about, and each one works just a little bit different.

In the end, however, this is what happens, (and I think you saw an example of this with that one worm of yours which headed into the light.) You see, when a worm is placed on any surface, the first thing it will try to do is find a crack that it can move into. It knows it is in a crack when the "touch nerves" tell it that each side of its body is touching something. This "urge" is so strong, a worm will sometimes even stay in the light if that is where the crack is located. (To get to where he wants to be, a worm just keeps moving around until he locates a crack by accidently touching it.)

I'll bet those 8 worms of yours that moved into the dark didn't stop moving until they were pressed right up against the back of the box, since that is where the crack was. The one that moved into the light must have found the crack that was in the light part of the box before it found the darkness. Since the urge to be in a crack is even stronger than the urge to be in the dark, it stayed where it was. I think if you left it there long enough, the worm would start moving along the crack until it made it into the darker part of the box.

These "touch nerves" are also so sensitive (they work so well), that a worm can "feel" very small vibrations in the soil around them, (or whatever type of surface they are on.) That is how worms "hear" without ears! (More poetry.) In the southern part of the United States, there are people who know how to put a stick in the ground, and then tap it with another stick, so that all the worms around them will come right out of the ground. This is called "worm calling" by some people, and I think that it works because the worms mistake the sound (vibration) made by tapping the sticks together for the noise that is made by a mole as it digs through the ground. (That would be a good reason for Willy and his friends to get out of there, since moles eat lots of worms every day.)

For now, however, I think you should have enough things to think about, so I will let you go, and I'll talk to you again another time. (Any more questions, you just let me know.)

Do you know of other experiments with worms which are fun?

Now that you know worms can smell their food, maybe you could try to figure out what their favorite food of all is?

Or how about this, you could put two worms in each of two or three small containers (not too small), and by placing them in different rooms in your house, you might be able to tell what temperature is best for making worms lay eggs. And with just a little more effort, the same method could be used to find out how many eggs on average a worm lays every year, or month, or week?

You work on the method, and if you need any help, or discover anything interesting, please let me know.

Thank you for helping me.

No problem at all, and I thank you too.

Over the last few years I have on several occasions, been asked for particulars on the techniques involved in the increase of a worm population. This I can see as being a reasonable request. However, I have also been asked if there is any way to speed this process up?! That, I have to say, is like asking if we might improve things in the Arctic by mailing them some additional ice and snow. (Why would anyone be concerned about speeding up the reproduction rate of animals that make rabbits look like monks by comparison?) Oh well, to each his own I guess. So here it goes...

According to the popular information which is available, either brown sugar or corn meal, when sprinkled on the surface of the bedding, will increase the romantic intent of all the little "Wormeos and Wooliettes" in the bin, which in turn should dramatically increase the population.

As far as scientific studies go, I don't recall ever seeing any on this particular subject. What I can tell you for certain, is that red worms certainly do like both of these substances as a food source, and considering the nutrients either of these items would add to the finished product (vermicompost), it definitely can't hurt to give it a try.

Now to answer the question about the process involved in mating, I asked my favorite mascot Willy. After listening to his explanation of how he first likes to send his favorite partners-to-be a little box of garbage, or maybe some dead flowers, I decided to tackle it myself. (It's probably for the best, since I notice he's been a little dreamy-eyed [which is tough for a worm] ever since.) Anyhow, as best as I can tell, the procedure for red worms goes something like this.

If you take a look at a few of the worms in your bin, you will soon notice that many of them have a swollen-looking area located about one-third of the way down from the head. This area is known as the "clitellum" and is only present on sexually-mature worms. (Some people refer to this area as "the band", hence the nickname "banded worm" for one which is capable of breeding.) From the point in their life where this area is developed to an extent where it is easily noticeable, you can expect the following behavior to occur again and again....and again...etc.

As they travel about their environment, the red worms will secrete a fluid from bodily glands, leaving a scent which potential mates can use to locate them. (By keeping a high population density in a culturing bin, the chances of two suitable worms finding each other is greatly increased, which is why cultured worms tend to breed far more prolifically than their counterparts in the wild.) It is when the two worms locate each other, that all the really tricky stuff begins. (For true burrowing worms such as the Nightcrawler, this procedure takes place on the surface, but for red worms, since they are usually found in material which is far less dense than soil, breeding will occur at various levels in the bedding.)

Having found each other, the two worms will lie very close together, their heads pointing in opposite directions. At this point, size becomes important. During mating, two worms must successfully align certain points on their bodies, and if alignment is not possible, the chances of success are greatly reduced, though not completely destroyed. For this reason, two mating worms will almost always be of near-equal size. To test this point, I have on several occasions isolated two worms of different lengths in a private container, which I then checked on a regular basis for cocoons (worm eggs.) On virtually every occasion, no eggs appeared until the two worms had adapted to the situation by managing to equalize their size (either by an increase, or decrease in length.) It is also this requirement of compatible sexual organs which makes the natural occurrence of a "hybrid" so unlikely.

Assuming the two worms that have come together are suitably matched, they then use their "clitella" (plural for clitellum) to secrete a large amount of a viscous fluid which forms a tube around them, effectively joining them together. (This bond must be broken before they can separate, and while joined in this manner, worms will often ignore their natural instinct to flee from a light source.)

Sperm is then injected by each worm into grooves on the opposing worm's body, from where it moves down into the appropriate receiving areas. These areas serve to store the sperm (contained in seminal fluid), and are referred to as "sperm sacs." Depending on the species of worm (and possibly how much they like each other?), the mated couple will remain in this situation for a period of time ranging between several minutes and a couple of hours, before finally separating to go their individual ways.

After the worms have separated, the clitellum secretes a second substance, this one containing "albumin", an ingredient commonly found in egg whites. Unlike the first substance which remains soft, this second material begins to harden, and as it does so, the worm starts to wriggle out of it in a backward direction. While doing so, the worm deposits its own eggs, and sperm from its mate, into the albuminous material. As the hardening material slips off the worm's head (more correctly called "the first segment"), the ends close together, trapping inside all the ingredients necessary for the next generation. Depending on how much material was transferred during the mating, each worm might lay more than one egg, though one is the usual amount.

The resulting cocoon (at least for Lumbricus Rubellus) looks very much like a tiny little lemon, the similarity greatly enhanced by its bright yellow coloring which, given suitable conditions, it acquires on the second or third day after being laid. (It starts off sort of creamy-white, then turns yellow, light brown, darker brown, and finally red or dark purple by the time it is ready to hatch approximately 3 weeks later, once again, in the presence of suitable conditions.)

Though each egg (cocoon) is capable of producing up to 20 spawn, the average number per cocoon is usually around 4. This is largely determined by such factors as: the age of the worm which laid the egg, the state of its physical health, and the environmental factors which not only the worm, but also the cocoon was subjected to. (A greater number of healthy spawn will be produced from a cocoon that was maintained at a consistent temperature throughout the gestation period.)

That, is pretty much it, except perhaps for a more thorough discussion of those "suitable conditions" which were mentioned earlier, and that is the stuff of another article. Hope to see you there.

Business Claims to Consider (Part 1)

As those of you who read these pages on a regular basis are aware, I have been dedicating a certain amount of my time in the last little while to taking a look at some of the so-called "business opportunities" that are being offered to people interested in becoming "worm growers", "worm breeders", "wormers", "vermiculturists", or simply "people with a lot of worms (and hopefully even more money as a result of these worms.)"

Well, the information I requested from those of you who were willing to get involved in this situation, is still coming in, and could be for some time. However, I now know a lot more about what is being offered out there, and I think it is a good time to make a few suggestions, or at least some observations.

I'm certainly not going to give my blessing to any of the offers I have looked at, or heard about, and neither am I going to condemn them outright, for a very simple reason, which involves a matter relating to a subject I am very familiar with....namely "semantics."

You see, one of the first things I noticed is that all of the materials I have been sent -distributed as part of these offers-, have one thing in common (which is not so strange since most of it was put out by a very, very small group of people). The common thread is that nothing is really being promised! Possibilities are listed, and potentials (very unrealistic if you know anything about this topic) are presented like promises, but each time, when you get right down to it, there is always a disclaimer included which defines the previously-mentioned potentials as estimates, hypothetical situations, or reliant on meeting almost impossibly ideal conditions. No matter how badly the new "breeder" fails, it will always seem possible for the dealer to sidestep the responsibility for that failure, or the need to make reparations.

You will notice I used the phrase, "seem possible", in that last sentence, and that is because it is very difficult for a person to convince anyone to fork over anywhere from $100.00 to $100,000.00 without making some kind of promise to the person with the money. In a situation like that, one of the most effective techniques is to make the promises about things the "victim" knows very little about, and may not have the time to look into (once money is invested, the motivation to discover that the offer is really a scam, may not be too strong, and this certainly works in the dealer's favor.)

Since the only thing I have invested, however, is my time and effort, I have been able to look thoroughly at what I have been presented with, and due to my familiarity with this topic (vermiculture), I have been able to spot a few questionable items. There are some issues that might be simply honest mistakes, and those I have chosen to ignore. There are other matters, however, that I suspect quite strongly to be wrong, and very misleading, and these things I will point out. Finally, I have spotted at least one or two things which are definitely wrong, and which may even constitute grounds for legal reparations, since I find it inconceivable that any dealer claiming to have years of experience with worms, could "accidentally" make such claims. I will also attempt to point out at least the most obvious of these.

But first, there is one thing I need to say to those of you who have been sending in information pertaining to this matter.

Since I am not a legal expert, and certainly not regarding American liable laws, I would like to suggest to you (as it was suggested to me), that you refrain from using specific names of companies or people if you are going to leave messages on my guestbook. I don't want to see anyone getting hit with a liable suit by a company which has a lot of other people's money with which to fight you. If you have something personal to say, use my e-mail address, and it will be treated confidentially. Also, and this is very important, do not use other reader's names, descriptions, or locations, since they may have money at stake which could become a tool for any unscrupulous dealer who wished to retaliate. Just consider the following information to be my opinion regarding a type of offer, rather than the person or people behind the offer. If the particulars I describe help you to see a few things that you might not have seen before, please don't use it to attack any specific individual, but rather to avoid a specific situation. Anyone who wants to sue me, however, is welcome to go for it....I have no life.

Some Things to Consider

This first point is actually pretty minor, but it will give you an idea of how one small (mistake?) can be piled upon another (mistake?), until the truth simply collapses from the weight.

I was asked by a reader if a particular statement made in one of these documents wasn't simply out-and-out false advertising. The answer is a great big YES.

The statement in question makes the following claim:

"xxxxxxx is the only fertilizer you can buy that contains worm castings.....and actual live worms and worm eggs!"

The dealer then goes on to explain how this fertilizer (due to the worms and their eggs) reproduces itself! Pretty amazing stuff! Now here's what you want to consider.

Is there a difference between a "soil enhancer" and a "fertilizer?" (Give your Department of Agriculture a call, and ask specifically about "labelling soil enhancers and fertilizers, and the licences required in order to sell either, or both.") So if I agree to this dealer's offered definition of "fertilizer", then what are all these bags in my basement (or back yard)? The same thing as the product mentioned above, which means that that one is not the only one that is available.

If the phrase "reproduce itself" refers to the the production of more of this "fertilizer" as a result of the resident worms, then maybe someone should point out that this is very unlikely to happen, since the point that precedes this one in the document is also in error (or reworded to support the next statement.)

What precedes this statement is a misquoted portion of a common claim which has appeared in several other books and research papers. Since it is misquoted in the document in question, I'm betting whichever researcher said it first (sometime around 1920) will have no objection to me straightening it out once again. The statement is misquoted in the following manner in the document we are discussing:

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture states that worm castings contain: One and one half the lime (calcium) found in good top soil. Three times the exchangeable Magnesium found in good top soil. Five times the available Nitrate found in good top soil. Seven times the available Phosphorus found in good top soil. Eleven times the Potash found in good top soil."

Not really too bad when you think of it (I love consistency .) Five statements....all wrong. The figures are the same as those derived from the research, but there is a slight difference at the end of each sentence which completely changes things. The original researcher did not claim these figures in relation to "good top soil (whatever that means), but in relation to the "surrounding" soil. You see, when an earthworm ingests an amount of "food", that material will consist of everything that the feed contains, including the nutrients mentioned above. After absorbing what it needs to live on, the worm "casts" out the remainder (which also includes those nutrients mentioned above.) The resulting cast now contains roughly the same amount of nutrients as before, but in less overall material, thus raising the proportion of those ingredients. However, if the particular "feed" the earthworm has ingested, had no potash to begin with, it will still have no potash when it is cast out (this is only not true of the calcium content. Since earthworms possess "calciferous glands", they actually add calcium to any matter which passes through their gut.) In short, however, if the earthworm is fed on a substance which is lacking in a particular nutrient, that nutrient will still be lacking in the resulting "cast." A "good topsoil" would have a balance of all the proper nutrients, and in that case, could prove to be a better plant-food overall. I strongly suspect the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture would not make that basic a mistake. Unless the live earthworms contained in the associated "fertilizer" are fed the same diet they were fed originally, in all the same proportions, the new "fertilizer" they produce will have a composition different from the original, and that doesn't fit with the claim of self-reproduction. Whereas the first product might meet the requirements of a "fertilizer", there is no real reason to assume the new product would be anywhere near as effective.

Continued in "Business Claims To Consider (Part 2)"

Now I said that the first point was a minor one to be certain, but let's look at how that same type of "mistake" can result in an extremely important, and very misleading statement.

In much of the literature I have been sent, reference has been made to the matter of the U.S. government passing "legislation", which requires that by the year 2000, "organic waste landfills" in California, must reduce their size by fifty percent. Since I am Canadian, I have no real knowledge of Californian legislation (I do know from Baywatch, however, that none of your women look anything like my ex-wife) but we have set a similar goal here in Canada, and I can't help but wonder if the noted difference is not another case of "accidental misquotation" (I think I just invented a phrase!)

The actual difference between your "legislation", and our "goal" is that you apparently want to reduce the amount of waste that is currently in your landfills (note the word "size" in the last paragraph), while we are attempting to reduce the amount of material being sent to our landfills (our goal is nationwide as opposed to just the one state mentioned in the literature I am referring to.) If you really believe that you have developed a method of using worms to "shrink" an existing landfill, I am sure there are many other countries besides my own (I'm very serious) that would like to understand the process. Have the problems such as lethal heat, toxic gases, anaerobic environmental conditions, leachate, and massive compaction truly been overcome by a worm (which according to another of those famous disclaimers), requires a constant temperature of around 72 degrees F., as well as "optimum" moisture and pH levels, if it is to reproduce according to plan. Personally, even knowing how much sturdier L. rubellus is compared to P. hawayana , I wouldn't claim they could manage such a herculean task.

I suspect the truth of the matter lies more in the area of reducing the future waste stream, and hopefully eliminating (or at least slowing down) the need for "new" landfill sites. In that case, the actual composting will be done at the individual level, by each citizen, rather than by a large organization (as the shadier of these "dealers" are so fond of claiming as they state their explanation of why they will be so anxious to buy from you all the worms you can produce). This "reduction of the waste flow is also why it is so important to teach our children the benefits of composting, so they will never develop our old habits of "hiding" our garbage, and hoping it will go away. The waste that is in our current landfills is indeed a problem, but not one I expect to see solved by worms, which would simply present a situation of "too little, too late."

For now, however, let's assume for a moment that we were going to attempt to use worms for this particular task (cleaning up existing landfills.) Would we use a worm that will survive a temperature range between 35 degrees and 80 degrees Fahrenheit (such as L. rubellus or E. foetida), or would we use a worm that requires a constant temperature of "around 72 degrees Fahrenheit"?) Would we decide on a worm that is known to be a rapid breeder, or a worm that will breed "adequately" if you maintain exactly the right temperature at all times?

Which brings me to another point, and quite possibly the most blatant "mistake" in the entire batch of literature that I have been going through. In the one-page document I am referring to, each of the following words appears: "potential", "hypothetical", "information only" (that's a heading, and your guess is as good as mine as to what that means), and the almost-standard disclaimer stating that all the enclosed information is a mere approximation which assumes perfect temperatures, moisture, and pH levels. If that's not enough, there is still the statement that no liability is accepted for what the chart states (maybe someone could explain to the chart-maker that it's RESPONSIBILITY they should be accepting....not liability.)

Anyway, according to this chart, if you start with 10,000 worms (20 pounds), two months later you will have 20,000 worms which weigh 40 pounds, and at six months, you will have 80,000 worms weighing 160 pounds. By 14 months, and once every 2 months after that (it is claimed by this unloved chart that no one will take responsibility for), you can sell 640,000 worms for a possible $12,800.00, and still have 640,000 worms left over!

Well, let's look at this from a couple different angles, and see what the deal is.

O.K., how about we try this from the front end first. The chart says, if I start with 10,000 worms, or 20 pounds, at 2 months I will have 20,000 worms, weighing 40 pounds. But wait a moment. The chart might be right about the number of worms, if lots of early breeding goes on, allowing the cocoons time to hatch. But, (and I admit I'm awaiting research materials which will give me precise figures) even if all the necessary cocoons hatch, none of the resulting worms is going to have anywhere near enough time to sexually, or physically mature, so even if there are 20,000 worms, I won't have even close to 40 pounds worth. The next figures will also be wrong, since at 4 months, the first batch of babies still won't be sexually mature, and the few that start breeding early will have just laid their cocoons, and those cocoons will not have had time to hatch. Hmmm!

I know, let's jump to the other end of the chart, it's got to work from there, since we're starting with 640,000 worms (1280 pounds!) Let's see now, around month 14, I sell 640,000 worms, and get to keep just as many to carry on my "business" with. Oops...problem. The chart says I can do this every two months by the time I reach this level, and make $12,800.00 doing it each time. However, in order to make sure that the 640,000 worms I sell equal 1,280 pounds in weight, I have to sell all adults. And two months later, I have to sell all adults again! Remember, it's not that I'm saying two months is not enough time for a worm to grow to full size (though I will state that it's highly unlikely), but you have to allow time for the development, and hatching of the cocoons (which in L. rubellus takes approx. 21 days, and I'll put Willy and his friends up against any of the worms we commonly use for vermicomposting, let alone this particular species.) That means these worms have to go from spawn to adulthood in roughly 4 weeks, and that is something I find extremely unlikely.

But hang on a second, let's cut the poor chart a break (it has no one to take responsibility for it.) We'll assume that everything works perfectly, as the chart indicates, and here we are in month 12, the proud owners of 640,000 worms (rapidly becoming 1,280,000 worms.) I wonder where we'll keep them. The chart says that the 640,000 worms will require 22 bins (a separate chart indicates the price of these bins as $250.00 each, or $5500.00 total, and then doubled?) The question mark indicates a question, since the chart fails to say anything about the extra 22 bins I will require. You see, if the first batch require 22 bins in order to meet their "optimum" size, then so will the 640,000 that I plan to sell (unless I sell them only partially developed, in which case I'll need maybe twice as many to maintain the weight requirement.) By the way, these 44 bins will require 1408 square feet of indoor space, if you are planning to maintain "optimum" environmental requirements. I don't think there is anywhere (even in California), that can guarantee constant temperatures of approximately 80 degrees Fahrenheit (to maintain a soil temp. of 72 degrees, the air temperature has to be somewhat higher, since the evaporation of the moisture in the bedding will keep the bin cooler than the surrounding area.)

However, I'm no quitter! Let's try one more thing here. We'll assume that in spite of all these minor problems, everything has worked out just the way we were told it would. So all that's left to do is sell our millions of worms to all the anxious land-fill operators who are beating a path to our door. Oh, oh. It just occurred to me, if these worms can survive all of these things, and they breed so quickly, and environmental conditions mean nothing, then why won't these landfill operators simply buy 10000 of these worms, and let nature (or the chart) take its course. In just 14 months, they'll have over a million worms, and I can't even estimate how many in just 18 months, since they have no reason to sell any (or buy any more.) If there are 100 landfills in California, and they each buy 10000 worms, we can sell our first million. After that, however, markets might become scarce. Either the worms need to be constantly replenished, in which case, they're the wrong worm for the job, or, the worms will breed like crazy, eliminating the need for a future market. I really don't see how you can have it both ways.

You know what? Maybe I could take my extra worms, and some of these bins, and maybe I could find some poor trusting person, just getting interested in worms, and if I could just convince him.....

Naahh!....I prefer having friends.

Original Text
Copyright © 1996, D. Brian Paley

(Due to the length of what is to follow, this article will be developed and presented in a rather large number of installments. Rest stops will be provided courtesy of... "The Worm Guy!" Just in case you're wondering, that's me.)

A Brief Explanation
The most difficult problem encountered in explaining this concept to potential "worm breeders" is the amount of random information which is required to make everything clear. With this in mind, I will begin by listing several facts regarding worms in general, and vermiculture in particular. Though some of these points may be obvious, and others may not, they are all important in understanding the various principles that are at work here. By making sure everyone understands these things up front, we can hopefully avoid any confusion later. (I have developed some of these points as a result of my personal research into this area, and if they should appear to contradict anything which you have read or learned earlier, all I can say is that you should try and set up an experiment or two to test these claims for yourself,... before you call me up and question the wisdom of my mother's favorite son.)

Some Facts and Figures...Thoughts and Things

- It takes roughly 1000 adult red worms to equal one pound in weight.

- It takes roughly 4000 juvenile (or bed-run, pit-run, etc.) red worms to equal one pound in weight.

- It takes over 100,000 red worm spawn (probably way over) to equal one pound in weight.

- One pound of worms, irregardless of their size, will eat the same amount of waste as one pound of worms of any other size. (This is why we talk about the "biomass" of the worms, rather than using particular numbers.)

- Worms will breed most often for one of three reasons:
a) There is an abundance of food available.
b) Their survival is threatened by environmental conditions, or
c) They find themselves in an area which is saturated with suitable mates.

-Beginning with one thousand sexually-mature adult red worms, and including their offspring, and their offspring's offspring, etc., it is possible to produce over one million red worms in one year. (By the end of the second year, the total would be over one billion.)

- Except in a couple of specific situations (which we will be talking about later), if they are given adequate food and fresh "bedding" material, worms do not appear to be bothered by "overcrowding."

-Worms are perfectly adapted to the purpose they serve in nature, which is evidenced by the fact that their genetic development has all but stopped. (They have remained in their present form for hundreds, possibly thousands of years.)

- Perhaps the most amazing thing to consider about worms (at least the red worms I have known and loved), is their remarkable ability to adapt to an environment while they are still in the cocoon. This is completely contrasted by their apparent inability to compensate for relatively small environmental changes during their lifetimes.

So now...on with the story.

It should be remembered that the system I am about to describe was developed by myself accidentally in the beginning. When I began to realize what was in fact occurring, I made several modifications to the situation (improvements hopefully). However, even after two or three years of careful observation, I probably failed to completely isolate all the truly important procedures and conditions. Therefore, some of what I describe, and recommend, may prove to be of little value in the long run, and there may still be one or two important aspects which I have failed to realize. All I can say is that if you set up your conditions to mirror those I am about to describe as closely as possible, I can see no reason why things shouldn't work just as well for you as they have for myself, and two other people also who have been helping me test this matter.

First of all, I need to explain the bin system I used. This is one of the areas that I believe to be truly significant, since it is the master bed that makes the whole thing possible. You should also be aware that I used only this bed for the first 15-16 months, and I really don't think this part of the procedure can be done in less time than that. (Give or take a month or two depending on the size of the initial worm population.) By the way, this bed was built by myself, out of scraps of wood which I scrounged from around the neighborhood.

Basically, it is a plywood bed which measures six feet long, three feet wide, and thirty inches deep. It is divided into three equal compartments each measuring two feet by three feet, and thirty inches deep. I installed some old 6" chesterfield legs on it for two reasons. First of all, it made it possible to place drip-pans under the holes I had drilled for drainage, and second, by placing each of the legs in an old tobacco can filled halfway with water, I prevented any ants that found their way into the basement from gaining access to the bed. I want to stress that while these measurements are not "carved in stone", anyone wishing to try this system will need a bed of roughly this size. (The depth is also very important, and we will see why a bit further on.)

When I installed the original population of worms in this bed, I used only the first of the three sections, which for the sake of convenience we will refer to as RB-1 (red worm-bed #1.) Prior to the arrival of the worms, I had spent several weeks cutting cardboard boxes, which I obtained from the corner grocery store, into one-inch strips with a razor knife (the blisters took weeks to heal.) I then used a heavy-duty pair of scissors to cut those strips into one-inch squares (those blisters may never be gone). In all, I cut a total of eighty-three pounds of those little squares, and I will NEVER even think about trying that particular stunt again. I soaked roughly thirty-eight pounds of the cardboard squares in water (my bathtub) for two days, and used it as bedding in RB-1, which resulted in a bedding depth of 22 inches. (I installed it almost two weeks before the worms arrived, but it never did heat up to any dangerous level.)

That first batch of "creepy crawlers" (my niece's term) consisted of a little over a pound of rather small bed-run red worms. Though the population started off as a pretty even split between Lumbricus Rubellus and Eisenia Foetida, the Rubellus took only a couple of months to establish themselves as absolute rulers of the place. I never actually witnessed any "murder most foul", but the number of Eisenia Foetida continually dwindled until there were none left. (I thought I could do it, I tried to do it...I just can't do it!) Please forgive the following digression.

S....o...o.. since we're on the topic of "mixing" varieties of worms.....

It seems everywhere you look these days, someone is advertising "hybrid" red worms for sale. The implication is that these "hybrids" are somehow superior to regular "old-fashioned" red worms. The simple truth of the matter is that it is very unlikely any such animal exists, anywhere. Hybrids of the type implied are not that common in nature, more often being the result of genetic manipulation by well-intentioned humans. The majority of accidental hybrids (those that occur in the wild, without human intervention,) are most often born sterile, with no chance of propagating the "new" species. To think that simply allowing two different species of worms (or any other animal) to live together will result in cross-breeding, and the manifestation of a superior life form, is naive to say the least. Though many "families" of worms are similar in appearance, the biological differences from one species to another can be incredible. Certain worms possess three hearts, others five hearts, and still others, only a single heart. To be certain, there are not many people who can even identify the species of a specific worm without obtaining a proper taxonomy report. The point is, similarity in appearance aside, the worms of the world are just not that similar.

Now the only reason this whole topic gets me riled (you noticed?), is that people who tend to sell "hybrids", also seem to be the people who demand top dollar for their product. The idea seems to be that if you're going to purchase a superior worm, you have to expect to pay a superior (inferior?) price. Well, it seems pretty clear to me, if the earthworm was in any need of "improvement", Mother Nature would be taking care of it through her natural processes, namely evolution. Yet most scientists tend to agree that the worm has shown no significant evolutionary change since shortly after it crawled out of the water onto dry land. This leads me to agree with the researchers who feel this animal has pretty much reached its evolutionary goal, becoming the perfect walking (well crawling) stomach. Their reaching of that particular goal is as much a benefit to us as it is to them. But more on that when we meet back here for Part 2_1

(See You Then.....)

Well, now that I got that off my chest...(see part one for clarification) we can get on with things.

My original intention when I set up this bin-system was to let the worms use the cardboard as both their bedding material and food supply. I had read a couple of books that made passing remarks about the suitability of cardboard as feed for worms, and one particular article that claimed worms raised strictly in cardboard grew faster, larger, and healthier than their counterparts raised in virtually any other material. The author went on to say that composted cardboard was also the finest planting medium in existence. (Considering the amount of cellulose contained in paper products, and the animal by-products used to glue the layers of cardboard together, I had no doubt that he was correct in his estimation of the feed value.) Added to the fact that cardboard and paper make up roughly 35% of the Canadian waste stream, this idea was looking better and better.

By the way, of this above-mentioned amount, Saskatchewan, who has a really decent reputation for devotion to recycling, is still letting over 90% of their paper and cardboard waste slide through to the landfill. (The recycling industry is simply too young to handle these kinds of totals, as shown by the figures I received from Environment Canada for 1994, showing that only 8.5% of the available waste cardboard was being recycled.) It is interesting to note, when you add in the remainder of what the worms are capable of eating (yard and food wastes just for starters,) the total percentage of the Canadian waste stream that could be recycled into a soil additive (rather than being hidden under the soil), reaches an amazing 72 percent! I figured I might not be able to make much of a difference to the overall total all by myself, but maybe that guy was right who said Niagara Falls was only a big collection of single drops of water. (Now if it seems to you that I'm digressing again, I'm not. I might a little later, but this stuff that you're reading right now really is crucial to the story I'm telling.)

As I said earlier, the first stage of this procedure took over a year to reach completion, and the main contributing factor had to do with the fact that I had absolutely no idea how difficult it would be to try and harvest eleven cubic feet of cardboard squares. (As you may recall, this was in the basement of my house. A very cluttered basement at that.) For the first nine or ten months, it was really no problem, since I merely divided the first bed into two, and then split those two into three approximately four months later. That, however, is when things got interesting.

If you really want to witness a modern-day miracle, try looking at a large container of obviously first-rate soil, where only scrap cardboard had been a little over a year earlier. Sixteen months after I started, I was looking at not just one, but two containers of this nature. My musty old basement now smelled like a walk in the vegetable garden, which more than made up for an earlier mistake of mine which almost brought my vermicomposting efforts to a screeching halt. My ex-wife was obviously a remarkably understanding lady, or that marriage would have ended a few years earlier than it did. (And now I am going to digress, because this is the type of story which I'm sure many other vermiculturists will appreciate, and if you've never had a similar experience happen to you (and you're reading this article), then it can at least serve as a warning of what not to do.)

It happened like this...

By the time I got around to stretching my worms (bad pun) into the third bin, I had all but run out of those great little cardboard squares. There were no fresh ones left at all, and the first two beds appeared to be converted pretty much completely into castings. Being the curious type of guy that I am, I decided it was time to try a different approach (at least until I found a paper shredder.) Moving used material from each of the first two beds into the third, worms and all, I was able to fill two-thirds of the last bed to an adequate depth, leaving one third empty. I decided to use this portion as a feed trench, and selected compost as a feed material.

Since I was going to require at least 20-30 pounds of compost to fill this rather large area, and considering it was winter at the time, I decided to make the compost indoors. The idea did not seem as silly as it sounds now, since I had read at least 10 composting manuals which all agreed that the smallest size of a compost heap which would successfully heat was somewhere in the range of three square feet. I also knew from first-hand experience that odor would not be a problem as long as I let the compost have lots of air to prevent invasion by anaerobic bacteria. As it turned out, I was more than successful on the first attempt (though the second batch was something I'll probably never forget.)

As I said, the first attempt was a great success. Using food scraps provided by myself and several of my neighbours, dry grass and leaves which I had bagged up in the fall, old newspaper, and the contents of a vacuum-cleaner bag or two, I was able to fill the trench with very little effort at all. The worms wasted no time invading the mixture, and if I had remembered that old saying of my father's about not fixing things that work, everything would have been fine. The problem arose from the fact that the worms liked it so much, I decided to set up a similar situation in the other two bins as well. Requiring a lot more of the feed material to accomplish this task, and over-reacting to the fact that I had detected a slight heat coming from the original trench (I should have accepted that it did not appear to be annoying the worms in the least), I set about building a medium-sized container in which to mix the next batch of compost.

{I had found a set of directions for a worm-bin in one of the books I was reading, and modified it slightly to correct a couple of mistakes in the plans. It held a 6-pound population of worms, and a little extra work turned it into a really nice piece of furniture.} (PLEASE NOTE:The above-mentioned plans have been excluded in the present version of this article awaiting a time in the very near future when I can include a set of plans for a bin entirely of my own design. At that time, you will be able to find the plans right here.)

To continue... after building the new container, I gathered the raw compost materials together, and set about brewing a new batch of "brown gold", roughly three times as large as the first. To this batch, however, I also added about one third of a fifty-pound bag of some no-name dry dog-food. (My Rottie had previously convinced me that the only way she wanted anything to do with that particular feed, was if she ever got a job paving someone's driveway.) Anyway, once all the ingredients had been added, I went upstairs, got cleaned up, and took my wife out for the evening (it was her birthday.) The evening turned out to be really fun, and I never gave a thought to my latest project the whole time. That was to change approximately one tenth of a second after I opened the door upon our arrival at home.

To say there was an foul aroma in the house when we arrived would be a lot like saying Charles Manson had a slight attitude problem. The words overpowering, awesome, incredible, and oh-my-God all come to mind, as do terrible, frightening, and horrific. The words my wife came up with weren't even that pleasant, and they didn't stop until I had managed to rectify the situation roughly 2 hours later. When I finally summoned the courage to go down to the basement, I was greeted by the sight of billowing clouds of steam pouring out all the openings in my newest container. (Remember I mentioned I was the curious type? Well, before I actually did anything about solving the problem, I stuck a meat themometer into the center of the material, and got a reading of 166 degrees Farenheit.) My two-hour solution consisted of transferring the steaming compost into large plastic bags (several of them), dragging the now-empty container up the stairs and out onto the back porch, then dumping the contents of the bags back into the container. Even though it was 10 or 15 degrees below zero out there, the material in the box took several hours to cool off, and at least two days to freeze solid. Needless to say, my wife was no more impressed than she was the day several of my worms decided to bail out of one of the hanging plants (which I had forgotten to water), and managed to land on her head. But that's another story for another day. For now...

See you later, in Part 3:1. Until then, keep the faith.

Sooo....the time has come to jump ahead to the heart of the matter. As I stated earlier, the materials we covered in parts 1 and 2 are important in order to understand the particulars of what is to come, and now there is another point that must be made. A quick point to be sure, but one that is certainly significant!

The concept of raising worms for your own personal use as fishing bait, or in vermicomposters, etc., and the concept of raising worms for sale to other people, for whatever use they have in mind, are two entirely different ideas, and require two completely different methods. You could certainly do both at the same time, but to achieve top efficiency and productivity at the least possible cost (in both money and time), the two batches of worms will have to be maintained in very different manners. The system I am outlining in this series of articles is designed as a method of raising and maintaining a large population of worms, in a minimal amount of space, with the purpose of resale in mind. If this is what you are after, then take a tip from me and tuck any books you already possess on the art of raising red worms on a very high shelf, since much of what is to follow will be in total disagreement with what you have already been reading.

To help you to understand what I'm getting at, let's look at my current situation as a supplier of red worms. When I moved here to Saskatoon to attend university (I'm a late bloomer), I was very limited in the amount of personal belongings which I could bring with me. Moving from an entire house of my own into a small, but comfortable basement suite, meant leaving my large worm bed (18 square feet) behind. What I actually brought with me consisted of 12 small RubberMaid containers, each measuring roughly 10 inches by 14 inches, and approximately 6-8 inches deep. There was a worm population in each of those, and in addition, I brought one larger container, somewhere in the area of 16 inches by 22 inches, and 12-14 inches deep. This also contained a population of worms. I brought a couple sacks of the "bog soil" which I had been using for bedding, and some 1-gallon ice-cream buckets which I use for many different things. That was my entire inventory of vermiculturing equipment, and I had no problem finding room for any of it. (I also brought several hundred pages of information about red worms which I have compiled over the years, and of course, my own personal notes.)

Since that time, I have supplied 8-9 people, each with a starter system composed of one of those smaller containers, bedding, and roughly 1 pound of red worms (Lumbricus Rubellus), which is certainly not very impressive. (Between school and maintaining this page, I had very little time for actual attention to the business of selling worms.) The fact that I have just as many worms now as I did in the beginning might be a little more impressive (though not much.) But maybe I can get your attention by telling you that right at this moment (when this story was first published>), I was fully prepared to supply to anyone who wished, the equivalent of 100, or even 200 pounds of healthy red worms, and I have only 3 requirements that have to be met.

1. You must place the order at least two weeks before the full weight is required.
2. You must have the necessary amount of food, bedding, and containers to maintain the full amount of worms, available for immediate use. And...
3. You must follow the directions I give you implicitly.

As long as these three conditions are met (it would also be nice to get paid) I have no problem in supplying you with the worms. Furthermore, I could probably do it again almost immediately. And again...and again...etc...etc. The whole trick is contained in one single word...equivalent. It is, however, a big word when used in this context, and it requires a certain amount of explanation. This explanation will necessarily move around a lot, and keeping in mind that worms are visually impaired, I'll have to move slowly. Here's hoping you'll forgive this rather convoluted explanation for all the old ideas that are about to get knocked over. Let's start with the concept of population density. (From the viewpoint of both the worm grower, and then the worm.)

It appears to be generally accepted by worm growers (myself not included) that the average pound of red worms offered for sale will consist of:

* 1000 adult (sexually mature) worms, or
* 4000 bedrun, or pitrun (juvenile) worms, or
* some combination of the first two catagories, equal to 1 pound in weight.

Please don't misunderstand me now, these estimates are pretty accurate, and most reputable dealers will even throw in extras to make sure the customer is getting what they paid for. My problem does not lie with these formulas themselves, but with the entire idea of selling "a pound" of worms which actually weighs a pound. The problem as I see it is contained in the fact that in order to keep 100 pounds of red worms available for sale, a grower using the old method will not only require 100 square feet of bin-space to contain the worms (one pound of worms to one square-foot of bedding is the usually-accepted ratio), but he will also have to provide for feeding and maintaining all these worms and worm-beds until the actual sale is made. Furthermore, in the event that a sale for 100 pounds of red worms can be acquired, the breeder may be left in the situation of having to raise a new population before another similar sale can be made. There is a much easier (dare I say, more sensible) method of achieving the same results, in less than half the space, using a fraction of the material, though at times requiring just as much effort (I never promised a life of leisure.)

(Thought I was taking a break didn't you?)

W..a..y..y..y back in part 1, under the heading "Facts and Figures...Thoughts and Things", it was mentioned that another way to make up 1 pound of red worms is by using over 100,000 spawn. (It would require as many as 450,000 if they were freshly hatched, but I keep saying 100,000 for a reason which I will eventually get to.) In regards to what we are discussing, however, this could present a few problems.

* The buyer would have to wait several months for these worms to develop into "breeders", during which time he would have none available for sale (especially if the buyer is selling the worms as bait, since it is extremely difficult to get a worm that size on a hook.)

* Even though the worms might total in the hundreds of thousands, their "biomass" (part 1 again) would restrict their intake to that of any other "pound" of worms.

* And if I'm about to say that you should count out a couple thousand of these teeny-weeny little critters every time you make a sale, then I've obviously been hanging around the worms too long, since my brain is now useless also (research has shown, I kid you not, that removal of a red worm's brain does not interfere with his ability to dig, eat, reproduce, or anything else that anyone has spotted as of yet!)

* Finally, how would a guy go about producing a worm-bin that contained only spawn???

The answer to all the problems mentioned above is the same. First of all, you don't even attempt to produce a bin of strictly spawn (though it would be quite the biological miracle.) What you do want to produce, however, is a bin which is full of sexually-mature adult worms which just happen to be....temporarily reduced to the size of spawn (the key word being temporarily.)

Just think of the benefits. In the same space where you previously maintained possibly 4000 worms, you will now be able to maintain roughly 25 times as many. Even with all these extra worms, the amount of food required to support them will remain the same (actually less, but I haven't come to that yet.) Due to the number of worms you will have on hand, there will not be an order large enough to cause you any problem in the area of running out, and the return for the worms in question, from miniature to regular size, takes only two weeks or so, and they are capable of breeding throughout the entire process (much more prolifically than at regular size.)

Now, I realize there may appear to be some rather extravagant claims in the previous paragraph, but only if you have never seen this process at work. It is not a magical procedure, or some remarkable "invention" of my own. There are good, solid reasons which help explain each step along the way. (The tremendous adaptability of the worm is the main agent at work here, and a few simple methods which I came across as a result of being curious.) For now, I'll leave you to mull these things over, while I gather together the notes which I will use in the next installment to hopefully illustrate my points. Because the very nature of some of the techniques I will explain may strike you as strange (to say the least), I will need to offer some pretty detailed evidence of what I am saying, and maybe even outline a test or two which you can try at home on a sample population of worms.

The following is a list of books which I have read over the last five years or so, dealing with the culturing, and utilization of the red worm. In these books may be found a fair amount of useful information, as well as a fair amount of material which is best taken with a grain of salt. The best suggestion I can offer you is to read as many as you can find, make note of the various contradictions (a tremendous amount), and then simply compare for yourself to see what works best for you in your particular circumstances.

There are a few things I feel obligated to point out, however, simply because these particular items tend to result in a disproportionate amount of trouble for the new "breeder". By alerting you to these issues now, I can hopefully save you a great deal of confusion in the future. With that in mind, let us begin.

First of all, when purchasing your initial supply of worms, beware of ads which offer hybrids for sale. The term "hybrid" implies that worms of two or more different varieties have been cross-bred, resulting in off-spring which are in some way superior to their parents. This type of genetic manipulation, as far as I know, has not yet been done with worms, and it is more likely that the breeder who offers such a product simply is not sure of which particular variety he is selling. Though there are indeed differences between the various species of worms, those you buy for vermicomposting will usually be Eisenia Foetida, Lumbricus Rubellus, or one or two others. The danger in buying so-called "hybrids" is not in the worms, but in the seller of the worms. If the breeder is disreputable enough to make false claims as to the nature of his product, do you really want to deal with that person?

Next, in the area of "how much moisture is enough moisture", sooner or later, you will run into the statement: "The bedding in your worm bin should be as wet as a wrung-out sponge." This will inevitably result in the new breeder overwatering his worm bin, which in turn will promote anaerobic conditions, which is the usual culprit responsible for any foul odors which tend to arise. (A properly-maintained worm bed will have no odor.) The reason for this error in judgement is that when the new vermicomposter sees the dry material at the top of the worm bed, it is not always obvious that this is not representative of the entire amount of bedding. The actual case is that the bin will always be somewhat dry on the surface (unless you keep it covered with burlap or something similar), and progressively damper as you approach the bottom. The worms will simply settle into the level with the most suitable moisture content. Thus, before adding water, make sure the bed needs it. (A moisture tester of the sort used for potted plants is very useful.)

At any rate, as I noted earlier, there are many, many contradictions which you will come across as the number of books which you read increases. Rather than try and fit all these things into this one article, I would first suggest that you simply remain a little skeptical until you have tried any recommended procedure, and if it is possible, try any new procedure on a sample population of worms first. If this is not possible, and you are still a little wary, check back here to see if it might be covered in any of the articles I have managed to complete for this page, or drop me some e-mail describing what it is you wish to know. I will either have the answer for you, or I will try to direct you to someone who does. And now....

The Books
(Those in bold type are highly recommended.)

Earthworms For Ecology and Profit (Vol.1 and 2)
Ronald E. Gaddie Sr. and Donald E. Douglas
1975 and 1977

Worms Eat My Garbage
Mary Appelhof
1982

The Earthworm Book-How To Raise and Use Earthworms For Your Farm and Garden
Jerry Minnich
1977

Harnessing the Earthworm
Thomas J. Barrett
1976

Raising Earthworms For Profit
Earl Shields
1959

Workshop on the Role of Earthworms in the Stabilization of Organic Residues
Mary Appelhof (Compiler) 2 Vol.
1981

The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms With Observations on Their Habits
Charles Darwin
1881

Biology of Earthworms 2nd Ed.
C. A. Edwards and J. R. Lofty
1977

What Every Gardener Should Know About Earthworms
Dr. Henry Hopp
1975

The Challenge of Earthworm Research
Robert Rodale (Editor)
1961

The Physiology of Earthworms
M. S. Laverack
1963

Earthworm Feeds and Feeding
Charlie Morgan
1961

Larger Red Worms
George H. Holwager
1952