How to Make Worm Composters Yourself

Overview

Vermicompost or worm composting is a key component of green gardening, especially for urban dwellers who have limited space. When done properly, worm composting is odor-free. Through worm composting, you can decrease yard and household waste that goes into landfills, decrease the methane gas produced by those landfills, and create fertilizer for your flowers and vegetables. Vermiculture, or castings, improve soil structure and texture, as well as aeration, and increase the soil's capacity to hold water. Making your own worm composting bin is simple and inexpensive.

Step 1

Drill 20 quarter-inch holes for drainage in the bottom of each plastic container. Drill 16th-inch holes for air all the way around on the sides, near the top of the containers. The holes should be an inch to 1 1/2 inches apart. Drill 30 sixteenth-inch holes in one of the lids.

Step 2

Place shredded paper in one container, enough to cover the bottom with a 3- to 4-inch layer. This paper is your worm bedding.

Step 3

Moisten the paper to the consistency of a damp sponge.

Step 4

Add a few handfuls of soil on top of the paper. Add old leaves, if available, for microbes and bacterial organisms that will help turn organic waste into fertilizer. The resulting fertilizer comes from worm castings, which are rich with nutrients for your plants.

Step 5

Add organic waste from your kitchen, burying it in different spots throughout the bedding. Worms will eat almost anything, but do not include meat scraps. Foods that worms like include breads and grains; cereal; coffee grounds and filters; teabags; fruits, fruit rinds and skins; and vegetables and skins. Add additional food scraps and organic yard waste each week.

Step 6

Add one pound of worms for every half-pound of waste. The best worms to use are red wigglers, but night crawlers will do the job, too. You can gather red worms from your garden by placing a piece of wet cardboard on top of your lawn or garden soil at night. The red worms love to eat the cardboard and will come up for a snack. Pick up the cardboard and gather the worms that have surfaced. You can also buy worms.

Step 7

Cut a piece of cardboard to fit just inside the bin. Moisten it and place it over the top.

Step 8

Set your bin in a cool, dark place. Place the lid to the second container upside down on the floor to catch any liquid that drains from the bin. Place bricks or blocks of wood on each corner and place the container on top, so the container sits up off of the lid. Place the lid with the holes on top of the bin.

Step 9

Place fresh bedding in the second container when the first bin becomes full and food scraps are no longer recognizable. Place the second bin inside the first, directly on the compost materials. Bury your waste and scraps in the bedding of the second bin. Add a little soil. Within a couple of months the worms will have moved up into the second bin and the first bin will contain pure worm compost that you can be use in your garden.