Earthworm Bins (Vermicomposters)
Every Zimbabwean generates organic food scraps every day. For the well-to-do, it may be lettuce butts, or fruit salad going bad in the fridge. For the rest of us, it is mavegie, sadza, banana peels and the like. Fortunately, earthworms are not trying to be middle to upper income by 2030. They will turn whatever organic waste you give them into vermicompost (earthworm compost) - the BLACK GOLD of fertilizers.
Worm composting, also known as vermicomposting, is a simple way to reduce household garbage, and it’s possible to do whether you live in the ghetto or in the ‘Dales Dales’! By layering your food scraps with dry materials like scrap paper and cardboard and adding the magic ingredient – worms – you can convert it into compost BLACK GOLD, to get ‘free’ fertilizer to feed back into your garden.
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What Makes an Earthworm Bin?
So What Exactly is an Earthworm Bin?
An earthworm bin (technically referred to as a worm composter) is purpose built housing for earthworms where you can feed them using your organic food scraps and then harvest the earthworm compost they convert it into. It is typically suitable for households, and smaller institutions that produce less than 2 Kg’s of organic FOOD waste a day.
Disclaimer: it will never be a replacement for a normal compost bed because earthworm bins simply cannot process that much organic waste. They are built to process organic food scraps from your kitchen, as well as any bad leaves from the veggies in your garden, bad avocados from your tree and so on.
Structure: An earthworm bin for vermicomposting can be any kind of structure made from non-degradable material such as plastic, ceramic or concrete bath tubs. I have even seen one made from an old fridge. The critical issue is that it must be at least 50cm deep and out of direct sunlight.
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Bedding: Earthworms introduced into a new bin will not immediately eat your food scraps nor can they live in them – they need composted organic material as bedding to live in. Contrary to what some think, no soil should be put in an earthworm bin at set-up or any other stage.
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We recommend a mix of mature manure, shredded raw un-inked cardboard and paper, some form of grit (to aid the earthworms’ digestive system) and a mix of dry organic material such as sawdust, straw or lawn clippings. Get your bedding wrong and you will have a smelly bin with rotting food waste, dead worms, and lots of flies and pests.
Worms: At GreenPula© we only use Red Wriggler worms (Eisenia Fetida) as they are singularly the fastest composting worms available in Zimbabwe, and dare I say, the world over. On average they weigh 0.5g and, in the right conditions, can eat their body mass daily. They also reproduce at an alarming rate being capable of producing 4 eggs each a month – whoever invented the term ‘breeding like rabbits’ had obviously never done vermiculture.
Whether you chose to purchase one of GreenPula©’s readymade bins, or to start from scratch on your own, you should be aware that the worms are probably going to be about 80% of the cost.
Feed: Earthworms do not have teeth so don’t misled to thing they will bite into raw carrots etc. As your food scraps decompose in your bin, the Red Wrigglers will ‘suck’ them up. With the correct bedding and covering, you will not see or smell a thing – just as you don’t smell decomposing organic material in the ground in nature.
Not all food scraps should go into your bin. Earthworms do not do well with alliums (onion, garlic, scallion, shallot, leek, and chives), citrus peels (too acidic), meat and dairy, processed foods (baked beans etc.) and oily left overs. The most common mistake is to overfeed your worms. If you get a bin from GreenPula© or use our services to build your own, we will supply you with a comprehensive guide on feeding your worms, maintaining the bin and harvesting your vermicompost.
Covering: Red Wrigglers are extremely photosensitive and cannot handle even the faintest bit of light. Some cover their bins with an aerated lid, but at GreenPula© we stick to how nature does it. A covering of lawn cuttings or dry leaves does the trick, and contains all odors.
Moisture: Earthworm Skin is very delicate and the bedding and feed (not the covering) need to be kept damp all the time. The moisture in your food scraps should mean yo only need moisten you bin once a week.
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Drainage: Much of the feed in an earthworm bin will decompose before the earthworms eat it. In fact they prefer to eat decomposed material. This process produces a toxic ‘bin juice’ commonly known as leachate. Never ever be conned into believing that this leachate is earthworm tea. Earthworm leachate can be a potentially harmful fertilizer that includes bacteria, pathogens, and phytotoxins. Leachate can be used to fertilize some plants, but nothing you plan to eat.
Our no-frills, get-to-the-point, ready to use earthworm bin (includes worms)
Should I Buy or Build My Own Bin?
Let me assist your decision making process if you really want to be environmentally friendly with your organic waste while harvesting BLACK GOLD for your plants on the other side. You can either spend hours sifting through all tutorials on Google and YouTube, then spend hobos of time and money finding the right materials for your bedding (no one place has them all), then trust that you are buying the right worms (which alone will set you back 20 bucks), then put it all together, or you can purchase a ready-to-use, basic GreenPula© earthworm bin for $40, that comes with one-on-one training and a tutorial booklet – simbol!
Later, you will have enough experience to build your own for your second bin as your worms multiply in the first, and believe you me they will!
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Also, if you prefer to use your own structure, such as an old fridge or bathtub, We can come out to you and set you up with the bedding, worms, etc. Feel free to contact us for a no obligation chat or to come see us.