Keeping Red Wiggler worms in worm bins for Organic Gardening

Choosing Red Wiggler worms as composting worms to have a steady source organic fertilizer in your worm bins will be a great support for your organic gardening endeavors. Red Wiggler worms are heavy eaters and with all those eating, they produce highly nutritious soil conditioning worm poop or worm castings up to as much as 75% of their own body weights in 24 hours. Worm castings are much more nutritious than your ordinary "hot" compost as worm castings are 5 times richer in nitrogen, 7 times richer in phosphates and 11 times richer in Potassium. Red Wiggler worms are Epigeic worms which means that these worms live on the soil's surface and won't burrow any deeper than 12 inches from the surface of the soil which in turn maintains the soil loose and aerated.

Setting up your own Red Wiggler worms bin is easy but if you don't have time to build one, you can purchase commercial worm bins available online or at your local garden store i.e. Can O Worms.

When setting up a homemade Worm bin, you'll need the following materials:

• A shallow container with holes and a lid
• Bedding materials: dried grass, dried leaves, plain shredded paper, pieces of cardboards and soil
• Organic waste materials for worm food such as: organic kitchen wastes and organic lawn wastes
• Composting worms preferably Red Wiggler worms

A few tips on managing a worm farm with Eisenia Foetida- when keeping a large worm composting bin outdoors, it is very important that you place your worm bins where it won't be subjected to direct sunlight. Red Wiggler worms can only survive with temperature ranges 16° - 28°C (60° - 80°F) They will be sluggish on lower ends and will double all their activities especially foraging and copulating in the higher ends of their temperature ranges. On tolerable high temperatures, when there's an abundance of food, Red Wiggler worms can eat about 1 & ½ times their own body weights in 24 hours and can produce worm castings as much as 75% of their body weights. This means that you're converting the organic waste part of your garbage into a supply of organic fertilizers for your gardening or indoor potted plants inside your worm bins. What a great way to cut down on your total garbage volume and save money on fertilizers.

Small commercially available worm bins are usually placed neatly below the sink for those who reside in the city that don't have a lawn or front yard. Can O Worm bins are great for organic kitchen wastes for easy access when disposing organic wastes like fruits and vegetable peelings, table scraps, leftovers in the fridge, egg shells, coffee grounds and filters etc., etc.,

Things to remember when keeping a Worm Bin indoor:

• Always make sure to feed your worms properly and enough to prevent them from migrating and try to get out of your worm bins.
• Make sure to always place a lid on your worm bin to prevent them from escaping in case there's something wrong with their environment inside your worm bin.
• Avoid introducing meat and dairy products as food for them to keep your worm bin from smelling too bad
• Place your indoor worm bin at a place where it won't be disturbed or be an obstacle to others to prevent the worms from having too much disturbance and try to migrate.

Red Wiggler worms need a moist environment to live in. It is best to spray a mist of water into your new bedding before introducing it to the worms. When introducing food, you may cover the food with moistened papers to encourage the worms in feeding more. When your worm bin content gets too wet and soggy, just add more shredded papers. A good worm bedding to be used are coir beddings because it retains moisture. It's available at your local pet stores. For moisture to be distributed evenly on your worm bin contents, it's best if it's pressed or kneaded a couple of times until it only has a less drops of water or moisture.