Red Wigglers: Unboxing My Composting Worms
Vermicomposting Recap
In a few words, vermicomposting is the process of using worms to efficiently turn organic matter into nutrient-rich compost. Red Wigglers are the composting worms of choice when it comes to this endeavor.
A few weeks ago, I posted an article about how to build a worm bin, or vermicomposting bin. If you haven’t read that article yet, check it out HERE!
In that article, I promised that I would write a follow-up article once I got my Red Wigglers. Well here you go!
What are Red Wigglers?
Red wigglers are composting worms that specialize in turning organic matter, like paper products and food scraps, into nutrient-rich worm poop, or worm castings, which is an incredible fertilizer for the garden.
Worm Castings & Tea
Worm castings have as much as 5 to 10x the nutrient content as typical gardening soil, so it’s easy to see why it’s so beneficial to your vegetable and flower gardens.
In addition to creating worm castings, they also create a “worm tea” which is a brown liquid byproduct of the process of eating the organic matter in the bin. This liquid is also highly nutritious and can be used to give your garden a boost when diluted in water.
As discussed in the last article, this worm tea can build up and actually drown your worms if you aren’t careful. It’s important to drain the worm tea into the outer collection bin to keep the top bin livable for your wigglers.
Red Wiggler vs. Earthworm
Red Wigglers and earthworms are similar, but with a few key differences.
Size
Red Wigglers tend to be smaller, averaging about 1-3 inches in length, whereas earth worms are commonly much bigger. When you think of night crawlers, these are earthworms and they can easily measure over 6 inches long. They tend to be thicker as well.
What They Eat
Earthworms will eat a variety of organic materials, but they prefer to eat soil. They regularly eat soil because of the nutrition provided by the presence of fungi, algae, protozoa, and other organisms living in it.
Red Wigglers are preferential organic matter munchers. They derive most of their nutrition from decaying nitrogen and carbon based organic material found on the ground.
Where They Live
Because of what they eat, this also dictates where they spend most of their time underground. Because Red Wigglers prefer organic matter, they are typically found in the first few inches of top soil, where they have access to decaying plant matter. This is why they are called “Composting Worms.”
Since earthworms prefer to eat soil as their means of nutrition, they are typically found deeper in the ground. They burrow holes downward as they eat and provide excellent aeration for plant roots to thrive. They are also called “Aerating Worms.”
Where to Get Red Wigglers
Just like pretty much everything else nowadays, the internet is a great place to find composting worms. After a quick google search and a few website visits, I settled on Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm.
I’m not affiliated with Uncle Jim, and this is my first time buying his product. I went with him because he had great customers reviews, reasonable prices compared to competitors, and his worms are guaranteed “100% living.”
You convinced me, Jim. Lets see those composting worms!
I bought 1000 Red Wigglers for $24.95. Because these are live creatures, I needed to pay an extra $10.00 for express delivery to ensure the health of my worms. This isn’t an optional expense, but I understand the necessity of it. All in all, I paid about $35.00 for my 1,000 Red Wigglers, and had them in two days.
What I Did When I Got My Worms
A great starting point for me was…reading the directions!
It’s important to get your worms out of the package fairly quickly. They arrived in small sack of what appears to be dry peat moss/soil. The sack was in a bigger box.
I took a gardening tray and filled it with some additional peat moss. It’s necessary to moisten the peat because the worms will arrive sluggish from dehydration. This is a normal state for the worms to arrive in. Worms take in water through their skin and can derive oxygen from it, so it’s essential they are moist. Don’t soak them though!
Next, I dumped the worms out onto it so they could spread out and stretch a little bit.
As far as Jim’s “100% Live Guarantee” I did find ONE dead worm in the bunch, so I guess the survival rate was about 99.9%. I guess that’s acceptable, Jim.
They are Super Lively!
As they start to perk up, they will become more active. You will be surprised how lively and mobile they become.
I can almost guarantee that some of them will try to wiggle away and escape!
No big deal though. Once they settle in to the bin, they will be very happy in their new home.
Now, go ahead and and dump your worms into the vermicompost bin that we made in the previous article. This is the bin that we built and put our organic material mixture in a couple weeks ago to give it a head start breaking down.
After a few minutes, the worms will wiggle themselves down into the compost scraps and make themselves at home.
Give the bin a good spray with a hose or a bucket, put the lid on, and put it somewhere with good ventilation.
Maintaining Your Worm Bin
Red Wigglers will eat 1/2-3/4 of their body weight in organic matter every day. 1,000 Red Wigglers is roughly one pound, so they can eat about a pound of compost scraps in under two days!
Use this estimation to determine about how often to feed them. If you feed them too often, they won’t be able to keep up and the contents of your bin will start to rot and smell.
How Often to Add Compostables
You’ll probably be able to add some fresh food scraps and ripped up paper once a week or so. That’s about what I’ve been doing the last few weeks and it seems to work great!
What to Put in Your Worm Bin
This was discussed in the previous vermicomposting article but just a refresher:
Green Material- Nitrogen rich material like grass clippings, plant-based food scraps, coffee grounds, and egg shells.
Brown Material- Carbon-based material such as leaves, twigs, paper products, and non-corrugated cardboard.
What NOT to Put in Your Worm Bin
DON’T put any MEAT or DAIRY products into your compost bin. These materials will rot, smell awful, and attract unwanted pests to your bin. Even salad that has a dairy based dressing on it should be avoided.
Also, NO ONIONS or CITRUS. The worms don’t like these and will avoid them.
Keep Your Red Wigglers Hydrated
Make sure the contents of your vermicompost bin stays nice and moist. It shouldn’t be soaked and dripping, but it should be moist enough for your worms to appear active and hydrated.
I’ve had my red wigglers in my worm bin for about three weeks now. The first week I made the mistake of allowing my compost materials to stay too dry and the worms were very sluggish and didn’t break down very much material.
After correcting this problem, my worms seem MUCH happier and have really started to break everything down nicely!
I’ve even started collecting worm tea in my bottom bin!
Conclusion
Vermicomposting is an excellent way to recycle your paper products and leftover plant-based food scraps. In addition to lowering your landfill waste and promoting sustainability, the worm castings and tea created by your Red Wigglers is invaluable to your garden.
These byproducts of vermicomposting are packed with key macro- and micro-nutrients and are invaluable to the health and prosperity of any garden.
My Red Wigglers have been in my worm bin for just about three weeks now and I’m already starting to see results! As they continue to plow through my grass clippings, leaves, paper products, and food scraps, I will start utilizing the resulting soil in my garden.
This has been an incredibly fun project so far, and I hope you’ll consider your own worm bin too! If you have any questions or comments about vermicomposting, feel free to comment below!
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Cheers,
Cody
Thistle Downs Farm