Why have a worm farm?
Worm farming is a composting process known as 'cold composting'. It's an alternative to hot composting garden waste and fruit and vegie scraps from the kitchen. Worm farms are ideal for people living in flats or houses small backyards.
The worm castings produced are one of nature's best composts and fertilisers. The nutrients from worm castings and worm farm liquid are organic, odourless and more readily available to plants than chemical fertilisers that leach through Perth's sandy soils.
Making a worm farm
You can build your own worm farm from polystyrene fruit cartons, wooden crates or old tyres. There are lots of good information sources and tutorials available on the Net to guide you in the process
Alternatively, you can purchase a ready-made worm farm made of recycled plastic or timber. To prevent infestation by vermin, worm farms should either be raised off the ground on legs, or have a layer of wire mesh secured at the base.
Worms for worm farming are not the same as worms found in your garden. Particular earthworms, called composting worms work best as they thrive in the rich, moist conditions of a wormery and consume more organic matter. The most common compost worms are Tiger Worms, Red Wrigglers and Indian Blues. These are available through some local councils, garden centres and worm farmers. You will need at least 2000 worms to get your worm farm started. Once operating, your worms will regulate their own population by breeding if food and space are plentiful, and stopping when they are not.
Find a suitable place in your garden for your worm farm. Worms don't like getting too hot or wet, so its important to find a shady place out of the rain. Ensure that any liquid can drain from the worm farm so that the worms don't drown. You can use this liquid or 'worm-wee' to fertilise plants.
Worm farms need to be kept moist (but not too wet), so if your worm farm is likely to be unattended during holidays or other absences, it is best to ask a friend or neighbour to occasionally water (and feed) the worms.
What can I feed worms?
YES: Almost any type of vegetable and food scraps, tea bags and coffee grounds, soft leaves, hair (yes, hair), vacuum cleaner dust and damp cardboard.
NO: Onions, meat or dairy products, a lot of citrus. Also avoid materials contaminated with chemicals.
If possible, chop or break worm food into small pieces - this allows the worms to eat it faster. The worms in a small wormery should eat all the food scraps generated by a household of four. A school of about 300 students would need a wormery that could house between 23,000 and 46,000 worms (about 2 square metre surface area).
Interesting Facts
• Earth worms are hermaphrodites: Each worm has both male and female sex organs.
• Earthworms have no eyes, but can sense vibrations, light and temperature through sensory organs in the skin.
• Earthworms breathe through their skin and expel urine through their pores.
• If worms don't like the conditions around them, they will try to leave. If they don't find a suitable new home, they will die.
• The worm has a long gut running from one end of its body to the other. It acts as a big muscle that squeezes food particles and dirt until the nutrients are absorbed. Whatever the worm cant absorb is passed out as castings, rich in bacteria.
• Worms will stop breeding when they reach their containers capacity. They will commence breeding again if some worms are removed.
• The population in a well-maintained wormery will double every 2-3 months.
• Each adult worm can produce up to 12 babies per week!
Sources: The Good Compost Guide, Welcome to the Worm Factory, Wastewise, Boston Tree Perservation
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