How To Build A Wormery Part 1

Building a wormery doesn’t have to complicated or costly. Although there are many high-quality wormeries that you can purchase online or in organic gardening shops, most people already have all the materials they need to get started.

Wormery Containers

The size of your wormery depends entirely upon you. If you purchase one from a vendor, there should be several size options, ranging from large, elaborate systems to smaller, family-oriented ones. The larger ones tend to look like (and in fact, often are) plastic garbage cans. Smaller, simpler ones can be constructed in a plastic bottle or even in a shallow plastic bin.

The most important thing to take into account when choosing a wormery size is how much kitchen and plant waste you’ll be feeding into it. A family of four to six people typically produces two to three kilograms of kitchen waste per week, and is best served by a smaller box (30 by 60 cm) about one meter deep. Two people can usually use a box of the same height and width, but only half a meter deep.

If you’ll be building a larger wormery for use in a school or restaurant kitchen, you may need to consider purchasing a ready-made system, using several smaller ones, or upgrading to a larger box. You’ll also need to keep location in mind. There is no reason why a wormery can’t flourish inside your home or apartment, but many people find that it’s much easier to keep the wormery out of the day-to-day process of living.

The great thing about wormery boxes is that they don’t have to be fancy – the worms don’t care whether they’re living in a small wooden box or an elaborate poroous plastic vermiculture system. If you’ll be making one of your own, you can use:

• Wooden pallets
• Plastic containers
• Converted garbage pails
• Large jars with a spout at the bottom
• Styrofoam coolers

Wormery Tip:
If you use a container that cannot be converted to include a spout at the bottom, your wormery won’t last forever. You need a way to drain the excess fluid that builds up as the worms do their work. Otherwise, they run the risk of drowning in their own “juices.”

Although you can use any of the above materials in making your wormery, some will do better than others. Plastic containers have the least amount of toxicity, but they don’t absorb any of the liquids, so they have to be drained more often. Styrofoam may release toxins into the worms’ environment over time, and metal containers left in the sun can increase the wormery temperature to dangerous levels. (They also tend to rust over time.) Many woods, including some types cedar and redwood, might release dangerous oils into the worms’ environment. Inexpensive and rot-resistant woods (like hemlock) tend to do fairly well, but they will eventually need to be replaced.

In addition to these concerns, there is also a matter of smell. Many people find that the complete systems you purchase often work best to control smell and keep the worms in the most healthy environment. Depending on your intent for the wormery, it may be worth the investment to buy a good system that won’t need to be replaced or upgraded over time.

Wormery Bedding

The area where your worm lives and works in is known as the “bedding.” It’s called this because in nature, the worms you’ll be dealing with live only in the top layers of the dirt – much more like the blankets on top of the earth than the deep soil underneath.

Wormery bedding can be made of a number of substances: corrugated cardboard, black-ink newspaper, peat moss, wood chips, leaf matter, coir, or pre-packaged wormery bedding.

Did You Know?
Coir is a fiber that comes from the outside of a coconut. Although it can be difficult to collect your own coir, it is fairly inexpensive to order online. It’s a great way to “recycle” the waste that comes from manufacturing plants in the tropics that process coconuts for human consumption.

No matter what material you use, it needs to be broken down and dampened. You can tear the cardboard or newspaper into small strips to get it ready. The bedding material should then be moistened and wrung out until it resembles a damp sponge.

Manure may also be used to supplement the bedding (though this isn’t recommended if the wormery will be kept in or nearby the house!). Never use dog, cat, pig, or human droppings, since they can carry disease. Cow or horse manure works just fine, and can actually really help the worms to thrive. Rodent droppings from pet rabbits or guinea pigs also work rather well.

Wormery Tip:
If you’ll be using manure to enrich your wormery, be prepared for other critters to call it home. Mites, centipedes, and grubs love manure, too, and they’ll find a way in! Most organisms won’t harm the wormery, but you should remove centipedes, since they might try to eat the baby worms and worm eggs.

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