Raising Earthworms on the Cheap

Many people know that earthworm castings are a valuable organic fertilizer that will make anything in the garden grow like crazy. Most home owners have a source of kitchen scraps and newspaper that could be turned into these valuable castings if they just had the composting earthworms and something to keep them in. Unfortunately, a little research reveals that composting earthworms are expensive, at least $30.00 a pound, and stackable worm bins are very costly, around $130.00 for a stackable three bin set. In this blog I will tell you how to do it for free! Nope, you don't have to spend a small fortune to have your own wormery, not even a dime!

First, where do you get those free composting earthworms? Not a chance you probably are thinking! Do you have a horse stable nearby? I'll bet you do. If so, you have a ready supply of horse manure and the owners of these operations are more than willing to give it to you for free, just to get rid of it. If you can take a truck load, many of they will even deliver it to you at no cost. Now here's the good part. Every horse manure pile in the world is full of live red wiggler composting earthworms and their cocoons. Every single one! You don't even have to make a bedding for your worms because the manure is the worm's bedding. All you have to do is house your new worms and begin feeding them table scraps and other organic material that you are now throwing in the garbage can, like kitchen scraps, shredded newspaper, cardboard and dried leaves. So far so good, but how do you house them? Surprise, surprise, you simply place the worm's bedding (the manure they came in) and the organic material you feed them on the ground or a asphalt or concrete slab. Cover the new wormery with an old tarp to conserve water (slow down evaporation ) and keep the birds out and you have the most efficient wormery ever designed by man! You are probably wondering why your composting red wigglers will not escape. After all this wormery has no sides, no top and, if placed on the ground, no bottom. The answer is simple. Red Wiggler earthworms, the kind you want for composting, are surface dwellers and live in the top three inches or so of their bedding. They never attempt to dig their way to freedom or crawl away unless the environment they live in becomes uninhabitable (too dry, to wet or for some other reason toxic to them). All you have to do to manage your new wormery is add additional feeding of organic material to the top of the pile and keep it moist. As the worms eat the organic material you feed them they will move upward and leave their castings behind, at the bottom of the pile where they can be easily harvested and placed in your garden. Happy gardening!