Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

This article is your quick and easy beginner’s guide to worm composting. Our beginner’s guide is designed for my readers who want to compost in small spaces or apartments. I will not go into anything too in-depth in today’s blog. Instead, I want to give you an idea of what you need to start. I will cover which containers to use and how to set up and maintain your red wigglers. You can convert a surprising amount of food waste into all-natural, nutrient-rich plant fertilizer. With the right conditions

I’m always looking for new tips or tricks, so be sure to share your insights in the comments below.

Now let’s get started. Let’s discuss what container you should consider when looking to get started.

Setting Up Your Indoor Worm Composting Bin

Bait and tackle stores are among the most common locations in many hometowns that could help you get started. Many people forget about the bait shop because they sell worms to be bait for fish, not as household compost worms. However, many bait shops carry various worms, including red and blue worms, which are great for composting.

The type of bin you choose can significantly affect how you feed, maintain, and harvest your chest. When you look at containers to store your redworms, you will want to look for something that will give you the most surface area. Redworms do not live deep in the soil like earthworms. Instead, these worms live between 6 to 12 inches below the surface. Sometimes they can even live in the leaf litter on top of the soil in forested areas.

Beginner’s guide to worm composting tips for finding the right bin:

• Worm bins can get heavy, so imagine how difficult it will be to move once full.
• Make sure it has a lid. It does not have to be 100% secure, but a cover is a must.
• If you use a trash can style bin, it can be difficult to scoop the finished compost from the bottom.
• Must be waterproof
• Tote bins are easy to find and upcycle and modify if you already have one.

Making your bin worm friendly

Worms like to live in a moist environment with good airflow. Before you add any bedding to the bin, you will want to drill aeration holes around the top inch of the container. You can also drill holes in the top to allow plenty of aeration. Bins that do not have enough aeration often lead to over-saturation, which will cause worms to flee the bedding in search of air to breathe.

Some people like to drill a hole in the bottom of their bin, which canto allow for drainage. Adding a place for excess water to drain prevents your bin from being waterlogged. If you drill a hole in the bottom, place the container on a waterproof surface. Think of a baking sheet or boot tray, depending on the size of your bin. If you use totes bins, you can nest the bin with holes inside a container without holes. However, you should not need this to maintain your bin with the proper aeration, bedding, and feeding schedule.

Materials For Vermicompost Bedding

Now that you have added air holes and a way for excess water to escape, you’re ready to add bedding for your worms. Ideally, get your bin’s bedding set up about a week before your worms arrive. Shredded shipping boxes (only the natural brown corrugated), newspaper, and office paper all make a foundation for your worm bedding. One of the fantastic things about redworm composting is that it can divert many recyclables from the waste stream.

It is best to shred, cut, or rip your materials into small pieces. Adding large chunks of bedding in your bin will give your worms fewer places to hide and make their colony. A lack of hiding places or congregating could lead to a lower worm reproduction rate and slower eating.

Many recycled items are great at trapping moisture generated from feeding your worms. You can also add a small mix of:

• coconut coir (all natural if possible, well rinsed to remove any salts or byproducts)
• peat moss (too much can raise the acidity)
• composted manure
• leaves from your yard (avoid leaves near roads or likely contaminated with pesticides)

I like to use 50% newspaper, 20% brown cardboard, and coconut coir to start my bins.

This beginner’s guide to worm composting would not be complete if I didn’t tell you not to add potting soil or dirt to your bin! Adding potting soil is a very common mistake. It is important to remember these are not earthworms, and they do not prefer to live in the ground. They like to live toward the top of the surface and around the decomposing matter.

Adding Moisture To Your Bedding

Once you add your mix of recycled and natural items, you must add moisture to your bin. Worms like to live in a damp but not wet environment. What does that mean? Well, it is the same moisture level as a wrung-out sponge. It is moist to the touch but not soaking.

A few days before your worms arrive, you will want to add a small amount of food to one corner of the bin. The amount of food will depend on how many worms you have to stock in your bin. Even a few tablespoons of chopped-up table scraps can help your new worms get established.

Adding Red Wigglers In The Bin

After finding your bin, adding aeration, and a great mix of bedding materials, it’s time to add the worms. You will want to stock your bin with roughly .25 – .5lbs of worms per square foot of surface area. This quantity of worms will allow having enough space to establish themselves in your bin. With a bit of time, you will see your redworm population grow.

When you receive your worms, dig a small pocket into the bedding and release your worms in the pocket. It is a good idea to put them near (but not in) the pocket of food you planted days earlier.

Leaving the lid off for the first few days at home can encourage your worms to explore the bedding. Eventually, they will start moving toward the food you left and take in some nutrients. Keeping the “wrung-out sponge” moisture level during these first few days is vital. Check on your bin daily, and spray with water if necessary.

If you put the lid on your bin immediately, your worms may want to escape. Open the cover for a few hours or days to encourage them to return to bedding. The light and air often drive the worms back to soil and shelter.

What To Feed Your Compost Worms

After a few days to a week, you will need to add more food to your bin. A good rule is never to feed your worms more than they can eat in one week. If you do, it could raise the temperature and increase moisture because of decomposition. Many guides say that a worm can eat its weight in food daily.

I have found that the best way to feed my worms is by using the pocket system. The pocket system means digging a small pocket in the bedding in a different location each time you provide your worms. I prefer this system as it allows you to measure how much and quickly your worms are eating. You can check the last place you fed the worms before providing them again.

When mixing worm food, you will want to include something called grit. Grit helps the worms digest the plant matter. Worms need grit for their gizzard to break down and digest food. Small additions of coffee grounds, clean and crushed eggshells, and crushed oyster shells can help your worms increase their ability to digest their food quickly.

Feeding Your Worms

Blending all of my food scraps in a blender is best, and apportion the mixed goop into toilet paper rolls. I freeze the rolls and let them thaw 30 minutes before use. This method allows me to have food on hand and keep it neat, tidy, and measurable.

After you feed your worms, adding a layer of damp, unshredded newspaper & cardboard is a good idea. This acts as a protective layer for the worms and reduces the likelihood that too much rotting food will attract pests like fruit flies to the bin.

Maintaining A Worm Compost Bin

After your worms are established, and you’ve figured out their feeding schedule, you’ll move into the maintenance phase. They are happiest between temperatures of 65-75 degrees Fahrenheit. They can survive in warmer or colder temperatures but do not eat or reproduce as quickly.

Worm Reproduction

A healthy worm community can double at least every six months in the right conditions. It’s important to note that redworms can regulate their population. Once the worm population reaches the bin’s carrying capacity, their eggs hatch less often.

Managing leachate

If you notice a water build-up at the bottom of your bin, you probably need to add more dry bedding. This liquid is called leachate, an excess of waste liquids built up in the chest. This is not to be confused with compost tea or worm pee.

Adding Calcium

You should add a calcium buffer of one type or another regularly. For example, add it to your worm food or sprinkle it on the bedding. Items such as eggshells, crushed oyster shells, and glacier rock can all add calcium to your bin. The added calcium helps your worms lay eggs more vital eggs and neutralizes the acids produced during decomposition.

Adding Bedding

Add new bedding as necessary. You will figure out the balance of how much bedding you need to maintain the moisture level of laundry after the spin cycle. There are many strategies for how much and how often you should add dry cardboard and paper.

My strategy is to keep a small trash can of dry shredded bedding next to my worm bin. Then, when I pocket feed, I first add a handful of dry bedding at the bottom of the pocket. I then place the food on the dry bedding and top with extra dry bedding. This creates a little sandwich that allows the food to decompose and moisten the dry bedding.

Harvesting Worm Compost

No Beginner’s guide to worm composting would be complete without an overview of how to get the worm poop out of the bin. You will likely have to wait for six to a year after starting your chest to harvest the worm manure. There are a lot of different techniques when it comes to separating the worm from the poop. Some people scoop a handful of worm manure, pick out the worms, and store it in a plastic coffee can or pale.

Overall, I want to stress being gentle with your worms, as harvesting the manure can be very disruptive to worms in your bed. One of my favorite suggestions involves feeding on one side of the bin for several weeks before your planned harvest. This way, fewer worms will hang out in the location you plan to harvest.

After you harvest the area, add new bedding, and encourage worms to explore the new bedding through your feeding strategy.

Summary: Worm Composting: A Beginner’s Guide

No beginner’s guide to worm composting can give you all of the absolute right or wrong answers. There are a lot of different variables, and you must be willing to experiment. Reach out to people in online communities and act as your scientist.

Did I miss your favorite beginner tip or trick?
Leave your suggestion in the comments below

Happy composting!