A worm farm is one of the most cost effective sources of natural fertiliser for your garden. Tiger worms will turn your kitchen scraps into nutritious plant food. Here’s how I set up my worm farm this season.
For my worm farm I used a secondhand layered worm farm. You can get these new from The Compost Collective for around $135 (which I think includes shipping).
This green layer will be where I start my worm farm. The black collection tank is where the worm liquid (commonly known as worm tea) will collect. The worm tea can be diluted and used as a liquid fertiliser for gardens and potted plants.
First I put a piece of cardboard in the bottom of the bin and made sure it was well moistened.
Then I added 3kgs of worms and compost from an already established worm farm. You can usually buy your tiger/composting worms off TradeMe for around $30 for 250gm of tiger worms; or $25 for 2kgs of worms and bedding (I personally prefer to buy my worms with their bedding as this contains a sample of their familiar home environment including Adults, juveniles, eggs and rotting food, which gives them the best starting environment).
I feed my tiger worms in sections using an upturned ice cream container with the bottom removed as my feeding station. The ice cream container is filled with food and moved ever month or so to a new corner.
Most kitchen scraps will be just fine to put in your worm farm but there are a few things I like to avoid:
- Onions (the worms don’t seem to like them and they don’t break down very well)
- Dairy Products (dairy can cause your worm farm to become too acidic and kill your worms)
- Citrus (the worms don’t seem to like it and they don’t break down very well)
- Meat/Bones (this can cause your worm farm to become smelly)
I like to cover my feeding station (with the base I removed from the ice cream container) and place moistened cardboard over the remaining surface of the worm farm. This helps maintain the moisture in the compost/bedding.
Lastly, I place a piece of old fabric on top of the collection tank. this helps prevent the worms ending up in the worm tea that runs off the worm farm.
I store my worm farm out of direct sunlight in an area where it will not get rained on as I want to regulate the amount of water that will run through the farm and end up in the collection tank. Generally speaking I add about 1 cup of water to my worm farm each week by simply tipping it over the cardboard.
I you have any tips about running a worm farm I would love to hear from you in the comments below.