How to Build a Worm Farm and Make Rich Compost

You’ve undoubtedly heard the old saying, “Kill two birds with one stone.” If you learn how to build a worm farm and let the worms eat your garbage, then you’re providing a way to get rid of your garbage. Plus, you’re making valuable compost out of your unwanted waste at the same time. What a deal!

Building a worm farm isn’t as hard as you may think. To start, you’ll need a wooden container. Wood works better than plastic because it “breathes.” You can build a worm farm box out of scrap wood. Or, you can reuse an old barrel or a solid wooden crate.

To make or find a container that will be large enough for the worms to eat your garbage, you’ll need to figure out approximately how many pounds of waste your household creates every week. For every pound of garbage, you’ll need one square foot of space in your worm farm. As for the height of your worm farm, it should be about six to twelve inches deep.

To allow the water to drain out of the wooden container properly, you’ll need to use an electric drill to bore about ten small holes in the bottom. If the container doesn’t have legs to keep it a few inches above the ground, then you’ll need to prop it up on bricks two by four pieces of wood.

You’ll also need to drill several small holes in the upper parts of the sides to provide ventilation. Your worms need plenty of air to live.

And finally, to build your own farm so the worms can eat your garbage, you’ll need to cover the top of the wooden container. The top needs to provide adequate darkness for the light-shy worms. It also needs to help retain needed moisture.

If you’re going to place your worm farm outside, the top will also need to be sturdy enough to keep the rain out. It will also provide protection against birds, skunks, frogs, snakes and other predators.

No matter where you place your worm farm, the ideal temperature will be in the mid-fifties to the mid-seventies. Keep the container out of direct sunlight. Instead, choose a cool, protected area such as a basement, fruit cellar, garage or shed.

Once you have a suitable container, your worm farm will need proper bedding. You can use dried, torn-up tree leaves, shredded newspaper, straw or sawdust. Using a combination of bedding works well. You’ll also need to toss in several handfuls of clean soil into the bedding as you fill the box about two-thirds of the way full.

Before you put the bedding in, you’ll need to first dunk it in clean tap water. Remove it, squeeze the excess water out, then place it in the wooden box. Red worms need a moist environment to live in.

Now it’s time to add your worms to your worm form so they can start eating your garbage. Redworms work the best. True to their name, Redworms are red in color. They usually measure two to four inches long. You can dig up your own Redworms from your backyard. Or, you can visit your local bait store. You can also perform a search on the Internet to find businesses that sell them.

To feed your worm farm, just pull back some of the bedding and bury your garbage into it every week. If you have too much garbage and not enough worms to eat it, you’ll notice that the garbage isn’t being processed. If that’s the case, cut down on the amount you add until the Redworms reproduce and you have plenty of worms to handle the job. Or, dig up or buy more worms and put them in your worm farm.

You may put coffee filters and used grounds, tea bags, most fruit and vegetables- no onions, garlic or hot peppers, please- cereal products, bread, buns, egg shells and the like in to feed your worms so they can make compost. Never add meat, grease, dairy products or animal feces to the mix.

Keep your worm farm moist by spraying it lightly with tap water every so often.

After a couple months, your Redworms will have eaten the garbage and turned it into rich compost.