Worm Composting Information
Last updated Aug. 17, 2017
Worms can compost garbage faster than any other type of composting method. Worms are also very efficient in digesting kitchen food wastes. Each day a worm eats half its weight in food. The care and feeding of worms takes far less effort than maintaining an outdoor compost pile. Some of the realized benefits of keeping a worm bin include recycling kitchen food waste, reducing waste disposal costs, producing soil amendments or fertilizer for house and garden plants and having a ready supply of fishing worms. Below you will find links to information about composting with worms.
Worm Composting System
This fact sheet provides more information about worm composting as well as instructions for constructing and maintaining a worm composting bin.
Sources for Earthworms
Links and contact information for places to obtain worms and start composting!
Quart Jar Worm Farm
This is a fun activity for kids to learn about how worms move through the soil and by doing so mix it up and make it looser.
Worm Wrangling In
Missouri
This article from Missouri Resources has more information about composting with worms and why it's good for the environment.
Vermicomposting: Innovative Kitchen Help
This is another article from Missouri Resources that contains information and activities that will help teachers inform their students about decomposition of organic waste and the role worms play in the environment.
Worm Digest
This website has some of the latest news and trends about worm composting and worms in general.
Quart Jar Worm Farm
Along with recycling food wastes, worms play the important role of moving and mixing soil. Worm burrows help make the soil looser. The burrows also let air into the soil. Plant roots and animals that live in the soil use the air. The burrows also allow rain water to drain into the soil. Plants use this water to live and grow. You can make a simple worm farm to see how worms move and mix soil.
Below are a list of materials and simple directions.
MATERIALS:
Glass jar (quart size or larger), soil, sand, worms, hammer and
large nail, dark cloth, uncooked oatmeal
DIRECTIONS:
Put a one-inch layer of moist soil into the glass jar. Sprinkle
about a teaspoon of oatmeal on top of the soil. Add a one-inch layer
of moist sand. Continue this sequence until there is about 2 inches
of open space left in the jar with the last layer being soil. Place
about 20 worms in the jar. Don't add any uncooked oatmeal on the
final layer of soil. Punch holes in lid of jar with hammer and nail.
Don't punch holes into the lid when it is on the jar! Cover
the jar with the dark cloth. Place the worm farm somewhere that
is not in direct sunlight. After a week, remove the dark cloth and
observe how the worms have mixed the soil and sand in their search
for food.
KEEP YOUR WORMS HAPPY:
Always keep your worms cool and moist. Be careful not to make the
soil too wet, or your worms may drown. Every six weeks or so, add
a small amount of oatmeal for your worms to eat.
Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
Source Listing
James Burke, Research Service and Sales Co., P.O. Box 41495, Baton Rouge, LA 70835
Phone: 225-275-3162 Fax: 225-273-3959
Joberta Crossin, P.O. Box 186, Clarkston, MO 63837
Larry Martin, Vermitechnology Unlimited, P.O. Box 130, Orange Lake, FL 32681
Phone: 352-591-1111 Fax: 352-591-4550
Dave Metzger, 2144 Hog Trough Road, Owensville, MO 65066
Phone: 573-437-3605 (worms and supplies)
Cape Cod Worm Farm, 30 Center Ave., Buzzards Bay, MA 02532
Phone: 508-759-5664
Ron Clausen, 2111 N. Century Blvd., McDavid, FL 32568
Phone: 904-256-2845
The Potted Thorne Nursery, Box 278, Lake Elsinore, CA 92531
Phone: 714-674-7041
Oregon Soil Corporation, 1324 Beaver Lane, Oregon City, OR 97045
Phone: 503-557-9742
Arkansas Wigglers, 532 Bunker Road, Harrison, AR 72601
Phone: 870-743-9831
Penny Bernas, 325 Governor S E, Hwy 99, Paris, Ontario, Canada, N3L3E1
Phone: 519-753-0288
Rich Beasley, Jenkins Creek Farms, P.O. Box 1482, Flippin, AR 72634
Phone: 870-453-3229
Charles Kendall, K and G Worm Farm, P.O. Box 283, Boyle, MS 38730
Phone: 662-843-0412
Bob Ingram, Trinity Ranch, 5750 Duda Road, House Springs, MO 63051
Phone: 636-671-7234
John and Kay Ihnat, Worm World, 26 Ihnat Lane, Avella, PA 15312
Phone: 724-356-2397, Fax: 724-346-worm (9676)
Irvin and Kathleen Huser at ESP of Missouri, 17736 Keller Drive, Wright City, MO 63390
Phone: 636-456-3066
Windswept Worm Farm, 1110 W. Main St., Blue Springs, MO 64015
Phone: 816-224-2956, Fax: 816-228-6906
Red Worms, Raleigh, North Carolina 27616
Phone: 919-614-0039 redworms.com