Home Worm Farming Tips

Recycling with worms is an ingenious way to pack our gardens full of beneficial microbes and nutrients from worm poo (no need to buy fertilisers!), while reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill.

More and more households are getting on board with home worm-farming, but how do you know your worm farm is working efficiently? And most importantly, how do you keep them alive?

We’ve compiled our answers to some frequently asked questions, to ensure you’re on the right track and have the most success with your household worm farm.

How many worms do I need?
You need sufficient worms to cope with your amount of organic waste, as it is important not to overload your worms. Only provide your worms as much waste as they can process in 1-2 days.

The worms can process approximately one-third of their body weight in waste each day (which must be mushy and buried into your worm farm). You will need to know the weight of worms rather than numbers. We recommend starting off with 1kg of worms, which can process ~300g of waste per day.

I already have worms in my worm farm, how do I know their weight and how much to feed them?
As you can’t easily weigh your existing worms, the best option is to start by providing a very small quantity of waste & observe how long it takes your worms to process it. If it is taking a long time, you will need to cut back on the amount of waste.

If your worms process all the waste in less than 1 day, then increase the amount of waste slightly and observe again. Continue this process until you reach an amount of food that the worms are processing in 1-2 days, no longer. Ensure the majority of the waste has been processed before you provide any more.

How do I keep my worms alive in the hot weather?
There are a number of very simple things you can do to ensure your worms survive the Summer:
1. Your worm farm needs to be set up in a cool, shady area where it will not get any sun on it at all.
2. Ensure you don’t have a build up of uneaten waste in the worm farm. A lot of organic matter together will generate heat as it’s breaking down.
3. Leave the lid off the worm farm to prevent hot air building up inside.
4. Place a solid block of ice in the top of your worm farm to keep it cool. Have a 2 litre ice-cream container or a number of 600ml (or larger) bottles of water in the freezer ready to go.

This article was supplied by The Worm Shed. Visit them inside Eco Town at the Perth Home Show from March 27-29!