Worms WAVE: THE RETURN

Lone worm on a cardboard surrounded with banana leaves.

It has been a while since I had bravely thought about getting my own pets of worms. I had previously mentioned this to my Mom but I had never got around to actually buying the starter worms. Alas! Mother took matters in her hands and enlisted brother to buy and deliver the worms at home. I can't procrastinate on the worm composting now as the woms life now depends on me.

We managed to make a bin made from sack of rice and an old grill stand. I can't say that it is well sealed but as long as it's comfy for the worms and they are well fed, I'm hoping they won't try to escape. I covered half of the bin with strips of wet newspaper and grass. Next, I buried some leftover food or organic waste, then poured most of the 1/4 kg of worms before covering them again with a few grass for good measure. The point is getting the worms wet, well-fed, cozy and accustomed to their new environment. 

For another experiment, I decided to make another worm bin from an old ice cream container. This would have a limited number of worms and a more frequent monitoring. It's the one that I can easily check if the the worms are still alive, and the organic waste disappearing. 

Fast forward a few days, I also visited and checked my Mom's own worms. It was so stinky and I don't think it is in good condition so I decided to bring it home and remedy the stench. As I have guessed, the food waste were not that reduced in size before throwing them in the old pail. I can even see big pomelo peels, as well as long stems and leaves. No wonder, it stinks that much. 

As stinky as it was, I emptied out the giant water container and tried to separate the poor worms from the waste. And since it was almost impossible to chop the waste, my first idea was to start the whole thing with fresh kitchen waste in the bin. The other waste, I put them in an empty sack of rice -- "lasagna" style with grass. Starting with grass (browns), I added back the waste bit by bit. Alternating both until I've finally put away the rest of the stinking waste. But since it was stinky, the dog got to it (I thought it would be the street rats who will first.) 

The next day, my remedy was to put them back and rearrange them, along with the worms in the deep water container. After cleaning out the container again, it's time to put the "lasagna" back.  Some cardboard and newspaper were added as bedding, as well as another layer of grass for toppings. It's now ready for the worms get comfy on their neat beds. The bin was covered with a net, then a thin plyboard.

It's waiting time. How many weeks would it take to decompose in each worm bin?

a. in the water container? 

b. in the rice sack? 

c. in the ice cream container?

My best bet is approximately 3 to 6 months for the water container, a month for the rice sack and 2-3 weeks for the ice cream container.

Here's is how it looked inside the deep bin.   

This the bigger one in the ice cream container.