Production of humus with vermicompost
Nevoecoville Ecovillage, Karelia Republic, Russia
Making vermicompost, i.e. using a composting bin with earthworms inside, is a natural way of
producing 100% environmentally friendly fertilizer and soil-improving humus from cow or horse
manure and/or organic bio-waste and food scraps. It can be done indoors and all year. The humus
produced is ideal for fertilization of all kinds of plants, even in places with poor or exhausted soil, and
is better than manure in that it doesn't give an excess of nitrates, which can happen if manure isn't used
at the correct time.
The composting method described here is useful for cold northern countries with poor soils and short
summers, where there would otherwise only be a small window of worm activity and hence a slow
natural production of humus, since worms are slow at low temperatures. This method of
vermicomposting makes it possible to produce humus all year and indoors. It is ideal for individual
household use and doesn't necessitate the production of a large quantity of humus for commercial
purposes. However, there are ecovillages where the same technique is used for large-scale production;
this requires keeping worms in a separate, heated location.
Description of vermicomposting
What is required:
Worms, 2 bins with tray, manure food waste, or other food for the worms, water.
Worms. The family who shared this story uses common earthworms, which can be found in large
quantities and dug out around their farm. These worms are better adapted to their specific climatic
conditions than the famously super-productive Californian red worms (Eissenia fetida), which lose
their productivity in temperatures lower than 16 degrees Celsius. You can also buy worms or dig them
from compost areas (especially if you are going to feed worms with food waste). You will need at least
a few thousand worms to begin with.
Bins. In this case, two cubic wooden bins were used. As we are describing the production of
vermicompost for a family's own sustainable farming needs, the worm bins should have a compact,
easy-to-use design. You may design it as you would a small table or chest of drawers that can be
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located in the kitchen or in the hall of your house, or any other suitable area. Although it could be
either horizontal or vertical, the construction described here is a vertical worm bin. The bin consists of
two stacked cubic modules that rest on a tray which collects the drainage of excess moisture.
Each module of the vertical worm bin is 35-40 cubic centimetres, without a top. The walls of the cube
are made of a thin wood, whereas the bottom is made of either metallic mesh or square plates of plastic
with holes 2 cm in diameter drilled every 4-6 cm. Two handles are screwed to either side (e.g. two
wooden sticks about 10 centimetres in length with a cross-section of approximately 4x4 cm). The walls
of the module are attached by square or rectangular rails in each corner, while the bottom is also
fastened
to
the
walls
with
screws
or,
in
the
case
of
mesh,
with
metal
clips.
Even without using a special means of protection against rot, such a module may serve for up to four
years before needing to be replaced.
The bin should sit on a waterproof metal tray with 2-3 cm sides, as there will be a continual build-up
of moisture draining into the tray.
As is evident from this description, such a worm bin is easily produced by just about anyone.
The use of the worm bin
You should fill both bins with a substrate of raw animal (cow or horse) manure mixed with a few
thousand worms. Fill the bin slowly, lightly tamping with your hands while adding a little water. If you
start with a few thousand worms, in a couple of years the population will stabilize at the maximum
possible for the volume of the bin. One of the most important things for your worms is moisture
content. Worms like a lot of moisture, and they feel most at home when the humidity is around 8090%. You can determine the proper moisture level by taking the substrate in hand; the water should
not drip until you start to squeeze your hand into a fist, whereupon the matter should immediately start
to ooze. If the substrate becomes too wet, the excess water will simply seep through the bottom of the
bin into the tray. If there is a lack of moisture, just add water to the tray, and it will be absorbed inside
the bin. In this way, vertical worm bins tend to maintain the appropriate amount of humidity.
For the worms the top layer within the bin is the “toilet”—and the content of this “toilet” is nothing
other than the precious humus which we are producing. Their “canteen” and “living space” is the
bottom of the bin. After some time, there is a build-up of humus: this can then be removed. It looks
very different from the initial substrate: it is dryer and looks like black soil. When the humus is ready,
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you have to remove the dry upper layer; you will easily know when to stop because the moisture and
the quantity of worms will increase considerably in the lower layers you'll be leaving behind.
The speed of humus production depends on many things: the number of worms, the temperature and
humidity, and the season. Even if the temperature in the room is normal and more or less constant year
round, the productivity of worms decreases in winter.
Take the extracted humus and put it on a pan. Set the pan on a warm (but not hot) stove. The worms
will come to the surface to escape the heat, forming a ball which can be easily removed and returned to
the bin.
After several extractions of humus, you will reach the bottom of the first bin. Once this happens, you'll
fill it in with a new portion of manure or other worm food and then rotate the bins: the former bottom
bin then becomes the upper one. When your worm bin reaches its optimal performance, you will be
swapping modules after every second or third week.
After two years or so, the population of worms exceeds their living space. When this happens, you
may leave them as they are since they self-regulate their numbers. Alternatively, you may remove
excess worms from the bin and use them to populate a second set of worm bins; you can place these in
your composting space, sell them (or give them away) to fishermen (especially in winter), or give them
to neighbours for their sustainable gardening.
It is necessary to keep a steady source of whatever food you have chosen for your worms readily
available. They are very finicky eaters and need to be fed whatever they were eating from the day they
were born. If, for example, their food is manure, it is important to have enough of it stored for the
whole winter. It should be noted that in other places the author has seen bins where the worms were
fed with simple organic waste from the kitchen. However, worms for such a bin should be taken from
your usual composting spot. Usually worms like semi-rotten waste; before achieving optimal humus
production, you will need to carefully experiment with their rations.
User experiences
The interviewee is Andrey Obruch, a resident of Nevoecoville Ecovillage. He has lived in Nevoecoville
with his family since 1997.
Nevoecoville is located in a place with a very poor soil and a unique climate of short and rather cold
summers and long severe winters. These factors, in turn, create unique conditions for agriculture,
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which is why the year-round production of worm humus in the house is so useful. You should know
that if you start this in your household, there will certainly be questions and challenges in the
beginning. You will have to adapt the process to the conditions of your particular environs. This
requires patience and a kind of curious spirit. But, if your intentions are serious, you will certainly
succeed.
I would also like to say a few words about the choice of worms. In our country, the Californian red
worm is said by many to be the most productive. They are the same as manure worms, but have been
selectively bred to work in the hot climate of California. However, at temperatures of 15 degrees and
lower, they are actually much slower than our Russian manure worms, which are active down to a
temperature of 6 degrees. Another consideration is that you have to pay for Californian red worms,
whereas you can just dig into the nearest manure pile to find common worms. Finally, overseas
hybrids such as the Californian red worm can carry all sorts of infections that can be very difficult to
get rid of if they infiltrate the humus of your bed. For these reasons, I would suggest choosing simple
manure worms for your worm bin.
Author: Andrey Obruch (the text was shortened and adapted by L.Mirzagitova
Further information
Andrey Obruch, e-mail: [email protected]
Pictures of vermibox: http://derevnyaonline.ru/community/187/1812
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