Stop! Don’t throw out that garbage. There are hungry worms waiting for dinner.

The Red Wiggler is a special kind of worm. It doesn’t live in the ground, but it loves a cozy bin filled with kitchen scraps and shredded newspaper. In days it will reduce your garbage and those papers to a rich fertilizer ready to use in your garden!

While the Red Wiggler chews up your banana skins and carrot peels, it also produces a dark brown juice called “Worm Tea.” Catch this juice, add it to your watering can, and wait for ordinary plants to become prize-winning ones.

Feeding worms and using their castings (recycled garbage) is called Vermiculture (verm-a-cul-ture).

It is recycling at its best!

Making Your Own Worm Tea:

Isn’t it smelly?

No. If you don’t put meat, citrus, dairy, or bread scraps into your worm bin there is no odor. Worms even like coffee grounds and egg shells, and they don’t turn their backs on a watermelon rind. That is one of their favorites.

What You Need:

· A 12” wide by 21” long by 16” deep plastic container with a snap-on lid.

· A drill

· Sticks

· Coconut husks (available at your local nursery)

· Newspaper

· Garbage (remember NO meat, citrus, dairy, or bread)

· Red Worms (you can buy these at a bait shop)

· A tray big enough to fit under your bin

Instructions as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Have Mom or Dad drill eight to ten ¼” holes in the bottom of your bin. Drill four at each end (two at the top and two about 3” from bottom), and six along each side (three at the top and three about 3” from the bottom).

2. At the bottom of the bin arrange about an inch of sticks so they form a crisscross pattern. These sticks will keep the holes from plugging.

3. Soak a package of ground coconut husks in water, then spread the damp husks on top of the sticks.

4. Loosely put about an inch of newspaper strips on top of the husks.

5. Add garbage! Just remember not to put in meat, citrus, dairy, or bread scraps. These will ruin the bin.

6. Add a handful of red worms. They multiply quickly, so you don’t need many.

7. Tear more newspapers into narrow strips and scatter on top. This is your worms’ nesting material. Always scatter about an inch of these strips on top each time you add garbage to your bin. Newspaper ink is made from soybeans and it is safe for the worms and any plants you apply the worm castings or “tea” to.

8.   Place your bin on a raised platform with your tray underneath. Tilt it slightly to one corner and place a container at that corner to catch the “Worm Tea.”

Store your bin in a sheltered, shady area and in a place that you can easily reach. A basement works well in cold winter months.

You might keep a small covered container near your kitchen sink. When that’s filled with worm food, empty it into the bin. Again there’s no odor if you only put in fruit and vegetable scraps. Avoid, meat citrus, dairy, or bread products. You don’t want to give your worms indigestion.

Harvest your worm castings every six months. Place this dark, rich soil into another container, separating out your worms and putting them back into the original bin after you refresh it by repeating Step 3 to 8. Let the soil you’ve harvested rest for two to five weeks and then use it in your garden. Your plants will be healthy and reward you with beautiful blooms.

All through the year, use the captured “Worm Tea” to add to your watering can. Use about a ½ cup of “tea” to a gallon of water.

How do I harvest the worm castings?

Use an outdoor table spread with a plastic sheet. Turn the bin upside down, wait a moment, and let the worms burrow down. They don’t like the sunlight. Scrape the worm castings into another plastic container with a lid and let it set for about five weeks. (That’s called finishing off.) Then mix it with your garden dirt.

Will I need new worms?

No. When you start a fresh bin put your worms back to work. They will be happy to munch your garbage for a long time.