Worm Composting Naturally

by Al D.
(Hamilton, NJ, USA)

How did red worms ever get to be so highly regarded? Supposedly they reproduce faster than other worms. But what good are they if you have to keep adding lime to their beds in order to support them?

Most plants prefer acidity, but not red worms. Unless I was a commercial grower of dianthus plants, I would never consider adding lime to any of my garden soil mixtures. I would never want to neutralize garden soil for any of the 5 dozen or so different species of shrubs and vascular plants that I have growing in my yard.

I discovered under a 8" high pile of rotting weeds left on my patio for several weeks (in Sept and Oct) that the bottom 2" of the pile was totally decomposed to a moist black sticky mass identicle to that which I've seen night crawlers sold in. However, squirming about in the black compost was a dozen common gray worms of about 1"-2" length. This of course was accomplished without any need for lime. So IMO these small gray worms would be far more practical to use for worm composting than the red worms that are sold expressly for that purpose.

Doug says that the red worms are used for indoor composting and not outdoor use in garden soil. So your question about adding lime to the soil isn't particularly relevant as we don't add red worms to garden soil - we keep 'em in the house and use them in vermiculture systems. The by-product of this worm composting is what I use in making compost tea for garden use.

As for the kind of worm in outdoor gardens - they're on their own as far as I'm concerned. They all have their niches and it's live and let live for me.

For indoor use, I'm told the red worms don't go dormant and stay active year round if fed and kept in a great environment. They consume "more" than other species. So these are the "best" for indoor use.

I'm no worm expert, I just keep a bin or two going to give me enough good worm compost for my compost tea. Pretty simple stuff actually.