Cloning a Vermicomposter

So your vermicomposter is bopping along just fine and you neighbour wants in on the act.

Here’s what you do.

You make a clone of your vermicomposter!

I grab the bag of flyers that are delivered to my vermicomposting castle each Friday. Bless their little hearts! (Actually $2.88 seems like a good price!)

I tear the paper into strips.

Now you’ll find people saying that you HAVE to shred, or that you HAVE to tear into one-inch-squares. That’s not true.

You don’t have to.

The purpose here is to introduce bedding and AIR and I’ll show you that strips suffice.

As I handle a sheaf of strips, from one flyer, I use my thumb to deal a single strip into a large bin – in this case my empty hamster tray. The individual strips fall and curl, making a fluffy AIR-FILLED heap of paper.

The spine of the flyer – pictured above – I may well tear into small chucks, otherwise the crease in the spine will tend to close itself up, leaving me with a small wad of paper.

Here is a view of the bin. You can spot a half-dozen or so small chunks, but in the main it is fluffy long strips.

A job well done and quickly done, too.

I grab a plastic shopping bag and a sturdy container. I’ll clone the kit into the bag, because that makes it easier to carry.

We won’t need drainage holes because the mixture going in is just-right, and we won’t be adding any new water-based scraps.

Here is a 3Kg Feta-cheese tub lined with a plastic shopping bag.

I scoop and cram the dry paper strips into the bag. A few are left hanging out as wicks to serve as channels for moisture and air for the worms.

I tip about a half of my kitchen-top vermicomposter onto the pile of ribbon-paper.

Check out the fat healthy worms.

The counter-top composter is now about half-full and will be easier to rotate and mix in the days to come.

I tuck the wicks on top of the mixture, lift the bag by its handles to settle the new bedding.

I cover the top, not sealed tight – there’s room for air movement. My aim is to reduce the amount of moisture escaping from the bag.

Lunch time! Dessert today is crepes. I need an egg at room temperature.

The shell, when dry, will be crumbled into the kitchen-top vermicomposter. The egg carton has yielded 2/3 of its length to become new bedding for the vermicomposter.

And the tub?

It goes into a dark closet where it can do its job for another few days until my neighbour drops by again.

And if she changes her mind, I’ll end up with a nicely matured bag of castings in a few months time.

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