Vermicomposting in the cold-climate apartment – Seeding

June 9 2007

(Read more at http://kitchenecology.blogspot.com )

Today I decided to seed a third tower. I have primed the tower with paper scraps, coffee grounds, vegetable matter and some water. I have left it for three weeks to shed any heat that might arise from regular exothermic composting.

Here Jupiter is counting the worms that scurry away from the light. This is a pile of fresh compost scooped from the base of my primary tower in the broom closet. A week's produce.

I set a milk crate as a coarse filter in an old drawer from a refrigerator. (Later I found the drawer was too small).

The compost is tipped from the garbage bag into the crate. I shake the crate and toss the large chunks of plastic and turkey bones into the (shudder!) garbage.

By now I have switched to a larger tray – a hamster tray. One end is propped up about twelve inches off the ground. I scrape the sieved compost down the slope and use a plastic teaspoon to transfer worms to a plastic margarine tub.

The compost has been scoured for worms, and they have been transferred to the new vermicomposter. They will settle into their new home, breed and convert my shredded paper and coffee grounds and kitchen scraps into more compost.

The soil that remains contains a nice collection of eggs. I take a 25-litre plastic pail and half-fill it with dry shredded paper.

I pour the damp clayey-compost, with eggs, on to the dry bed of paper.

Some moisture will seep into the paper. The worms will hatch over the next six weeks, at which time I will harvest the babies and transfer them to join their parents.

The wormless-compost will be mixed with peat moss and used to plant out my citrus seedlings.

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