Worms are Cool: Vermicompost, pt. 2

Worms: a faceless animal that to most after the age of five is of little interest. I felt about the same way until around six months ago when my friend Simon and I applied for and received money from the College of Charleston’s Office of Sustainability to start vermicomposting on campus. We got 2,000 Red Wriggler Worms to help break down the schools compost. I went from being disgusted by looking at the worms to petting them like one does to their beloved furry friend.   I am in awe of what these tiny creatures can do! Here is what I have learned from putting my hands in the dirt with worms:

 

Worms will eat just about anything.

I am amazed to what I will put in the feeding bin and see completely digested by the worms. All types of fruit and veggie scraps, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, newspaper, junk mail, cardboard, and leaves are consumed by the worms- and the list goes on. (We have noticed that the worms tend to avoid citrus peels, due to the acidity). If it was once growing from the ground the chances are they will eat it, and eat it fast! One worm can eat up to half of its body weight in one day.

 

Worms love each other.

Their companionship comes in more ways than one. The first is their obvious desire to reproduce. The worms reproduce around every 3-4 months, doubling their population. This allows for us to expand the system by adding more stacking bins so the worms have additional space to inhabit and new food can be added to the bins. Worms also support each other when they are stressed. If the temperature, moisture, or food content is too extreme, the worms ball up around each other as a method to protect one another from the poor environment. This is a helpful signal for us to check in with the systems variables and adjust as needed.

 

Small creature can have big effects.

This does not just apply to worms. Many other creepy-crawlers are attracted to the worm bin. Some critters have a neutral effect such as larvae and fruit flies. Fruit flies are a nuisance but will not directly harm the worms. The larvae actually act similar to the worms and decompose the food with high-quality castings. Lately mites have been enjoying our worm’s food. Mites can be seen crawling on the food scraps and look like little red-brown dots crawling around. When this happens, we pick out as much of the infected material as possible. Mites will not harm the worms but will eat their food.

 

Dry worms grow- just add water!

When we received the worms, they were about the size of my fingernail. After no food or water for a couple days in the mail, the worms had shrunk. After assembling the bin and adding appropriate bedding for the worms, we left them alone for a few days to adjust to their new home. When we checked on them next the worms were almost unrecognizable! They were darker in color and some were as long as my pinky finger. This amazing survival technique showed me the durability and evolutionary intelligence behind such a tiny creature often regarded as simplistic.

 

Imitating worms isn’t just for the dance floor anymore.

Dealing with waste issues, our world needs other solutions than filling up landfills. Taking nature’s own systems, proven to work through years of evolution, and using them to solve problems is where future technology is headed. Using worms to break down food and paper waste is natural, efficient, and easy. These worms are showing me how breathtaking this natural process can be. We do not need machines and chemicals to accomplish daunting problems. Sometimes the answer is right beneath our feet- we just need to look!

 

And an obligatory worm selfie:

 

-Makenna Coon, ’16