Kitchen Composter Blog

do you need special worms for a worm compost?

I want to set up a small worm compost to show the kids how it works and they want to have 'pet worms'. Looking at a few various sites, they all say to use red wiggler worms. Will it work if we just use worms that the kids find in the garden? Do you really need a special type of worm?

The red wigglers work the best for commercial operations or if you are really wanting the composting to work fast. You can use other worms and you can draw worms into a compst heap by placing the leafy stems from Oregano plants onto any compost heap – it makes them come up into the heap and go crazy! LOL
Seriously, it is like a horror show! Scared the daylights out of me the first time I put oregano stems on the heap and came back two days later to add some more material – I moved the oregano stems and underneath there was this solid sheet of writhing worms! I am not sure what compound it gives them but it made them pretty wild for a big pile of worms!
Or you can just collect them after a rain when they are out on the sidewalks trying to not drown.

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5 Responses to “do you need special worms for a worm compost?”

1. The Muse says:

   April 19, 2009 at 5:04 pm

   I have plain old earthworms and they eat/digest the compost. Their castings (poop) add to the compost and accelerate the decomposition.

   The Muse
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2. IOFIF says:

   April 19, 2009 at 5:32 pm

   any worms except tapeworms i would say
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3. teddybear says:

   April 19, 2009 at 6:08 pm

   It is not necessary to have special worms although red wigglers are the best.
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4. Amy R says:

   April 19, 2009 at 6:19 pm

   The red wigglers work the best for commercial operations or if you are really wanting the composting to work fast. You can use other worms and you can draw worms into a compst heap by placing the leafy stems from Oregano plants onto any compost heap – it makes them come up into the heap and go crazy! LOL
   Seriously, it is like a horror show! Scared the daylights out of me the first time I put oregano stems on the heap and came back two days later to add some more material – I moved the oregano stems and underneath there was this solid sheet of writhing worms! I am not sure what compound it gives them but it made them pretty wild for a big pile of worms!
   Or you can just collect them after a rain when they are out on the sidewalks trying to not drown.
   References :
5. Carl says:

   April 19, 2009 at 7:06 pm

   I'm sure the worms the kids find in the garden will work fine. Send them outside and dig!
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