I am thinking of starting my first compost "heap" and am going to use red worms. any suggestions?
Great idea, as our garden waste is full of nutrients that our plants have taken from our soil, plus compost adds humous to the soil, which helps with water retention etc, thus helping your plants.
I haven't used composting worms yet, though do get garden worms in mine, and they all rapidly aid with the decomposition of your material.
Just use good composting sense, and chop material into small components, as this increases the surface area for decomposition to work on. Mix your materials too -avoiding large clumps of 1 type of stuff.
Compost material is generally mixed into green and brown types, with green being leafy material, including grass cuttings, and brown being more mature material, such as autumn/fall leaves – for this reason, I save leaves from the previous year, and mix in with my green matter the following summer. This really helps balance the compost, and speed its decay.
You'll find suppliers often selling worms with ready made eating material, which are more expensive than those purchased just as worms. If you've already started with your composting, you'll probably be fine with the worms alone.
Keep your compost heap sited somewhere warm, as this increases the rate of breakdown. Winter time can be sluggish, due to the cold, but you can shelter and insulate during the winter, to help with its speed.
Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob
Great idea, as our garden waste is full of nutrients that our plants have taken from our soil, plus compost adds humous to the soil, which helps with water retention etc, thus helping your plants.
I haven't used composting worms yet, though do get garden worms in mine, and they all rapidly aid with the decomposition of your material.
Just use good composting sense, and chop material into small components, as this increases the surface area for decomposition to work on. Mix your materials too -avoiding large clumps of 1 type of stuff.
Compost material is generally mixed into green and brown types, with green being leafy material, including grass cuttings, and brown being more mature material, such as autumn/fall leaves – for this reason, I save leaves from the previous year, and mix in with my green matter the following summer. This really helps balance the compost, and speed its decay.
You'll find suppliers often selling worms with ready made eating material, which are more expensive than those purchased just as worms. If you've already started with your composting, you'll probably be fine with the worms alone.
Keep your compost heap sited somewhere warm, as this increases the rate of breakdown. Winter time can be sluggish, due to the cold, but you can shelter and insulate during the winter, to help with its speed.
Hope this helps. Good luck! Rob
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i have had compost piles for almost 30 years and never used worms to help it along. cant see where they would hurt though.
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Here is a place where the phrase "if you build it, they will come" fits.
Earthworms love a compost pile and given a little time, they will show up. You can add your own if you want but it is usually not necessary.
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