A backyard worm farm is a simple way to turn some kitchen scraps into rich compost for plants. Red wiggler worms eat soft food scraps and bedding, then leave behind tiny waste called castings that help soil. Building one in a plastic bin is a fun school project because you can observe living things, decomposition, and recycling all at once.
It also helps reduce the amount of food waste thrown into the trash.
Key Facts
- A good worm bin has air holes, a lid, moist bedding, a little soil, food scraps, and red wiggler worms.
- Worm bedding should feel like a wrung-out sponge, not dry and not dripping wet.
- Red wigglers do best at about 13°C to 27°C, or 55°F to 80°F.
- Start small: food scraps per week ≈ half the worms' weight.
- Keep a balance of brown materials and green materials, such as 3 parts shredded paper to 1 part food scraps.
- Worm castings add nutrients to soil and help plants grow stronger roots.
Vocabulary
- Red wiggler
- A small composting worm that eats decaying food and bedding near the surface of the soil.
- Bedding
- The moist shredded paper, leaves, or cardboard that gives worms a safe place to live.
- Compost
- Decayed plant and food material that can be added to soil to help plants grow.
- Castings
- Worm waste that is full of nutrients and helpful microbes for soil.
- Decomposer
- A living thing that breaks down dead plants, food scraps, and other once-living material.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Adding too much food at once, because extra scraps can rot, smell bad, and attract fruit flies before the worms can eat them.
- Letting the bedding dry out, because worms breathe through moist skin and can become weak or die if their home is too dry.
- Putting in meat, dairy, oily foods, or salty foods, because these can stink, attract pests, and harm the worms.
- Forgetting air holes in the bin, because worms and helpful decomposer microbes need oxygen to stay alive.
Practice Questions
- 1 A class has 1 pound of red wiggler worms. If worms should get about half their weight in food scraps each week at first, how many pounds of scraps should the class add in one week?
- 2 A worm bin needs 3 parts shredded newspaper for every 1 part food scraps. If you add 2 cups of food scraps, how many cups of shredded newspaper should you add?
- 3 Your worm bin smells sour and has uneaten orange peels and wet, soggy bedding. Explain two changes you should make and why they would help the worms.