Permaculture in New Zealand

Decrease pest & disease 200%, worm farming instructions, by Aleena La'ulu

Worm farming, home and commercial
Why? How about a trial here at a NZ city council that showed a 200% decrease in pest and disease…………………….Tiger worms are used.

1. What will suit me best, small, medium, large scale
2. Caring for your worm farm
3. Getting and using the liquid fertilizer and vermicast

1. What will suit me best, small, medium, large scale
Home, you can just stick worms into your existing compost or use a set of 3 tyres on top of one another with a lid on top. Or you could purchase the three tier tidy looking and easy to use black plastic one, usually stocked at the Warehouse or any other good hardware and gardening store

Home, office, school or work place, the commercially made ones mentioned above.

Large scale commercial or schools, I have one at home. Baths propped up on bricks or wood. The bath is positioned with the plug hole lower but high enough that a bucket can be put underneath it to collect the valuable liquid vermicast. The bath also needs a lid, old internal doors painted with outdoor paint or a sheet of corrugated iron with a rock on it to prevent it from blowing away.

2. Worm farming is simple, you can just put them straight into the compost heap or set of three tyres with a lid. However doing it this way means you can’t get the liquid vermicast. By using a bath or bought worm farm you can. Bought worm farms usually come with instructions. The bath model however is cheap and easy and most households could easily sustain a bath worm farm.

DO
Feed worms on a regular basis, once a week or fortnight is fine. Worms will eat most things, fruit and vegetable scraps, small amounts of paper, tissues. Worm farms also need regular watering, around 2 litres a week for a bath size. If you have some old carpet, it is a good idea to put this over the worms and food scraps, this helps with flies getting in.

DON’T
Feed worms meat, bones, onion skins, lemons, household rubbish. Do not leave the lid off or they’ll all be eaten by the birds.

3. Getting and using the liquid fertilizer and vermicast

The liquid fertilizer in a bought worm farm sits at the bottom and has a tap for easy access. The vermicast is collected from the bottom layer when the worms have moved to the second layer for a new food source.

The liquid fertilizer for a bath is collected by leaving a bucket under the plug hole to collect liquid as it drains out. The vermicast is collected by feeding the worms at one end of the bath for around 1-2 months and then collecting from the side you haven’t been feeding them on.

Dilute the liquid fertilizer with water to a weak looking ‘cup of tea’, before applying to the garden or household plants.

Did you know pest and disease did not start causing a major problem for the world until chemical agriculture was introduced to enable mass mono cropping.

Entered by Aleena La'ulu