We sell red wiggler worms, working worm bins,
Worm Wine (TM) vermicompost tea, and vermicompost

It is great to see all the interest in green issues like urban chicken farming, vegetable gardening, vermicomposting, etc. The recent "Peep at the Coops" here in Dallas, was a wonderful event with an amazing turnout! For those of you who have hens, or are considering poultry, you might be wondering what to do with the "non-edible deposits"? Never fear, the Mighty Red Wiggler Worm is here (to compost it into garden gold!).
Vermicomposting Poultry Litter

YES! You can vermicompost chicken litter, with a few caveats and special considerations:

1. Hot compost original poultry litter and mix with at least a 3 to 1 mass of a carbon source first (75% newspaper, straw, leaves, shredded cardboard, etc.)

2. Find a location with nearly 100% shade, and well away from areas that might have any storm water run-off

3. Make a windrow, or simulate a windrow. Feed fresh manure (always wetted thoroughly and mixed with 3 to 1 carbon source) ahead of the last fresh manure, allowing worms to come to it as it cools and ammonia is released.

4. Always cover windrow, and fresh manure/carbon mix with several inches of a bedding source (leaves, straw, paper, shredded cardboard)

5. Poultry litter is very dry—make sure windrow is watered and moist (at least like a wrung out sponge). Worms breathe through skin and need moist conditions for this.

6. Make sure you have enough worms for the job!

7. Call or email Texas Worm Ranch for special consulting and to purchase composting worms

The term vermicomposting had recently been coined to mean the use of earthworms
for composting organic residues. Earthworms can consume practically all kinds of organic matter and they can eat their own body weight per day; thus, for example, one pound of worms can consume one pound of residues every day. The castings of worms are rich in nitrate, available forms of phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

The passage of soil through earthworms promotes bacterial and actinomycetes growth;actinomycetes thrive well in the presence of worms and their content in worm casts is over six times more than in the original soil.

1. You never have to turn a worm compost bin
2. Vermicompost is processed much faster than normal composting
3. Nutrient levels are denser than normal composting, plus microbe levels, plant acids and plant hormones are released from decaying plant materials and made readily available to benefit plantings
4. Worms use oxygen to decompose and there is no methane released and no smell if you are not grossly overfeeding worm beds

WHY USE VERMICOMPOST? (from Wikipedia)

Vermicompost is richer in many nutrients than compost produced by other composting methods. It is also rich in microbial life which helps convert nutrients already present in the soil into plant-available forms. Unlike other compost, worm castings also contain worm mucus which keeps nutrients from washing away with the first watering and holds moisture better than plain soil.

Soil Use of vermicompost:

• improves its physical structure;
• enriches soil with micro-organisms, adding plant hormones such as auxins and gibberellic acid, and adding enzymes such as phosphatase and cellulase; "microbial activity in worm castings is 10 to 20 times higher than in the soil and organic matter that the worm ingests" according to researcher Clive Edwards^];
• attracts deep-burrowing earthworms already present in the soil;
• improves water holding capacity;
• enhances germination, plant growth, and crop yield
• improves root growth and structure

  How I use Vermicompost:

  • Where I put seeds in, I prep with a light coating of vermicompost . For example--I make a 1 inch depression along a row to plant my bush beans and sprinkle vermicompost into that depression. For lettuce, I lightly sprinkle vermicompost along the top, broadcast my seed, then lightly cover with garden soil.

   

• When I put transplants in (broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, etc.), I sprinkle around the edge of the root zone, after planting

• To increase plant health of mature plants, I will sprinkle vermicompost around root zone