The Single Worm Vermicomposting Project

I want to start off by saying that if you want to read the full story behind the single worm vermicomposting project, then you have to visit my personal website.  Due to SEO concerns I can not just move the whole article here.

Brief Overview

We have two vermicomposting bins. The first worm bin has a single worm in it and I did it as an experiment. I wanted to see just how much material a single worm could process into worm castings and just how fast it would do the job. I have to say, I was impressed with the results.

As I said, I wanted to start a second bin as a breeding bin. I'd love to see how quickly I can get two worms to reproduce into a thriving colony. There is a lot that I have learned throughout the first experiment and I look forward to learning more and refining my methods.

UPDATE: November 28, 2015

Well, I either lost a worm from the second bin, or he is really good at camouflage.  As of now, both bins have a lot of castings.  The problem is there is also a ton of unprocessed material in both. Unfortunately, I don't have a screen sifter.

One piece of good news is that I found a couple of baby worms outside. I brought them in and put them into a third (smaller) container hoping they grow a bit. I am hesitant to put them into either of the big bins because I don't want to accidentally harvest them with the castings.

UPDATE: November 30, 2015

Yesterday, I had checked on the worm bin. It looks to be doing pretty well. There is still a bunch of cardboard strips and even a sliver or two of the writing paper I had added in a week or two ago to soak up some excess water that was in there after some rain. I guess the moisture built up inside the bin. Anyway, I still can't find the second worm from the other bin, so I guess I have two single worm bins now.   I considered combining them to try to get them to reproduce, but when I found the baby worms I didn't see the point.

Baby worms? What baby worms?

Well, I guess the babies ran for the hills, as well. I got busy and forgot to check on them for a couple of days. When I checked it yesterday the dirt was dried out and both babies were nowhere to be found.  Oh well. Maybe, I should combine the two bins into one.

UPDATE: December 1, 2015

Today, I decided to harvest the worm castings.  I wasn't planning on doing this, but I had decided to up-plant a few of my pepper seedlings and I ran out of castings. So, I took about an hour or an hour and a half to separate the castings from the rest of the material in the bin. I had to do this by hand (literally) because I don't have a screen.  I have been planning to build one, but the only screen I have doesn't have big enough holes. I haven't had the time or the money to go buy the proper size screen, much less buy or go looking for the wood to build the screen frame.

At any rate, I am glad I did it by hand. If I had not I would never have noticed the 5 or 6 baby worms in the bin. After what I saw yesterday, I was extremely happy to find them in there.  I will be uploading the video soon, hopefully.

CLOSED: December 18, 2015

Well, I have no idea why the single worm died, but he did. There is absolutely no reason I can think of for why. The soil was moist, but not too wet. There was a decent amount of food and I even put some pulverized egg shell in there to help with his digestion. (Worms have gizzards.)

Whatever the reason, he is gone and I am closing down this project. All future updates about the breeding bin can be found in the new article titled: Vermicomposting