Well.ca / blog

Our developers have a new side project in our Guelph office: worm composting! Chris, our developer/composter extraordinaire, has spearheaded a project to feed the indoor plants delicious and environmentally friendly plant food. At first, we were all a bit skeptical, but once we got started (and there was no smell!) the box became just another part of the office!

Here are the steps we took to achieving our Vermicomposting Glory:

1) Get worms (ours are Red Wigglers, or, Eisenia fetida). Thankfully we have Chris, who got us some worms and dirt from his bin at home. He bought the worms from http://www.wormcomposting.ca/ who are happy to ship in Canada, and have an American partner.

2) Get a container. Red Wigglers don’t like light. We bought a plastic tote.

3) Make holes for air circulation. Vermicomposting is an aerobic process. We drilled 14 holes in the bin with a power drill and cleaned up the plastic bits.

4) Keep the flies and critters in the box by covering holes with a fiberglass screen. Cut small squares and rectangles out of a roll of fiberglass screen and attached them to the bing with duct tape.

5) Fill the container with moist carbon, like news paper or cardboard – Well.ca packaging works great!

6) Place the worms and dirt you have from step 1 on top. Don’t mix them in, let them explore on their own.

7) Bury some compatibles like vegetable scraps or coffee grounds. So far we have an apple core and a tea bag. Don’t put too much in at first, or your bin will get stinky. You can put more in as your worms multiply.

8) In 2 months or so you will have some awesome dirt. Grab some worms and start the box over again.

We are excited for our first payload of dirt for our plants. Do any Wellians out there vermicompost? Are there any products from Well.ca that your worms love?