Worm Composting with Marle  + {Tube Giveaway!}

• Before I dive in, Tom and I really appreciated how knowledgable and helpful Marle Worm Growers were to us, in particular, Kimberly. Anytime we’d email or call with a question, they’d get right back to us with all the information we needed. 
• And like so many great American companies, they’re a family-run business that’s based in Washington State.  We really enjoyed talking to them and you’ll like working with them too. If you’re new to worm composting and need some direction like we did, you’ll love getting your questions answered by them.  

After Tom buried our worm tube, we started to think bedding. Marle was very helpful and made sure we had the bedding perfected before our shipment of worms arrived. You don’t want to have your worms arrive before their new “home” is ready for them. Normally, the worm bedding is a coarse carbon-based material, (the browns) that are derived from the newspaper & cardboard. The browns break down more slowly than the food scraps (the greens).

The bedding allows for excess moisture to drain down into the collection base. Proper aeration is essential for the worms. 

Step 1 – We put a couple of inches of pumice for drainage at the bottom of the tube. Pumice is volcanic rock that provides a lightweight and porous aeration solution for the bottom of your tube. 

Step 2 – Then we wetted the coconut coir in a bucket and mixed in shredded newspaper.
*Think of the coconut coir as an alternative to peat moss, but functioning much in the same way. It allows for air space & drainage as well as having excellent water retention. The coir even improves the quality of the worm castings that go into your garden.*

The worms eat your compost and their castings go back into the garden. We love letting the worms recycle all of our green kitchen waste into an organic, humus rich fertilizer.

According to Marle, Soil processed by worms are by nature: (with the worm cast)

• 7x richer in Phosphate
• 5x richer in Nitrogen
• 3x richer in usable Magnesium
• 10x richer in Potash
• 1.5x richer in Calcium

Standing tall at 2 1/2 feet a worm tube is a plastic sewer pipe that’s buried in your garden which shelters your worms who eat your compost. The bottom 18 inches have numerous holes that allow for the worms to enter and exit the tube. This portion of the tube is buried in your soil and because the holes are underground; you won’t get any fruit flies from the compost you place in the tube. The tube has both a ventilated cap with a screen on top and an end cap on the bottom. We find that the screen not only keeps out pests but keeps the tube properly ventilated. The bottom end cap prevents moles and other pests from climbing up the bottom while allowing water to drain out. 

When you remove the ventilated cap on top, you dump in your green and brown compost and say “Hi worms, how are you doing today? Do you like the food I am giving you? How did you sleep last night?” and then attach the top back on. {Do worms sleep?!}

Step 4 – We also added about a cup of worm chow and a little bit of garden soil/compost. Last, we added our new worm friends!

Worms will eat up to about their weight in food a day once they are acclimated!

As we continue our experiment we know that certain greens are quite beneficial to composting worms including:

• Grass clippings
• Leaf clippings
• Fruit pulp
• Green table scraps
• Coffee grounds
• Tea bags/tea leaves minus all staples
• Food prep waste

*Our worms have been obviously eating a ton of the food prep waste I gather up each day including the kids apple cores, melon rinds, potato & cucumber peels, banana peels, the pepper cores, the mushrooms that have spoiled in the fridge and the strawberry tops. I also give them bits of bread and pasta. 

*For now, Tom and I have decided to leave out 1.) citrus 2.) garlic including the scapes 3.) onions.

*Some food to avoid are salty foods, oils, fats, meat, dairy products and packaged convenient foods (anything that you are uncertain as to the exact ingredients). 

*I do add up crushed bits of eggshells to the tube, but the worms don’t seem to be eating it! The eggshells are a good source of grit for the worms to help them digest the food in their gizzard. Loaded in calcium, the shells are supposed to prevent acidic conditions from developing in the tube. So even if they don’t eat it, I guess I’ll keep adding it.

*All in all, Tom and I don’t think the Red Wrigglers are eating as much as we anticipated. But maybe they are still getting acclimated! And I’m a really picky eater, so maybe they take after my side of the family?

Do you have a worm bin? We have a Worm Factory 360 but it’s not up and running quite yet. It’s the next part of our experiment so stay tuned!

If you’re familiar with worm bins then you know that they do the exact same job of worm composting as the tube but they are for different situations. These are the key differences. 

I. Composting
Tube
*Outside “bin” (stays in the garden, but worms free to roam in and out of the buried holes)
*Location is in the garden only (soil regulates temperatures)
*Composts green waste directly into the garden
*Worms distribute and mix castings throughout the garden

The Worm Factory 360 
*Indoor/Outdoor “bin” (worms confined to the trays) – No direct sunlight
*Location is your choice – maybe the kitchen, basement, garage, or sunroom (as temperature & space permit)
*Composts green waste into the bottom tray
*You are in charge of distributing the castings where you see fit 

II. Browns/Greens & Bedding/Food: Follow the same “green waste” guidelines
Tube
*Browns (bedding) is only needed to get the worms started – overall the soil becomes their brown
*Green food is green waste both table & yard
*The only B/G balancing needed is to not use a lot of “hot green waste” in the tube. For example fresh cut grass = lots of Nitrogen, but they can move away if need be.

The Worm Factory 360
*Browns (bedding) is needed to give the worms a place to live and eat. They need the dark to process the compost
*Browns need to be replaced on a continual basis because the worms process the paper/cardboard/coir too
*Green food is green waste both table & yard
The only B/G balancing needed is to not use a lot of “hot green waste” in the tube. Hot green waste will kill the worms, they can’t get away from it.

III. Moisture
Tube
Moisture is attained through watering the garden and soil retention

The Worm Factory 360
Moisture needs to be added as needed to create the right environment

IV. Lifespan
Tube 
Seasonal worms (no guarantee worms will survive over the winter, some eggs typically make it). Survival rate with Night Crawlers increases.

Worm Factory 360
Year-round worms (depends on location and worm care)

Yes. I love my worm tube. And I’m starting to love my worms. This shocks my daughters as they fully realize even at the young ages of 3 & 5 that I have a slight phobia of worms. I’m afraid to touch them! It’s true. With my worm tube, I don’t have too. The girls absolutely love heading out to the garden to feed the worms and it’s a fun family activity. It’s wonderful that my garden is getting all these worm castings that are making my garden even healthier. If I can get into and enjoy worm composting……trust me….anyone can. You can too! Do it. You’ll be glad you did. 

• Running low on green waste? Try their Worm Chow as a feeding substitute!

• Looking to add minerals to your soil? Try their Glacial Rock Dust!

• Give your plants a jump start! Use SoilBoost in the prep stage of the Worm Tube.

We can vouch for how awesome these products are and they’re not too pricy either! 

One Garden Worm Tube Kit valued at $59.95!!

Kit includes:
Ventiliated cap with screen, drain/mole protector, starter bedding, pumice, & 1/2lb of Red Wriggler Worms

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Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write about the Marle Worm Tube, although I was given a complete tube as well as some glacial dust, worm chow, and the soil boost. All lovely products. Many thanks to Kimberly from Marle Worm Growers.

• This contest is sponsored by Marle Worm Growers.

• Must live in the U.S. and be 18 or older to enter. 
• This giveaway will begin at 7 am EST on Saturday, June 27th, 2015 and run until 11:59 pm EST on Monday, July 13th 2015.

• Winner will be chosen on Tuesday, July 14th, 2015 and will be contacted by email. Winner has 24 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen. Please note: Your email will not be shown and will be kept private.

• Enter by leaving a comment telling us why you’d like to win a worm tube!