The Earthworm Farmer’S Bible: The Complete Guide to Successful Composting with Red Wiggler Earthworms

By Daniel C. Merrill M.D.

Dr. Merrill has written numerous books and
novels. In this book the author shares his
extensive experience in vermiculture and his
lifelong passion for organic gardening with
the reader.
We believe this to be the most comprehensive
book ever written on earthworm farming and
organic gardening.
Dr. Merrill tells you how to raise earthworms,
what to feed composting earthworms and
how to harvest and process the valuable worm
castings your earthworms will produce. You
dont have to invest a lot of money on worms
or expensive bins to compost your kitchen
waste and newspapers at home. You may be
surprised to learn that you can get started for
less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee at Starbucks. In fact, you dont have
to spend a dime on earthworms Dr. Merrill tells you where to get them for free.
Yes, for free and your initial worm bins can be purchased from any hardware store
for less than $10.00!
For those who are interested in a larger commercial worm farming operation,
the author tells you how to achieve your goal, again, at far less expense than
you might expect. As Dr. Merrill says You dont have to invest thousands
of dollars on worms and expensive equipment to make a lot of money in an
earthworm farming business.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 13, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483620640

Daniel C. Merrill M.D.

Dr. Merrill was raised in rural southern Humboldt County in Northern California. He graduated from the University of California–Berkeley with a degree in physiology in 1959 and received his MD degree from the University of Southern California in 1963. After completing a urology residency and an NIH Special Fellowship in urology at the University of Minnesota Health Sciences in Minneapolis, he returned to Northern California in 1973 and completed his career as chief of urology at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Martinez, California. Dr. Merrill has written extensively on nonmedical as well as medical subjects. His latest book, Gardening the Organic Way, is a reflection of his lifelong interest in sustainable gardening utilizing only inexpensive, readily available, chemical-free fertilizers, many of which are derived, in part, from the castings of earthworms. Dr. Merrill and his wife, Tina, live in Martinez’s Alhambra Valley in the San Francisco East Bay. They have two daughters, Amelia and Ann. Dr. Merrill’s hobbies include writing, gardening, worm farming, winemaking, and fly-fishing.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1.

Who Should Read This Book

Chapter 2.

Why Raise Earthworms?

Chapter 3.

Why Not Just Compost Your Organic Waste?

Chapter 4.

Earthworm Castings—The Most Valuable Organic Fertilizer On The Planet

Chapter 5.

The Abcs Of Earthworm Farming

Chapter 6.

Earthworm Biology

Chapter 7.

What Do Red Wiggler Composting Earthworms Eat?

Chapter 8.

Monitoring The Environment Of The Earthworm’s Bedding

Chapter 9.

Harvesting Earthworms

Chapter 10.

Harvesting Earthworm Castings

Chapter 11.

Worm Castings As An Organic Fertilizer

Chapter 12.

Worm Tea

Chapter 13.

Leachate

Chapter 14.

Disease Suppression

Chapter 15.

Troubleshooting 101

Chapter 16.

Selecting A Home Wormery

Chapter 17.

Establishing The Worms In Their Bedding

Chapter 18.

Expanding The Size Of Your Home-Based Worm Farm

Chapter 19.

A Marketing Plan For A Small Home-Based Earthworm Farmer

Chapter 20.

Commercial Vermiculture

Chapter 21.

The Role Of Vermiculture In Organic Gardening

Chapter 22.

Questions And Answers

Chapter 23.

About The Mount Diablo Worm Farm

Excerpts From The Author’s Books And Novels

About The Author

Introduction

When I wrote my first book on vermiculture, Raising Earthworms for Fun and Profit, five years ago, I thought I had a pretty good handle on earthworm farming. I wanted to share that knowledge with others in the hopes that a few of those who read my book could be enticed to compost their kitchen and newspaper waste using the vermiculture techniques described in the book. I remain firmly convinced that society would be far better off if more of us embraced the environmental benefits of home composting with earthworms rather than letting the waste management companies haul our organic wastes to increasingly scarce and distant landfills.

I have learned a lot in about vermiculture since I wrote the first book. Some of this new insight was gained from reading articles written by others working in this ever-expanding field, and much of it resulted from my ongoing hands-on experience while raising earthworms. In any case, the acquisition of knowledge is a never-ending process, and I want to share what I have learned since writing Raising Earthworms for Fun and Profit with the reader in this new book, which, for practical purposes, is a greatly expanded second edition of the first.

In particular, I want to describe the insight gained while transforming my earthworm farming business from a small backyard operation to a medium-sized commercial enterprise. I think you will be surprised to learn how inexpensive it is to expand your backyard worm farm into an economically viable operation. This book tells you how to do it!

Chapter 1.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS BOOK

People are interested in earthworm farming for a variety of reasons. However, a study published by the Worm Farming Almanac revealed that there were four primary reasons people are interested in vermiculture. The majority, 36 percent, are primarily attracted to the business aspects of worm farming, a subject I will cover in the chapter entitled "Commercial Worm Farming." The market for earthworms and organic fertilizers generated from earthworm castings is expanding rapidly.

Some commercial vermiculturists specialize in raising earthworms that will be sold to prospective worm farmers or to customers who will use them for fish bait or as food for turtles and other exotic reptiles. Others will specialize, as I have, in the production of the organic fertilizers that are derived, in part, from earthworm castings. Whatever their goal, those who envision a small or large worm farming operation will benefit from the information contained in this book.

About 21 percent of those who are attracted to earthworm farming are drawn to the environmental aspects of vermiculture. This is what initially perked my interest in composting earthworms, and I have devoted an entire chapter to the environmental benefits of vermiculture. Approximately 50 percent of everything that goes into our garbage cans to be carted off to the local waste disposal center can, and should, be turned into organic fertilizer. As I will point out shortly, the environmental benefits and economic savings that can be achieved by home vermiculture are nothing less than staggering. Have no doubt about it! This is something we all should be doing.

Although I am generally skeptical of all governmental policies and interventions that are forced on the public by local or Washington bureaucrats, vermiculture is something that our elected officials and their bureaucratic minions should be encouraging. In the long run, efforts to promote home vermiculture would have a far more beneficial effect on the environment than their never-ending policies to promote electric vehicles. Unfortunately, at present, countries like China and India are leading the way when it comes to implementing the concepts of large-scale vermiculture as a means of managing the organic waste generated by their rapidly expanding societies, while we in the United States have done very little to mitigate the effects of human-generated waste on the environment.

Around 25 percent of those who are drawn to worm farming are interested in the gardening aspects of vermiculture. As the reader will soon learn, there are major differences in vermiculture and standard composting techniques. In some cases, a combination of vermiculture, which relies on earthworms to break down organic material, and composting, which relies on thermophilic microorganisms to decompose garden and kitchen waste, provides a superior product. I will discuss the pros and cons of both methodologies, and the reader will have a clear understanding of advantages and disadvantages of both composting techniques after reading the pertinent sections of this book.

Finally, about 14 percent of those who raise earthworms do so to generate a ready source of fish bait. These individuals usually raise night crawlers rather than composting earthworms. As you will see, the vermiculture practices for raising night crawlers differ significantly from those employed to raise composting earthworms. This is why most worm farmers raise worms for fish bait or earthworms for composting, but not both.

Most of all, I hope that this book will stimulate those who are unfamiliar with vermiculture to get involved. We can make a huge beneficial impact on our fragile environment if a significant number of us begin to process our personal kitchen and paper waste with earthworms. I know you will find, as I have, that raising composting earthworms is a rewarding hobby, and for a few of you, it may become a profitable occupation.

Chapter 2.

WHY RAISE EARTHWORMS?

First, because it’s fun!

Besides being incredibly beneficial to mankind, red wiggler composting earthworms are very interesting creatures. Once you begin raising earthworms, you may find, as I did, that you cannot resist the urge to check up on your worms first thing every morning, just to see how they are doing. Anyone who enjoys gardening will enjoy this hobby, and some of you may find it to be a very lucrative occupation. Organic gardeners will be especially likely to embrace home vermiculture because they understand and appreciate the value of organic fertilizers derived from earthworm castings. If, on the other hand, you do not like getting your hands dirty, this might not be the thing for you.

Second, because it is the right thing to do!

Composting with red wiggler earthworms provides a solution to one of the most pressing problems facing modern man, the disposal of our newspapers and kitchen waste—in other words, our organic garbage.

At present, we pay a huge price economically and environmentally, for the disposal of human generated organic waste. The local garbage trucks, which collect our wastes, and the long haul trucks that carry them to our increasingly scarce landfills contribute greatly to the destruction of our local streets and highways.

More importantly, these trucks make a significant contribution to the noxious gases that are polluting the earth’s atmosphere. Once deposited in landfills, our decaying organic wastes continue to produce methane and other atmospheric pollutants for centuries. Even the most well-managed garbage landfills will be unfit for housing developments and other similar human endeavors for our lifetime and the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren.

Commercial vermiculture, the composting of organic waste with red wiggler earthworms, already has made a significant positive impact in large farming operations such as dairy farms, which employ earthworms to compost the manure produced by their cows. Several municipalities, most notably San Francisco, have initiated programs wherein organic waste is collected in separate containers so that it can be composted locally rather than hauled to distant landfills. This process, of course, is very labor intensive and expensive. More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that the organic wastes to be composted must be collected by the same garbage trucks that are presently ruining our streets and polluting the atmosphere that we and all living creatures are dependent on for survival. It would be far better if homeowners composted their own organic household waste so that it would not have to be hauled away by the waste-disposal people.

In any case, home vermiculture, the composting of kitchen waste and newspapers by homeowners and apartment dwellers with earthworms, provides a relatively simple solution to this increasingly serious problem. The State of California estimates that at least 50 percent of the waste collected by garbage trucks could be composted (Katherine Tam, Contra Costa Times). Composting with earthworms greatly increases the efficiency of this process. At the very least, home vermiculture would greatly reduce the need for garbage trucks. Fewer garbage trucks, of course, will result in less air pollution and a significant saving in the monies now required to maintain our streets and highways.

The third reason to compost with earthworms is to produce earthworm castings, the most valuable organic fertilizer on God’s green earth.

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Earthworm castings and their by-products are among the most desirable forms of organic fertilizer known to mankind. Potting soils and organic fertilizers containing worm castings are prized by gardeners and those who grow houseplants because they are an excellent source of slow-release nitrogen. They also are rich in plant growth hormones and the beneficial microorganisms that encourage robust