articles

Compost with Worms!

By Julie Follansbee- Macaroni Kid Editor May 1, 2012

Where does soil come from? What do you do with your kitchen scraps and newspaper? Here's an idea to reduce, reuse and recycle all around and show your kids how soil is really produced! They'll have a close up view of how it happens with this project!

What you need:

2-2 liter plastic bottles

scissors and craft knife

newspaper (one whole section..we used "sports")

kitchen scraps (like vegetable scraps, coffee grinds, but NO meat or bones...if you use egg shells, rinse them first and crush them so they don't hurt the worms' soft bodies, banana peels, apple cores, paper towels, strawberry tops....etc.)

potting soil

small plant or cutting

WORMS..about a dozen ..all shapes and sizes!!!

small bucket filled with a small amount of water

1. Carefully punch holes in the bottom of one of the bottles (for drainage). Have a grown-up help with this.

2. Cut the bottom off of the same bottle about 4 inches from bottom (this will be your planting dish).

3. Cut the top off of the other bottle about 8 inches or so from the bottom (we just followed the existing lines on the bottles and that worked very well).

4. Place the first bottle inside the second bottle so that the screw top faces down (remove the lid first and save it in case you need it to retain moisture later).

5. Take the planting dish and fill with potting soil (I love Miracle Grow Moisture Control Potting Soil) and add your plant (this is also a great way to root plants like coleous by just taking a clipping and removing the bottom leaves and placing the stem in the soil..be sure to keep that moist until it roots). This will become the lid for your compost station so that the worms don't escape and it will also make it look nice!

6. Now tear your newspaper into thin strips (easiest from top to bottom) and soak them in water for a few minutes. Squeeze them out so that they are moist but not dripping.

7. Chop up your kitchen scraps (will work faster!) and add to the newspaper mix. Try to use more newspaper than scraps (about 1/4 scraps to 3/4 newspaper)

8. Add your worms to the top (treat them gently...they are your workers!!) and watch them wiggle down into the mix.

9. Put your planting dish back on the top of the bottle tower so that the worms don't escape.

10. Place your station in a cool place inside (not on a sunny window...the worms will get too hot and dry out). Make sure it stays damp. Brownish water will collect in the bottom..this is "worm tea" and makes a wonderful liquid fertilizer! Pour that on your house plants. The worms will be chomping away at the contents of the bottle and will turn it into potting soil. This potting soil is actually worm castings...a nice name for worm poop!

11. Keep adding scraps and newspaper to your station and you will have a constant supply of soil!

Some tips:

The best place to find worms is under damp rocks or after a rain storm..they come up to the top of the soil...dig around, I'm sure you'll find some. We scooped a bunch out of our drainage well outside of our garage. Or if you want fancy super composting worms order them from: http://www.unclejimswormfarm.com/. You'll also find a lot of fun facts about worms there!

Here's what it looks like after working all winter and us adding scraps periodically!

The dark brown on the bottom (right below the banana peel and the paper towel) is the rich dark composted soil! I know you can't see it, but there is liquid in the very bottom of the soda bottle and that is worm "tea" and can be used to water your plants! Carefully remove the bottle sections to use...I watered my indoor houseplants with ours and yes, occassionally a worm fell through and now my houseplant soil is nicely aerated!

We kept ours in the kitchen in a dark vase below a window so that the worms were in the dark and the plant got light!