Don't Poo-Poo My Worm Poop

Well I thought it was time to show the second half of my winning combo that will come together to bring home the winning tomato.  You have seen the Mater-Master.  Now I introduce "The John."

The John is an example of putting nature to work.  It has been hailed as the most powerful natural fertilizer on earth. In addition, it adds so many good microbial bacteria to the ground which allow the tomato plants to absorb more of the nutrients from the ground and to grow fast and healthy.  It's "The Right Stuff" when growing tomatoes.  The worm compost can also be made into "Worm Compost Tea" which when added to the soil also helps to prevent tomato diseases as well as to fertilize.  When the Tea is sprayed on the tomato plants it will repel many insects that damage the plants.  No tomato gardener should be without it.

The Worm Farm

Here is my worm farm pictured above. It currently has a couple thousand hungry worms in it.  They work tirelessly day and night taking tiny little bites out of kitchen scraps and turning them into worm castings.  The worm farm consists of a base that supports the trays and also collects the liquid that is expelled from the worms.  This liquid is also a great additive to the soil.  Stacked on top of the base are the trays that hold the worms and compost.  In the photo above, two trays are stacked on the base and a lid covers the top tray.  The tray and top are designed to allow for good air flow through the trays while keeping the worms from escaping.  The air flow is very necessary to keep oxygen to the compost and worms.

Worm in the bottom tray

Note the tray on the left of the above photo.  The bottom of each tray has a grid of holes to allow liquid to drain and also to allow the worms to crawl up into the next tray.  This design takes advantage of the worms natural tendency to crawl upward when needing food.  The farming process is started with only the bottom tray in place.  The food and the bedding and worms are added and the top is put in place.  As the worms eat the food and more food is added eventually the lower tray will fill.  The next tray with food and bedding is added and the worms will move up into that tray as their food supply in the lower tray is consumed.  Over a couple of months the first bottom tray will be ready to harvest.  All the food will be turned into compost and the worms will have moved up into the next tray.  By that time, the fourth tray will have been added to the top of the stack and will also have food and worms in it.  The lower tray is then removed and the compost taken.  The process continues with adding new trays to the top and removing the compost from the bottom.

Bottom tray after a month of processing 

Second tray after two weeks - lots of food in tray.

So that's the poop on worm farming.