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Spread the worm
Local vermicomposting company works to turn garbage into cash
Herald Staff Writer
Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos
Click image to enlarge
Photo by JERRY McBRIDE/Herald photos
Red wiggler worms, left, leave tiny, oval castings, right, which are used as an organic fertilizer. The worms, Eisenia fetida, are about 3 inches long, red and skinny with tapered ends. They can consume their own weight in organic waste every day.
You just have to get past the fact that he's squirmy and slimy.
You'll also have to accept that the valuable end product comes out of the creature's end. To put it less delicately, the prize is worm poop.
Red wigglers - a type of worm that fishermen use to bait hooks - are tireless eating machines that can be used in vermicomposting. This is the practice of caring for worms in order to harvest their "castings" for use as a natural fertilizer and soil amendment.
Tim Wheeler, owner of Durango Coffee Co. retail store, and vermicomposting expert Jennifer Craig have teamed up to create a business around vermicomposting called Durango Compost Co. Wheeler and Craig are joint owners. He owns the coffee grounds that are used to feed the worms. Craig manages the worms, sells castings and home bins, and works to educate the public about the practice.
"The goal was to turn what has been a cost into revenue - turn waste into money," said Wheeler.
"But a larger reason for the company is that I have an aversion to the idea of waste. A large percentage of garbage can be composted. I don't want my used coffee grounds to go to the landfill."
Craig, who has experience in international agriculture and created a presentation on vermicomposting for the 1998 Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival event in Florida said this business is something she's wanted to do for a long time.
"It's the simplest way to deal with organic waste," she said.
The wiggly workers have survived fire and flood. The 700 block of Main Avenue fire in February flooded the next-door basement, where 15 worm bins were kept. Craig rescued them and moved them to their present location - a 1,000-square-foot basement of a Durango Coffee Co. employee's home.
The company, which formed in June and received a business license and special-use permit from the city in August, is shaping a line of products, services and education.
Casting call
Customers who are pressed for time - or a little squeamish - can purchase the castings. They are nearly odorless, with a faint scent of fresh earth and, if you have a sensitive nose, a hint of espresso.
The castings, which act as a time-release fertilizer, are teeming with live micro-organisms and micronutrients that revitalize the soil by creating humus. Their spongy texture also retains water so it's more accessible to plant roots, and less water is needed less often. The castings also improve the quality of the soil by breaking up our region's native clay.
The microorganisms also produce plant-growth hormones, which are especially helpful during a plant's germination and seedling phase.
Unlike synthetic NPK fertilizers (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), the spongy, seed-sized castings can't "burn" plants or throw them out of balance by destroying soil
organisms.
"I believe in building healthy soil and healthy plants without spending money on chemicals," said Wheeler. "Large doses of NPK is like injecting the earth with steroids."
The castings can be used as a "tea" solution that can be sprayed directly on foliage. This protects the plants from disease by inoculating the leaves with beneficial bacteria and fungus. Fine castings can be sprinkled around plants, and coarse castings can be spread sparingly on lawns and in gardens.
A 2001 study by the University of Georgia found that tomato plants grown in earthworm castings grew on average 126 percent from their original height.
"The worms take organic material to the next level, and make nutrients immediately available as a natural fertilizer," said Craig.
The timing is right, because fall is a great time to fertilize lawns, fruit trees, perennial plants and amend the soil to get a jump-start for spring.
Wrangling worms If people want to compost kitchen waste and continually generate castings, Durango Compost Co. also sells a starter kit that includes a small bin, bedding, worms and a how-to book.
Worms are low-maintenance and require little space, Craig said. They need to be kept indoors in a bin to thrive in their ideal temperature range, which is between 65 to 75 degrees. Craig said the best locations are in a basement, under the kitchen sink, or in a heated garage. Inside the bins, the worms need shredded cardboard bedding that must be kept moist, like a wrung-out sponge.
"The biggest trouble I have found is that people haven't fed the worms enough," said Craig. "They're surprised at how much they eat."
Worms can consume their own weight in organic waste every day, which means one-fourth to one-half pound of food per pound of worms consumed every day. They can eat a variety of biodegradable material, including vegetable and fruit scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags and other non-animal waste.
"If you do it correctly, there should be no smell, like with making compost. You just keep the greens and browns in balance," said Craig.
Fruit flies can be controlled with an organic solution of water and neem oil, which is available locally at Dancing Willow Herbs.
She said worms are more efficient than a traditional compost bin. Outdoor compost takes about a year to break down, but vermicompost is ready in about three months. Compost is also seasonal, because the cold weather slows down decomposition. Indoor vermicomposting can be maintained year round.
To harvest castings from a bin, the worm wrangler pushes the bedding to one side and puts fresh bedding and food on the other side. When the worms migrate to the fresh bedding, the old bedding can be screened for castings.
With the right conditions, a worm population will double every three months; but this doesn't mean your home will be invaded. Craig said the worms stop reproducing when they run out of room to spread.
Worm wide web Children are naturals when it comes to working with worms. At 9-R's Durango Summer Academy held in June, Craig taught a class for elementary school students. One class turned out to be all girls, who weren't fazed by the gross-out factor.
"They wanted to touch and handle the worms, and were fascinated by their reproduction," said Craig.
One of the company's goals is to educate the public about organic-waste management, Wheeler said. Craig has received requests to create programs for local schools.
"It's great, because then they go home and teach their parents," she said.
Wheeler's enthusiastic vision includes worm networking, where local businesses would pay to recycle their organic waste using Durango Compost's worm service, and possibly receive a share of profit from the sale of castings as an incentive.
"That way, we don't throw stuff away. We find a way to use it again and again," said Wheeler. "We keep the resources here and create a stronger local economy. It's a win in multiple ways."
The company will also do consulting and training for businesses who want to manage their own vermiculture. Current projects include managing compost for the Twin Buttes garden project, testing the worms' appetite for New Ice compostable trays, and a pending arrangement with Durango's Ska Brewing to compost organic waste such as hops to feed the worms.
Craig said she hadn't thought about how the combination of stimulants and relaxing elements would affect worm energy levels.
"Between the beer waste and the caffeine from the coffee grounds, they should balance out."
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