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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Worm Compost Expensive?

15 years ago

I just saw an ad on my local Craig's List for someone selling organic worm castings for $6.00 per pound. Can that be right? I'm not familiar with worm composting, but am aware of its great benefits. The price, however, seems really outrageous. It would cost me hundreds of dollars to add some to my raised beds.

Anybody have any experience with purchasing this stuff? Cost?

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Comments (11)

pennymca
15 years ago
My BIL has reported that he's purchased 10 lb bags at WalMart for 2.00. Not sure if that would be a current price. Worth a trip to find out.

You could also make a compost tea from vermicompost (just do a search for "compost tea", which will stretch the budget. Use as a soil drench and/or foliar feed for your plants. Youtube has some great videos on making a compost tea brewer for very little money, too.

Would you be willing to try creating your own vermicompost?

Also, maybe adding things like "Bug Juice" as a soil drench will help in the same way.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bug juice...
Lloyd
15 years ago
In Canada, but it is quoted in U.S. dollars.

I see you can order it by the 2250 pound bag.

Lloyd

Here is a link that might be useful: Vermiculture Canada
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Hi Charlie, About 10 years ago I started 2 compost bins that were basically big totes with some small patches of screening in the bottom to allow any liquid to drain out. I tried one with a pound of red wigglers and one with a pound of Africand nightcrawlers. Both reproduced, although the red wigglers reproduced faster. I kept these in my unheated basement so colder than the African Nightcrawlers would like and they definitely slowed down their composting/reproducing over the winter. The red wigglers slowed down as well, but not as much. They made great compost and took care of most of our kitchen scraps. We did not add a ton of other stuff like lawn clippings, etc., but if I had more bins that would have probably helped increase the production of compost. I didn't have any of those expensive worm composting setups since that seemed crazy to spend all that money just to get some compost... but maybe they are worth the investment. The bins seemed to work fine and I started them out with shredded newspapers and a little dirt from my backyard. That mixture was soaked and I immediately tossed in a few banana peels which I had heard were among their favorites. I kept a layer of wet newspapers (for example the Washingtpost Metro section or classifieds) on top to keep them somewhat contained. I had heard the African Nightcrawlers can wander off, but between the paper on top plus putting the cover on the bin (with some screening glued over a few holes) seemed to keep them content to "stay home." Besides bananas, watermelon rinds were also a big success, but they basically consumed most everything once it had rotted for a while. I also dropped my coffee grinds with some water into the blender with egg shells whenever I had eggs and just poured that in under the top later of wet newspaper. Whenever I had something to add I just stuffed it in under the newspaper, moving each "deposit" a little further around the circumference so the worms could basically run laps around the bin as the ate the more decomposed content. Over time I grew a bit tired of it and hadn't really expanded the number of tubs which I should have done if I wanted more compost. I had chosen the African Nightcrawlers to possibly use for fishing since they are bigger, but I should probably have just focused on the composting side since I think the red wigglers or ensenias are more efficient. At the time I was very busy with other stuff and not as much into gardening, so I eventually dumped the worms in my compost bin since I had lost interest. Right now I'm thinking of starting again with 2 tubs of either red wigglers or possibly the compost mix from www.bestbuyworms.com which is where I originally got the worms all those years ago. But because of shipping it isn't very cost effective to just buy a pound of worms, so if you are interested in ordering let me know and perhaps we can put in an order and share the cost. I'm in Arlington, VA. Best,
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retiredprof
Original Author
15 years ago
Folks: I did a quick check of some online retailers and I found it as low as $1.28 a pound, and that includes shipping, for 60 pounds. Just thought I'd pass on the info.

This guy on CL must have some diamond chips or something mixed in his castings!
gardenlen
15 years ago
g'day retiredprof,

create you own worm farm in your garden beds then you'll have castings on a continuous basis, buy a bundle of worms say red wrgglers or tigers add them to the beds then add your kitchen scraps in daily under the mulch.

if you use hay mulches you will have continuous adition of all sorts of nutrients, we buy nothing to add to our beds they don't need it.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page
retiredprof
Original Author
15 years ago
They scare me. I have visions of all these worms crawling out of the box and being all over things. It's a psych freak from back in college and a very failed fishing experiment.
ncdirtdigger
15 years ago
worms dislike light so if they are kept where a light is on they will not "escape". They are very easy to keep and make great garbage disposals.
ryanzone7
15 years ago
Worm Compost Expensive?
Not if you make it yourself.
It's easy and can be done in an area as small as a trash can using a er ah..... trash can.
IALBTC
ryanzone7
15 years ago
Oopsie, I forgot to say "buy worms? Peshaw!" you want worms for free? Comona my house, to my house and I'll give you candy, I mean composting worms, red tigers, fishing worms, lumbruscus rebellus (sp) and all the advice and/or information and or encouragement you will need, so you'll see that buying worms and buying the Empire state building are roughly in the same category. (IMHO)
ialbtc
Kimmsr
15 years ago
Work sufficident levels of organic matter into your soil and the earthworms will move in and leave their casting for you in exchange for having that OM in your soil. Purchasing enough worm casting to make any difference is not cost effective.
meanestmop
15 years ago
I have a few worms in my home that the DH is unaware of. He thinks that they were just for the daughters science fair project! But I truly believe the kids need some hands on science and worms are easy. so ryanzone7 if you have any informartion to share i would ready it with great care and instruct the children on this endever. What we learned with the science project is that the worms we had did not seem to like to eat carrots or potato skins with green would you know anything about this? Have you seen any documentation on what worms wont eat?
Karchita
15 years ago
I have seen retail bags of worm compost for that price. If it is pure and high quality, I wouldn't say that is overpriced. It isn't fair to compare retail with bulk prices.

I make my own, and it is so concentrated that a little goes a long way. I mix it with water until it's about the color of ice tea and apply it to individual plants and my miniscule lawns with a watering can. A pound would probably cover my quarter acre with some to spare. However, I do this every few weeks, so that would get expensive quickly. Things grow like crazy when you use it, though.

I've had a worm bin for seven or eight years, and now that I have worked out the kinks, it's really easy and doesn't take much time or attention at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Web Vermicomposting Forum

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