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Start a worm farm

Worms in a worm farm.

A worm farm is a fantastic way to turn your organic waste into nutrient rich fertiliser for your plants and soils.

Worms eat organic waste and turn it into liquid fertiliser and worm castings. Both of these products can be used on your garden and on your pot plants to keep them thriving.

You can use worm liquid to replace fertiliser. The liquid needs to be diluted until it is the colour of weak tea. You could bottle your excess liquid and give it as a gift with instructions on how to use it.

Starting a worm farm step-by-step guide

Starting a worm farm step-by-step guide
Step Number Step Name Actions
1 Choose the type of worm farm
  • Find a shady spot - inside, outside, on a balcony or in the garage (worms don't like heat or direct sun).
  • Choose the size of your farm - worm farms can be small or up to around 90 centimetres square.
  • Look at different farms as there are a range of different types and sizes available.
  • You could also build your own worm farm box out of plastic or wood (don't use treated wood as it can leach chemicals).
2 Preparing your worm farm for worms
  • Your worms will need a bed inside their box. The bed should be made out of good quality soil, leaves and shredded paper. The worm bed should be around 15 centimetres deep.
  • Wet the worm bed so that the water has soaked in. The worm bed will need to be kept moist but not wet.
3 Settling in your worms
  • You can get worms from commercial worm growers or your local nursery. Worms are usually available by the thousand and you'll need between 1,000 and 2,000 worms to start with.
  • Gently spread the worms on the surface and watch them burrow into their new bed.
  • Remember to make sure your worms have enough bedding and that you keep your worm farm damp, covered and cool.
4 Feeding your worms
  • Worms are happy on a simple diet. They like food wastes like vegetable and fruit peelings, tea leaves, crushed eggshells and bread. They also like small amounts of soiled paper and cardboard such as shredded egg cartons.
  • Chop up food as small as possible so the worms will get through it faster.
  • Add your kitchen waste regularly in small amounts and in one place at a time. Cover new food with a light cover of their bedding material or a handful of soil or compost.
  • Only feed your worms when they have almost finished their last meal or it will start to rot.
  • Don't feed worms dairy (butter and cheese), meat, fish, fat and bones. They also don't like citrus peel, onion or garlic.
5 Harvest worm liquid and castings
  • If your worm farm captures worm liquid, then empty the tray regularly using the tap.
  • To harvest the worm castings, move the worms bedding to one side of the worm farm, add fresh bedding to the empty side and wait a few days. Most of the worms will migrate over to the fresh bedding. Then you can take out the old bedding, and use it on your garden.
  • Its OK for some worms to get transferred into your garden when you empty the old bedding. You'll also be transferring worm eggs which will hatch in your garden and improve the soil.
  • Use your castings as soil improver and for fertilising around plants. You can also add a sprinkle of worm castings to pot plants.
  • Dilute your liquid fertiliser and use that to water your inside and outside plants.

More information

There are a lot of resources available for learning about worm farming. Contact your local council to find out if they give advice on worm farming.

Your local nursery, gardening group or adult education centre might be a good starting point for practical advice on starting a worm farm.

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Why do it?

  • Worms are easy pets to keep
  • Turn your organic waste into a free source of garden fertiliser and soil improver
  • Help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced in landfill

Did you know?

1,000 worms weigh about 250 grams.

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Page last modified: 20 Aug 2009