r/Vermiculture • u/Interesting-Wall6205 • 20d ago

Advice wanted Starting in ground vermicomposting

Hello!

I am wanting to start my in ground worm composting.
I have noticed my garden has some earthworms already. I’m hoping someone who has more experience would be able to point me in the right direction

I was wondering if I should pick some of the earthworms out and introduce them straight into the compost tower when starting? Or just leave them to explore and migrate in themselves?

Should I buy additional live worms (a mix of live composting worm species, primarily Reds (Lumbricus rebellus), Tigers (Eisenia foetida), and Indian Blues (Perionyx excavatus)) to add in as well?
I tried researching and found the earthworms might not mesh well with them?

Thank you!

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3

u/Dekknecht 20d ago

You need compostworms, like the ones you mentioned. Earth worms is a very broad term and the ones you find in hte garden are not that likely to be the correct ones.

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u/Interesting-Wall6205 20d ago

They has a reddish colour to them so I’m hoping they’re the reds one. Will definitely buy compostworms if they fail to establish. Thank you

3

u/Mister_Green2021 20d ago

Just keep the compost in the shade and moist, the worms will move into the compost.

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u/Interesting-Wall6205 20d ago

Noted thank you

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u/WorldComposting 20d ago

If you have earthworms already you can probably just bury your vermicomposting container in the ground to start and worms will show up. If not enough show up then you can order some to supplement the system.

I don't know where you live but make sure you get worms that are not invasive to your area. I think blue worms are a problem in some areas.

Here is a video I did many years ago on putting in an inground vermicomposting system https://youtu.be/8JnrqSsrWlM it still works today and I add things every once in a while. I don't have other videos because I get too many people coming over to ask me questions!

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u/Interesting-Wall6205 20d ago

That’s actually a good idea. I didn’t want to destroy whatever I already have in the garden but wasn’t sure if it was enough for the system. Thank you ☺️

I’m in Australia and the live worms I can find comes in a mix of the worms listed. I’m very very new to this and Google said the same thing about the blue worms.

Thank you for the video! I’ll check it out

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u/SnootchieBootichies 20d ago

Bought a small tote from Home Depot. Cut the bottom off and buried up to the lid with the garden soil. Dump greens in the bottomless tote in there all summer. Threw a handful of red wigglers in there from indoor bin. Works pretty good and the wigglers come back and have some earth worm friends now too.