WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF VERMICOMPOSTING!
Did you know that Americans throw away 34 million tons of food waste into
landfills each year? That is more than any other type of waste (www.epa.gov).
While traditional backyard composting has its place, the process can take up to two years and rotating it can become a chore. Worm composting uses worms to do the work for you - they break down waste and is much more efficient and easier to manage than a standard compost pile.
Worm composting makes it easy to recycle kitchen scraps, paper waste and cardboard into nutrient-rich fertilizer for your plants, creating a more sustainable lifestyle and improving soil quality organically. The worms in your bin/composter work 24/7 to efficiently produce highly beneficial, rich compost packed with microbes and water soluble plant nutrients. This process yields a much more valuable end product than the traditional compost, containing ten times more nutrients which are readily available for your plants. This system allows you to enjoy organic vegetables, fruits, and flowers grown with the help of your kitchen scraps.
Using your bin/composter is a year-round event and can be used indoors or outdoors as long as the bedding temperatures remain between 40° and 90° F. When managed correctly (with little effort), the bin/composter is odorless, making them perfect for apartments, kitchens, condos, garages, porches, decks and more! The bin/composters all allow for oxygen to flow through the system, discouraging stinky garbage odors.
The nutrient-rich finished compost can be used in your garden, raised beds, container gardens, or on houseplants. In some instances, you'll also be able to drain 'tea' from your bin/composter; it's as good as the compost and used the same way.
Worm compost not only adds vital nutrients to your soil, it also conditions the soil to hold water longer, prevent plant disease, and promote healthy root growth.
All the units come with everything you need to get set-up and started; some units include worms, others it's an option to be chosen; some offer an option of multiple trays or colors to choose from. Here at Marlé Worm Growers we offer several popular styles to choose from: tub, tower, combo, and in-ground.
Tower or Stackable
This version of a composting unit uses trays that stack; the unit builds itself upward using a relatively small footprint. A new tray is "stacked" when the one before it becomes full of bedding and food. When a new tray is added it becomes the food tray and the worms move between trays until all the compostable food has been processed. Additional trays are added in the same fashion. Cast is accessed from the bottom tray once the worms have finished processing the food and moved upwards.
With this style, you have the option of starting your adventure with 3, 4 or 5 trays depending on your needs, there's also the option to expand to a total of 6 trays that can be purchased individually. It's made with recycled, durable plastic and is available in three color options. The Worm Factory Standard has a built-in spigot for the leaché, comes with a soft lid that sits on top of the tray which makes it easy to add food to the top tray. This unit is 16"x16"x13" (3 tray unit).
This option is an expanded Standard version. It comes with 4 trays, but is able to expand to a total of 6 trays that can be purchased individually. It too is made of recycled, durable plastic and is available in three color options. It also includes the handy Accessory Kit to expand the fun. The base style was changed along with creating a hard lid that sits on top of the tray – still making it easy to add food. It has a spigot for the leaché and measures 18"x18"x15" (4 tray unit).
Combo
The combo unit allows you to compost and grow plants in the same unit, saving time and space. It's a vertical system that contains a place to put green waste allowing the worms contained within the unit to come and go, feeding as they need, distributing their nutrients throughout the container system to fertilize the plants contained in the unit.
This vertical gardening system allows you to grow up to 50 plants in a 4 sq ft space while composting your green waste. It has a 6" diameter cylinder running down the center of the Tower, where the green waste is added (with a bit of bedding). The Tower can be used outdoors (decks, yards, patios) or indoors (greenhouses, hoop houses, sun rooms) to grow vegetables, herbs, flowers, plants. It's made of recycled plastic.
In-Ground
An in-ground unit is just that, it's used in the ground allowing the worms to feed as they need and to distribute their nutrients throughout an area around the unit. Typically, a "tube" of sorts, the tube is where green waste and a bit of bedding are added.
This is more of a one-step system, an easy way to recycle your green waste into a usable, accessible organic fertilizer directly in your garden. It's placed in your garden, you feed the tube with green waste and the composting worms come and go, feeding as they need and distributing their valuable, nutrient-rich cast throughout the area. Made of durable PVC pipe with a sturdy, hard plastic lid.
Take a look and enjoy going green!