Worm Tubes! Why not?

Worm tubes from National Gardening Association 

Want to know a great way to enhance biological activity in your garden? Think of it as adding probiotics to your soil....

Worm Tubes! It is a fun way to use your vegetable food waste without the hassle of true composting. Worm tubes attract worms to your garden and this, in turn, creates rich, worm casting-filled composted soil for you to use. 

Josh shows us how - click here

And did you know that worm compost suppresses plant diseases? Research has shown that worm compost can successfully suppress Pythium aphanidermatum - a mold responsible for the dreaded 'damping off', where seedlings and young plants rot away at the base of the stem. The microbes  in the compost are key. They chemically prevent (disrupts the signalling)  the Pythium pathogen from accessing the plant. 

This is why you should consider making worm compost with a 'worm tube' in your garden. They attract worms to your garden and the worm castings make great compost! Vertical tubes in the garden, with one section buried in the ground, attract worms who enter in the bottom of the tube, eat the scraps and deposit worm castings , and then move out into the garden. Beneficial worms everywhere!

Use several 6" diameter gray PVC pipes, three foot long, as your worm tubes:

• Drill one-inch holes in the bottom one foot of the pipes. 
• Place them vertically in the soil - one foot in the ground and 2 feet sticking up, above ground. 

Josh and cap for worm tube - click here

• You must have the top capped.  This keeps out flies and other insects. Use small terra cotta pots with a piece of screen covering the drain hole. Place them over the top of the pipe. Of course you can use whatever you want as a cap - this could be fun to see what people come up with - but it has to be heavy enough not to be knocked off. BTW, it also serves as a great bird perch.

To start, put a little finished compost (or moistened peat) in each tube, some worms, add some kitchen scraps and top with a bit of rich soil.  Topping the vegetable scraps with soil or compost helps the process and any compost starter is also a plus. Keep it moist always. Wait a bit and watch what happens!  

By the way this is great for kids! ALL SCHOOLS SHOULD DO THIS. For more on worm composting in schools click here: Cornell Composting in Schools

And for the best worm info go to Uncle Jim's Worm Farm in line. 

Good Luck! Let me know how it works out.....