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Composting

Composting With Worms

Some composters use a somewhat different form of composting, especially during winter. Called vermicomposting, it consists of maintaining worms (preferably redworms, or Eisenia foetida) in a container filled with a plant-based material (such as shredded corrugated paper, manure, or peat moss) that they gradually consume.

Kitchen waste is pushed into the soil and digested by the worms. Their excrement, called castings, along with partially decomposed waste, can be "harvested" in about four months and used as a nutrient-laden addition to soil. Worm castings are even more nutrient-filled than garden compost.

Resources

Books

Appelhof, Mary. Worms Eat My Garbage. Kalamazoo, MI: Flower Press, 1982.

Blashfield, Jean F., and Wallace B. Black. Recycling. Saving Planet Earth series. Chicago: Childrens Press, 1991.

Campbell, Stu. Let It Rot! The Gardener's Guide to Composting. Rev. ed. Pownal, VT: Storey Communications, 1990.

Culen, Gerald, William Bluhm, Preethi Mony, Janice Easton, and Larry Schnell. Organics: A Wasted Resource? an Extended Case Study for the Investigation and Evaluation of Composting and Organic Waste Management Issues. Champaign, IL: Stipes Publishing, 2001.

Martin, Deborah L., and Grace Gershuny, eds. The Rodale Book of Composting. Rev. ed. Emmaus, PA: Rodale Press, 1992.

Whitehead, Bert. Don't Waste Your Wastes-Compost 'Em: The Homeowner's Guide to Recycling Yard Wastes. Sunnyvale, TX: Sunnyvale Press, 1991.

Jean F. Blashfield

KEY TERMS

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Aerobic: —Requiring or in the presence of oxygen.
Anaerobic: —Describes biological processes that take place in the absence of oxygen.
Decomposition: —The breakdown of the complex molecules composing dead organisms into simple nutrients that can be reutilized by living organisms.
Microorganism: —Any living thing that can only be seen through a microscope.
Nutrient: —Any substance required by a plant or animal for energy and growth.
Organic: —Made of or requiring the materials of living things. In pure chemistry, organic refers to compounds that include carbon.
Vermicomposting: —Using the digestive processes of worms to compost organic materials.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Cluster compound to ConcupiscenceComposting - History, Composting On Any Scale, Materials To Compost, How It Works, The Chemical Process