“Outdoor Grade” Easy Worm Mix Explained

June 24, 2020

SHORTER VERSION – The “outdoor grade” Easy Worm Mix is a larger volume (~ 18 litres) of living material and worms harvested from outdoor beds. It tends to have a lower density of worms-per-unit-volume (the original mix was usually around 10-12 litres), including different kinds of worms, and a more diverse ecosystem.

It is far better suited for use in a backyard composter, vermicomposting trench or various other outdoor systems than in something like a plastic stacking worm bin. Even something as simple as a buried bucket with holes in it can work very well.

That said, it can still be used for indoor systems – here is a link to a article I wrote about an indoor bucket system I set up with it: Super Simple Breathable Bucket Worm Bin. You simply need to be aware that you will be dealing with a larger volume of material, there may be more small “critters” in your system, and just generally, you will likely need to be a bit more patient.

As I type this (late June 2020), the outdoor grade mix is available for pick-up only, in Waterloo Ontario. It must be pre-ordered and it’s important to realize that turn-around times are going to be slower than normal (likely 1-2 weeks, but under certain circumstances I don’t mind bumping orders up if there is a time-sensitive requirement of some sort).

As always, purchases include full support, and any virtual assistance you need – and guaranteed success if you are willing to follow my recommendations.


LONGER VERSION
For quite a few years I have been selling Red Worms in the form of a starter culture known as “Easy Worm Mix”.

The product was inspired by the great results I’ve witnessed, starting new systems with worm-rich material from active systems over the years.

The idea is that you don’t just get a big gob of stressed out worms in a small amount of sterile bedding. You get a much larger quantity of rich, living habitat material that contains lots of worms of all sizes, often many cocoons as well, along with a diverse ecosystem of beneficial composting organisms.

Most people don’t realize it, but the living material itself is nearly as valuable as the composting worms, helping to balance things out and protect the worms early on (when newcomers can often make a lot of mistakes).

To learn more about Easy Worm Mix I highly recommend you read through these resources:
Easy Worm Mix FAQ Page
Easy Worm Mix Guide

This now brings us to…

“Outdoor Grade” Easy Worm Mix

Last season I rolled out a new indoor production approach for Easy Worm Mix. Batches of mix were prepared over time in a small indoor bins. It helped me to standardize the process a lot more, as well as helping me avoid bottlenecks during more challenging times of year (eg cold and hot/dry periods).

I am very happy with the approach, but the 2020 season brought with it a whole new set of challenges that made it much more difficult to continue setting up lots of these bins. I needed a simpler approach in order to continue selling Red Worm culture mixes. I still had older outdoor systems with plenty of worms in them, and I also saw a great opportunity to show people how to harness the “power” of composting worms in their own backyards.

Being largely home-bound early on, I’ve ended up re-booting multiple backyard composters and setting up other outdoor systems (with plenty of help from my son) this season with great results.

I am hoping to write more about this in other upcoming blog posts, but here are some articles on my other site you may want to check out in the meantime:

“Vermicomposting Trench Worm Bins” – this talks about a series of plastic tub systems I installed in an old vermicomposting trench.

“Backyard Vermi-Filtration, Fertilization System” – this is about an old leaky rain barrel that I’ve converted into a “vermi-filtration” system that will be used to convert greywater (etc) into a beneficial “tea”, used to hydrate/fertilize garden plants this summer.

[NOTE: If you are Canadian, please don’t order worms from the Red Worm Composting website – I have a largely US-based audience for that site and all those worm orders are actually fulfilled by a drop-shipper south of the border]


Hope this provides some clarification about the “outdoor grade” mix. If you have any questions about the product or about setting up outdoor systems with composting worms, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

If you are ready to place an order (for Waterloo ON pick-up), you can do so via this page: Pick-Up Order Pricing

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