How to Use Dirt for Your Worm Bed

Use earthworms to improve your soil structure.

Earthworms do more than wiggle at the end of a fishing hook; they improve your soil and can make you money. Organic gardeners add adult worms to their garden soil to improve the structure and the nutrients of the soil, while other people use worms as a source of food for animals. When considering raising earthworms, prepare the dirt for use in the worm beds to keep your worms healthy and happy.

Things You'll Need

• Worm bed
• Old newspapers
• Peat moss
• Ordinary garden soil
• Soil tester
• Lime
• Ammonium sulfate

Instructions

1. Build your worm bed out of wool or plastic storage bins. Start your worm bed in an old cardboard shoe box first.

2. Shred old newspapers, avoiding pages with full-color pictures. Mix together 1/3 shredded newspaper, 1/3 peat moss and 1/3 ordinary garden soil. Place the mixture in your worm bed and dampen slightly. The mix should remain loose when dampened and should not compact.

3. Test the mix for the proper pH levels with a soil tester. Worms like a pH of 7. Add lime to the mix if the pH level is too low and add ammonium sulfate if the level is too high. Retest the pH level of the soil and continue to adjust accordingly. Change the dirt every two months.

References

• Chris McAllister, Ph.D.; Eastern Oklahoma State University, Idabel Campus, Wilburton, Ok.
• Washington State University Whatcom County Extension: Cheap and Easy Worm Bin!
• Natural Resources Conservation Service: Wonders of Worms
• North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Soil Testing
• AgriLife Extension; Raising Soil pH and Soil Acidification; August 2008
• Clemson Extension; Lowing Soil pH; Charles C. Mitchell, Jr, James F. Adams

Resources

• AgriLife Extension: Home Worm Production