My vermiculture friend in New Zeland, Duncan Carver posted a great response to a reader about the start up cost of a worm system. His website is WormFarmingSecrets so be sure to check it out and subscribe to his newsletter.

In total agreement with him, here is what I added to his comments:


Good Morning, Duncan,

Your first conversation in this newsletter is so 'right-on'!

With tax, 1# worms and either a Can-of-Worms or Worm Factory 360, the
investment to my shoppers is $159.00. ( see CompostCritter )

When I meet someone and talk about worms I tell them "Here's a one-cup
container of castings. Take it home, it's free, and put some on several of
your houseplants tonight. Water them well and call me in one week."

Everybody calls back.

My first suggestion to them is the low-tech Rubbermaid container or a
5-gallon bucket. I have about 20 5-gallon bucket farms which I fill with
compost and worms twice a year and I harvest twice a year... how much
effort is that for 100 gallons of perfectly converted castings, loaded with
cocoons!? Investment? $25 for worms and $5 for a bucket at Home Depot...
( and you can't tell me that you don't see free buckets lying along the road
every day...)

I'm a highly regarded 'dumpster-diver' and I bring 5 gallon buckets home
almost every day... construction sites are the best. I pick up a fair
share along the interstate, but dodging traffic has its hazards.

Larger scale? Bathtubs. I have a plumber friend who calls whenever he
removes a fiberglass tub during a renovation project... I now have 12 and
had to start turning him down. Do I take the time to drill them full of
holes so there's lots of ventilation? ... no... sorry... Do they
produce hundreds of pounds of castings year after year? YES!!

Do I buy worms? I did... Uncle Jim's Worm Farm is my primary source when
I decide to go that way, but most of my worms were free. Whenever I want
to collect a few thousand.

A customer of mine has a horse farm. BIG old manure pile out in a field
that she keeps dumping on and never touches. I go down there several times
each year and collect worms. Around the edges of the pile I rake off the
top layer of dry stuff till I get down to the mucky layer of wet muck, which
is LOADED with worms.

I just shovel the muck into buckets, worms and all. I can fill 20 buckets
(100 gallons) in about 45 minutes.

Let's guess that there's only one pound of worms in each bucket... $25 * 20#
= $500 value. Maybe I'm being too generous... cut that in half... $250
value and 100 Gallons of well composted (vermiposted) manure. It's a one
hour drive each way so that nets out $111/hour for my time.

In 2 hour and 45 minutes I created 20 worm farms. I can be lazy and let
them sit for 90 days and just harvest as castings, or I can dump them into
the bathtubs (or a 4' x 12' pile on my garage floor) and keep adding food
scraps, newspaper and compost for a never ending supply... In the fall I
just add them to my lasagna garden layering system on my outdoor beds.

Let's see... That initial investment, if I went the retail route, was
$159. $159 / forever = $0

Free fertilizer for life???

Today I spread the contents of 6 bathtubs over my front lawn. The grass is
always greener...

The only issue most people have is "That's a lot of work". I have to
ask... "do you have a pile of food scraps collecting in your kitchen, or do
you throw them away?" OK, so you are ALREADY doing the work... Just put
the scraps in your worm bin instead of letting them stink and attract flies
in your garbage can.

Thanks for your newsletters and insight, Duncan! Have a great summer!

Jeff Kurtz
www.TheWormist.com