As part of our worm study, we decided to establish a composting redworm bin and contribute natural fertilizer to the school garden. Our part in the project was to prepare the worm bin. We ripped newspaper into 1 inch strips and added water. This will be the basic medium that our redworms will live in and help them stay moist. We needed 4.5 pounds of newspaper! We prepared for this special project by visiting "The Adventures of Herman the Worm" website posted by the University of Illinois. It helped us calculate how much newspaper and water we would need. When the worms arrived by mail, we studied their bodies and compared them to the earthworms and nightcrawlers we had previously studied. Mrs. Stauffer's Kindergarten added the worms to the bin and will be feeding them for the first few weeks. They add left-over fruit and vegetable scraps to the bin to "feed" the worms. It will take 4-6 weeks for the first batch of compost to be available for us to take out to the garden.
If you are interested in learned more about this project, worm anatomy, or how to make your own redworm composter, check out this link:
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment