Why You Should Use an Olla for Vermicomposting

Vermicomposting, also called worm composting or worm farming, is a type of composting that utilizes composting worms to accelerate the decomposition process.

There are 4 main benefits to worm composting;

1. To compost waste

2. To improve soil health

3. To grow worms for bait or reptile feed

4. For education, or for fun!

Have you ever made a compost bin and everything still looks the same even after several weeks or months? Sometimes the microbes alone aren’t enough to get speedy results. 

Composting worms can help you compost much faster. Once they eat some organic matter, it just needs to travel a couple inches through the worm’s body for it to complete the decomposition process and turn into worm castings - just a fancy name for worm poop. We’ll talk a bit more about worm castings later!

Unlike normal earthworms you may see in your outdoor soil, composting worms are earthworms that are specially adapted to thrive in rapidly decomposing organic matter. They eat, reproduce, and poop, much faster than your normal earthworm.

Red Wigglers Composting Worms – Thirsty Earth 

“It may be doubted if there are any other animals which have played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organized creatures." - Charles Darwin

If your plants need it, earthworms provide it. Starting your own worm farm will enable you to enlist your own earthworm army to work their worm magic on your soil.

There are a handful of factors that need to be managed for a successful worm farm, but by far the #1 most important factor of a successful worm farm is maintaining proper moisture levels.

Humans can go months without food, but only days without water, and only minutes without oxygen.

It’s somewhat similar for worms. Providing enough moisture and oxygen is far more important than nutrition.

Since worms breathe and “drink” through their skin simultaneously, having their environment moist enough that they’re always in contact with moisture, but also “dry” enough that their skin is also always in contact with oxygen is the main balancing act you’ll have to learn if you want to be a worm farmer.

Luckily, an olla can make this “balancing act” much easier.

An olla is a porous clay pot. When it is filled with water, it will slowly release it in its surrounding environment. Many people use it in soils to keep their soil moist for their plants, but Thirsty Earth is the first company I’ve heard of who is applying olla technology to worm farming.

By placing an olla inside of a worm bin it will slowly provide moisture to the contents in the worm bin. This keeps the bin from drying out which could be fatal for the worms, and means you don’t have to check the moisture levels and add water yourself nearly as often. 

I can confidently say that the main reason a beginner might struggle with worm farming comes back to moisture management, and using an olla can make it all much easier. 

The Thirsty Earth Vermicomposter is all about low maintenance worm farming. It’s a bucket worm farm that includes, alongside an olla cup specifically designed for a worm bin, a few thoughtful touches to keep things easy for you.

Included in the system is a reservoir that keeps the olla cup full of water - which is much easier than adding water to the olla cup directly. The reservoir comes with a connection to connect a hose to provide constant water, and a float valve will automatically shut off the hose when the water level is high enough. 

One of my favorite aspects of the included reservoir is that you can adjust how moist the worm bin is by adjusting how much higher the reservoir is than the olla cup. The higher the reservoir is, the more gravity will pull water into the olla cup and the higher moisture your worm bin will be.

This ensures that your worm bin won’t get too dry, but they also have measures in place to help make sure the worm bin doesn’t ever get too wet.

On the bottom of the bucket there are drainage valves that allow water to drain into the water collection bucket. I had also never seen something like this in other worm bins. Other worm bins have holes in them that water can drip through - but worms can also crawl through them, leading to worms stuck in your water collection area and unable to make it back to the bin. But with the drainage valves, water can drip down, but worms can’t squeeze through it.

I personally am not gung-ho on using composting worms in raised beds or in garden soils as they’re not really built for tunneling through soil and providing aeration, but if you do want to get worms into your raised beds or garden soil, keeping things consistently moist is key.

Can you guess where I’m going?

Ollas can be a great way to keep consistent moisture levels in your soil, which is crucial for sustaining a worm population, composting worm or otherwise.

Besides keeping your plants hydrated, if you want to give your outdoor worms the best shot for survival, an olla is a great investment.