Composting Red Wriggler Worms
Exact Plant Profile
Description
Eisenia fetida | Red Wigglers
These aren’t your average garden-variety wrigglers. Red wigglers are nature’s top-tier compost engineers—surface-dwelling, detritus-devouring, microbiome-boosting machines that turn your kitchen scraps into a living, breathing soil amendment.
Raised in optimal conditions and shipped with active bedding, our Eisenia fetida colonies arrive ready to work. Each worm eats up to half its body weight per day in decomposing organic matter, producing castings (aka vermicast) rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, humic acids, and beneficial microbes that improve nutrient uptake and soil structure.
Why These Worms?
Unlike Lumbricus terrestris (nightcrawlers), red wigglers don’t burrow deep. They’re epigeic—meaning they thrive near the surface, in high-density environments, making them ideal for:
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Vermicompost bins (indoor or outdoor)
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Raised garden beds
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Soil rejuvenation projects
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Living soil setups for tropical plants and aroids
Worm Care 101
🪱 Temperature: Keep bedding between 55–77°F. Extreme cold or heat can stress or kill the colony.
🪱 Moisture: Bedding should feel like a wrung-out sponge—damp, not soggy. Too wet = anaerobic. Too dry = desiccation.
🪱 Food: Avoid citrus, onions, garlic, spicy food, and greasy scraps. Go for plant trimmings, coffee grounds, veggie peels, eggshells (crushed), and cardboard. Bury food under bedding to prevent fruit flies.
🪱 pH Range: 6.0–7.0 is ideal. Add crushed eggshells or garden lime if acidity climbs.
🪱 Population Growth: Under ideal conditions, red wigglers can double every 60–90 days.
Variants:
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250 Worms – Great for countertop bins or small batches
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500 Worms – Ideal for 10–18 gallon systems
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1,000 Worms – For outdoor bins or faster cycling
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2,000 Worms – Bulk up your worm herd and tackle bigger waste streams
Shipping Note:
Worms are shipped in breathable containers with moist, nutrient-rich bedding to buffer them in transit. Open immediately upon arrival. If you’re not ready to place them in a bin right away, keep them cool (but not cold) and dark. Rehydrate bedding if dry. They’re living creatures—don’t ghost them.