Worm Women Promote Vermicomposting in Hawaii
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO on 09.25.06
Composting with worms is becoming de rigueur in Hawaii thanks to the work of former state representative Mindy Jaffe. Jaffe founded her company Waikiki Worm Co. a year ago, and has trained over 2,000 people on how to dispose of their organic wastes more... well, organically through the magic of redworms. One of her students is Wendie McClain, the wife of University of Hawaii president David McClain. McClain put a worm composting system (which looks an awful lot like the Can-O-Worms) in her kitchen a year ago; the collection of red wigglers is now a showpiece for visiting guests:
Guests at College Hill may be startled to see the University of Hawaii president's wife feeding worms in the kitchen.Jaffe's membership in the state House's environmental protection committee spurred her interest in vermicomposting, as she heard testimony about the state's waste management practices that "appalled" her. Since then, she's become an advocate for worm composting, even talking the Waianae Elementary Public Charter School into composting all of its school lunch wastes (which will begin next year). A state like Hawaii doesn't want to devote a whole lot of its limited space to landfills, so Jaffe's work can help the Aloha State keep its wastes in check. ::Honolulu Star-Bulletin"They're little dainty red worms," said Wendie McClain, scooping up a handful from a bin. "Everybody who comes for dinner, I take them and show them the bin. Some people say we're crazy. Some think it's great." ...
In the beginning, McClain said she had to collect food for the worms because she and her husband are light eaters.
Their housekeeper, Devie Mantanona, who has two sons, would bring food waste for the bin, she said: "She's my worm caretaker. I ask her to water it in the morning.
"We started changing our diet for the worms," McClain said, explaining they like watermelon, vegetables and lemons. "We feel guilty throwing anything out. We bring leftovers home when we eat out."
Caterers that go to College Hill also are asked to save leftovers for the worms. "They peek in," McClain said. "They love it."
As a former vermicomposter, and a former worm-composting workshop teacher, I recommend that Wendie McClain think carefully about where these redworms will go after chewing up the leftover veggies. Most earthworms are not native to North America. I doubt there are any native earthworms in Hawai'i. In other North American ecosystems, such as the northwoods of Minnesota, introduced earthworms (deposited by anglers or vermicomposters) are destroying the ecosystem by eating the duff layer, which otherwise provides necessary thermal insulation for perennial native woodland plants (including infant trees), native insects, and other small animals, in winter. Though the plants in Hawai'i don't need protection from the cold in winter, they do need the highly transitory organic material in the soils. In tropical ecosystems, organic matter breaks down so quickly that the soil typically has very little organic matter, compared to the soils in temperate climates. Add worms to that system, and the decomposition may speed up even more, leaving nutrient-poor soils incapable of supporting native (or introduced) plants.
There may also be other problems currently unanticipated. For example, bacteria in the gut of earthworms have been shown to exchange genetic material. (My first worms came from a graduate student who was studying this.) Worms may introduce diseases or displace other native soil species. If there are no native species that have evolved to eat worms, they may expand their populations exponentially. Hawai'i already has so many problems caused by introduced species, I shudder to think of the problems introduced worms may cause!
If vermicomposters want to use the compost in their gardens or flowerbeds, or even in potted plants, the worms and their egg cases must be killed. The most usual method is by baking the compost at a high enough temperature to kill the eggs as well as the worms. Humans being what they are, however, someone will be sloppy and just dump the compost directly into their garden. As worms rarely stay where they're put, they'll escape into the ecosystem.
To read an article about forest damage by earthworms:
A New Angle on Earthworms, Author: Mortensen, Steve
Minnesota Conservation Volunteer Magazine, July-August 1998
To request a hard copy of this article, please send the name of the article, month and year of publication, and your mailing address to mcvarticles@dnr.state.mn.us.
Keywords: Forest management
Earthworms
I agree. I have also written on this topic, for readers who may not have access to the article in the previous comment:
http://tinyurl.com/m47om
I am interesed in adding worms to my 15 gal compost bin. I have written to Uncle Jim's worm farm already and notice you have him on your site. Can you tell me if there is any place on the Big Island were I could get worms.
Thank you.
Tom