Kokua Worms

We had a worm die off disaster due to overheating, so needed to start from scratch (lost thousands of worms). Leslie and her mother Victoria supplied me with a new starter batch at a very reasonable price $ 10 per oz net weight. (btw don’t go to a certain garden shop on Dillingham which charges $ 20 per oz gross weight — includes the castings). Very knowledgable and willing to answer all your questions whether you are a starter or a veteran. I will be going back to get supplies & more worms to accelerate colony regeneration.

Great place to learn so much about worms! Highly recommend! Important to know that she is moving to appointment only as of 2÷2÷15! Leave her a voicemail and she will get back to you!

I visited Kokua Worms after making an appointment with Leslie about three months ago. She took a great deal of time to walk me through every step of the process of vermicomposting — turning vegetable scraps, clean paper and other things we would normally throw away into rich «gardener’s gold» for my veggies! For a beginner, the process can be confusing but Leslie showed me every step carefully, even demonstrating with examples she had set up in her shop of a new bin, a mature bin and the finished vermicast.
Leslie recommended, and I purchased, 4 ounces of «Indian Blue & Red Wiggler» worms mixed together. I asked her why the two different types of worms were sold together. She said that they are complementary to each other, live well in the same environment, and don’t interbreed. It is important to get the right type of composting worms for our hot, sunny climate. While I initially felt that $ 10 per ounce was expensive for worms, once I understood how much work goes into raising and harvesting the worms, I saw that the price was quite reasonable.
I did get a block of coconut fiber to help make their new bed, but bought the bin components separately from Wal-​Mart and drilled my own holes. While I am happy with my finished worm bin, it would have probably been cheaper and easier to buy one of Leslie’s pre-​assembled kits instead.
To set up the worm bin, I used a 20-​gallon plastic bin with a locking lid. I drilled small holes all over the bottom of the bin and the lid. I then used a shallow, matching bin underneath to catch water. The upper bin is raised with a piece of wood. It is very important that the bin drain quickly and completely because while the wormmies like to be moist and love baths, they do not want to sit in stagnant water for any period of time!
I mixed torn up egg cartons and other cardboard with the coconut fiber and wet it down thoroughly for their bed. I placed raw vegetable scraps, cut up fine, equal to the approximate weight of the worms for their food. The worms along with some of their old environment were added with the food. The top layer was mostly shredded paper. The worms will eat approximately their own weight in food every day.
Now it is three months later and the wormmies seem to be happy. At least, they are alive, and I see babies. I feed them not too regularly, maybe once every five days or a week. I give them a good bath with a gentle spray from the hose almost every day. Ants have invaded the bin and even started breeding in it, which worried me at first, but the worms seemed to have survived it and other than the competition for food, they don’t seem to mind much. The locking top I am pretty sure keeps out any rats or mice.
We seem to produce much more vegetable waste — watermelon rinds, carrot outsides, strawberry tops, coffee grounds etc. — than I can reasonably feed the worms. I freeze the excess in Ziplock bags after making sure it is chopped up fine. Then I ran out of room in the freezer. So there is plenty of room for growth as far as I am concerned.
Anyway, I highly recommend visiting Leslie for both education and worms. She is awesome!

If you’re thinking of starting a worm bin or if your child has to do for school, you won’t find a much better place on this island than Kokua Worms.
This is a small business run by a very, very friendly woman named Leslie. I dropped into the store a couple of months ago to answer some questions about worm bins. We ended up talking about the science of it for about an hour and it didn’t even seem like that long.
You can tell Leslie has passion for the product she is selling. She gives the kind of personal attention and service you want from a small business. The best thing about her is I found out she actually has a bin. That means she knows what she’s talking about, she isn’t just trying to shill a product for money.
I ended up more interested in worms when I left! If she can do that for a twenty-​something, imagine her influence on a child in elementary school!
This place can be a little hard to find, look the «East Asian Basket Co.» sign near the corner of Queen Street and Coral Street. If you see the Subway restaurant on Queen Street, you have gone too far. Turn around!

WORMS, WORM POOP, and POOP TEA sold here! Turn your organic waste into GOLD!!!
This new worm store opened a few weeks ago in Kakaako and sells all the worms/​vermicast/​vermicast tea you need! (FYI The Waikiki Worm Company retail store on King St. has closed, but you can still use gift certificates here if you have them from Waikiki Worm)
For my son’s project and first pet, we bought a $ 68 starter bin which includes a 10 gallon bin with holes already drilled in all the right places, 4 oz of composting worms (which are different from your garden earthworms), two bricks and a tray to catch the vermicast tea (worm poop tea), the book «Worms Eat my Garbage», and one block of Coconut Coir Fiber.
They sell worms by themselves without the bins as well, if you already have a system and want more worm friends to make more worm poop (gardener’s gold)!
They also sell locally made vermicast (worm poop) by the pound. A guy bought 50 pounds of vermicast while we were there for his vegetable garden for over $ 250! That stuff really is like GOLD.
I can’t wait to turn my food scraps into gold!
Location: 2^nd floor of blue bldg on Queen/​Cooke St.
Hours: Tues-​Sat 9:30a-2:30p