best worm bins avaiable

[Bullfrog44]

Mad

How's this for a summary of your post - decide what your goal is - vermicompost or re-cycling.

Both are certainly admirable goals in and of themselves but both have innate and definite competing agendas.

RR

Long term goals - Vermicompost.

Short term goals - anything to get my worm count up.

I am starting to understand this a lot better. The last couple nights I stayed up reading different web sites trying to gain the fundamentals of worm farming. So here is the plan.......I am going to start Rubbermaid bins at first. While the worms are getting comfy, I am going to build a large flow through set up. I was thinking something 4x8 or bigger. I will try to give updates if I do build something cool. Thanks for everything you guys.

 

[rrog]

Very much looking forward to seeing this come about.

 

[h.h.]

What compost?

The vermicompost or even pure castings. Will I get the same build up of micro nutrients from paper and scraps as I would from kelp?
Using the bin for vermicompost, couldn't I run most of what I want,(keeping the nitrogen low), through the bin and end up with a finished medium?

 

[mugenbao]

So here is the plan.......I am going to start Rubbermaid bins at first. While the worms are getting comfy, I am going to build a large flow through set up. I was thinking something 4x8 or bigger. I will try to give updates if I do build something cool. Thanks for everything you guys.

I am using something like Rubbermaid bins, actually stackable recycling bins, same idea. I do get some good quality castings from them, but what I really want is a flow-through bin, so I hope you do post some updates as I'd love to see how it goes

 

[self]

I'm using heavy duty nursery totes...they're sturdy black plastic, 8"x16"x24", with long open perforations all over. I have four of these, two stacks of two, sitting in an old homemade 3'x3' square smartpot in the basement. I'm working on a system of stacking and harvesting so the worms naturally migrate from the bottom tote (oldest food) into the top tote (new food). Hopefully this way the worms will move for me, although I expect to do quite a bit of manual relocation as well. I think it could be a good diy system if I put a little more time into it.

like this...

 

[rrog]

keep us posted, Self. I may start with totes like everyone else seems to do

 

[self]

will do, i'll try to post some pics too.

 

[Microbeman]

I'm using heavy duty nursery totes...they're sturdy black plastic, 8"x16"x24", with long open perforations all over. I have four of these, two stacks of two, sitting in an old homemade 3'x3' square smartpot in the basement. I'm working on a system of stacking and harvesting so the worms naturally migrate from the bottom tote (oldest food) into the top tote (new food). Hopefully this way the worms will move for me, although I expect to do quite a bit of manual relocation as well. I think it could be a good diy system if I put a little more time into it.

They will migrate, absolutely.

 

[Microbeman]

The vermicompost or even pure castings. Will I get the same build up of micro nutrients from paper and scraps as I would from kelp?
Using the bin for vermicompost, couldn't I run most of what I want,(keeping the nitrogen low), through the bin and end up with a finished medium?

Sorry, I was being a bit of a smart ass. The end vermicompost is going to be of a higher quality, naturally with a diversity of foodstock but does it make sense to purchase expensive inputs like kelp to feed them, especially if one can obtain superior results putting kelp into the growing medium. Besides this, how would one know that feeding kelp or...(?) would produce superior vermicompost to rotten lettuce and brocolli? Vermicompost (BTW) is superior to pure castings (IME & O)

too much alfalfa might heat up a bin,

Regarding using a lower amount (5%) of things like alfalfa meal, you assumed I meant the bin heated up. This was not the issue otherwise I would not have exempted manure. [this does not mean don't worry about heat build up from fresh manure]

 

[Bullfrog44]

So I hope this is ok, but this is what I did. BTW, 3 pounds of worms came last night.

I decided I liked the idea of using manure, so I went to the Depot and bought two bags of chicken compost and two bags of steer compost. I couldn't find any peat moss that wasn't made by miracle grow, so I passed on that. Instead I used finely cut up cardboard and mixed that in with the composts. I also added in the middle about 20 tomatoes that had been over ripe from my garden. Also, at the very bottom of my bin I put some landscape fabric at the bottom so no worms would escape but would still air out easy.

How did I do?

 

[Microbeman]

The acidity of the tomatoes worries me. It sounds as if you are feeding them a bunch all at once. It is better to just begin wit 2 or 3 inches of feed/bedding, put the worms in and maybe layer another inch.

 

[jaykush]

im with MM i think you tried a wee bit too hard, all good intentions though. when i start new bins the worms go in with the bedding, and all they get is bedding to eat until established. my bedding = half finished pile compost sifted through 1/2 inch screen.

and its better to start with them cramped somewhat than acres of open space. this way they meet up more often and breed/multiply faster. then like MM said you can start filling up the bin as the population increases. and once full the bin will be far more productive than if you were to put the same amount of worms in a huge bin with tons of space and leave it.

and as always remember less is more and little but often.

 

[Microbeman]

What Jay has mentioned is important to those wishing to increase worm populations. A small crowded bin is going to double in population waaay faster than a large bin with the same number of worms. (Note: Apparently worms do not cross breed outside of species) The reason for this is that the worms breed incessantly and any worm (of the correct species) will do. With close proximity and crowding more mating is goin on down there. [kinda like the 70s] The other thing I've noticed is that they seem to breed more in plastic bins than in wooden bins or piles. This may be due to their love of wet plastic. I see them all the time above the bedding/feed 'mating' on the wet plastic walls and the inside of the lid. You'll notice (perhaps) that worms in the wild (or suburbs) come out onto the wet cement and pavement (or grass) when it is wet outside from rain or dew. I believe this allows them to find decent mates or new feeding grounds as they can motor a little faster on the slimy surface. Even the worms in our piles like to come out on edges of vapour barrier if the light is off.

Several years back many of the 'experts' were hypothesizing worms came out onto the surface in the rain to escape the saturated soil but now most concur that it is mostly for mating. (I guess they took a look ;>)

Years ago; many years ago when I was around 12 years old, with my father's help, I collected some regular Dew worms. I'm not sure what species these were but it was in Ontario Canada (Canadian Night Crawlers???). Anyway, my Dad had been in the practice of growing little white worms (sorry don't know the Latin; Seamaiden?) to feed to his tropical fish. Being the mad scientist, I had a wide assortment of aquariums (around 30) filled with tropical fish along with minnows, trout minnows and all sorts of bugs, larvae, tadpoles, etc. So before anyone had told me better, I decided to try raising these big juicy worms in a box the same way the white ones were raised. I wanted them to feed the fish, not for compost. I fed them moldy bread got for free from the baker's. They thrived and I regularly chopped them up to feed to the fish which looooved them. I repeated this practice when teaching in a three room country school in the 70s with equal success using a plastic garbage pail. [I had some minnows in an aquarium in the school for the kids]

The moral of the story might be that one can use dew worms like one digs for fishing as a cheap/free resource for vermicompost.

 

[Bullfrog44]

Fist off I would like to start by saying this is an 18gal container, and I ordered 3,000 worms. I was thinking 3000 would be enough for a "full" bin that size. Is that not true? Please educate me.

The acidity of the tomatoes worries me. It sounds as if you are feeding them a bunch all at once. It is better to just begin wit 2 or 3 inches of feed/bedding, put the worms in and maybe layer another inch.

CRAP. I thought the same thing about the tomatoes. However with how big my bin is, and how much manure there was, I thought it wouldn't be a big deal.
Go any suggestion on what to do from here?

im with MM i think you tried a wee bit too hard, all good intentions though. when i start new bins the worms go in with the bedding, and all they get is bedding to eat until established. my bedding = half finished pile compost sifted through 1/2 inch screen.

and its better to start with them cramped somewhat than acres of open space. this way they meet up more often and breed/multiply faster. then like MM said you can start filling up the bin as the population increases. and once full the bin will be far more productive than if you were to put the same amount of worms in a huge bin with tons of space and leave it.

and as always remember less is more and little but often.

I tried a wee bit too hard for sure, lol. This is how we learn, the hard way I guess. Thanks for the info on keeping them cramped for breeding. I won't forget that tid bit of info.



Thanks for taking the time you guys.......I need to learn me some more.

 

[self]

i've begun harvesting my first real batch of castings, and they are choice.
very rich, fine dark earth all up in my fingernails...topdressed the ladies today, looking forward to the surface root explosion!

 

[Bullfrog44]

STRIKE ONE!!!!!

All my worms have died............

No idea why, other than the reasons mentioded by you guys eirlier. Plus, I may have sprayed too much water. I think the compost was already moist, and me spraying it may have made things too wet. I don't know............I still have two strikes.

 

[Microbeman]

I think it would be the tomatoes and not likely the wet

 

[ShroomDr]

If i can add a little, or at least join in the conversation.


First, youre not going to get casing that quickly. Doesnt matter what you do, the worms work at their own pace.

Second, Pre-fab 'worm bins' may look a slightly nicer, but they are not necessary. A bunch of stacked rubbermaid containers, with their bottoms drilled to allow worms to travel between them, is a lot cheaper and will hold much more substrate. Dont drill the bottom container, and dont let the substrate depth get over 8-10".

Third, horse manure should be from worms that have not recently been fed de-wormer. Seems like a no brainer, but something that could be overlooked.

Forth, worms dont like it too wet or too acidic. Dolomite lime helps keep the pH from getting too low. They dont like it too dry either, but thats normally not a problem.

I started my worm bin this summer, i fucked with it too much, added too much too fast, it started to smell of sulfur. Finally decided to quit fucking with it. Now i see a shit ton of baby worms and black gold.

But i still dont think ill have enough casings to make a significant contribution to my spring garden.

 

[mad librettist]

But i still dont think ill have enough casings to make a significant contribution to my spring garden.

you will if you use a flow-thru design, and grind up the food

 

[jammie]

i think shroom came up with the answer to 99.99999% of the problems people on this and other forums have, whether its growing worms, pot,ect- they fuck with it too much. every time i go to my grow room or even my veggie and flower garden, i keep repeating - LOOK BUT DON'T TOUCH!