No flashing lights, bikes, magnets or iPods here. Just worms in a box. Eating.
Update: Due to popular demand for information about how to care for worm bins, I'm thinking about writing a small book about the subject. Please let me know if you'd be interested in having a little worm bin manual! (Yes, I know there is another such book. I'd like to do one in a slightly different style.)
Years ago, when I was poor and under-employed, I craved a worm bin (aka vermicomposter, aka worm composter), famous for the fastest compost in the West. I did research on the web, and found that commercial bins were expensive, as much as US$200 for an Australian multi-tray "worm farm", which was way too big for my apartment-dwelling self anyway.
That winter, I visited my sister in Oregon nursery country, and she had the brilliant idea to use nursery flats as trays. Guess what some of the commercial bins are made from? One U.S.-made bin got started that way, and has since done some customizing, using their own molds.
I've seen simpler versions of worm bins, a 5 gallon bucket, or a stack big Rubbermaid tubs with a lid. They probably work as well, at least until you want to harvest your worm castings, which you must sift out of the newer bedding and food scraps; not to mention fill a perfectly good tub with a ragged pattern of holes.
The tray version seen here allows you to segregate old from new, in just a few minutes. It also makes trips between "floors" much shorter for the worms. Less crawling, more eating. And pooping. Worm poop is good.
Mine has a couple of issues I have not gotten around to solving, more on that in the last couple of steps.
Update, Sept. '07: After all these years, I finally realized how easy it would be to separate the liquid from the food and castings. The castings I had been getting were thick mud.
Enter the filter! I lined the next to bottom tray with heavy shade cloth, usually used overhead for shading plants, etc. You'll see it in the shade plant section of the nursery where you go to get your flats. I'll post photos later.
Onward to the building part...
Update, : May 28, 2008 See step 7 for some info on how I harvest the castings.
Update March '09: There seems to be a steady stream of questions about how to maintain worm bins. People seem to want more detail than I have provided here, so I'm thinking about writing a small book.
Update March '12: No book has been written yet, but I'm seriously considering making an ebook/iBook. If you're interested, please let me know, it will help me determine the interest level.
Please let me know, preferably via comment or private message, what delivery method you'd prefer. Paper book?, e-book? I kind of like the image of an intrepid composter outside, muddy hands clutching a Kindle. ;-)
Update: Due to popular demand for information about how to care for worm bins, I'm thinking about writing a small book about the subject. Please let me know if you'd be interested in having a little worm bin manual! (Yes, I know there is another such book. I'd like to do one in a slightly different style.)
Years ago, when I was poor and under-employed, I craved a worm bin (aka vermicomposter, aka worm composter), famous for the fastest compost in the West. I did research on the web, and found that commercial bins were expensive, as much as US$200 for an Australian multi-tray "worm farm", which was way too big for my apartment-dwelling self anyway.
That winter, I visited my sister in Oregon nursery country, and she had the brilliant idea to use nursery flats as trays. Guess what some of the commercial bins are made from? One U.S.-made bin got started that way, and has since done some customizing, using their own molds.
I've seen simpler versions of worm bins, a 5 gallon bucket, or a stack big Rubbermaid tubs with a lid. They probably work as well, at least until you want to harvest your worm castings, which you must sift out of the newer bedding and food scraps; not to mention fill a perfectly good tub with a ragged pattern of holes.
The tray version seen here allows you to segregate old from new, in just a few minutes. It also makes trips between "floors" much shorter for the worms. Less crawling, more eating. And pooping. Worm poop is good.
Mine has a couple of issues I have not gotten around to solving, more on that in the last couple of steps.
Update, Sept. '07: After all these years, I finally realized how easy it would be to separate the liquid from the food and castings. The castings I had been getting were thick mud.
Enter the filter! I lined the next to bottom tray with heavy shade cloth, usually used overhead for shading plants, etc. You'll see it in the shade plant section of the nursery where you go to get your flats. I'll post photos later.
Onward to the building part...
Update, : May 28, 2008 See step 7 for some info on how I harvest the castings.
Update March '09: There seems to be a steady stream of questions about how to maintain worm bins. People seem to want more detail than I have provided here, so I'm thinking about writing a small book.
Update March '12: No book has been written yet, but I'm seriously considering making an ebook/iBook. If you're interested, please let me know, it will help me determine the interest level.
Please let me know, preferably via comment or private message, what delivery method you'd prefer. Paper book?, e-book? I kind of like the image of an intrepid composter outside, muddy hands clutching a Kindle. ;-)
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I bought 5 nursery flats (the trays that hold a bunch of small, square pots. They are also used to grow ground cover and grasses in. (you buy the whole flat of plants). [people outside the US, please let me know what's used in your country].
A gruff old country nursery man sold me the flats for seventy-five cents each.
You'll need:
- 3-5 (or more if you eat a lot of vegetables) nursery flats
- a piece of heavy 3-5 mil plastic sheeting, big enough to line one tray with a couple of inches coming out over the top edge. This will be the bottom tray. Another piece to lay over the top as a lid is optional. Better yet, a piece of screen to keep pesky flies out.
- shredded or torn paper for bedding. I first used newspaper, then got a big bag of "cross-cut" shredded office paper from the Accounting dept. It works great, and I don't have to tear paper or put it through a home shredder any more.
- Alernate bedding material: Coffee Chaff! It's the outer skin on coffee beans that literally flakes off during the bean roasting process. I've been using it exclusively for over a year now, and it works great. No word from the worms as to whether or not they are getting a buzz, or having trouble sleeping.
I like this material better because it's a by-product with few "higher" uses; whereas paper can be made into more paper, rather than getting down-cycled into a soil amendment.
- 1 small stick for spreading bedding and food scraps.
- about a pound (a little less will do fine) of red wriggler worms. Start with less if you like, it will just take a little longer to develop a population large enough to fill your trays. Of course, your needs will vary depending on the volume of scraps you generate.
- optional lid to keep varmints and light out. I used a scrap of wood.
- food scraps, vegetable matter only! No fats, which can clog the breathing pores on worm bodies.
A gruff old country nursery man sold me the flats for seventy-five cents each.
You'll need:
- 3-5 (or more if you eat a lot of vegetables) nursery flats
- a piece of heavy 3-5 mil plastic sheeting, big enough to line one tray with a couple of inches coming out over the top edge. This will be the bottom tray. Another piece to lay over the top as a lid is optional. Better yet, a piece of screen to keep pesky flies out.
- shredded or torn paper for bedding. I first used newspaper, then got a big bag of "cross-cut" shredded office paper from the Accounting dept. It works great, and I don't have to tear paper or put it through a home shredder any more.
- Alernate bedding material: Coffee Chaff! It's the outer skin on coffee beans that literally flakes off during the bean roasting process. I've been using it exclusively for over a year now, and it works great. No word from the worms as to whether or not they are getting a buzz, or having trouble sleeping.
I like this material better because it's a by-product with few "higher" uses; whereas paper can be made into more paper, rather than getting down-cycled into a soil amendment.
- 1 small stick for spreading bedding and food scraps.
- about a pound (a little less will do fine) of red wriggler worms. Start with less if you like, it will just take a little longer to develop a population large enough to fill your trays. Of course, your needs will vary depending on the volume of scraps you generate.
- optional lid to keep varmints and light out. I used a scrap of wood.
- food scraps, vegetable matter only! No fats, which can clog the breathing pores on worm bodies.
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That's great and gratifying news that you were able to enlist your native worms and bugs in your cause! Sow bugs have found my bin as well, even though it's inside my garden shed. They're good decomposers too, and seem to co-exist happily with the worms.
Thanks
Why not just add an image to a comment on this Instructable?
If anyone else has made their own bin from this 'ible, please post links and photos here!
Peat is thought to be endangered these days, and is much more valuable staying where it was created than as a storage medium for worms. As you mentioned, newspapers work well, as does coffee chaff, coir (coconut fiber) and other "waste" products.
And of course you know that using all caps in digital communication is considered to be yelling.
IMO, your post is not especially appropriate to this 'ible, and hopefully is not part of the recent epidemic of advertising disguised as comments on blogs, news stories, and, gasp, Instructables!
If you are local I would LOVE the name of the place to get the nursery bins as well! I do not yet know how to dens a personal message, can you send me one?
I got my flats in Oregon, where they are made, but you should be able to find them. I'd start with your local nursery first. If they sell ground cover in flats, they may have some with the smaller holes.
Since worms are cold-blooded, you'll want to make sure they don't get too cold. I keep mine in a shed, which has a cement paver floor, but I raised the bin up on a couple of pieces of wood (like paint stirring sticks) to keep it off of the cold floor.
Ctrl+Vhttp://www.terracycle.net/
as that is where I got my worms and supplies from.
The only other species in common use is the European Nightcrawler, Eisenia hortensis. African Nightcrawlers, Eudrillus eugeniae, are also starting to become a bit popular.