Fruit Box to Worm Box Conversion

Intro: Fruit Box to Worm Box Conversion

You may have seen those plastic stacking fruit boxes in the trash... I did and decided to give my composting (red wigglers) worms a new home...

Nearly every bit of organic matter that has not gone into our bodies has ended up in our worm boxes. 

STEP 1: Materials and Tools

• plastic stacking fruit boxes
• cardboard
• utility knife
• clothes pins (optional)
• plastic bag (optional)
• shovel (optional)

STEP 2: Bag the Bottom

For the bottom fruit box I used an old plastic bag and some clothes pins to hold the corners up. This will keep whatever moisture that flows down out of the worm boxes from making a wet mess. We are balcony gardeners so we try to keep the area dry as possible. So no worm tea on the floor please!

STEP 3: Transfer Worms

Put some cardboard scraps down on the bottom. This helps absorb some of the water and apparently helps in the composting cycle. The worms will consume everything!

Fill the worm and the dirt to the top of the boxes. This way they can crawl up to the next level of the box...

STEP 4: Transfer the Worms

We already have two very active and healthy worm boxes so I transferred the worms and muck into their new home. 

STEP 5: Prep Next Box

Line the box with cardboard, (but not on the bottom!) and put it on top of the box you just filled with worms and dirt and food scraps.

STEP 6: Fruit Box to Worm Box to Garden Box

As the worms eat up through the organic matter I take the bottom fruit box and use it for our garden boxes on the balcony.

Comments

[jbaer85]

i did not make this exact model but i have tried a few very similar. do you keep the boxes in your basement or outside while they are still composting? i kept mine in the basement so they did not overheat but i seem to have less and less worms everytime i harvest? how many worms do you gain? thank you!

[Kamala .J]

Do you buy whole stock?

[metqa]

Very Clever. I wish I were lucky enough to find these sort of crates. I never see them discarded.

[Purocuyu]

where are all these boxes in trash? Are these boxes trash from grocery stores, or are they used to harvest fruit? Are they like milk crates?