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Building my worm bin
So I have everything for my worm bin, except the worms. I'm hoping I can find a local place where I can get worms. I have a rubber made tube, scrape paper, and kitchen scrapes. Once I get the worms I will drill holes into the top of the bin...is there anything else I am missing??? Suggestions?
- rainbowgardener
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Yes... you will want to also drill holes in the bottom of the tub, for fluids to drain out. Then you will need some kind of tray under it to catch the fluids ("leachate"). If you don't have some drainage, it will get too soggy, maybe moldy. If you don't catch it, it will be messy (if indoors) and besides the leachate is nutrient rich stuff, you can use on your plants.
Have fun! I didn't do one this winter, but I did last winter and enjoyed it.
Have fun! I didn't do one this winter, but I did last winter and enjoyed it.
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as far as finding a local worm supplier goes, if you can't find a place selling them as composting worms, as I couldn't, try a bait and tackle store if you have one in your area. Some carry red worms instead of night crawlers for bait. Hint: walmart only carries night crawlers. So look for more of a "mom and pop" bait shop. The one by me had tubs of 20 worms for like $1.50. I got 3. If I were you, I'd start with more like 100. 60 is working, and they're having babies, but it could be going faster. or maybe I'm just impatient.
Naaah that's not it.
Naaah that's not it.
- PunkRotten
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- PunkRotten
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PR, I"m interested in how many you got and how fast...
With my 60 worms, I got right about 4-5 cups in a month and a half. Mostly just letting them eat the paper with a little bit of apple and banana peel. how much did your put out?
I never got the ones online because the shipping was almost as much as the worms.
With my 60 worms, I got right about 4-5 cups in a month and a half. Mostly just letting them eat the paper with a little bit of apple and banana peel. how much did your put out?
I never got the ones online because the shipping was almost as much as the worms.
You can also put a request on your local FreeCycle list. Experienced composters may have worms to give you for the picking up. I've given compost worms to a couple of people every season for the past three or four years via FreeCycle.
https://freecycle.org
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
https://freecycle.org
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Last edited by cynthia_h on Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- PunkRotten
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GardenRN wrote:PR, I"m interested in how many you got and how fast...
With my 60 worms, I got right about 4-5 cups in a month and a half. Mostly just letting them eat the paper with a little bit of apple and banana peel. how much did your put out?
I never got the ones online because the shipping was almost as much as the worms.
I don't really pay attention too much but I get around 8-12 cups of castings every 2-3 months. But I am also lazy and do not harvest the castings often because it requires separating the worms from the casting. I probably could get more if I harvested the castings often. I also do not feed them very much. I am more worried about the worm bin crashing than trying to produce castings very fast. I have had instances in the past with other bugs showing up but now I do not see any problems.
I originally bought these worms to breed as food for some of my fish. But since I am also into gardening I get an extra benefit to keeping them. I don't think I have quite a 1000 worms right now maybe just a few hundred. That is pretty impressive the amount you get with the amount of worms you have.
maybe it was a fast start lol. It seems to be going a little slower since I emptied it out. But I think the biggest sign that everything is going well is the worm eggs. I figure like most things, if they are reproducing, things are generally going well. I think that's true for every animal except for humans! lol
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- PunkRotten
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I am not going to buy worms. I won't keep them in the house either. How about a four sided bottomless box in a damp shady area. I could throw in the worms I find on the driveway after a rain. Will they stay close to their food, or just crawl away? The plan is to have bait all summer and then dump them on the garden in the fall.