Building my worm bin

Garden_by_Faith · Mon Feb 06, 2012 4:42 am

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 · Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:13 am

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.

ruggr10 · Mon Feb 06, 2012 1:04 pm

I don't bother with the holes on the bottom. If my bin gets too wet I either add more dry paper or leave the top off in a sunny or lighted area and let it dry. Too messy to move if I'm worried about holes in the bottom.

Garden_by_Faith · Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:05 pm

Awesome! Thanks guys

GardenRN · Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:34 pm

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.

PunkRotten · Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:37 pm

I don't put any holes on the bottom of my bin but I do have holes in the lid. I never had any problems as far as being soggy or moldy. You just have to not get crazy with the spray bottle. And you gotta check the been weekly and flip it.

PunkRotten · Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:40 pm

Buy worms online. I got about 1000 worms for about $25 bucks I think. And these are the red wigglers, better for worm bins I hear. Buying just a few dozen worms will be ultra slow making worm castings. Even with this thousand worms I got I don't get a lot of worm castings all that fast.

GardenRN · Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:45 pm

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.

cynthia_h · Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:09 pm

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

PunkRotten · Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:45 pm

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.

GardenRN · Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:24 am

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

GardenGnome · Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:13 am

[url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000Q5S7RM/?ie=UTF8&tag=thehelpfulgar-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325]https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000Q5S7RM/[/url]

1000 worms from amazon

GardenGnome · Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:14 am

Can you mix diffrent worms in a bin?

PunkRotten · Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:46 am

I hear it is not recommended.

@ GardenRN are you using Red wigglers or nightcrawlers?

ruggr10 · Tue Feb 07, 2012 4:40 pm

If you mix different types of worms in a bin, the dominant species would take over. So, one species would outwork another and you would end up with only one species left. Waste of money!

Garden_by_Faith · Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:28 pm

I found a local "Worm Lady" and for a pound of worms its $45. I could look into the bait shops too. There are tons here, I live by a million lakes. I would much rather go local than online or Walmart (I'm anti-Walmart) I try to support the mom & pop shops.

estorms · Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:29 pm

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.