So why compost with worms anyway?
Well first of all you can compost kitchen waste all year long. For many people this may not be that important but for those of us up in the frozen north being able to compost during the winter allows you to produce more valuable compost. The compost you get is also said to be superior to conventionally composted material. Plus you also get worms that you can either use for more composting operations or even take fishing with you.
So the bin we built started with two plastic storage containers. like this one.
The first thing you need to do is provide a way to manage the moisture in your bin. Worms exude moisture during the composting process and the food that you add also has moisture in it. That means that if their was no way for water to leave the bin your worms would soon drown. So we made a bunch of holes in the bottom of one of the bins. I have been told that quarter inch holes are small enough to avoid plugging but large enough to keep most of your worms from leaving.
It is also important to make sure that the worms can get enough oxygen so I drilled holes in the top of the bin as well. The lid also helps to keep light out of the bins as the worms are also sensative to light and we don't want to stress them.
Lastly I nested the bin that was drilled into the un-perforated twin. The second bin will catch the moisture that comes off the bin.
So that is the bin. later I plan to tell you how to set one up and how well our first one is working out for us.
Frustrated Farmer Rick
4 comments:
Rick -- According to the worm composting class I took from Worm Bin Composting, there shouldn't be too much moisture coming from your bin. If there is, it is because you have been feeding them too much and there's too little bedding. See my post at http://bit.ly/gimgF9 for more about feeding worms.
Hey Bill
Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I won't argue with what you learned in any class as I don't claim to be an expert in this. However I think just about every tutorial I can find online suggests holes in the bottom of a plastic bin to allow drainage and every currently available commercial bin I can find pictures of also has some way to ensure drainage. But your point is valid about proper feeding and bedding and I hope to get into that with the follow up post this weekend.
Rick,
I have a wooden box (3 X 7) out back of my house and if I had to guess I would say that there are between 20 - 30,000 worms in there now. I started with 5,000 last April.
I was afraid that I was going to loose the whole bunch because of the cold this winter, So I moved a couple thousand into plastic bin and took them inside. Thay are in my utility room and have doubled in numbers too! I do not have drain holes in any of the totes, But make sure that bedding is a major part of the totes.
I will be adding another box outside as soon as night time temps remain above 50 degrees.
Check out my Blog @ worms-a-crawlingfarm.blogspot.com if you like!
Tom
Thanks for the Comment Tom, and I will check out your blog.
It does look like there is some debate about the necessity of drainage holes in plastic bins. I guess I can't really speak with any authority on the matter as I am still quite new to vermicomposting. A quick review of Mary Appelhof's book Worms Eat My Garbage seems to suggest that moisture can be a problem in plastic bins and that holes should be present in the bins if not for drainage then at least for ventilation to maintain an aerobic environment in the bin.
But again I am going with what works for me and I hope everyone that reads this will go with what works for them.
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