A worm composting bin can be of any material and any size as long as the basic elements of proper air and dampness can be sustained by it.

Types of bins vary from the stacking bins which can be bought, or homemade bins such as window boxes to plastic bins/totes  or wooden boxes with plenty of air holes punched in the sides and tops.

On the post “Worm Bedding Material’, I’ve explained one type of bin you can use; that is, my method of using a window box as a bin for your worms.

In this post I will give you two other ways besides my window box idea to construct your bin: 1) using a big garbage plastic bin and 2) using a smaller plastic container/tote  as explained on video by Christy Ruffner from

http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com

First example:

One enterprising young man who wanted plenty of worm castings used a big garbage plastic bin.  At the bottom on one side, he cut out a door so that he could quickly retrieve the worm castings without necessarily having to deal with the worms themselves.

Then he bought rods that wouldn’t rust or rot and with the proper size drill, he made holes all around the plastic bin so that he could put these rods through from one side of the bin to the other side.

These rods more or less created a platform which was about 2 feet from the bottom of the bin and parallel to it.  He made sure the rods were close enough they could easily hold a bedding of damp newspapers to hold his precious worms.

One added precaution would be to put a net or screening under the newspapers to avoid losing the tiny baby worms once the newspapers had decomposed or been eaten by the worms.

Second Example:

This video is called DIY Worm Bin 101 in which Christy explains step by step how to prepare a plastic tote so it can be used for worm composting.

Obviously the important things to do to keep your worms happy is to make sure that they are in a damp environment, not a soaking wet one nor a dry one, hence the holes at the bottom for drainage and containers of some sort to harvest this “compost tea”. Also if the bedding dries up, spray with dechlorinated water until the material is damp.

Second, the worms need air; therefore, you must drill holes in areas where the soil will not fall out these holes as well as at the top where the holes can get the most air through so would be the most beneficial.

Putting screening or some sort of net as explained in the video is also a good idea.

However, now that you have read about three different versions of “what to use for a bin” from three different people, you probably realized that these bins are as varied as the people who make them. What will you use for your bin?

Good luck!
Marcie

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The five best types of materials to be used as worm bedding material are as follows:

1. Loam or black topsoil available from garden centers makes particularly good worm bedding material for your worms.

2. Bedding can also be shredded newspaper which have been soaked and drained to soften the edges. The newspaper should be damp and not soaking wet when you place it in your “worm’s home” as bedding. Since the worms will eat this too, avoid colored inks and glossy paper.

3. Other worm bedding material could be a mixture of sawdust, peat moss, shredded leaves and ordinary soil (all of these should be moist, of course).
By the way, peat moss, although a great soil additive, should be used with restraint only because our bogs where peat moss is gathered are getting depleted. They need to be given time to replenish.

Instead try using soil which is cheap and easy to use. If you live in an apartment, you have to buy soil anyway, so why not enrich it with vermicompost?

If you use trays, moist paper is sufficient as worm bedding.

If you use a deeper container, fill the worm bin with about a foot of soft bedding, about as damp as a wrung-out sponge.  Since you have provided air holes all around and underneath the bin itself, you can add a lid on the bin to help maintain the correct moisture level.

I use a window box to hold the worms, soil, and food, and tip another window box over it making sure there is plenty of circulation space where the two window boxes meet in the middle  by skewing the top one a bit.  If the top one is larger than the bottom one, then obviously no skewing is needed.  This “bin” is kept in a  cool corner of my apartment where the sun can not reach it. My worms seem to like it and have never tried to escape.

Click on the thumbnail for better view.  Notice the containers under the bottom box to catch drippings when I add water to moisten the drying soil.

At first I had only about a 1/2 dozen worms and I had split up my container into two areas where I had added soil. When the  time for harvesting the compost was right,  I was hoping to entice the worms with food to the other end so that I would not have to sort out the worms.

Here’s what it looked like back in the fall of 2007.  Clik here for the  full story on how I got hooked on using vermicompost for my plants.

Now I fill the whole window box with soil because I have so many worms, and I spread the food on top or work the food into the soil to avoid having to deal with fruit flies.  Notice how the top box extends farther out than the bottom one because it is a larger window box, so the worms get plenty of air circulation which in turn allows for anearobic composting i.e. no smell.

For drainage, I raise the container holding the worm and mulch about 1 inch from the floor and slide plastic containers (Or whatever you have around) to catch the drippings. I never overwater  . . .  just add enough when the soil gets drier so the worms are kept happy.

(Please note:
I never use water just out of the tap because here in the city the water from the tap contains chlorine and fluoride; instead I will fill containers about 1 day ahead . . . enough to water all my plants, and I leave the water sit, uncovered, so that the chlorine can escape from the water.

Also, if you have a house, you can gather rainwater in barrels and use that for the worms if needed.

(Thank you, Irvine, for reminding me about using barrels.  When I had my house, I had 3 rain barrels, and I loved using the rainwater on my gardens too.  I can’t do that here at the apartment, so I had forgotten that other people have the space to do that.)

Again, you may want to read about my experience with worms when I first started making vermicompost a few years ago by going to http://PlantsAndGardeningTips.com/worm-castings-how-well-does-it-work/.

Now the next step is to find out what types of worms you can use and what food you might give them. These topics will be dealt with in future posts.

Until then . . .

Happy composting!

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<h1><span style=”font-size: x-small;”>Did you know that worm castings are the absolute best enriching material you can put in your soil around your plants?</span style></h1>

This past spring I have personally found out how superior to synthetic fertilizers and other liquid fertilizer even a trowel full of soil with worm castings in it can be.

Here’s more about my experience with composting worms and using the castings at http://www.plantsandgardeningtips.com/.

Harvesting the nutrient filled soil or worm casting can be somewhat work intensif.  If you use a whole container or, as in my case,  the whole window box without dividing into sections for feeding the wigglers, it will take  a little more work to remove the nutrient-filled soil from the container and replace it with new soil because you have to be so careful about not harvesting your worms also.  You went them to remain in the new soil which you will use for bedding.

When I feel there is sufficient nutrient-rich super soil in the entire window box and I want to use it, I begin by Read the rest of this entry »

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Your worms can live in a plastic bin or wooden box with plenty of air holes punched in the sides and top. You can line the worm bin with nylon net to keep the small ones in. Holes in the bottom are needed for drainage so you’ll want a tray under the bin.

I have a different type of bin — Read the rest of this entry »

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Composting with earthworms or “vermicomposting”  is great for apartment dwellers . . .

who don’t have yard space and for those homeowners who don’t want to hike through snowdrifts to a backyard compost bin.

In addition, kids love Read the rest of this entry »

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