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

Popularity: 15% [?]

 Email This Post
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 9:39 pm and is filed under 5. Worm Composting or Vermicomposting, E. Make A Worm Bin Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.