worm bin

[beavis]

Brother in law was going to throw out this old shop cabinet. I decided to turn it into a worm bin to recycle paper, cardboard, fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc into beautiful compost.

Assembly begins.

The floor goes on.

Top is on and first coat of paint. Bin is located on the patio in a mostly shady location.

Worm "bedding" with newspaper, fruit/vegetable scraps,etc.

The worms are in! Hundreds of them in this decomposing horse manure that is on top of the bedding. Now all I have to do is feed and water them and the worms will do the rest!

 

[hoodat]

Worms are the best buddies a gardener can have. Worm castings are the only thing better than compost. Did you know you can measure the potash and phosphorus in soil and if you run it through a worm the reading gets higher? They take all the tied up nutrients and break them loose so plants can use them.

 

[IzzyM]

What a great idea for building a wormery! Photos are great too - thanks for sharing

 

[Rio_Lindo_AZ]

Oh, very nice. If I were a worm, that would most certainly be my dream home. Oh boy, look at all that manure!





Nice job,
~RLAZ

 

[lesa]

That really turned out great! Can't wait to hear the report, as you progress. I wonder if you could do something like that here in zone 4? As interested as I am in the idea- the thought of worms in the house kind of freaks me out...Looks like you have a perfect spot!

 

[hoodat]

As I recall almost every home in upstate New York (especially the older ones) has a cellar. You can keep worms there. The lower temperature will slow down their metabolism somewhat but with enough worms you can all but eliminate most household scraps and turn them into useful worm castings. There is no objectional (is that a word? It is now.) odor if the bin is properly tended.

 

[IzzyM]

I have a queston on worms for a wormery if anyone can help. What are the so-called 'red worms' that all these web sites refer to? All I can get here in Europe are the good old garden earth-worm. Are they the same?
Could I theoretically have a composting bin full of earthworms inside my house? I've got a little kind of outbuilding attached to the kitchen that is sort of open to the elements (its enclosed but with empty window spaces). Could I keep earthworms there, at least over the winter?
I live in what is basically USDA zone 10 but we do get cold in winter, though not below freezing. I've asked other people but no-one seems to answer.
Got worms in the compost heap outside, but I want some to eat the kitchen organic waste in the winter.

 

[hoodat]

Garden worms are poor candidates for a worm bin. they need too much soil and low temperatures. I'm sure you can find red worms if you can find a decayed manure pile. They will be living in it.Red worms live in almost pure vegetable matter with very little soil. Red worms live best in temperatures that are comfortable to you or a bit higher. Cold weather will not kill them so long as they don't freeze but their metabolism will slow down so they eat and reproduce slower.