Worm composting area ideas???????

[April Manier]

For years I have had a kitchen scraps area that I add brown material or shredded paper to for my worm area. BUT I want a system that is big enough to acomodate the farm and somehow drops the super dirt out the bottom. Any ideas for a structure that might do this?

I thought about welding a 5x5 piece of mesh like a table 2 feet off the ground and another "table of screen about 6 inches above it. This would allow dirt to sift through and maybe enclosing the top screen like a box for the worms and mixings.

 

[kinjinnm]

I think the system would dry out to fast, worms like a certain amount of moisture to keep themselves hydrated.

If you have a tractor with a front scoop I would build compost bins wide enough to accommodate the scoop and keep the material moving from bin to bin until it's done. Then I would use your sifting idea to get the good soil you are after.

For kitchen scraps I use two 20 -30 gallon Rubbermaid bins with drain holes drilled in the bottom of one which sits elevated three inches inside the other to catch the super water that drains from the top bin. I pulverize egg shells and avocado skins to speed up the decomposition process, everything else goes in as is, no meat fat or bones.
I keep it in the garage covered but vented on a piece of Styrofoam for bottom insulation, the worms were active all through the winter. At this time it has about of foot of very black worm casting which I'll mix with other composted yard waste for pot starting soil.

For worms I started with red wigglers I bought at a bait shop, I was amazed by how fast they reproduced and consumed the scraps.
Good luck

 

[April Manier]

I love the idea of catching the water! I'm a compost tea buff but never thought of worm casting juice.

Great food for thought...

 

[Organics North]

The run off from the worm bin is absolute gold.....
Even better than worm casting tea.. I bubble the worm bin run off a day or so and it really foams up with biological life..

I too think an open bottom would dry out too fast... Seperating worms from castings is so time consuming... I am all ears to a better way.

The migration method only works OK for me. I still always have lots of worms in the bottom of the bin.
ON