Easy Worm Bin – Original Post by littlegreenfamily.com
ACTIVITY LEVEL:
Anyone can participate but adults are required to use power tools.
ITEMS NEEDED:
- Two dark-colored 8-10 gallon plastic storage containers
- A drill and 1/4” and 1/16” drill bits
- Newsprint
- Window screening, cut in 1” x 1” squares (or you can get a window screen patch kit from your local hardware store)
- One pound of red wiggler worms (1lb = about 1,000 worms. We buy ours from unclejimswormfarm.com)
A pound of worms will eat about a half pound of food each day. This is a GREAT way to minimize the amount of food that ends up in our landfills, causing harmful methane emissions.
DIRECTIONS:
- Drill about twenty 1/4” evenly-spaced holes in the bottom of one storage bin. These holes will be used to drain excess fluid or “worm tea” into the second bin. We don’t want worms to escape, so use a tiny bit of glue to attach the window screen squares over these holes.
- Drill ventilation holes about 1 inch apart around the top of the same storage bin using the 1/16” drill bit. Also drill some evenly spaced holes in the top of one of the lids.
- Worms need bedding that is moist (not soaked!) Tear newsprint into 1” strips. Run some water over it, squeeze out the excess and then fluff it up. You want to cover the bottom of the bin with about 4” of moist newsprint. Throw in a handful of soil to help the worms digest their food.
- Add a few bricks in the second, undrilled bin. Set the first, drilled bin on top of this one. The second bin will catch any excess water or “worm tea” from the drilled bin.
- Add the worms the top bin and cover them (and the newsprint scraps) with a small piece of damp cardboard and fasten the lid. Otherwise, worms will escape!
- If you have your worms shipped to you, they will take a few days to get adjusted to their new surroundings. After that, you may feed them your kitchen scraps and watch them create that wonderful “black gold!”
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
- Worms multiply FAST. Within three months, a healthy colony will double in size!
- Doesn’t look like your worms are eating the food you give them? Make sure it’s on the food list, and remember they can eat the food only after it has started decomposing. So you only need to feed them every few days (in order to give the food a chance to decompose in the bin).
- Remember to keep the worms in a slightly moist environment. If they start to crawl to the top of the bin, add some dry newsprint. Eventually the worms will eat the paper, so make sure to keep a good 4” in the bin.
- Do not feed your worms ANY animal products other than egg shells. They will NOT eat meat. The best things to feed your worms are: breads & grains, cereal, coffee grounds & filter, fruits, tea bags, and vegetables. Cutting everything into tiny pieces will help speed up the process.
- To harvest the vermicompost, shine a flashlight into the bin and the worms will dig deeper. By the handful, you can scoop out the “black gold.”
- If you notice fruit flies in your bin, you need to bury your food deeper.
- If your bin starts to smell (it shouldn’t smell foul at all), make sure it is well ventilated by drilling more holes in the top bin.
