For anyone that has missed the prior posts concerning the making and update of the flow through worm composting bin, here are the links which will open in a new window.

How to build a flow through worm composting bin for under $40.00

Homemade Flow Through Worm Compost Bin Update 1

The first picture illustrates a layer of brown material and mostly gone through green material underneath. You can see the cantaloupe seeds have been growing as I added one last week which is all about gone already. The worms can barely be seen in this picture; however they are doing well with a massive amount of juvenile red wiggler worms now surviving in the worm bin as well.

The next picture shows the underside of the flow through worm composting bin exposing the weed whacker line I used to support the bedding material and food scraps I have been adding. There is a little remainder of the layers of newspaper I used originally to support the base material I was adding. This is what you still see hanging on the left side of the picture below.

You can also see the vermicompost being supported by the weed whacker line. I originally did the scraping of vermicompost last week. When I checked the bottom of the flow through worm bin today, there was approximately two cups of vermicompost which had fallen to the bottom by itself.

This goes along with my theory that the weed whacker line is sufficient to support the material above as well as the weight. You will notice the bow in the weed whacker line, however figuring it is supporting well over fifty pounds of material at present, this is to be expected.

I will post further updates on this system down the road.

Bruce

Hence I went to the drawing board to come up with a solution for my own needs. It is actually a simple device that fits and spins manually in an 18 gallon size Rubbermaid bin. The main unit is built from a five gallon plastic kerosene can.

Keep in mind this worm harvester is for the small worm farmer. It works effectively for one to a number of bins, however once you begin to raise worms on a larger scale, you will want to replace this unit.

I used a stainless steel rod however one could use a short ½” copper pipe. I do recommend sliding end caps on the ends of the pipe so as not to cut oneself when working with the worm harvester. I slid the rod or copper pipe through ¾” PVC fittings on both sides of the bin as well as the five gallon can.

The neat part about this worm harvester is that I use a number of bungee cords to hold the screen in place, enabling myself to start with a 1/8″ screen, then a ¼” screen and finally a ½” screen. This enabled me to separate the worm castings, cocoons and small vermicompost particles effectively.

To work the worm harvester, simply place a small amount of worm compost into the bin, close up the screen opening with two bungee cords and spin the harvester one way then the other way. Once completed, open the screen, remove the left over material and place in a holding bucket or bin. Repeat until you have harvested everything from your bin and proceed to the next screen size and so on…

The other nice feature is when I was done using the harvester; I simply pulled the rod out and wrapped all three screens around the five gallon can, placed back into the bin and placed my lid on top.  Everything but the rod can be stored within the worm harvesting bin

Bruce

First, if I followed what numerous other sites state (which I did try originally) I would end up with nothing but a regular compost bin since my worms would be dead and decomposing.

Most sites state to feed your worms one pound of food per one pound of worms a day. If you took a bin with 2,000 red wrigglers, roughly 2 plus pounds, you would need to add a ten bag pound and a 5 pound bag of potatoes weekly. You would need to be a magician to add this weekly

I took some time to do a comparison, weighing the food I was adding each week and watching to see what happened. One bin I placed a pound of food per pound of worms, the other, half a pound of food per one pound of worms. I fed both bins with the same food, simply cutting it in half for the second bin.

The results were that a pound of food per pound of worms in a basic worm bin is too much as it begun to make the worms try and escape from an uncovered bin with a light over the top, hence telling me something was definitely wrong. The bin began to get soggy and loads of mites appeared, even though the bin was uncovered. I found very few cocoons and could not find any hatchlings.

The bin with only half a pound of feed per pound of worms is excelling! In fact it is loaded with cocoons, new hatchlings and the larger worms look real healthy!

When raising worms feed half a pound of food scraps per one pound of worms daily. Of course this will vary for different types of worms as one pound of European Nightcrawlers equals approximately 300 – 400 worms while a pound of red wrigglers would be approximately 800 – 1000 worms. This does not mean you need to feed your worms daily, as you can accumulate food scraps and add three to three and a half pounds once a week to one pound of worms.

A good signal that either your worm composting setup is either too wet or has too much food is a large population of mites. A few mites are not usually harmful; however an explosive population means you need to correct your bin. To rectify the situation, try adding dry newspaper and/or cardboard and mixing some in. Take additional and place on top of the composting bin.

Remember as your vermiculture population grows, you will see that more and more food will be required in small increments.

I have read where numerous people run their worm bin food through a food processor prior to adding to their worm bin hence making a soupy mix. Do not even waste your time! Worms have been around for millions of years and God does not use a giant food processor to feed his worms in the wild

You can add food scraps to the freezer and freeze prior to adding to your worm composting bin. Freezing the food actually modifies the molecular structure hence allowing your scraps to break down faster in your worm bin. You will notice once thawed out prior to adding to your worm bin that some, especially items like lettuce will already be breaking down and becoming slimy. This allows bacteria growth faster, hence delivering food to your worms that much sooner. I personally use this method when first starting a worm bin. Once you have been adding food to the worm bin for a while, you should be able to just throw scraps into the bin directly as organic matter you have been adding should be in various stages of decomposition.

Yes, red worms love coffee grinds, however do not add too much. Coffee grinds along with tea bags do create heat as they decompose. The other setback is that they are very acidic, hence why I use some around the azalea bushes each year as they love an acid based soil! If you add too much to your worm composting bin, you can kill off your worms.

If your acid level becomes too high, how do you bring it back to the correct PH level of 6 to 7? If your acid level begins to get too high, you need to get it back as soon as possible.

I have read where many folks are using ground up agricultural lime by sprinkling on top of their bins. This can create a major kill off as when worms get into the dry lime; it dries them out, hence killing them. Here is a little trick I have used, if done in moderation.

Mix about 1 teaspoon of ground agricultural lime to a quart of water and shake well. Now use a mister to apply mix over the top surface of your wet bedding and keep wet by adding a mist of plain water as needed. I do not recommend over doing this process as there is another way to help maintain PH balance within your red worm bin.

Egg shells added to your worm composting bin can help maintain your PH but only if done correctly. Simply throwing whole egg shells or crushed egg shells will not do the trick. According to test ran at Clemson University a while back, finely ground egg shells actually help maintain a PH level within soil. By adding one or two ground egg shells every 10-14 days will help maintain a proper PH.

Items to ovoid feeding your red worms include meats, dairy products, oily food scraps, human or pet waste.

In moderation coffee grinds, tea bags, starchy foods such as bread, rice… ground egg shells.

Organic matter that can smell when added to your bin, so you may wish to avoid all together or add very little include broccoli, onions, garlic.

Things your red worms will love to vegetables, shredded newspaper, brown cardboard, melon rinds… aged animal manure (already heated and in moderation, use only in outside bins).

If using manure, be very careful of the heat generated but any medicines that the animals creating the manure are on can kill off worms, including de-worming meds.

Keep away from chicken mash and such as these can and will leave small deposits of salt that will end up killing your red worms in time.

Bruce

Worm composting is a process by which red worms, usually red wriggler worms, also known as Eisenia foetida are added to organic matter to assist in the breakdown of bacteria growth, hence assisting in the decomposition of such matter. The result is broken down into two categories, worm compost or vermicompost and worm castings (worm droppings).

Worm compost is what remains after organic matter is broken down into a mix of compost and worm castings which smells like virgin black soil. This is even a better by product than regular compost for your gardening needs.

Worm castings are the remains left over in your worm composting bin after about one year, which are also known as “black gold”. This product is as good as it gets for your garden! Again this does not smell bad, but rather like fresh top soil.

Worms have been around for over 120 million years. Aristotle called them “the intestines of the Earth”.

Darwin who studied worms for 39 years stated “The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man’s inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”.

Worm composting can be done on a small or large scale as well as indoors or outdoors.

If your worm composting bin is maintained correctly, it does not produce an odor. In fact when I first became more serious about my vermiculture I ended up with over 15 bins in my home. I got away with this even though my wife freaks out over just the site of a single worm

Worm compost and worm castings are by far the best organic fertilizer for your plants with added benefits as well. With tests conducted at Universities, results were astonishing not only in growth difference by simply adding 5% or more of worm composting to the soil but also disease resistant plants! Test showed that plants without vermicompost exposed to over 150 plant diseases and carcinogens did not fare well for the most part as most died. The plants with five percent or more of worm compost added did survive and appeared not to be affected by the diseases and carcinogens.

Worm composting offers other benefits as well. Vermicompost retains moisture better than regular soil. Simply mix in your soil or apply on top of the soil around your garden plants. Worm tea a byproduct made by adding worm castings or worm compost to water can be used to fertilize plants by spraying and help in prevention of dry fungus on plants.

Releasing some worms from your worm composting bin into your garden not only helps to convert organic material in the garden, but also aerates your soil as they borough through and around the roots of plants.

As a fisherman, there is another benefit to worm composting by which you have a never ending supply of red worms for your adventures! The best for fishing are the red wriggler worm which is a smaller worm with a tougher skin, hence staying on the hook longer and the African nightcrawler. The African nightcrawler has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and hence my first worm composting bin was established.

Worm Composting Blog offers an array of red worms for sale in smaller quantities if you are just getting started to larger quantities for those who are already established.

Bruce

First of all you will need a bin or “worm factory”. Allow me to take a minute here and explain the difference.

There are a number of types of worm factories available for around $60.00 to $90.00 which come by themselves or with bedding… Most will emphasize the fact they come with a spigot for which you can drain the liquids which some refer to as worm tea (in essence it is not really worm tea but will explain in a separate post). The important fact here is that if you have liquids draining from your vermiculture setup, you have too much moisture and your worms will end up dying.

In short you can purchase a rubber maid type bin, being sure it is opaque as to block out light for under $5.00. All you need is a drill so as to make 1/4″ holes on the bottom and 1/16″ holes on the top of the bin and the lid. This is important for air flow as worms require a mix of moisture and oxygen. In fact, I personally do not even place the lids on mine; however your spouse may get upset if you have an uncovered worm bin in your kitchen or guest bedroom

I found in the past that by placing the lid on the worm composting bin, there was not enough air flow, even when I drilled more holes in the top side.

Utilizing a lid seems to trap more moisture within the bin, hence generating mites throughout the worm bedding. Now most mites will not be harmful towards your worm population, however as I learned in Latin many years ago, there are exceptions to every rule

You will need to do a little more work if you decide not to use the lid on your bin. I find that the moisture more readily evaporates; hence I need to spray my bins more often with water. I personally use a small B&G sprayer to mist my worm bins since the number of bins is growing rapidly, however a simple spray bottle is sufficient for most. Do NOT simply use a watering can or other means to add water. You need a fine mist as to avoid over watering and to evenly disperse within your worm bin.

For some simple directions on building a worm composting bin click here (link opens in new window).

Next you will need some bedding for your worms to exist in. Many folks recommend coconut coir, peat moss… in reality all you need is shredded newspaper and brown cardboard. Shred enough paper to place between 5 to 6 inches deep in your worm bin. In fact, red worms will not be able to live in just peat moss or coir by themselves; however they can survive on just newspapers. I do not recommend just newspapers as you will have much healthier and larger worms with the proper food, something I will get to in a minute. Another item to add is brown cardboard. Do NOT use the shiny waxed cardboard and best if plain brown.

Now the rule of thumb is to soak your newspaper and wring out so as when you squeeze it only a drop or two squeezes out between your fingers. I have tried this and found this makes your red worm composting bin to wet, especially once you begin adding more food for your worms.

I simply use a B&G sprayer, since I have a large number of bins, however you can simply use a spray bottle to moisten your bedding. I do have a plant soil moisture meter and slide it in horizontally while moving it back and forth. I have found around 7 to 8 on a scale of one to ten works best (70% to 80%).

Next you will need food for your worms. OK worms love most food scraps. There is a lot of ground to cover, not just on food but as a whole in general, but I am just going into the basics here.

Worms love most vegetables, however keep away from those high in citric acid such as lemons, tomatoes, oranges etc. Also avoid or use very little onion and garlic scraps. Lettuce, greens and most vegetable scraps are great to add. Limit starchy foods such as potatoes, bread etc. Banana peels are good, however limit as they tend to add more of an odor and also seem to attract mites in your bin, which for the most part are OK but not necessarily something most folks want a bunch of

Do NOT place meat, dairy products or oily foods in your bin as this will end up killing your red worms.

Since worms have gizzards much like a chicken, hence they require grit in order to digest food. You can add a handful of dirt, sand or I prefer ground up eggs shells. Be sure if using dirt or sand that is purchased that it contains no harmful ingredients such as salt or is not bleached in the case of sand.

When adding food to your bin, place in a different corner each time under some of the damp newspaper as this will help reduce both odor and the infestation of fruit flies.

I highly recommend placing your bedding and food into your bin at least one week prior to the addition of your red worms. I usually do this with fresh bedding two to three weeks prior to adding worms. This allows for the food scraps to begin to break down and build up organic matter, something that is required for red worms to be able to eat it.