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I had a DIY worm bin several years ago that didn’t work out, mostly because I didn’t have a good location in which to keep it. Both my husband and I were a bit scarred by that experience (he because he thought it was gross, me because I don’t want to kill any more worms). But compost piles and bins don’t really work in my limited space. I do trench composting, but there is a limit to how much of my yard can be dug up at any one time. I want an easy and efficient way to compost year round, so I decided to buy a commercial vermicompost bin.
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The Worm Factory
Sown on 29 Dec 08 Worm Factory 5-Tray Value Pack vermicomposter. ...
- 29 journals
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Comments
billybob wrote:
What are some tips that you could give? I have a composter, but I never got anything out of it. After all of my major work is done, I want to do more with it so that I can get some good soil for spring 2010.
Posted on 09 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Billybob, what kind of composter is yours? Mine is specially designed to be used with worms. The worms eat food scraps that you give them. You can read more about it here: http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html
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I also have a compost bin outside, but it doesn’t work very well. I’m sorry I don’t have any tips for it. I wish I had some, because then mine would be working too!
Posted on 09 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
billybob wrote:
It’s a compost bin. The one that you said that isn’t working well.
Posted on 12 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Bummer. I’m sorry I can’t help!
Posted on 12 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
billybob wrote:
I’ve just turned a small pot into a makeshift worm factory. I should be okay with it now…………but what I need to know is what to do when it turns 110 degrees again?
Posted on 13 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
Keep it in the shade, and you might need to add water every now and then. I know that some people freeze a bottle of water and then stick it into the dirt when it’s hot to act like air conditioning. Also, if you can find a container that’s open on the bottom, you can put that in the soil, and the worms can retreat down there when it’s too hot for them. There’s a great vermicomposting forum you can learn more from over here: http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum
Posted on 13 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
billybob wrote:
The worms keep getting out! I’ll have to get a pot with a lid and no holes…
Posted on 21 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
Katxena wrote:
They’ll die in a closed container. If you got your worms out of the dirt, they probably aren’t the right kind of worms to keep in a container. Regular earthworms don’t like to stay in one place. The worms I have are called red wrigglers — they are composting worms, and they’ll stay right where their food is.
Posted on 21 Sep 09 (about 2 months ago)
Poetinwood wrote:
Katxena,
How is your vermicomposting going? It’s been almost a year, thought I’d collect your givings and misgivings to see if this would be better for me than my pile, although it would have to be pretty big.
I read 6 web pages on vermicomposting and nobody mentioned going fishing!
Posted on 28 Oct 09 (about 24 days ago)
mcav0y wrote:
Katxena, how do you get your worms to climb, I keep putting “fresh” scraps at the top of my bin, but the worms still stay in the bottom (for months). I can’t get my population to grow this way.
Posted on 28 Oct 09 (about 24 days ago)
Katxena wrote:
I really like vermicomposting, but it’s different from my outdoor bin. You can read my journal to see the ups and downs, but overall, this suits me well. It’s indoors, it’s tidy, it’s year-round, it’s interesting, and it’s easy. For me, there’s really no downside. Since I can’t have an outdoor pile, and my outdoor bin never heats up, this is the only way I can ever get any good compost.
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This is my second attempt at a worm bin — the first attempt was a total failure. The difference between the two tries boil down to these two reasons: (1) I had enough money to buy a large amount of worms to start this bin. My first one never had enough worms to really become established. (2) This bin is indoors. My first one was outdoors on a balcony, which meant that I didn’t monitor it closely enough.
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That’s not to say that everyone needs to spend money and have their bin indoors, but that’s what worked for me.
Posted on 28 Oct 09 (about 24 days ago)
Katxena wrote:
What kind of bin do you have @mcav0y? I don’t have any trouble getting my worms to migrate up, but I do have a fairly large population at this point, so perhaps there’s enough of them that they consume all the food at the bottom and have to come up to find more?
Posted on 28 Oct 09 (about 24 days ago)