Worm Bin Set up, Weight Table and Materials

Worm Bin Set up, Weight Table and Materials

ITEM	WEIGHT, POUNDS	ACCUMULATIVE WEIGHT, POUNDS
EMPTY BIN	1 3/4
LID	1/2
BASE	2	4 1/4
½ INCH DRY NEWSPAPER, FOLDED , on top of base for sponge to soak up leachate and excess moisture	1	5 1/4
NEXT 8 INCHES DRY NEWSPAPER STRIPS TORN ½ INCH WIDE, for bedding	1 1/4	6 1/2
NEXT 3 PINTS WATER TO DAMPEN NEWSPAPER STRIPS, to wet bedding to 70% moisture	3	9 1/2
THEN ADD ONE POUND WORMS OR	1
FIVE POUNDS OF VERMICULTURE WITH WORMS	5
COVER WORMS OR VERMICULTURE WITH SHALLOW LAYER OF WET STRIPS OF NEWSPAPER
¼ INCH DRY NEWSPAPER FOLDED, top dressing to keep moisture in bedding	1/2

The empty bin weighs about 1 ¾ pounds.  The lid weighs about ½ pound and the base weighs about 2 pounds.  Before you start adding newspaper, the total weight is 4 ¼ pounds.

On top of the base you put a layer of folded dry newspaper ½ inch thick which weighs about 1 pound. 

Next you tear up about 1 ¼ pounds of newspaper into strip ½ to 1 inch wide for bedding.  Tear the newspaper with the grain for uniform strips and ease of tearing – not cross grain.  To the strips add 3 pints of water which brings the moisture content of the newspaper strips to about 70%.

Add one pound of worms to the bedding or five pounds of vermiculture from another worm bin.

Cover the worms or vermiculture with a thin layer of wet newspaper strips – about one inch thick and then cover that with several layers of dry folded newspaper to keep the moisture in the vermiculture.

Script to use on 5/24/2011 at Deer Island

 With Amanda Poyant’s

4^th and 5^th grade Garden Club

Sponsor: Island Institute

I decide to type up a script to use on 5/24/2011 at Deer Island with Amanda Poyant’s Garden Club.  First I just made a list of the things I didn’t want to forget to mention and then I wrote the script.

Vocabulary: Vermiculture, Vermicompost, Vermicast, Worm castings, worm tea, worm bin, moisture control, fruit flies

Last Update: 5/24/11

Start with the harvesting of a worm bin and the making of worm tea

Dump one of my working worm bins so the students can see the worms etc.

Talk about the moisture content of the castings and show them how important it is to be at the right moisture for screening and for aerobic decomposition

Let the students weigh some vermiculture

Make tea

Screen some castings and separate the worms

As I take apart the worm bin talk about the layers and the features

Fly trap, vents for air, screens for fruit flies, plugged holes for fruit flies, layer of dry newspaper for moisture control,

Let them dig in the vermiculture to see the worms

Step One: Remove top layer

            Mention the screened vents for moisture control and fruit fly control

            Mention the newspaper for moisture control

            Mention the fly trap for fruit fly control

Step Two: Dump the worm bin, Separate contents

            Let the kids turn the bin upside down into a larger bin

            Take the base off the top of the pile and put it back in the original bin

Add dry folded news paper to the base if vermiculture appears too wet.  Talk about how the dry newspaper absorbs the excess moisture from the vermiculture and prevents it from getting muddy.  Vermiculture needs to have air mixed in to keep the decomposition smelling “earthy”.  Without air it smells stinky.  Muddy vermiculture can get stinky.

Take the layers of wet folded newspaper and put them in the first bin until the bedding is exposed.  Remove the bedding and put the bedding into the original bin.

Now pick out the larger pieces of undigested material and put them into the original bin.  Talk about whether the worms are eating the stuff or not.

Take out pieces of plastic or stuff that it doesn’t look like the worms and microbes will eat.  (This is a good chance to talk about how plastic needs to be recycled.) You can wash it in a bucket of water to make it easier to identify.

Talk about how some things decompose quickly and other things take longer – eventually – all plant matter will be decomposed and eaten by the worms.  The worms with help from the microbes also eat the newspaper.

Step Three: Let the kids dig in the vermiculture to get a feel for the nature of it, its moisture and consistency

            Let them see the worms

What has been eaten and what hasn’t – some things take longer to decompose but eventually it all is decomposed and eaten by the microbes, bacteria and worms.  I will pick out some stuff and indentify it for them like avocado skin, corn cobs etc.

Step Four: Take a sample of the vermiculture and start a batch of worm tea

            Fill the five gallon bucket with water and put in the vermiculture.

            Mix well by pouring back and forth between two buckets.

Put in the bubbler.  Talk about how worms breathe through their skin so they won’t drown like we would.

Talk about putting in molasses at the 12 hour mark.  We are growing a liquid culture of microbes (very small animals) and dissolving the plant nutrients in water.  This is a liquid plant food that you can use to feed your plants directly – spray on the leaves and water the soil. Plants absorb the food through their foliage (leaves) and through their roots.  It also helps plants to fight disease.

At the 24 hour mark strain the tea and put the worms and undigested compost back in the worm bin.  Use the worm tea right away – it is a living culture and is best for the plants if used fresh.

Strain the tea to show them how, even though 24 hours hasn’t past.

Making tea is easier than separating worm castings and you can make a new batch every week to feed your plants.  My wife feeds our garden plants with worm tea every two weeks and she feeds her house plants once a month.

Step five: Remove a Gallon of vermiculture and weigh it.

Explain about the weight of water and the weight of vermiculture with water in it.  Target weight is 5 to 6 lbs compared to 10 lbs of water in same volume container.

Step six: Screen the gallon of vermiculture to remove the castings

            Set up the feeding dish and flat screen

Let the kids take turns trying to screen the castings out of the vermiculture.  Have them dump the flat screen into the original bin if they can or just demonstrate it if they can’t.

Show them that some of the worms go through the flat screen and will have to be separated from the castings.

Pick the worms out of the castings, use the light method to separate or use the cylindrical screen. 

Put castings aside for the kids to use with their planting.  Tell them to mix the castings 20% with potting soil to plant seeds or seedlings.

How much did we get from one gallon of vermiculture? By volume?  By weight? We screened out 2 1/2 lbs castings from 5 1/2 lbs of vermiculture.

Return worms and unscreened vermicompost to the original bin.

Step Seven: set up their worm bin with unscreened vermiculture:

Take one of the constructed bins and put folded dry newspaper in the bottom on top of the base to a depth of ½ inch.  This is to sponge up excess moisture that would otherwise accumulate in the bottom of the bin and turn the lower level of the vermiculture into mud.

Add six to eight inches of shredded DAMP but NOT SOAKING WET newspaper.  This is called worm bedding and gives a place for the worms to live before the vermiculture develops. 

Add a gallon of vermiculture.

Add some damp newspaper strips to the top of the vermiculture – enough to cover but not more than an inch deep.

Add several layers of folded dry newspaper.

Make, bait and insert the fruit fly trap in one corner.  The top of the trap should be above the level of the newspaper.

Step Eight: feeding the worms, weighing the worm bin, keeping a log

Bury one pint of food in one end of the bin. Call this end position 1. Start a log and write down the date and weight of the bin and how much you fed the worms.  The kids called position one the West end and position 2 the East end.

In three days bury another pint in the opposite end. Call this end position 2.  Update your log.

Update your log each time you take an action or make an observation with your worm bin.

At the start of the second week check position 1.  If the food is pretty well digested so that it is mostly unrecognizable then add another pint.  Repeat in position 2 in 3 more days.  On the other hand if there is still plenty of food left from the first feeding then postpone feeding until the food is pretty well digested.  Be patient.  Do not over feed your worms.  If you have more garbage than your worms can eat then consider buying worms – put in one pound of worms per bin and/or add to the number of bins.  One bin full of worms will digest about 1.5 pounds or about 1 1/2 quarts of garbage per week. Your worm population will increase to about 2 pounds of worms per bin through natural reproduction.  This doesn’t happen overnight.  In four to six months your worm bin will be full and ready to harvest.  Which brings us back to where we started – Harvesting the worm bin.

Moisture control:

The worm bin will collect moisture over time due to the moisture in the garbage and the fact that water and carbon dioxide are released as plant material decomposes in the bin. The moisture will build up in the bin if it doesn’t escape through the vents.  The dry news paper in the bottom of the bin will get saturated and will need to be replaced with dry news paper.  About once a month it is a good idea to check how wet the bottom of the bin is getting.  This requires that you dump the bin as we did in step four.  If the newspaper in the bottom is soaking wet then replace it with dry.  If it is damp then just add more dry newspaper.  Also, replace the news paper on the top of the vermiculture with dry shredded news paper and dry sheets of folded news paper.  Also add strips of dry newspaper to the food you add each time you feed.  Together all the methods will keep the moisture level the vermiculture from getting too wet.

How wet is too wet?  I use a container that hold 10 pounds of water when full – a little more than one gallon.  I fill the empty container with vermiculture and weigh it.  If it weighs between 5 and 6 pounds the vermiculture is in the right moisture range.  If it weighs more than 6 pounds then I need to add dry paper to reduce the moisture.  If it weighs more than 7 pounds, it is probably muddy and action must be taken to dry it out.  A wet bin is not a healthy bin.  I haven’t had a situation that a bin was too dry but that can happen in which case the vermiculture would less than 5 pounds and adding some water would be appropriate.

Fruit Fly control:

If you are starting from scratch with a new bin you can put the fruit fly trap in as a precaution or later if they show up.  If they do show up then do all the following:

Make sure that all the vents are screened and all holes plugged so the fruit flies can’t enter o or leave your bin.

Keep the lid on securely at all times except when feeding or working with the bin.

Put a baited fruit fly trap in the corner of the bin baited with two TBS of apple cider vinegar, one TBS water and two drops of dish soap.  Other baits work well too.

Be sure to bury all your food in the bedding – not on the surface. Fruit flies will not burrow to feed or lay their eggs.

The adults in the bin will end up in the trap.  Fruit fly larva in the bin will eventually hatch and turn into adults that will end up in the trap before they have a chance to mate and lay more eggs.

Flies outside the bin will not be able to enter and won’t be attracted if you bury the garbage.

After two or three weeks replace the bait in your traps and check the number of adult flies trapped.  Repeat for another two weeks.  At the end of the third cycle the fruit flies will be gone.

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/mainelywormbinbuddies

            This is a group of people that all have worm bins similar to the one you have that I made.  They are using these bins at their homes.  You can join this group and ask questions.  Someone in the group will answer your question.  I am also a member of this group so it might be me that answers or someone one else.  There is already a lot of information to read at the site.  This group is private in that you have to email a request to join and be invited by me or my daughter Alice to join.  You also have to have a Google Account to join.  I thought maybe Amanda might want to set this up for the Garden Club to join.  She could set up an Gmail address and send me a request to join by email.

Blog: http://mainelywormbins.blogspot.com/

            This is my blog which is a public site.  I put information on this that I want to share with the general public.  Anyone can access and read this material.  I plan to put the outline of the presentation I make at Deer Island on this blog. I am running this site anonymously in that I have not revealed my own identity.  It is a site where the public can gather information about building worm bins, setting up and maintain worm bins, access notes from my presentations etc.  They can post questions and comments and I will reply so long as the volume is manageable.  Present volume is zero which I can manage very well – just my speed.

Worm Casting Germination & Seedling Experiment 1

I am WillingWormWorkerTwo and I have been using worm castings for planting for a couple of years now.  I did a planting experiment with a variety of seeds and four mediums.  The mediums were as follows:

   

  1) Control,60 % ACE Potting Soil, and 30% peat moss

  2) Control mixture plus 20% by weight worm castings, dried hard and stored over the winter

  3) Control mixture plus 20% by weight worm castings freshly prepared

  4) Control mixture plus 20% by weight seacoast compost.

I have observed them several times and taken pictures.  The bottom line is that mixture two replicates the first super lettuce experiment I did, 3 is poorer than 2, and 1 and 4 are about equivalent.  I am going to repeat the comparison with control soil and freshly prepared worm castings and 20, 30 and 40% by weight with the seeds that seem to show the most differences.  The hypothesis being that the moisture content of the freshly prepared worm castings makes the concentration not comparable to 2.  I will try to figure out how to measure pH and may even send the mixtures to UMO for testing.  Of course I used up the hard dried worm castings!

This is the lettuce experiment after about 3 weeks, left 20% hard dried worm castings and potting soil, right just potting soil.

Below are the four seedling experiments after 4 days, first two days in dark covered with Saran wrap, second two days 12 hours of light each day, saran wrap removed after day 4.

Control 2/3 Potting Soil, 1/3 Peat Moss

Control & 20% by weight Hard Dried Worm Castings

Control & 20% by Weight New, not hard dried worm castings

Control & 20% by Weight Seacoast Compost

The same flats are shown after 14 days  of 12 hours on and 12 hour off of light. The order is as above from left to right, 1, 2 and in the second row 3, 4.



Where to Set Up a Worm Bin And What to Consider

Where to Set Up a Worm Bin

 And What to Consider

Location:

Temperature – 68F ideal but worms will survive at 40F and 85F.  In the winter I keep mine in a minimally heated shop at 50F and in the cellar at 60F. In the summer I keep them in a garage out of the sun.  I may leave them down cellar this summer because it is a little cooler and more convenient.

The colder the worms are the slower they eat the garbage.  Over 85F they may die from the heat.  Don’t leave them out in the hot sun in direct sunlight in summer.  Don’t freeze them in the winter.

My daughter keeps two bins in a cabinet under a bathroom sink.  My niece keeps hers just out of the kitchen behind a door to the cellar.

Convenience – I collect my scraps from the kitchen over two or three days in a half gallon container lined with a plastic shopping bag and a tight fitting lid.  I keep this by the sink.  I then carry this bag to the worm bin and bury the garbage all in one location.

Floor Space – The bins do take up space.  Look around to make sure you have enough space.  I have four bins which I keep on metal shelves in the shop or stack in the cellar or garage three high. 

Fruit Flies – I believe that I have solved this problem – details later -- however, it can be a knock out if your domestic partner is skeptical and intolerant.  Either you or your worm bin may be hitting the road.

Smell – A well maintained worm bin does not smell bad. 

Escaping worms – A well maintained bin doesn’t have escaping worms. If conditions are right, they are content to stay put. 

Worms, Red Wrigglers, Eisenia fetida:

Buy them $20 to $25 a pound; get them from me (no charge) so long as the demand doesn’t exceed my supply.  Find them in the wild.  These are not earthworms or night crawlers.  Best place to find them is around the edge of a compost pile but don’t dig for them as those will be earthworms.

How Many Worms, How Many Bins:

Each of my bins contain after a year or more about two pounds of worms, estimate 3400 worms in all sizes imaginable.  They eat about 1.5 pounds of garbage per week per bin.  My wife and I generate about 4 to 5 pounds of garbage a week (vegetable matter – no fish, meat, dairy products) which is why I have four bins.  I started with one bin three years ago and about 50 to 100 worms.  It took me two years to have enough worms and bins to be “in balance.”  If you need quicker gratification start with at least one bin and two pounds of worms and keep adding bins and splitting your vermiculture until you and your worms are “in balance” too.

If you want to go straight to the balance point, then average the garbage you generate per week and divide that number by 1.5(the square feet in the top of a ten gallon worm bin).  (6 pounds of garbage per week divided by 1.5 equals 4 bins.) Then buy 2 pounds of worms for each bin at $20 dollars per pound.  That is 8 pounds times $20 or $160 worth of worms.  Instant gratification comes at a price.

I started with 50 to 100 worms three years ago that weighed 58 grams  -- yes I weighed them –  and now have four bins plus seven more that I have populated with worms and given away.  That is 22 pounds of worms.   In three more years …. Well you do the math.  It’ll blow your mind.

Set Up and Maintenance of the Worm Bin

Set Up and Maintenance of the Worm Bin

Bedding: Lots of possibilities but I use strips of torn newspaper about one inch wide.  But before I start putting the bedding into the bin I put in several layers of folded DRY newspaper on the base.  This is to act as a sponge to absorb the excess moisture that ends up at the bottom of the bin.  If I suspect that the moisture level is getting too high in the bottom of the bin I will dump the whole bin into a larger container and replace these folded newspapers with dry ones.  The wet ones that I remove can be torn into strips to make more worm bedding.  After the layer of dry newspaper I put in 6 to 8 inches of newspaper strips that are damp.  The worms or vermiculture from another bin are then added to the bedding.

Top Dress this with dry newspaper strips and then folded sheets of dry newspaper.  This helps keep the sides and top free of condensate (liquid moisture).  If you see condensate on the inside of the lid and insides of the bin, then it is time to add more dry paper to the top dressing and to dump the bin and add more dry folded newspaper to the base.  When there is condensate present on the inside walls of the bin above the top dressing the worms will soon follow.  If the sides are wet, the worms will crawl up the inside walls of the bin and even across the inside of the lid, also under the lip of the lid but not out of the bin.

Add Baited Fly Trap now as a precaution or later as needed.  The issue is to capture the adult flies inside the bin before they mate and lay their eggs and keep them out of your home.  To make the trap cut a small plastic bottle in half.  Invert top half into bottom half.  Bait with 1 TBS water, 1TBS honey, 1TBS Apple Cider Vinegar and two drops of liquid dish soap.  Tape the two halves of bottle together.  Set the trap in a corner of the bin with the top level with the layer of newspaper.  Replenish the bait if you see adult flies inside the bin but not in the trap.  It works for two to three weeks before it loses its appeal.

Feed with the appropriate amount of food for your worm population.  If you start with 50 to 100 worms like I did you can only add 58 grams of scraps and then wait until they have eaten that before you add more – very tedious I assure you.  It will take a year to build your population up to a pound of worms.  If you start with one pound of worms then you can put in a half a pound of scraps one week to one end of the bin and then a half pound to the other end the next week and so forth.  If you have four bins like I do with two pounds of worms per bin you can put 2 lbs (1/2 gal) of scraps in the front of bin one and then rotate to the front of bin two next, then bin three and finally bin four.  Then to the back of bin one, two, three and finally four – eight positions total.  Then it is back to bin1 front position.  It takes me roughly 28 days to make the complete cycle and the food in the front of bin one is nearly all digested when I start the next cycle.  If you add too much food for your worm population to keep up with, then it will decompose before they eat it and you run the risk of unpleasant odors associated with the rotting food.  Burying the food deep in the bedding will help.  Better to put your excess in the trash or in a compost bin until your worm population can keep up.

Food consists of all garbage that is vegetable (plant) matter or of vegetable origin.  I do not compost meat, fish or dairy products.  The issue is odor.  I do compost citrus (oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and limes) but not in huge quantities.  The issue is acidity.  Paper towels are fine.  Tea bags and coffee filters compost as well.  I microwave my egg shells and pulverize them in a food processor before composting.  This is to get smaller pieces of egg shell.

To control fruit flies bury fresh garbage deep in the bedding.  Keep the lid on the bin so that new flies can’t visit.  The screens over the vents are to keep visitors out and those in the bin in.  The fly trap in the bin eventually cleans out the hatching resident larva.  A fly trap in the vicinity of the bin but outside keeps any escapees or visitors under control.  I also keep a trap by the container in the kitchen where the week’s garbage accumulates before I bury it in the bin.

Design and Construction of My Worm Bin

Design and Construction of My Worm Bin

Materials and tools to construct:

Ten Gallon Sterilite plastic tote

Cheapest  1 inch X 3 inch strapping you can buy

Two inch diameter hole saw and electric drill to cut ventilation holes in sides and lid.

Fiber glass window screening to cover vents holes

GOOP adhesive to secure screening and plug holes

Flexible one inch putty knife to spread GOOP

Sand paper to smooth holes cut by hole saw

Lots of old news paper, don’t use the glossy inserts

Construction:

Use hole saw to cut two ventilation holes near the top of the tote on two sides – total of four two inch diameter vents

Cut two more holes in the lid.

Smooth the edges of holes with sand paper and use GOOP to glue fiber glass screening over all six vent holes.

Construct base to fit in the bottom of tote and cover with the fiberglass screen.  I use GOOP or Hot Melt Glue to hold the screen in place initially and then add tacks.

Plug the holes near the handles with GOOP.  A small piece of screen helps bridge the hole.

Why?

Ventilation and air circulation help reduce condensation inside the bin.  Getting rid of the moisture that is a byproduct of the vermiculture process is very important.  The vermiculture should stay moist and the castings should be crumbly – NOT muddy.  The air space under the base helps too. 

Worms need air to breath; they absorb oxygen through their skin.  And air promotes aerobic decomposition which is the “good” kind.  Anaerobic decomposition (without air) produces nasty smells.

Drain – I have eliminated the drain which came with the original bin.  It was there to drain off excess “tea” that accumulated in the space under the base.  The drain leaked.  Also I have changed my method of getting rid of the excess moisture which has eliminated the need for a drain.  In fact I am considering adding vents to the bottom of the bin to keep this area drier.

Base – to support the bedding and allow excess moisture to accumulate below the bedding.  Otherwise the bottom of the bin would get soggy wet and so would the vermiculture in that area.  Wet muddy vermiculture is to be avoided.  There is less air in this type of environment and can result in anaerobic (lacking oxygen) decomposition which smells awful.  We want aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) decomposition.

Fiberglass Screens over vents and all holes plugged – to keep resident fruit flies inside the bin until captured in the fly trap and to exclude visiting fruit flies that are attracted by the smell of good food. These visitors would lay their eggs if given a chance.  With the fly trap installed there will be few if any fruit flies inside the bin under normal conditions. (During my latest inspection on the inside of the eleven bins in my cellar I found one fruit fly.)

My Worm Bin, Last Edited 7/29/12

My Worm Bin

Last edited 7/29/12

Ten gallon plastic tote from Wal-Mart, Sterilite Brand, cost about $5.

A wooden base in the bottom covered with window screening material provides air space under the bedding and a space to collect excess moisture.

I eliminated the drain – more on that later.

Several dry folded newspapers to act as a sponge to soak up excess moisture.

Shredded news paper strips that have been dampened make up the next layer.  This is the layer that the worms live in and in which you bury your food scraps.  It is also where the worm castings accumulate as the worms do their thing.

Dry shredded news paper strips on top of bedding to absorb excess moisture.

A layer of folded dry newspaper on top.

Screened vents in the top of the sides.

Edit: 7/29/12: I have eliminated the screened vents and instead use a piece of garden row cover to cover the top of the bin and hold it in place with a one inch wide nylon strap with an elastic piece sewn in.  The tension in the strap holds the row cover on tight. The row cover provides plenty of ventilation and does a better job of keeping flying insects out of the bin (or ones in the bin from flying out).  Particularly, this has solved a problem I had with fungus gnats infesting the bin.  The fungus gnats could access the bin through the screened vents.

I purchase the row cover from Gardener’s Supply Co. Item 32-646, All Purpose Fabric, 6ft X 20ft – enough for 24 worm bin covers.

Screened vents in the lid.

Edit: 7/29/12: The lid has been replaced with row cover.  I also lay a couple sheets of folded newspaper on top of the row cover to retard drying if the bin seems to be drying out.  

A baited Fly trap to capture fruit flies.

Edit: 7/29/12: If fruit flies are a problem then continue to use the baited fly trap.  I have had more trouble with fungus gnats and another small fly identified as a Minute Black Scavenger Fly which looks a lot like a fungus gnat.  They are not attracted to the vinegar bait in the fly trap.

New 7/29/12: A strip of TAT Fly Paper to trap flying insects inside the bin.

To trap flying insects inside the bin I use a strip of TAT Fly Paper unrolled from its container and stuck to a sheet of dry newspaper that is put in the top of the bin under the row cover.

Stick the bins if you stack them to allow ventilation.