Pics of my first bin

14 years ago

I have the best Mom ever - when I told her that I wanted worms for Xmas she took me seriously and actually got me some! I've been reading this forum for a couple of months, have learned a ton, and finally got time to set up a bin. I decided to go with a continuous flow through bin modeled after some great descriptions in these posts:

My Flow Through Bins - splitsec002

One Year of Worming: A Retrospective - mndtrp

Jason's Flow Through Bin

I got a 45 gallon garbage can from Walmart for $14.88 and 3/4 inch OD electrical conduit in ten ft lengths from Home Depot for around $2 each. The grate ended up looking like this:

When it came time to fill the bin, I placed 8-10 sheets of newspaper on the grate (figured having Reggie Bush and the Saints at the bottom of my bin would be good luck!)

Then I added about 6 inches of dampened bedding (pieces of ripped-up cardboard and shredded leaves) and 4-6 inches of pre-rotted vegetable and fruit scraps mixed with shredded leaves that had been composting for several weeks.

My 2 lbs of red worms arrived on 1/21/10 - I ordered them from Decker Worms in Houston because I figured the transit time would be short to Baton Rouge. My worms were only in transit for 2 days and were in good shape when I got them - they were packed in what appeared to be dry peat. I dumped in the whole bag to the bin and added some water to dampen the peat they were shipped in, and was surprised by how active they were right away. I topped them off with an inch of damp bedding. Finally, I added some appropriate decor for the worms' new abode which I'm sure they appreciated :) I also added a digital thermometer made for reptile enclosures that I got at PetSmart for around 10 bucks - the temp probe goes down into the middle of the bin. The pre-rot bin sits next to the worm bin. Most of my vegetable and food scraps go into the pre-rot bin rather than directly into the worm bin - I throw in whatever I have whenever I have it, and just cover with some shredded leaves - no worries about overfeeding or overheating this way. I was freezing scraps for a while but this is much more convenient for me. Most of what goes in are vegetable and fruit scraps, and some coffee grounds from work.

The hardest part of all this by far was not messing with them too much for the first week, but yesterday I couldn't stand it any longer and decided to check on what was going on under the bedding. In addition to finding lots of happy red worms, I had an awesome surprise - there were already cocoons after only ten days - there are lots of them in the pre-rotted material that I started the bin with - yippee!

Here is a link that might be useful: Full Album of New Bin Pics

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Comments (4)

eric30
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Looks like a great bin, congrats. I went with conduit bars also and I am very glad that I did that, very sturdy. I see you taped the ends, good idea. I haven't done that yet and the bars want to slide out when I scrape. One thing that I noticed when I first broke the seal is that the newspaper layers didn't decay like I thought they would. They were pasted together like paper mache so I had to cut it into strips and tear it out. The compost might bridge above the grate after harvesting but that's no big deal. Sometimes it tumbles down on its own and other times I just poked a stick down from the top to cause an avalanche. Please keep us updated!
rickd59
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Interesting design. I can see the advantage over a stackable design would be that there is less lifting - no stacking and unstacking during maintenance operations.

But how do you drain the excess liquid?
How do you keep flies and other creatures from getting into the bin from the bottom?
Do worms and/or partially processed compost ever come out of the bottom?

Is there anyone out there who has had a composter like this for more than a year or so?
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I still don't know if it's *supposed* to work, but it is working. :D Yesterday I sacrificed some of my bloodmeal, cottonseed meal, dry molasses, and a couple handfuls of vermicompost fresh from the wormbin, to "jumpstart" the pile. I mixed it up good and then sprinkled a couple cups of soil from the garden over the top. I checked it this afternoon, and it is definitely hot. I can feel the warmth on my palm from an inch above the top of the pile. I can feel it through the sides of the can. I don't have a thermometer to check, but I know it's hot enough that if I had worms in there, they'd be either dying or escaping. Pepper rancher, I'll try to get some better measurements for you. :) Arjo, one of the reasons the cans were cheap is that they don't have lids. I have just a square of cardboard loosely covering the top. This is good for air access, because I don't have a drill and I was too impatient to get started to wait until a friend could drill holes in it for me. I was hoping that stirred up well, loosely packed, with a loose top, the pile would have enough air to at least get started, and it seems to be working so far. I'll figure out a way to punch some holes in it within a day or two. It doesn't bother me to stir it up by hand. It might be harder with one filled to the brim. I'll find out with the next one. :) Kimmsr, what I have read about composting recommends the same moisture level as a good wormbin, "like a wrung-out sponge." A wormbin will heat up too, if I put too much food in at once. The main thing that keeps the heat down is the high proportion of "brown" carbon bedding to "green" nitrogen food. I seem to have gotten the moisture level right, and the air supply sufficient. Now I just have to keep it right. :)
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Oh how I miss my compost container! Mine is roundish, and gets rolled around daily, when I have it. Presently it lives at my daughters, besides her house. But, yesterday I opened it, to see, if any of my worms are still alive. When I had to move out of my house, I put my outdoor worm bin worms in there, with all the vermicompost that was there. Surprise, surprise, surprise.... the worms didn't cook yet. I shoveled to kitty litter buckets full in buckets, and brought them home on my balcony. No longer do I need to haul my compostables to my friend (but of course, she will miss all that) but I can compost right here now. Yeah! Stop by Starbucks when ever you get near one, and get their bags of used coffee grounds. Great stuff to add to your bin. And it is FREE! Moni
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You wont have much vc in 4/6 weeks. Worms take a little while to get started (a week or so) and at first they don't eat half their wait in food. What have you got in the bed for bedding? They do well on newspaper strips, small pieces of cardboard, a few rotten leaves, 1 handfull of garden dirt, and a little bit of blended up cantalope or something sweet like that on top of the bedding and covered with a little newspaper to keep the flys and bugs off of it will do to get them started. Don't leave any food for the worms out where flys and bugs can lay eggs on it as you will be raising maggots instead of worms if you do. You and the daughter are going to want to feed them every day and you will probably kill them if you don't resist the need to feed the new "pets". If they have good bedding they can go without "food" for weeks without any problem. Make sure that the have eaten all of what you gave them last time before you give them any more! Best to even give them a day after they finish it before you feed them again. Newbies always kill their first batch, mabye you can be the first to keep them alive. You will also be wanting to see them often, keep the room in dim light when you want to see them and you will be able to get a good look without disturbing them to much. If the worms want to leave they will go right through that screen as they can stretch out and get very thin. Keep the bin in a lighted area for a day or so to keep them in the bedding till they get used to their new home. Good luck!
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Your set up sounds like my original bin. It worked great and I have since bought a commercial set-up that doesn't really work much better, just has a few added convenience factors. I'll pass along some things I learned through trial and error. I found that newpaper works well but works even better as a bedding when mixed with some other matter. A handful or two of dirt gives the worms some grit that help them break down the food scraps. Be careful if you add compost (no commercial stuff! it has chemicals and will kill your worms) and unfinished compost will generate heat, also bad for the worms. I also added some Coconut Coir to my bin. It helps keep the beds moist, but not wet and I found a cheap source locally at a pet shop at about $5.00 for three bricks. If you go this route add no more than 1/2 brick at a time because this stuff really expands when you soak it. You may not notice much activity for a while, 50 worms is a relatively small number. The nice thing is the food will break down if they can't keep up and actually will help increase the feeding pace as it rots. So be careful with overfeeding. After a few weeks you will begin to see little balls that look like tiny BB's. These are eggs, a good sign you have happy worms, and will soon have many more worms. Moisture is a must but too much water will cause your bin to get funky. I had this experience first hand and had to dump my bin on a tarp. The bottom chunk came out like a lump of wet clay and smelled like raw sewage. No surprise, considering I was dealing with poop. I saved the worms, rebedded and now add very little water if any. Last thing is I started my bin with some "trout and panfish" worms from Walmart. They worked really well and are thriving 3 months later. A friend gave me a handfull of red-wrigglers, I added them and they are thriving as well. No turf wars between the two. I tried nightcrawlers, they all died off, and I tried worms from my yard. The yard worms really hated the bin and we had nightly "jail breaks". I would wake up in the morning to worms crawling across my kitchen floor. Found out later from others that free range worms will not stay in the bin. A good rule of thumb is, if you find more than a couple outside of the bin, you have a problem. Check inside the bottom of your outer bin from time to time for escapees as well. Hope this helps.
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geauxworms
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the comments and questions. I'm just a beginner with worms but will try to answer some of rickd's questions based on what I've read. The whole idea of a continuous flow through bin is that food and bedding go in the top and vermicompost comes out the bottom. Eventually (6 months or more from now) I should be able to rake some vermicompost out of the bottom.

I haven't had any excess liquid coming out of the bottom of the bin, but if I did it would just pool in the bottom and evaporate. I also haven't had any problems with worms coming out the bottom (I think initially running the newspaper up the sides of the bin for 6-8" helped with this).

As for creatures getting into the bottom, that hasn't been a problem so far but I'm concerned about ants and roaches when it gets warmer. I do have my share of fruit flies in the top but nothing unexpected.

I'll add a link that lists a number of good discussions of different sized flow-through bins. Also, the links I had in the original post will answer most of your questions.

Here is a link that might be useful: List of Flow Through Bin descriptions
eric30
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I'm surprised that there aren't more replies, this is exciting stuff. Mine has been going for a year and a half now. I harvested mine way to early so I had worms and unfinished compost falling through. Now that I have a good bit of volume in the bin, I can rake out aged finished compost every time with no worms, they are all on the top. I haven't had any problems with critters coming in through the bottom, but when the bugs show up in the summer I layer extra paper and cardboard on the top. Because of the excellent airflow, liquid hasn't been in issue. If anything it tends to get a little dry over time. That's easy to control with wet bedding and kitchen scraps.

Pics of my first bin

Comments (4)

eric30

rickd59

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geauxworms
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eric30

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Pics of my first bin

Comments (4)

eric30

rickd59

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geauxwormsOriginal Author

eric30

COMPANY

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GET HELP

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geauxworms
Original Author