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Keeping outdoor bin warm in winter

19 years ago

I'm thinking about talking my parents into getting a worm bin when I visit them this summer. I come from a large family, and so a large outdoor bin would probably be best for them (also to avoid having fruit flies / fungus gnats indoors). They live in Minnesota, so it gets quite cold in the winter.

Has anyone thought of a way to keep an outdoor bin warm in the winter?

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Comments (4)

chuckiebtoo
19 years ago
I would co-ordinate the setup of the bin to make the first harvest the last. Remove the worms and setup an indoor bin for the winter. Way too many problems keeping warmth and even so, the worms will not thrive outside in Mn. Indoor bins do not have to be a problem.

Chuckiebtoo
moominmamma
19 years ago
A friend of mine successfully overwintered a worm bin in our area by placing it in a depression in her garden and then enclosing it (four walls plus a roof) with strawbales. Our winters are warmer than those in northern Minnesota (we only have a few days each winter below 0 degrees F) but it's possible this might work in MN.

Standard practice here is to put the bin in your root cellar during the winter.

Miranda
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If I were you I would forget about the rabbit poo and just dig a large hole next to your house in a shaded area and bury as many leaves as you can find, mixed with the soil of course. The chicken poo and the straw can also be mixed in if you want, as straw is good for your worms, but it is not necessary; however, you want to be careful how much chicken poo you are adding. Too much and you could end up cooking your worms. It all depends on how big your worm bed is, and how much leaves you are adding. Save about two thirds of the leaves and wrap them in a tarp for use later. As you can probably tell, you are going to need a lot of leaves. You can bury all of your worms in an area about 6 feet by 20 feet, and you can use part of this area for a small garden all summer. The remaining two thirds of the leaves can be added all winter long and through the first part of the summer to help feed your worms.
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Is it protected from the wind? I'm guessing the crawl space might get pretty darn cold. They'll stay alive but not active at the bottom of their comfort range. What species are they? You could try a garden heating mat w/ thermostat under neath to keep them comfortable. It might work better than the light bulb. The light bulb could do the trick in a closed space though. I'd be wary of fire hazard what ever you do. You could insulate w/ straw bales also. Here is a link that might be useful: Heat mats
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I'm having a slow day, and Ken's response above has motivated me to talk about winter. So, what is winter? It depends entirely on the definition you use. The one we usually encounter in the mainstream press is the one I find the least useful: winter is the time between the winter solstice and the spring equinox (i.e. around December 21st to around March 21st in the Northern hemisphere). I think there are two far more logical definitions: meteorological winter is the coldest three months of the year (December, January, and February in the Northern Hemisphere); solar winter is the quarter of the year when the sun is lowest in the sky (between around November 6th and February 6th in the Northern hemisphere). Using the meteorological definition, the middle of winter is in the middle of January. Using the solar definition, the middle of winter is the winter solstice on December 21st. So, depending on your definition, December 21st either marks the beginning of winter, a random day in the first third of winter, or the middle of winter. If you are wondering when sunscreen might be necessary for an outdoor excursion, it would be wise to keep solar winter (and solar summer - between May 6th and August 6th) in mind. If you want to know when it's going to be coldest, use the meteorological definition. I can't think of a good reason to use the astronomical definition (solstice to equinox), yet it won't go away. Maybe somebody can convince me why it's useful.
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Bdadawg
19 years ago
My opinion ... if you are thinking about an outside bin dig it in. Initial setup is a pain ... however being buried has alot of advantages. Steady temp through the summer. Place to escape during colder times. Fewer fluctuations. Can have a much larger bin.

Insulating during the winter is also a good idea. Worms can survive in windrows during the winter. The snow will act as insulation.

As long as food is buried I have never had a problem with gnats or fruit flies (however i do freeze all foods before putting them into the bin). I keep a cultivator next to my bins to make sure i have a non lethal digging utensil ready at hand.

One other option is that the bigger the bin the more able it is to handle fluctuations. In a large bin the frozen outer layers will help to insulate the inner parts.

In winter its the north winds that you are most worried about. A bin placed on the south side of a structure will help to keep the temp up by about 5 degrees.

The last option i can think of is to keep it inside a structure, like a shed or garage. This will help to keep the overall temp of the bin up quite a bit.

So i guess after all that rambling ... size and location would be the things id be most worried about in an area with severe winters.

Bryan
Cassblonde
19 years ago
I've read about people putting fishtank heaters or fishpond heaters in a container of water(sealed) in the bin. One plan I saw of an outdoor bin for Canada was one with all the walls(and lid) lined with syrofaom insulation.

Hope that helps.

Cass:)

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