A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Let's talk about worms

I have a worm bin, right now it's in the kitchen, I move it out to the garage for the summer. It doesn't smell at all but, I've got a terrible fruit fly problem right now, the food is buried under the newspaper bedding and I've got a beer bottle with a plastic bag on the table next to the bin. Should I place another beer trap right in the bin??

Thanks Mel I will be watching this forum as I want to know about this very bad.
Jimmy

Hi there! I have heard of several fixes for fruit fly problems, but they all escape me right now. When I remember, I'll let you know.


What is your worm bin made out of? What do you use for bedding?

Jimmy the best most straightfoward book I've found is "Worms Eat My Garbage" by Mary Appelhof. First I got it from the library, then when I ordered my bin it came with the bin.

I've got a plastic bin and I use shredded newspaper for bedding.......

Mine is an outdoor bin, because of all the wonderful stuff I put in it...

It's a 4' by 2' wooden box with no solid bottom...instead it has something similar to chicken wire, but stronger. The whole thing is set up on cement blocks, so that the finished compost falls out te bottom, and I never have to disturb the worms. The lid is also wood, on hinges, so that it is really easy to manuver with one hand.

Ok, so I am following this but the question from me is why a worm bin?

Fishing, black gold, garbage disposal, carefree pets for the kids, can watch them doing you know what, selling, etc.

And are they easy to raise? Care for?

Ok Barley you have no problem with it outside in Oregon I shouldnt have any problem here in Texas then also the wire on the bottom is it like fine Hail screen or what? And where do I get my worms from? Do you have a favorite place? Can I buy fishing worms like night crawlers or do I need red earthwomrs. See you got me started I am full of questions?
Jimmy

Barley, that's so awesome that the compost falls right out, I need to refresh mine about now and i dread it. This is what I got:

but I hear the can-O-worms is a good system and I'd like to have that.........

Yah, how do you leave it outside year round???

Triss, they are super easy, practically no care , and you could forget about them for a week or two, just check make sure there's still food in there.....every 4 months I have to separate them to haul out the compost and shred some fresh bedding.........

Aha, a topic I can really get into. Three years ago I started a worm farm in a water trough, about 6 ft.L x 2 1/2ft.W x 2 ft. D. I got 10 worms from my neighbor. They are small really thin and average 2 in. long. Mine can stay outside all year long. I put shredded newspaper bedding in it.
I put in whole fruits and things that get over ripe plus all of my kitchen scraps. A neighbor used to bring all of their shredded paper from his small business. I add a few leaves and twigs on occasion to give wormies some variety in their diet. They get the overflow water from the sprinklers nearby.
I put whole jack o' lanterns in and raw or cooked corn on the cob, stale bread, whole eggshells; everything non-meat. I do turn it on occasion and have had fruit flies on occasion.
But my thing is, I started with 10 worms a little over three years ago and now have hundreds of thousands (maybe millions).
I also have black gold for my posies. I would be able to turn out more worm castings if I processed what I put into the farm into smaller pieces. But I'm a lazy farmer.
I started trading them this fall for plants, seeds or postage.
I was inspired by a trip to New Zealand where I saw massive worm farms in action. I love the idea of recycling as much as possible and this is one of the easiest projects I've ever done. I do not have to find pet-sitters when I vacation.
My 'fix' for fruit flies is to turn the contents for aeration and lay newspaper layer on top. I am no expert but my worms seem happy
~Tina

My secret ingereient is bunny poo...and his bedding. The worms slow down, but don't completely stop.

Jimmy...outside would work fine for you. I slowly built my population from my garden worms...the red ones, not earthworms. Earthworms eat different things.

My dad always kept a worm bed going because of his passion for fishing. From a gardener's standpoint, earthworm "castings" are basically SUPER compost.

Dad built his directly on the ground using marine plywood so it would last, but logs or dimensional lumber (2x6s, 2x12s etc.) would work as well. The boxes were 4 foot square and 18 inches tall.
He put window screen in the bottom of the bed, then layered garden soil, leaves and newspaper (black print ONLY and no glossy paper). Burlap was put on top of the bed to keep everything moist.
The worms came when Mom was working in the garden. My job was to catch the worms and take them to the beds.
We fed them rabbit pellets and coffee grounds. (my job too)
We had lots and lots of worms... Big, fat, juicy worms!

The worms i have are not big enough for fishing. They are super efficient EATING worms.(And pretty darn good at procreating, too.)
~Tina

Well it all sounds pretty simple.

Why do the worms need newspaper for bedding? They do not get newspaper in the ground.

Ok this may seem a silly question, but the worms do the same thing in the ground, don't they? And don't they also aerate the soil?

So is having them in a bin just a way to produce MORE black gold? And do you get more just cuz you are feeding them?

OK ,You definately get more/ better plant food 'cause your feeding them.
They compost faster than other forms of composting.
They are great for your kids to learn from/about.
They contribute to the environment.
Newspaper bedding is cleaner/looser than soil.
They are cheap and easy, easy, easy.
~Tina

O.K...I imagine my worms are earthworms...

...bought at a bait shop.
So, can I do the worm thing with these?

Also...I have them in the refrigerator at the moment...where they have lived for 6 months...but now they have a bigger house than in the picture.
So...if I make a place under the cabinet where it's not cold, are they gonna want to crawl out of the container? For some reason I just thought they had to be in the refrigerator...that's where I found them.

Cindy H.

Also, the type of worms I have are top feeders. So they are for the most part in the top half of the soil. Unless I've recently turned it. So I can scoop them aside and use the soil underneath. ~Tina

So do you not use soil at all? And does the plant food drop down to the bottom of the bin through the newspaper?

If I started one of these in a small box and put it in one section of my garden to work for a while, I could move it down the line to work in another area?

Couldn't the worms survive outside just fine since they live outhere all the time or do you need to take care they do not freeze since they cannot go "underground"

Miss Cindy, I don't see why you can't start with them, and then add red wigglers as you find them...if anything, the earthworms will finish their natural life out. If they are happy, they will make more.

Ok I have a box I can use really an old apple crate need wire on bottom have my compost I can put in to start as well as soil out of my graden then all I need is red wigglers? Do I need to order these? I have a few earthworms already in my garden fours years ago I didn't even have grubs let alone earthworms now at least I have them do not know where they came from. Will shop around to find what I need localy. Barley what would you charge for a start of your worms and Mel you too? If I have to buy them I would rather pay you instead of some company.
Jimmy

Triss, I can't answer your 'freeze' question. Although the above ground thing would definatly factor in.The red-worms I have can not live outside in the soil on their own. I don't know why (maybe tropical?) but I also know I wouldn't want them to in my garden because they eat too much and would eat my plants as well.
I mix the castings in with my soil. I have used it alone in a couple of potted heavy feeder plants. I'm still experimenting with these things myself.
~Tina

And they eat the newspaper as well as junk mail and phone books. It's not just bedding. ~Tina