Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Home Worm Bins

Food for a home worm bin:


Fruit and vegetable scraps are always a safe bet .

Collecting kitchen scraps in small lidded bucket allows them to age for a while
before adding them to the bin. Aging encourages microbial colonization while
the food is breaking down. This will happen in the worm bin actually but the
worms won't start feeding on the materials until they are starting to rot.

You can also add tea bags and coffee grounds with filters to your bin. Be moderate with this material as it can be very acidic. Worms love orange veggies! Pumpkins, butternut, as well as any variety of melons.

These materials will break down into liquid so watch that your material doesn’t get too wet for the worms. Too much water robs the bedding of air.

Foods to avoid: dairy; meat; onions, citrus fruits and garlic.

3 comments:

  1. Hi there! Have you tried worm bins without drainage? I'm sort of piloting a small bin like that. I figured since I can control the moisture level anyway...

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  2. Hi Cianoy,

    A small bin with no drainage can be maintained as long as you keep tabs on the moisture level. The danger would be a too wet bin that doesn't allow enough airflow for your worms. Adding Shredded newspaper is good for those times the material is too wet. Do you keep a lid on the bin? You may want to just cover the bin with a sheet of black plastic giving the worms more air circulation.

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  3. Hi Leslie!

    So far, my small bin is doing okay. I keep the lid on the bin, but I punched very small holes on top. The other day, I added a bigger hole (about a round inch) on top and taped stockings over it. That should improve the ventilation by a lot.

    Check out my bin when you can.

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