Have you wanted to set up a worm farm at home, but been put off by the high cost of buying one of the best? “label designer” several levels”vermicomposting” kits, promoted by garden centers and mail-order companies? Well, let’s do away with the garbage! – IT’S NOT REALLY A SECRET!!! -You can easily make your own kit of three DIY bins for just a few bucks and your worms will be as happy as little pigs in yellow stuff, without a big bad wolf in sight. Plus, you don’t need to be an expert handyman to pull this off!

• Hardware stores, supermarkets, and camping outlets sell heavy-duty, general-purpose, black (opaque) plastic storage containers at a very reasonable price. They are usually tapered so they can be nested for easy stacking on retailer shelves and come with a “press fit”this lid For your worm farm, you’ll need three of these conical containers (but only one lid). For a simple home worm farm I would recommend using 12 gallon (45 liter) containers. They will usually be about 15 inches (400 mm) deep. You can go smaller, if you want.
• In the first storage container, drill a 3/8-inch (15 mm) hole, located in the center, on the side of the container, just above the base. Insert an inexpensive ½-inch (12mm) plastic barrel or irrigation faucet (with washers) into the hole and quickly tighten with lock nuts; make sure you get a good seal; try filling the container with tap water. This container will be the bottom of your stack and will retain the highly nutritious content”worm tea“leachate, which will start trickling down from the compost bins above. Worm tea is a valuable liquid organic fertilizer, which can be diluted and used directly on your organic vegetables.

The top two containers will contain the worms. They must be identical and are prepared as follows:

• Drill a pattern of ¼ inch (6mm) holes throughout the bottom of each container for drainage and to allow for drainage and upward migration of compost worms, these holes should be evenly spaced on approximately two inch centers. (50mm) in any direction.
• For aeration, drill two rows of ¼-inch (6mm) holes on two-inch (50mm) centers, in a continuous band around each container. This band of holes would be approximately four inches (100 mm) below the top edge of the container.
• It is not necessary to drill holes in the lid, which closes tightly on the top bucket. as enough air must enter from the sides.
• First, install the bottom container (sink) on bricks or blocks, leaving enough space to extract the liquid that is below. Choose a shady spot for the worm farm (in a shed or garage, if subject to frost).
• The second and third containers are “nested” inside each other and dropped into the sump container. To maintain a working space for worms and for compost buildup, you need some spacers or packers about six to eight inches high between the top two bins and some smaller packers about four inches in the bottom bin (sink). ). . You can use wooden blocks or sealed food jars for packers. The packers also prevent the cone worm bins from jamming each other.
• To prevent “nasty bugs” from getting between the bins, you need to close (caulk) the small space between them with strips of shade cloth or mosquito net.

It is now ready to go into production. Space prevents us from giving here fully detailed notes on the details of the operation of the system, such as choosing and feeding your worms, eradicating pests, and maintaining the worm farm, etc. You can visit our website to get this information. However, just make sure you cover the following points:

• Place your worms in the top bin with some good (moist) fibrous bedding (or even shredded newspaper) and after a few days they are ready to start feeding on your kitchen scraps. Cover the food with more bedding to discourage pests and keep the lid closed.
• Make sure the worm farm is never allowed to dry out by spraying water on the bedding periodically, if there is not yet enough moisture from the food scraps.
• When the top bin has been fully productive for a while, the worms will multiply and compost will begin to build up from the worm castings. When the amount of compost is significant, stop putting feed in this bin and switch the top two bins by placing bin #2 on top of the pile, with bin #1 now in the middle. Set up this new top bin with clean bedding, a small amount of the old castings, and immediately start feeding it your kitchen scraps. The worms will naturally migrate to the new food source, leaving the bottom bin with only a few stragglers and ready to harvest your compost within about three weeks after the swap.
• All you need to do is keep repeating the process of alternating the top two bins regularly, pouring out the compost, whenever it accumulates, and emptying the worm tea from time to time. Use both products in your garden and grow delicious, completely organic vegetables and stunning roses. Sit back and enjoy the fruit of your labor – your worms are doing most of the work anyway!

To see a detailed diagram of this simple worm farm, as described, and some illustrative photos, you can visit our website at http://www.working-worms.com/

Happy deworming!