New Worm Bin

A couple of years ago,

we showed how we fashioned a homemade worm bin.

You can visit that post here.

We still have that one,

but there were a few things that made it difficult to harvest the castings,

which is the main reason we started our bin.

Mostly, the totes would get very heavy,

laden with our black treasure.

It required me to sift through the bin for worms,

so that I could gather the castings for the garden.

Doable, but not desirable.

Enter the Worm Factory.

This kit comes complete with bin, multiple trays,

coir, pumice, and even shredded newspaper.

Everything but the worms are included, as well as an instruction book

to get you started.

The pumice aids in drainage and aeration,

so that the bin stays moist, but not soppy.

 Coir, which is ground coconut fiber, 

acts a bedding material.

This is soaked in water and becomes fluffy before being added to the bins.

 (I haven't figured out yet what the scraper is for,

but it's included in the kit.)

 The instruction manual details step-by-step

how to put the wormery together,

as well as tips on how to harvest castings.

 To start the first tray (where the worms will be),

a layer of dry newspaper was placed on the bottom.

In order to prepare the bin for worms,

the coir was mixed with some potting soil, shredded paper

and pumice and added to the bottom most tray.

The soil mixture was added on top of the dry newspaper.

At this point, food scraps can be added to one corner of the tray.

I used chopped lettuce, kale and other cuttings from meal prep.

When making a salad or using greens (their favorite),

I chop them into small bits and place them in a freezer bag

until they are needed.

The worms get fed about once a week or so.

 After adding the worms, place a layer of wet newspaper on top.

This will keep the tray moist and dark, 

just the way they like it.

I used the two empty trays here to store some shredded paper

for when I'm ready to start the next layer.

Extra trays can be added, up to a total of five.

The spout is designed to keep excess moisture out of the bin,

as well as allowing you to create casting tea with the contents.

One peek into the bottom tray two weeks after starting this tray,

made me feel that I was on the right track.

The next tray will be added this week,

and the worms are supposed to migrate to the next tray up

and start the whole process over again.

There has been no trouble thus far with mess or odor,

but I think I would still rather have them outside on the back deck

(in the shade) rather than in the house.

The lid of the worm factory gives all the necessary information,

to make it easy to maintain your population.

You'll notice in the lower right-hand corner

that this wormery is made in the USA.

Another plus, in my opinion.

Overall, we are pretty happy with this simple worm bin.

It seems like it will save me both time and energy

and create castings galore.

Do you know what a group of worms is called?

(A clew.)