Worm Box

I am going to make a worm box Out of a plastic bin. Probably a dumb question, but What kind of dirt do I need to put in the box? Its mostly sand and clay around my house... I read on the internet some but was hoping to get some help from someone who has done this a time or two.

Start off with a mix of shredded news paper, leaves, vegetable scraps (nothing greasy), and loose soil. Make sure it stays damp, but not wet. Also make sure to have holes in the bottom of the box and the worms should be feed twice a week with veggie scraps. Best of luck

Use peat moss with a handful of lime. Keep it moist to the point where when you squeeze a handful a few drops of water comes out. Don't overfeed as this makes a mess. I like to use a little out meal and cornmeal ground fine. Keep a spray bottle next to your bin and stay the top regulates it will dry out. Most of all don't let them get real hot they will die. They will turn the peat and feed into castings which are the finest fertilizer you will find for your garden.

SkullWorks5456 said:

Start off with a mix of shredded news paper, leaves, vegetable scraps (nothing greasy), and loose soil. Make sure it stays damp, but not wet. Also make sure to have holes in the bottom of the box and the worms should be feed twice a week with veggie scraps. Best of luck

Click to expand...

This, and dump the soil they come in when you buy them when you put them in.

i used mushroom compost and peat moss. keep them wet, keep it dark, and most importantly, keep the lid sealed!

worms

I have a worm bin. I ordered 500 european night crawlers from a place in fla and two 1 gal. bags of food. The food lasts a long time and is around $5 a bag. I have had my worms for close to nine months and am about 2/3rds through the first bag. I started the worms in a black heavy plastic bin purchased from Lowes. The bin is 24" x 15" by 12" deep. I have it in the garage, which is an open garage, and I have a led light connected to a light sensor plug over the bin to discourage them from crawling out at night. The light is off during the day. For soil I used a mixture of purchased cow manure and peat that I mixed together about 50/50 and then wet until moist. I have an aluminum toast pan purchased at the dollar store that covers most of the dirt. I lift that, spray the surface with water, sprinkle three tablespoons of the feed, wet the feed with the spray bottle and put the toast pan back to cover it. I also put a piece of chicken fence wire over the top to discourage anything like one of the cats from getting in the bin. That wire is weighted down with an iron bar. I feed every three to four days and when the soil seems to be too dry I pour 2 or 3 drink cups of water around the edges. About every three months I put on gloves and loosen the soil and bring the bottom to the top to aerate it. As to feeding I read on their site how to do it and follow those instructions. Starting out I only used 2 tablespoons, but I have more worms now.

This system is working fine. I have lots of new worms and none are trying to crawl out. All I need to do now is decide to go fishing. the easy time to harvest is mid feed because numerous worms are on the surface under the pan feeding or just under the surface.

Personally I don' t want to fool with food scraps or shredded newspaper or finding the mixture of grains they will eat. The Fla. Co.'s site is http://www.shop.monroeworks.com/How-To-Grow-Worms-Download_c6.htm?sortOrder=2

I started a compost bin in a walmart rubbermaid bin and within 3 months it had worms in it. Lots. I don't know how, but they were there. So I decided to start treating it like a worm bin instead of a compost bin, and starting doing everything the internet said to do, shredded newspaper etc. Suddenly, all the worms were gone. But that's because ants got in it.


Apparently people have problems getting worms going in a bin of dirt, I had no problem.

Good luck!

Thank y'all!! Ill let you all know how it turns out!