420SA Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Hello folks As many organic growers will know, weed or veggies, Worm castings(worm poop) otherwise known as vermicompost is an essential ingredient in your soil mix. Reason being it has a very rich and vast nutrient content. To produce worm castings you need a worm farm and the beauty is that you can get your own worm farm going at home very quickly with minimal effort and not too much damage on the wallet. After doing a lot research on DIY worm bins I've gone with the pretty standard stackable setup consisting of 3 bins stacked upon each other. I've made some tweaks of my own. All the equipment cost me about R430-00 including the worms and I will never need to spend another cent as all you need to do is feed them your kitchen scraps and paper. This is what you'll need to get, or use if you're lucky enough to have some items already at home: 3 stackable containers. Tote containers are commonly used . I use the 45L one's. It is possible to start with 2 for the first month or two. You must also have at least 1 lid. R240-00 Screw In Tap R25-00 A Drill Drill Bits Shade Netting. Enough to cover the base of one container and for use as vents About R40-00 A Glue Gun. Glue will do fine otherwise Newspaper for bedding Handful of potting soil Earthworms(Red Wrigglers) - 400 or more - I get 600 for R150-00 Some left over veggie scraps. Or buy some chopped butternut Ok let's get started! First we'll start off with the bottom container. This container will be used to collect all the liquid run off from the upper containers. This liquid is known as Worm Tea(lid wont be needed for this container) Drill a hole in the side of the container at the bottom to fit the Screw In Tap Screw in the Tap and make sure the fit is nice and tight Use some silicon sealant to seal off the tap and prevent any leakage And that's your bottom container sorted!! Now onto the 2nd Container. For now this will house the worms, their bedding and their food which they will be composting Drill holes into the bottom of the container. I used a 2mm drill bit and drilled roughly 25 holes. You could actually drill more. edit: After experience I realised theses holes were too small and so I drilled new 8mm holes Cut a piece of shade netting to size that will cover the base of the inside of the container. This to prevent the worms from getting through the bottom holes and into the bottom container Glue the shade netting to the base with a glue gun The end result looking something like this... The shade netting ensures the worms don't crawl through the bottom holes falling into the worm tea below. Now cut a hole in both long sides of the container to use as vents. Cut shade netting to size and glue over the holes you cut Drill holes into the lid. I used a 4mm bit for these holes Fill the 2nd container with moist but not soaking shredded newspaper. Shred the newspaper, soak in water, wring it and then place into the the container. Filling it up to just below half way with newspaper, chuck in the handful of soil and throw in your kitchen scraps and mix it up. Don't put too much food for now. Some shredded butternut is a great kickstarter for the worms apparently. Place your worms in the bedding, covering them up a bit. Slip the 2nd container into the bottom container, stick on the lid and there you go, your worm farm is up and running!! The idea is for the worms to eat up the food as well as the newspaper bedding which they in turn covert into compost which remains in the bins for you to collect. Keep monitoring your bin and feed the worms when you notice the food being eaten up. Worms double their population every 3 months so the feeding rate will most certainly go up. Also keep stocking up with moist scrap paper and newspaper. Once the worms have consumed the majority of the food and bedding in the 2nd container, a 3rd container with relatively large holes drilled in the bottom will be placed on top of the 2nd container, directly on top of the bedding. More food and bedding will be placed inside the 3rd container and as the worms will run out food in the 2nd container, they will migrate upwards to the 3rd container leaving worm castings in the 2nd container which you can then harvest. After the castings have been harvested from the 2nd container, the worms and bedding in the 3rd container will be transferred back into the 2nd container for the process to repeat. Be sure to make use of the worm tea that collects in the bottom container as it makes for a great soluble fertiliser. I will be making amendments as time goes by however I'm no expert on this matter and welcome input from members who have more experience with worm farming. Good luck with your wormy farming! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Cool bud. very nice diy. I have been planning mine for months but never get around to actually do it. This just gave me the motivation to tackle it sooner rather than later. I was looking at this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted August 3, 2015 Author Share Posted August 3, 2015 Cool bud. very nice diy. I have been planning mine for months but never get around to actually do it. This just gave me the motivation to tackle it sooner rather than later. I was looking at this. Those bins do look good. How much do they sell that for? Would like to see how they set it up inside the containers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I think they start from R250.00 Have you checked out Global Worming - they based in Cape Town Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted August 3, 2015 Author Share Posted August 3, 2015 I think they start from R250.00 Have you checked out Global Worming - they based in Cape Town Their equivalent setup to mine costs R650. I say save 200 bucks and go DIY, part of the fun is the DIY I reckon Unless you dont have the tools to DIY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spootch Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 Nice post 420sa ! Are you allowed to enter the compo we've been farming worms for just over a year now! Your setup looks bang on mate the netting and vents are brilliant, our setup is much more simpler but works ok. Points I can give, obviously you will make things work in ur own way so this is just my 2cents for what it's worth lol!!! - extraction of the castings is not as easy as the books make out, we tried the placing of a third crate method and yes the worms start to move towards the new bin but lots just decide they like there old home better maybe with more time they would eventually move, so in the end u will be doing some siffting thru decomposed matter and worm poo at some stage ! -we also noticed once they settled in and happy, if you start messing around with there home they don't like it and start freaking out and trying to escape, so the method of having them move in there own time to the new crate is the best imo. Worm wee is plentyfull the castings take a bit of time. We had black soldier flies come and join the party and lay there larvae, they are OK and actually feed alot quicker than the worms and don't bother them at all, they love mealie cobs and get thru them in days. My feeling is they don't excreate what the worms do, so that's the only negative ! - The worms multiply pretty quickly and there's a threshold that they reach and stop reproducing, so after abit you can make more homes, if you want more that is and move some to start a new box. - They don't like acidic food, and citrus, onions, garlic, tomatoes ect. We did add egg shells but rinse them first and crush them otherwise they battle to break it down. Some quick pics I snapped now Some of the collected wee, wondering if it can be used in an aact brew ? Some of the boxes not as fancy as your used upside down lids to catch the wee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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