Worm Bins

I really wanted to title this post “I’ve Got Worms”, the typical title when talking about composting worm bins, but I didn’t, you’re welcome.

I do have a worm bin. It’s not ideal, it really should be a made of something opaque, but I got this bin on sale and wrapped it in masking tape. I used to keep my bin in the laundry room because it was dark in there, but the constant hum of machines were disturbing the worms. I could tell because they weren’t laying eggs. I moved the worms to a lower shelf in a dark cupboard and they are much happier.

In the photo above you can see a tiny red wriggler egg. It is the brown, lemon shaped egg between my fingers (on the left side of the little dirt pile). I’m not squeamish around worms and if you want a composting bin, you really shouldn’t be. When it comes time to separate the worm castings from the worms and eggs, you really need to get hands on in there. At least, that is my experience. I’ve never found any of the ways they suggest separating everything, to work. I do it by hand, piece by piece, worm by worm, egg by egg. It takes awhile. On the plus side, you have some great plant fertilizer. I’m sure an outdoor composting bin produces just as great of a fertilizer and if you are uncomfortable with worms and getting your hands dirty, it would be the better option.

You should be careful of what you put into your worm bin and also how much. You don’t want it to turn into a mud puddle. There are only certain things you can but in there (like no meat, or dairy). Whatever you add to the worm bin needs to be covered by bedding, to keep everything healthy in there. This photo is before I covered up all the cabbage. Exposed produce will lead to mold, pests, and it would smell. Signs of a healthy worm bin are no smell (or I should say an earthy smell), eggs, and active worms. If your worms are slow and sluggish you likely have a problem.

You don’t need to buy anything fancy to start a worm bin. I found my worms on kijiji (you can’t use regular earth worms. Composting worms are a specific species. I use red wrigglers), and put them in a plastic tote. For bedding I use newspaper and cardboard. You also have to give them water. I don’t feel like I have the water situation sorted yet because my worm casting usually seem too wet, but I’m worried about dehydrating them. I’ll post a link to a website where you can find more information about them here.