How Do You Make Vermicompost Bin?

Vermicompost Bin

Well, I can tell you everything about starting a vermicompost bin but there are two things you need to keep in mind.

1. You have to be someone who has ten to twenty minutes a week dedicated to this and every few months, (four, five, six months or so) you need to have three hours for harvesting for this.

There is no exception you really need the time.

So if you’re gonna start this project you have to know you need this time and also point 2 is you need to be very attentive to details.

You cannot miss any details when taking care of this.

There are living beings in here and one mistake, you could have a mass exodus, you can have a lot of problems and then what you end up doing is throwing this out and creating more garbage than you were intending on saving.

So, if you can, put in the time and you’re really – a real keener – then this is for you and without further ado I’ll explain how to make this.

What you will need:

– A bin. It cannot be transparent and it must be wide, not tall.

I use this 53 litre Rubbermaid bin that you can find in any hardware store in North America.

A mat that you will place underneath a bin to collect any residues from coming underneath.

Weights to hold up the bin and allow airflow.

I use these leftover pots but you could use bricks or containers.

A drill. Cleaning products. Bedding.

It could be a ton of shredded newspapers or dead leaves.

If you are using newspapers, make sure that it is printed with soy based ink.

Make sure that the bedding is in small pieces.

Do not put a full sheet of paper in there and expect it to work and don’t use computer paper (that has been bleached).

That’s not good for the worms.

Spray bottle with clean water.

A handful of potting soil or sand.

At least 50 red worms.

You can find a local composting organization that sells them or search for vermicompost on Craigslist.

You can also order them online.

And of course selected food scraps in small pieces.

The worms are vegans with a few allergies and a few exceptions.

They eat fruits, vegetables, plants, coffee grounds (even with the filter), teabags and eggshells.

They can even eat rice and pasta but make sure there’s no oil or any seasoning on them.

They cannot eat lemon, oranges, garlic or onions.

You could put some in very small quantities but I wouldn’t risk it. Do not put anything else in the vermicompost bin.

Do not put meat, dairy, oil or any seasoning with salt or vinegar or any animal or human excrements.

That being said, let’s make the vermicompost bin.

Drill many holes on all sides of the compost bin, including the bottom.

Make sure you put the plastic scraps leftover in a recycling bin if your city accepts them or throw it in the garbage.

Do not wash it down the drain.

Wash the bin thoroughly because you don’t know where it’s been or who touched them.

Set up the mat and the weights where the bins will be sitting on.

The weights are there to allow airflow.

Put the bedding in the bin.

You want a depth of about 20 to 25 centimetres.

Make sure it is thoroughly damp like a wrung out sponge.

Then put the food scraps in the bin and the soil.

Put the worms in the bin.

Cover with more bedding.

Once you have your vermicompost bin established, you’ll be needing to feed them once a week with food scraps.

You don’t just open this bag like a garbage can and throw in your banana peels and garbage or whatever and call it a day.

It doesn’t work like that.

You’ll be needing to keep your food scraps in a separate bin and making sure that the food scraps aren’t small pieces then once a week it will open this up, put in your food scraps and cover it with bedding to prevent smells from going around.

So you cover with your bedding and also another thing to keep in mind is that you put it in a different spot in your bin every week.

So one week you’ll put it in a corner, one week you’ll put it in the center, another week you’ll put it in another corner etc.

It gives the worms an opportunity to move around.

Finally, you’ll be putting a fresh new batch of bedding once a month and I will be putting a PDF link that’s very in-depth it’s my go-to guide that will really help you answer more questions that you may have.

Resource:

https://wormskillwaste.com/worm-bedding/

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/food-waste

https://www.vivab.info/Sorteringsguide_Matavfall_Engelska_webb.F51488.pdf?cms_fileid=8aa8737bf5e0f876637667f321f39e5f