Monday, November 30, 2009

12" Wood Worm Composting Bin

This is an example of our 12" Wood Worm Composting Bin
a Single Compartment Box This box is a basic design, a rectangle box with solid wood sides, bottom and hinged lid, handles on either end to facilitate lifting. Two sides are vented with holes covered in fine aluminum wire mesh to allow air flow through box which reduces odor and increases oxygen for worms and beneficial bacterial growth. These are also available with casters to ease movement of the box.

You can hand sift the worms after 3-4 months to harvest castings or we have a wood frame covered in ¼ inch hardware screen which can be slid into the center to divide box and ease the harvest of castings. To use the screen, you first need to push all worms, bedding and food scraps to one side of box then slide screen into center leaving one side empty for anywhere from a week to a month depending on how much biomass they have to eat. Once they are finished eating, you then place new bedding and food scraps on opposite side of screen and leave for another week or two. The worms should naturally migrate towards the food leaving behind one whole side of nutrient dense castings that you can add to house plants, garden or lawn.

One draw back to this design is that it rarely creates any worm “tea” or leachate from excess moisture passing through the biomass and settling at the bottom. Typically, excess moisture is absorbed into the wood but if there is too much to be absorbed it can pool at the bottom causing odor and killing worms but this is extremely rare.

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