Comments on: Composting Worms in Raised Beds

By: Damon

Damon — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:31:51 +0000

Just ordered my worms today, 5lbs! My beds are 32 square feet each, I’m figuring about four towers each made out of four inch PVC.

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:08:42 +0000

Cassandra
That sounds like a plan, once the weather settles down in a month or so I’ll do just that. Going from 7 below to 70 in a week are just part of the extremes in northern New Mexico, up next will be the 40mph winds lol.
Marty

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:54:13 +0000

Marty, sounds like an experiment to me. Why not separate out some and put in towers on one end. And do nothing but feed towers on the other and see what happens? I figure with the towers with nothing but food, it may take a while for worms to show up, but maybe not.

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:31:59 +0000

I’ve been wondering what my out door bin would hold in store for me as the temps dipped to -7 and didn’t get above freezing for a week and half. I only had it covered with a sheet of plywood just so my dog wouldn’t start digging in it. I dug down in the middle and the dirt came up like a big rock, still frozen, but to my surprise it was covered with worms, they weren’t moving very fast but there was several of them.
My out door bin is 4′ X 8′ X 8″, I filled it with horse manure last spring then I dumped about a pound of red wigglers in it,It was pretty well composted when I dumped it in. I plan on planting tomatoes there in the spring, and I like the idea of the worm towers. My question is should I harvest the worms and put them into the towers before I plant, or just install the towers and start adding food for the worms in them
Marty

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:47:37 +0000

Ken – When I lived in northern AZ, which got pretty darn cold, I would “corral” my worms in the fall. I did this by feeding and then pulling out the food with worms in a day or 2 and repeating the process until I got most of the worms. As I mentioned, they don’t stray too far from the tower. However, you might be able to insulate your beds with a bunch of food and then covering with straw. Check out Bentley’s winter worm windrows. I was always too chicken to try it.

By: Tracy Mills

Tracy Mills — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 23:16:32 +0000

Hi Bentley! Love the video and am very interested in the worm towers. I’ve already got 2 55 gal barrels full of vermi-action, but really like the idea of having a tower in each of my raised beds. What I want to know is temperature and shade needs. We’re on Maui and my raised gardens get lots of sun and rain. No shade. Would the worms survive or to them would it seem a “Tower of Inferno”? Also, don’t you think it would be nice to draw a face on each bucket (lid) for the towers? Maybe fashion some arms and they could double as a “Scarecrow” or would just make you laugh to look at them?

By: Ken Erlenbusch

Ken Erlenbusch — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:52:57 +0000

I garden in raised beds. I also live in South Dakota where the temperatures can easily dip into the -20 to- 30 degrees. Would you harvest your worms after the growing season or would you let them fend for themselves and hope for the best. I keep my worm bins in my garage so they are pretty happy year-around. I could harvest what I find and bring them indoors in the fall.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Ken

By: Cassandra

Cassandra — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:47:36 +0000

Worm towers in raised beds are wonderful. I space mine about every 8 to 10 square feet. The worms don’t travel far from the towers. Be sure to mulch well around the towers and water well even in the tower. Towers are great for beginning vermigardeners because they provide a window into what’s going on with the worms. It makes it easy to know if something is lacking.

By: Larry D.

Larry D. — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 11:55:16 +0000

He He He! Good one John! I just checked.Paula’s fine! LOL!
Love the screenr.It is a great tool! Also love the raised beds!Hope i have a good bit of them this year.But slacked off,and didn’t get the manure i was supposed to.Hey,it happens!
Bentley always has some beautiful tomatoes.My wife loves roses and tomatoes.So i better love them as well! HA HA!

By: John Duffy

John Duffy — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:44:12 +0000

Hi Bentley. I kinda like the 5 minute video since I’m a bit on the impatient side. I’m looking forward to the worm tower experiment because it seems like such a simple and useful idea. How far apart do you suppose they should be spaced?
How are your two little worm buddies doing? (no, not Larry & Paula 😉