It’s been almost exactly two and a half years since my last VB48 update! Although I did set the system up again after that (my last post talked about cleaning out the bin), it has been used almost exclusively as a holding bin for the worm mix material I sell up here in Canada.
Seeing as it is currently my “off season”, and since I’ve been feeling pretty vermi-inspired lately, I thought it would be fun to finally start using it as a “normal” worm bin (aka Compost Guy experimental bin – so likely not normal at all! haha) once again.
The first thing I did (another day earlier in the week) was harvest a big bag of living material (in this case, A.K.A. unscreened vermicompost) for use in my Worm Inn Mega system. This was accomplished via a basic “light harvesting” approach.
You can see in the first image below that the overall level of material in the bin was quite low once I was finished. It probably doesn’t look all that exciting, but I can assure you there are loads of small Red Worms (along with other composting critters) down in that dark material. I am actually really eager to see what sort of worm densities I will find in the system once it really gets going again!
😎
As is usually the case when setting up any sort of vermicomposting system, I started with a layer of dry bedding (shredded corrugated cardboard).
Next, I dumped in a bunch of frozen food scraps that had been sitting out in the snow on my deck. I didn’t weigh the material, but my rough estimate for total weight would be somewhere in the range of 5 to 10 lb.
After that I mixed in some of that same lovely living material I had previously removed from the system – lol. This is a great way to kickstart the decomposition of the waste materials – while also serving as a pretty effective odor sponge, in case some of the wastes (such as cauliflower and kin) give off some funky smells before the worms start processing them.
I topped everything off with a cover layer of “scrunched up paper” bedding (as some of you may recall, this is going to be my main bedding in the Mega) since that’s basically all I had left.
Lastly, I put the garbage bag cover I’ve been using back over top.
I thought it might be fun to try feeding this system fairly heavily early on, before switching over to a bedding-only diet for the worms. As some of you will know, I’ve been fascinated with Brian Paley’s “100 lb of worms in a single room” concept for quite some time now, so I was thinking I might try something along the same lines (as what he did with his large indoor system).
Whatever the case may be, I will definitely keep all of you posted!
Stay tuned!
😎
NOTE: To avoid confusion relating to my friend Brian Donaldson’s “Beast” flow-through bins, I will no longer be using that nickname for my VB48 as I have for past updates. I’ll just call her VB48 (“Veebs for short”? haha) until such time as I come up with a better name – assuming I feel the need to do so.
**For Even More Worm Fun, Sign Up for the RWC E-mail List!**
I found this very interesting, seeing how you do it. I have been using coconut fibre because I had lost so many worms and the cardboard did not seem to get processed.
Hi Verity,
I have had great success with cardboard and other paper-based bedding materials. Worm die off is almost always caused by other factors.
Re: the unprocessed cardboard – this is definitely not a “bad” thing at all – screened out you end up with some fantastic “living material”.
😎
How much does it cost to build a bin like this?
Hey Joe – supplies for a VB48 will likely cost between $100 and $200 if brand new. But you could certainly cut costs significantly if you use reclaimed materials.
Where are the plans for the VB48?
Hi Saroj,
The plans can be purchased on this page:
https://www.redwormcomposting.com/vermbin-series-plans-package/
If you are an existing customer and have not received the registration email, please get in touch and I’ll be happy to help out.
😎