Comments on: Plastic Worm Bin-07-23-12

By: Bentley

Bentley — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:34:48 +0000

Ahhh ok gotcha, John- sounds good! I am all for any approach that improves air flow – especially if it can also potentially keep flying pests out as well.
8)

By: John VanderMyde

John VanderMyde — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 01:12:33 +0000

I just use a bungie cord to hold the spun polyester, but yes, you could tape or sew the bungie on, and it’d be as easy as joining the hooks to put it back on.

It’s worked well for me – I also use a piece secured the same way under the bin – I have a flow through plastic bin that a cut holes in and then put a piece of 1/4″ screen on the bottom.

Anyway, the lower bin just collects the leachate, and the castings collect on top of the fabric. It seems to save the worms from drowning too when they escape out of the bottom of the bin.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 12:56:15 +0000

JOHN – In all honesty, I prefer to use completely open bins. These seem to perform the best for me. Your idea sounds great – I guess the only aspect that might be annoying would be putting the fabric back on after taking it off. How would it be secured? Perhaps if you could create something with an elastic sewn in, it could just slip on and off?
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ALEX – 4″ is fine as long as you keep a close eye on moisture levels (especially if uncovered). A well maintained bin like that would likely produce some nice vermicompost relatively quickly.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:26:13 +0000

Hey there,
Im new to the worms and rather enthused. I currently have a plastic bin (2000 worms) like the one in this post that is about 2 months into its cycle.
I decided to make another bin project so i used an old cat box pan that is about 4 inches deep. Is this deep enough? It has good surface area. I transfered maybe 100 worms into it, along with shredded egg carton and layers of composted material, so i dont think they will try to escape due to lack of food. I layered a damp towel over the top.

My goal is to see how efficiently the worms process the well decayed compost compared to my other system, and maybe get some quick fertilizer for the fall. Thanks for the time and great info.

By: John VanderMyde

John VanderMyde — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 19:45:50 +0000

Bentley,

Have you ever tried covering your bin with a large piece of spun polyester cloth? They sell it as weed block. I’ve used it instead of drilling holes, and it works great to keep flies out, and the ones that stay in tend to die off.

-John

By: Bentley

Bentley — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:26:52 +0000

Where are you located, Jeff?
I know there are “fruit flies” that are much larger than the typical ones we have here (in North America), but my impression is that they are found in tropical locations. Black Soldier Flies are much MUCH larger than our fruit flies (which are teeny tiny in comparison to a small house fly).

I’d be nervous about luring fruit flies with banana peels (unless it was a small piece floating in the vinegar) since I’d likely just end up with loads of them hatching out in the bottle. lol

When you said “white flies” did you mean “fungus gnats”? I remember catching LOADS of them with some fly paper hanging down below a light bulb (fruit flies don’t seem to be drawn to light nearly as much).
8)

By: Jeff Cummings

Jeff Cummings — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:22:56 +0000

I’ve used small, but tall and thin bottles of wine with a small bit of wine left over to coax the flies, and it’s captured the slightly larger than fruit fly (i think soldier flies)….and the fruit flies are easily captured with a bottle with some banana peels at the bottom….

Good luck, btw the white flies are captured easily with some yellow or white (reflective) sticky surface.

later again,

jeff c