There are 4 basic things that you need to start your own worm farm?
- Worm Bin/Boxes/Farm
- Worm Bedding
- Worm Food
- Worms
It’s a short list of things needed for building a farm. (I know, I grew up on a dairy farm.) Now we’ll dig into each of these components a little deeper.
First step. The Worm Bin
Before purchasing any worms you want to have their home ready. You wouldn’t want them to die while waiting for you to build or buy their habitat.
Many people start making their worm farm with plastic storage containers then purchase a worm farm later. I’ll walk you through how to make a bin using plastic storage containers.
The storage containers do not have to be deep because the worms usually occupy the top 4 inches of soil. The size of the container will depend on how many worms you plan on having. (Keep in mind the population could double every 2 to 3 months!) If you start with 500 to 1,000 worm a 10 gallon plastic container will be plenty to start and be able to expand easily.
How many worm you purchase may also be determined by how much organic waste you have. Worms can eat twice their body weight in food each day; so if you throw away 3 pounds of organic matter a week you wouldn’t want to purchase 1,000 worms (approx. 1 pound) because you may not be able to feed them enough if you are mainly using kitchen waste.
After thinking through that process you need to gather the items you need to make the worm bin. Such as:
- Plastic storage containers (2 or 3) with lids
- Drill
- 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch Drill bits
- Brick or block to space containers (Styrofoam will work too)
- Spigot
When staring you will only need 2 bins. Lets start with the first bin, the one on the bottom that will collect the compost tea. Drill a hole large enough to install the spigot and attach the spigot. Then set the brick (or any item you are using to hold the next bin up for air flow.
The next bin creates the 2nd tier. The will hold the worms, worm bedding, and worm food in the beginning. For this worm bin you will drill approximately 30 1/4 holes in the bottom of the bin. (Evenly spaced) Then drill 1/8 inch holes about an inch apart around the top sides of the container. Also drill approximately 30 1/8 inch holes in the lid. This is for ventilation so things don’t start smelling on you.
Place the 2nd tier container inside the one with the spigot and put the lid on.
For the 3rd tier worm farm you would drill the holes the same as you just did for the 2nd tier.
Jklepack's Blog 