reading time: 8 min
I have a confession to make. This blog post has been sitting in my drafts collecting dust for almost four whole years! Yes, for almost four years my partner and I have been pet-parents to the most unusual pets: Eisenia hortensis and Eisenia fetida, commonly known as "red wigglers".
In other words: WORMS.
And because every pet of course needs an appropriate home, we built them a nice wooden worm bin for them to live in and convert paper strips and kitchen scraps into nice, nutrient-rich compost. That process is called vermicomposting. Shaped like a treasure chest, this worm bin is divided by a piece of hardware cloth to make it easier to harvest the high-quality worm compost later on.
Almost all tutorials on DIY worm bins will use a plastic bin. So why did we use wood for ours?
1) I think it looks prettier. There, I said it.
2) Apart from aesthetics, untreated wood is breathable, whereas plastic is not. And since the worms need oxygen and good ventilation to thrive, wood seemed like the better option.
3) The biggest advantage of wood, however, is customizability. For example, you can easily built a dividing wall into the bin, and adjust all measurements to fit your needs.
But honestly, the main reason why we chose to built a wooden worm bin instead of a plastic one is:
4) We had a bunch of scrap wood lying around we wanted to put to good use!
Yes, building a wooden worm bin is technically much more expensive than building a plastic bin. However, if you are using scrap wood or side-walk finds, it might actually be cheaper! In our case, we only spent a total of 4.30 € (!) on our worm bin because the only materials we purchased were the sisal cord and the hinges. Everything else were either scraps from former DIY projects, gifted to us (like the piece of hardware cloth), or discarded furniture (like the floor board of the bin which is made from my partner's old work desk).
I know that not everyone might be fortunate enough to get all of their supplies basically for free, but I hope this can inspire you to a) use what you already have, and b) ask around and look for scrap wood or old / broken furniture which you can often find on trash day, a junkyard, in thrift stores or on sites like craigslist for free or very cheap!
So this blogpost is mainly meant to be an inspiration with rough instructions, rather than a detailed step-by-step guide.
(If you do, however, prefer a plastic worm bin because it is definitely much easier to build, I highly recommend checking out Deanna's guide on How to Make & Maintain a Simple Worm Bin.)
Let's get cracking! One fancy worm villa to go, please!
In other words: WORMS.
And because every pet of course needs an appropriate home, we built them a nice wooden worm bin for them to live in and convert paper strips and kitchen scraps into nice, nutrient-rich compost. That process is called vermicomposting. Shaped like a treasure chest, this worm bin is divided by a piece of hardware cloth to make it easier to harvest the high-quality worm compost later on.
WOOD BIN vs PLASTIC BIN
Almost all tutorials on DIY worm bins will use a plastic bin. So why did we use wood for ours?
1) I think it looks prettier. There, I said it.
2) Apart from aesthetics, untreated wood is breathable, whereas plastic is not. And since the worms need oxygen and good ventilation to thrive, wood seemed like the better option.
3) The biggest advantage of wood, however, is customizability. For example, you can easily built a dividing wall into the bin, and adjust all measurements to fit your needs.
But honestly, the main reason why we chose to built a wooden worm bin instead of a plastic one is:
4) We had a bunch of scrap wood lying around we wanted to put to good use!
Yes, building a wooden worm bin is technically much more expensive than building a plastic bin. However, if you are using scrap wood or side-walk finds, it might actually be cheaper! In our case, we only spent a total of 4.30 € (!) on our worm bin because the only materials we purchased were the sisal cord and the hinges. Everything else were either scraps from former DIY projects, gifted to us (like the piece of hardware cloth), or discarded furniture (like the floor board of the bin which is made from my partner's old work desk).
I know that not everyone might be fortunate enough to get all of their supplies basically for free, but I hope this can inspire you to a) use what you already have, and b) ask around and look for scrap wood or old / broken furniture which you can often find on trash day, a junkyard, in thrift stores or on sites like craigslist for free or very cheap!
So this blogpost is mainly meant to be an inspiration with rough instructions, rather than a detailed step-by-step guide.
(If you do, however, prefer a plastic worm bin because it is definitely much easier to build, I highly recommend checking out Deanna's guide on How to Make & Maintain a Simple Worm Bin.)
Let's get cracking! One fancy worm villa to go, please!
SUPPLIES YOU WILL NEED:
- 1 sturdy piece of wood, such as a tabletop, the length and width of the bin for the bottom (see my exact measurements below)
- wooden boards the length and height of the bin for front and back
- wooden boards the width and height of the bin for the sides
- wooden boards the length and width of the bin for the lid
- 4 wooden posts for connecting the walls to each other and to the bottom
- a piece of sturdy plastic for lining the bottom
- a piece of hardware cloth that matches the width and height of the inside
- about 50 cm of thick sisal cord (8 mm)
- 2 hinges
- screws TOOLS:
- power drill
- screwdriver
- staple gun
- (optional) jigsaw
THE MEASUREMENTS:
Our worm bin has the following measurements:
Length: 70 cm
Width: 40 cm
Height: 40.5 cm
If you've had your boards already trimmed to the right size at the hardware store - great! If not, take your time to measure, check and double check - and only then trim the boards.
In our case, we worked with 3 pieces of wood that measured 70 cm x 13.5 cm x 1.5 cm for the front side, and the same for the back side, so 6 identical pieces in total.
For each of the two sides we used 3 pieces of wood that measured 40 cm x 13.5 cm x 1.5 cm, so again 6 identical pieces total.
The four posts needed to be the height of the frame (so 13.5 x 3 = 40.5)
minus the height of the floor plate (in our case that was 3 cm, so 40.5 - 3 cm = 37.5 cm).
THE FOUNDATION: WALLS & FLOOR
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| Building the bin walls by bolting them to the posts. |
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| Make sure to leave room for the floor board! |
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| Attaching the wall frame to the floor board. Hopefully you measured correctly ;) |
ADDING ON: LID, FEET & HANDLES
FINISHING TOUCHES: LINING & DIVIDER
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| Building the lid by connecting and stabilizing the lid boards using two pieces of wood. |
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| Attaching the lid to the frame with two hinges. |
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| Bolting on two pieces of wood as "feet". |
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| Very important: Drilling air holes around the top edge of the walls for ventilation! |
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| Attaching two pieces of sisal cord as handles. |
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| The sisal cord handles from the outside. |
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| Almost done! |
FINISHING TOUCHES: LINING & DIVIDER
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| Lining the bin with sturdy plastic. In our case that's a cut up potting soil bag :) |
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| Building a wooden frame for the divider. |
Attaching the hardwire cloth to the frame using a staple gun.
THE FILLING: BROWNS & GREENS
Like any good compost, your worm composting bin needs a nice balance of "browns" (dry, woody materials that are rich in carbon) and "greens" (moist, often colourful organic materials that are rich in nitrogen). The "greens" in your bin will come from fruit and vegetable scraps as well as plant trimmings that you will use to feed the worms.
For the bedding, you want to use the bulky mass of "browns". I used mostly shredded paper (unbleached and mostly black and white, like old newspaper) as well as torn cardboard from parcels, toilet paper tubes and egg cartons. To that I added coco coir, dry leaves, twigs, and spent guinea pig bedding with some hay and manure.
It's best to soak your cardboard and paper or spray it with water to dampen the bedding for your initial filling. If you have effective microorganisms (EM) at home, you can spray some on the bedding as well.
For the bedding, you want to use the bulky mass of "browns". I used mostly shredded paper (unbleached and mostly black and white, like old newspaper) as well as torn cardboard from parcels, toilet paper tubes and egg cartons. To that I added coco coir, dry leaves, twigs, and spent guinea pig bedding with some hay and manure.
It's best to soak your cardboard and paper or spray it with water to dampen the bedding for your initial filling. If you have effective microorganisms (EM) at home, you can spray some on the bedding as well.
Now your worm bin is ready for its residents to move in!
Since today's blog post is already long enough, I will write about the worms and how to take care of them in next week's blogpost.
For now, I'll leave you with the finished wooden worm bin. Enjoy!
Since today's blog post is already long enough, I will write about the worms and how to take care of them in next week's blogpost.
For now, I'll leave you with the finished wooden worm bin. Enjoy!
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♥
Maisy
