How I Start A New Worm Bin & 6 Day Check In! | Vermicompost Worm Farm

all right today we are going to teach you how to  start a brand new worm bin in five easy steps so   let's go ahead and get started step one is to set  up your bin now I have this two gallon Rubbermaid   container that I'm going to use and this has  actually been run four other times and what we   did was we drilled holes in the side and then we  put in this mess screen right here and we put duct   tape on it this has held up for almost two years  so go ahead and set up your bin or buy your bin   that's the first thing you want to do before you  even order your worms now if you're going to have   a lid I also suggest having holes in it and we did  the same thing we put a little screen there and   then added the tape next you want to prepare your  bedding so what I use is mostly cardboard shreds   and a little bit of newspaper shreds so I have a  12 sheet Crosscut micro shutter that shreds them   down really finely and the smaller you get your  cardboard the better the other thing you want to   do to prepare your bedding is to inoculate it now  if you don't have other vermicomposts then you can   use a little bit of soil from outside but just be  aware that might introduce some Critters into your   bin you can also use just some of your regular  compost but the worms that you get will probably   have some microbes all over their bodies so in a  pinch you can just add your worms the other thing   you want to do is add some water now I've added  rain water to here and if I grab it and squeeze   it we make it one little drip two drips out of  it right there that's about how damp you want   it an emphasis on damp you don't want it wet  or pooled so after you set up or bought your   bin and then you prepared your bedding the next  thing you want to do is order your worms or get   your worms from your neighbor or wherever you're  going to get them if you need worms I do have some   links in the description but it's very important  that you have your setup going first before you   get your worms otherwise you can get them before  you're ready now I just did this about an hour   ago where I wet my Shred a cardboard but this can  be done a week or two ahead of time or even a few   days while you wait for your worms so now that  we've got kind of the prep out of the way let's   go ahead and add our bedding to our bin so in  this bin I like to keep things about halfway up   at the max so what I'm going to do is add enough  bedding to get me close to that halfway mark there all right so now I'm just kind of mixing it around  you can see it's glistening that's because it's   wet and this is plenty of bedding the worms really  need a lot of bedding when you start off your worm   bin they do not need a lot of food so we've added  our bedding and now we're going to add the food   so this is step four adding your bedding and food  now let's talk about the food that we're going to   feed them we're going to put in 500 worms so look  at this tiny feeding I've got one piece of lettuce   and all this was previously frozen and then thawed  out a bit and then I've got four strawberry tops   that I'm just going to put right in here and the  reason I like strawberry tops is because they're   really juicy right here the worms can get right  at them and then the top kind of has a green leafy   part which is a little bit of a slower food for  them to eat so what happens is after about four   or five days I can come in here and check and  I'll see did they eat the Flesh of the strawberry   and the way I'll know is because I'll see some  of the strawberry top this green part and that   will indicate to me where the pink strawberry  was and I'll see if it's gone or not so we're   going to go ahead and put those four strawberry  tops in there and then that is our feeding that   is it I'm not going to add any other kind of  amendments or coffee or grit yet because I'm   just trying to get them settled let them know that  this is their new home and give them a little bit   of food to entice them and now what I'm going to  do is I'm going to go ahead and bury it up I want   to go ahead and bury it so if this is a outdoor  bin you don't have any Critters looking for it   and all this cardboard here is just carbon that  kind of masks the smell for any kind of animals   or Critters that would try and get in your bin  but this is an indoor bin so I'm not too worried   about it and then finally step five the moment  we've been waiting for we are going to put our   500 worms in here now you can see I've got some  bedding on top and that's just because I counted   out the worms from the previous iteration of  this bin and they are ready to be restarted   if you order worms you will probably get your  worms in some kind of peat moss or something   like that so they're going to be a little bit  dry so you may want to try and rehydrate them   just a little bit by sprinkling some water on top  of them but we don't need to do that with these   because they came right from one of my bins so  here we go 500 worms into our brand new worm bin all right so it looks like most of them have gone  all the way down so the next thing I'm gonna do   is I'm gonna put a little piece of newspaper on  top right here and I'm also going to put a piece   of plastic and that is because this is an indoor  bin and our air conditioner runs throughout the   day and it sucks some of the moisture out so I'm  going to leave this on here and what happens is   any moisture will hit that bubble wrap and then  kind of disperse back in now an important thing   to do if you have a lid is to leave this lid  off for about 48 hours and put your bin in a   room that's going to have a light on it for 24  hours a day and what that's going to do is let   the worms know that they need to stay down below  additionally any air up here is going to be real   dry so the worms if they kind of stick their  heads out will know oh that's dry and they'll   go back in so let's go ahead and review our  steps number one set up your bin first then   number two prepare your bedding after you've done  those two steps number three order your worms   now once you've done those first three steps you  can add your bedding in your food to your binge   and then finally add your worms and then you're  ready your worms are going you're going to check   on this in about four to five days and see if your  worms have eaten any of the food scraps in there   so I hope this has been helpful I hope this gives  you the confidence to start your new worm bin   so it's been six days since we started the bin  and I left it in a room with a lid off for about   48 hours and then I put the lid on and you can see  that it dried up a little bit over here and over   here on the newspaper and let's see how they did  with the feeding so in here we put I think four   strawberries and we also put a piece of lettuce  so let's dive under and we can already see some of   the worms it's fantastic they are climbing through  and what we're gonna do is also aerate the bin and   kind of mix all the shredded cardboard up to get  any of the dry a little bit moist and then we're   going to add another feeding so let's see if we  can see any of those strawberry tops one of the   reasons I like strawberry tops is you can see  if they've eaten the Flesh and then they leave   the top of it the part that is kind of the green  part so yeah look at that no strawberry flesh at   all but yet here's the green part so this is a  slow food strawberry part was the fast food so   we know they've eaten one strawberry at least  and they have fully eaten a second strawberry   and I'm seeing just a tinge maybe of the lettuce  leaf I think right here Yep this is the stock   part of the lettuce leaf they've eaten all the  other parts away from it so they are eating they   did eat everything and yep there's the other  strawberry top and then the last one okay so   this is good they ate everything that we gave them  except for the green parts of the strawberry top   and the stock so we're going to go ahead and give  them another feeding but first let's go ahead and   dig around and see if we can see any of the worms  and see how the moisture level is doing when it's   a new bin like this and there's a lot of castings  I'm sorry when there's a lot of bedding you don't   see the worms that well but we really are and  there they go we got a lot of the big ones for   this 500 that we put back in here so the corner  does feel a little bit drier than the middle and   that makes sense because the plastic didn't go  all the way around it in this corner same thing   and lots of worms this is this is really good  this is fantastic check out that worm right there   great stuff so we're gonna keep digging around  all right so we fully aerated the bin it's looking   really good for six days from when we started it  now I still smell kind of wet cardboard it doesn't   quite have the earthy smell that uh mature  worm bin will have but that's okay because   they're going to be eating all this bedding right  here and I'm really happy with how this bin is   moisture wise and all the food that they ate for  six days after we set this up so we're gonna go   ahead and give them another little feeding so  every time I feed I like to give a little bit   more bedding so here's a little bit more shredded  cardboard and I did wet that down a little bit   so we'll give them some more lettuce right here  I'll give them three pieces this time and then   we've got some strawberries here and then we're  going to give them their first piece of kind of   really slow food and that is a banana peel I do  not like to start worm bins with banana peels but   if they've eaten all the food I'll start giving it  to them slowly on the second feeding so we've got   some raspberries and some strawberries here and  this time we're going to let the bin go a little   bit longer probably seven to ten days before we  check on it and we're going to add amendments   so to get rid of my expired grains in my pantry  I blend them up in my magic pull-up blender and   I make worm Chow this is not required but just  another way to add more food to your worm bins   then I take old coffee grounds and I set them  to the side and let them kind of dry out they   get a little moldy and then I'll sprinkle a little  bit of that in there also and again this is just   another food source for them and notice how very  little of it I'm putting in here for 500 worms   this is actually a pretty decent sized feeding and  then finally I'll add a little eggshell grit and   again worms have gizzards so this helps them to  make their food smaller in size and again I just   add just a little bit so the key to starting your  worm bin and giving its first couple feedings is   to use moderation they are still getting used to  the bin and you don't want to create conditions   that can lead to overfeeding which then can lead  to ammonia smells and fermentation so it's always   better to feed a little bit less than to feed  a little bit more and right now what we really   want to make sure is that they've got damp  conditions in here we don't want it soaking   wet but a new worm bin tends to dry out a little  bit and especially an indoor worm bin when you're   in the summertime when the air conditioning is  maybe pulling the humidity out of the air so as   a technique I like to put a piece of newspaper  over on top and then I'll put a little piece of   plastic to keep the moisture in so I hope this  video has given you the confidence to start a   new worm bin and see what that worm bin will look  like after about six days so keep following the   videos on this tiny worm bin and you'll see how it  does all the way to harvest so hope you're having   a good day I hope your warm bin is doing well so  half of them accomplishing everybody take care now

Channel: Vermicompost Learn by Doing

Views: 108,707

Keywords: Vermicompost, vermicomposting, vermiculture, worm farm, vermicomposting at home, how to make vermicompost, compost worms, worm bin, worm castings, red wiggler worms, worm compost, red wigglers, epigeic worm, natural fertilizer, gardening, diy fertilizer, bait worms, worm bin bedding, vermicomposting bin, worms, worm food, diy worm bin, what to feed worm bin, how to start a worm bin, all about worms, earthworm, how to start a worm farm, worm time lapse, homestead, diywormbin, wrom

Id: 1IRP-Nu6_90

Length: 11min 27sec (687 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 18 2023