5 gallon pail worm tower.

[trail twister]

Built and put my first attempt at a worm tower in a raised bed. Thinking that early on I do not have a lot of kitchen scraps to put in for the worms so thought I could mow a small section of lawn, bagging the clippings to dry and put in the tower for the worms.

Think that would work OK.

Normally I refuse to catch grass clippings in a bag. Much prefer to continue to mow and distrubite the clippings to go back into the lawn as they break down.

Al

 

[Mr_Yan]

I've been running worm bins for about 7 years. Generally wooden box style - with open bottom for the summer when outside. The worm herd I had last was a mix of Euros and Reds. Now that I moved and had to restart my new herd is all Reds.

The grass clippings may work but not that well.

Remember the worms don't really eat the food scraps they eat the microbes eating the food scraps. The key is not to let it heat up too much - directly opposite of what you want with a traditional pile.

Also you don't need to "feed" the bin as often as most people do. I've gone weeks without adding to the bin. In fact I generally will stop adding to a bin about a month before I want to harvest it in order to have the vermicompost more finished and have less stuff to sift out.

 

[alp]

I would add grind rotten bananas, oatmeal, or ground fruit and veg leftovers. Never heard of grass clippings. I have heard of adding garden soil though.

 

[trail twister]

Well in a week the tower is working fine. lots of shredded paper nd cardboard with grass clippings and leaves.

Pruned tomato plant leaves along with a few kitched scraps apple cores egg shells(crushed) and and of course my tea bags.

Al

 

[Mr_Yan]

@trail twister, that's plenty of "feeding" to start off the bin / tower. From what you wrote above you're off to a great start. Just as most people over water house plants, most people over feed worm bins and hurt the system.

When in doubt add more bedding to the bin. My favorite beddings for worms are the cardboard egg containers (just like Aldi packs eggs in) and shredded fall leafs. The leafs are great but don't hold much moisture.

If you're cutting or ripping corrugated cardboard up 3" x 5" is plenty small. Beyond that and you're just making work for yourself.

 

[trail twister]

I gave the tower a good soaking yesterday to make the leaves damp just barly close to wringing wet damp.

The pail has holes in the bottom too so will drain any extra moinsture out.

Al