Stackable Worm Bin Like Never Before
Today, I am excited to show you a stackable worm bin that I have built out of wood, which insulates the worms from heat and cold. In this post, I will walk you through the steps I took to build this worm bin and show you how it works.
To begin, I started with some fence pickets, which I combined to make an end. I then cut the ends to make the box, which is 26 inches by 5 feet. Next, I used a 2 feet by 5 feet hardware cloth with half-inch openings to allow the worms to move up and down, but also keep the worm castings and all the materials in place. I stapled the hardware cloth to hold it in place and then added supporting braces on each end and in the middle to keep the hardware cloth in place. I also added pieces of 1x2 at the bottom to lock in the hardware cloth in place so that it does not bow out. Finally, I used pieces of two by threes in the corners to make the corners stronger. I built three layers of this and stacked them up to see how they fit.
After stacking the layers, I created a layer for watering and then added the lid on top. I made a frame for watering layer out of the two by threes and one by twos. I then placed the watering layer on top of the layers and attached a half-inch tube to the side and inserted an elbow to make the joint. I used wire clips to hold the half-inch tube in place and also used these clips to hold a quarter-inch tube in place as well.
Next, I placed the worm bin in an area that gets lots of shade over the summer and is perfect for earthworms. I layered stepping stones on the ground as a base, which makes a firm base for the worm bin. I then filled the first layer with compost, stale bread, previous worm castings, and lots of kitchen scraps. I also added a layer of dead leaves, which earthworms love. I then added all the contents of my previous worm bin, along with all the worms.
After completely filling the first layer, it was time to add more earthworms. These earthworms were sent to us by Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. I added a little bit of water to hydrate the earthworms, and they immediately started to move around.
Finally, I stacked the layers on top of each other, added the layer for watering, and then added the lid. The most difficult task in keeping earthworms has been extracting worm castings, but this stackable worm bin makes it much easier. You can remove the lid and the watering layer and keep adding kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, and all sorts of material that you need to add to your worm bin in each one of these layers, and all of these earthworms will move upwards and keep developing all of this to make worm castings.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my stackable worm bin and that you feel inspired to build one of your own. Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next post!