How to make cheap home made worm composting bin

Going green? How about worm composting?

As the weather gets colder, composting may becoming a chore, especially when you need to go out in snow. Worm composting is another option to keep composting going during winter.

This early Fall, I started a new worm bin, which is pretty easy and cheap.
I bought two 18 gallon storage bins which cost less than $5 each. I drill (1/2") the bottom of the bin for drainage, the side (3/4") and the top for air ventilation. I cover those holes with screen.

The other storage bin is to catch the drainage from the bin. I originally put used plastic pots to keep a gap so the water would drip to the bottom bin. As more and more food were added, the pots got crushed. I found out Styrofoam is a good option. It's light, strong and doesn't rust.

Worm likes Ph neutral condition. You can pretty much put anything that grows. No meat, butter, oil, salad dressing, cheese, dairy... any man made produce (I'm pretty sure the worm is not from Wisconsin...:). I limit the amount of starch as it will fermented and give that awful sour smell... I limit putting orange, lime or lemon (anything acidic). I would put those in garbage disposal as it helps with the smell. I also limit garden waste like stems or leaves as it will create some heat.

Then I added moistened shredded newspaper (about 1/4 or the bin depth), peat moss, shredded egg shell, food scrap and some moistened shredded newspaper on the top. If you don't have peat moss, you can use potting soil. I keep adding layers food and moistened shredded news paper and keep adding for at least 2 weeks. After you see some drippings in the bottom bin, you can stop moisten shredded paper.

Next come the worms... It's not the regular earth worms, it has to be the red wiggler worms. If you have a friend that have a worm bin, I'm sure he or she wouldn't mind sharing. They multiply fast. Another option is to go to a bait store, pet store or online.

They like cool-warm weather between 55-75 F . During summer, you can put it under a shaded area. During winter, you need to get it inside a building. I put mine in the garage or basement.

You can involve the kids with this project. In the beginning, they may be a little squeamish but later it becomes a "pet". The kids were excited to hear that I'm starting a vermi-composting. They decided to decorate the bins and name the worms.


It's been about a month after the worm arrived. They are working hard decomposing our food scrap. The drawback is there are a lot of fruit flies in the bin. I keep checking the bottom bins and see some drippings. I use this to water our garden. I also stopped moisten shredded paper.

It takes 4-6 months for them to decompose all the food scraps. Which means, if you start it in October, you will have nutrient rich soil for your garden in Spring. I think that's a pretty good deal.
Wouldn't you agree?


PS: It's been 3 months after we started our composting bin. I put the bin inside the house due to the cold weather in Wisconsin. I found out the fruit flies are now coming in to the house.
Our friend Derek recommended us to make fruit flies trap.

Cut a corner of a plastic bag and make a cone shape. Cut the tip of the corner, enough so the fly can go in. Put the plastic in a V shape on the top of a bottle and fill the bottle with juice or cider.
I just put rubber band around it and put one by the bin.

The logic: The fly can go inside through the hole, but as it fly back out, they will try flying from the side. They couldn't figure out that there's a hole right in the middle of the bottle.

Good luck.