These are images I collected when my first worm bin was built, which I'd later named Adam. It's really hard to name individual worms, thus they were named collectively.
Then I inverted two 5 1/4 cup Ziploc containers inside the catch bin and placed the worm bin inside of the catch bin. I made two sets of dotted lines around the entire bin; small holes were drilled on the bottom line and larger holes on the upper line.
Lower holes, I think, were 1/8" and the upper were 1/4". Burrs on hole edges here don't really matter.
And holes were also drilled into the lid of the worm bin.
Now I'll save you the hassle of doing your first worm bin like I did mine, where I wasted a lot of time and yielded a big mess. We won't get into what I was thinking back then.
Remove the Ziploc/juice containers from the catch bin and place the worm bin inside of the catch bin so the bins are set up like a pasta-cooker/strainer in one. Load the worm bin with strips/pieces of paper you have ready. Fill the bin with enough water to cover the paper straight from the tap*, say, from your bathtub tap or a garden hose outside, about 4-5 gallons. Add as much additional paper as you can into the water so the paper is completely submerged. Let the material stand overnight.
Overnight? Is that really necessary?
No, not necessary, but I've found that worms will be much happier if you let the paper marinate overnight. It truly is a phenomenon the difference standing overnight versus a couples hours makes. When marinated overnight, the material stays damp much longer than if marinated a couple hours, which requires less maintenance, which is nice.
*some websites claim you have to have chlorine-free water to wet your worm paper. I say phooey on that as keeping worms shouldn't be a complicated thing. Worm maintenance should be as simple as possible from the git-go. So far, my worms have not complained once about the chlorinated water.
Before we get started, let's put definitions into place for clarity: "worm bin" is the one that the holes are drilled into; the "catch bin" should remain hole free.
First, I marked dots where I wanted holes drilled in the bottom of the worm bin. And it was done.
I think these were 1/16" holes, evenly spaced a couple inches apart, throughout the bottom of the bin. Make the edges of these holes as burr/flash-free as possible for the future. One day this bin will be the second story of another worm bin.
I think these were 1/16" holes, evenly spaced a couple inches apart, throughout the bottom of the bin. Make the edges of these holes as burr/flash-free as possible for the future. One day this bin will be the second story of another worm bin.
Then I inverted two 5 1/4 cup Ziploc containers inside the catch bin and placed the worm bin inside of the catch bin. I made two sets of dotted lines around the entire bin; small holes were drilled on the bottom line and larger holes on the upper line.
Lower holes, I think, were 1/8" and the upper were 1/4". Burrs on hole edges here don't really matter.
And holes were also drilled into the lid of the worm bin.
Also 1/4", I think. Burrs on the holes in the lid don't matter either.
Now I'll save you the hassle of doing your first worm bin like I did mine, where I wasted a lot of time and yielded a big mess. We won't get into what I was thinking back then.
Remove the Ziploc/juice containers from the catch bin and place the worm bin inside of the catch bin so the bins are set up like a pasta-cooker/strainer in one. Load the worm bin with strips/pieces of paper you have ready. Fill the bin with enough water to cover the paper straight from the tap*, say, from your bathtub tap or a garden hose outside, about 4-5 gallons. Add as much additional paper as you can into the water so the paper is completely submerged. Let the material stand overnight.
Overnight? Is that really necessary?
No, not necessary, but I've found that worms will be much happier if you let the paper marinate overnight. It truly is a phenomenon the difference standing overnight versus a couples hours makes. When marinated overnight, the material stays damp much longer than if marinated a couple hours, which requires less maintenance, which is nice.
*some websites claim you have to have chlorine-free water to wet your worm paper. I say phooey on that as keeping worms shouldn't be a complicated thing. Worm maintenance should be as simple as possible from the git-go. So far, my worms have not complained once about the chlorinated water.
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