Funky Outside Worm Bin

[Darryl]

Talk about a simple outside worm bin....... Last year my wife decided that she wanted me to create a worm bin outside to help some of her compost materials decompose faster. We have a heck of a problem with raccoons and possums here so I knew I would have to put something underground or come up with a more complex design. So what I did was I dug a hole in the ground about 4 feet deep and about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. We had this solid old wooden box we were going to throw away. This particular wooden box was about the same dimensions as the hole that I dug. I placed the box inside the hole and filled in around the box. All that was visible above ground was the lid of the box. My wife then threw in all kinds of stuff that she was intending upon composting. Things such as scrap food, paper, straw, hay, leaves, sawdust and other varied things. When the box was full of food and other stuff I then threw in a few Euros. When I say a few I mean I only threw about 150 worms into that box. I didn't want to use many worms as I figured they would die anyway. Fall time came, then winter and I forgot all about that outside system. As a matter of fact, all the next summer I forgot about it. Anyway, when I finally did take the lid off of the box I noticed that lots of composting had taken place. When I started digging through the compost, I discovered, to my surprise, literally thousands of Euros. This really freaked me out considering that I only threw in between 100 through 150 worms. Plus there were no holes in the box, nor did I water them. I just let nature have her way. We did have one heck of a lot of scrap food in the box though.

[tt]

Hmm that is what i was thinking . It is very cold here up to 30 to 40 below . I fi i pit composted and I can get lots of chest freezers I was wondering how far down I would have to go. Or if i did not use freezers but just dug pits with a lid that I could get into . I could even heat it and pump air in. How far would I have to go down.??

[Darryl]

tt, I don't think you would have to go too far down. Mine was just barely in the ground. Like I said, the lid was above the surface. I did however have some straw and hay mixed into the compost, so I imagine that this providied some heat when it was decomposing. We get lots of snow here during the winter and it gets fairly cold here as well. The euros survived the winter and they even multiplied like crazy. You can always get a couple of hay bails and surround the lid with hay bails if you are worried about extreme cold.

[tt]

So If i used my freezers i could drop them down say 3/4 stack bales and fill them . I may try it. I can get the holes dug I think . Im just worried aobut the extreme weather we get for winter. Minis 30 or more for weeks at a time. Tones of snow. or most years anyway.Not pleasant. The freezers are older and have good insulation in them still .I already have holes for drainage in them. I used them last summer. I just need to think of a way to harvest without dragging the whole thing out of the ground.

[Darryl]

hmmm... yea, the harvesting part you would have to figure out for sure. A setup like that would be more or less permanent but would be nice. I seriously don't think you would have to worry about the cold especially if they are in insulated freezers, plus buried in the ground, plus surrounded by hay bails. Any time you get below the surface of the ground, things start getting much warmer. tt, sounds like you are in my old neck of the woods with the winter temps that you get, but I don't think you have to worry. Also, the worms would stay fairly cool in hot summer months being buried.

[Jay Blair]

I have used post hole auger to drill pits 6 feet deep to winter outdoor worms in. I drill the hole, drop in bedding and feed and throw in a pound of worms. In the spring and summer , I harvest it out by flooding the shaft gradually and driving the worms up.

I have harvested up to 5 pounds from a shaft this way in the past.

[jwalker]

reguarding getting the worms out of the winter pit get a device at the garden center it looks like a garden hoe but it has tines ibstead of a geotinefor those that live near the shore use a sand worm rake available at most salt water bait & tackle shops