What? I've been worm farming over 15 years using a number of different types of bins and never experienced a problem of worms not going to the top... Unless there is still unprocessed food in the lower bins(most of the time). There might be a few stragglers, but I've never seen worms insist in staying in lower levels if you feed only in the top bin. And that goes for both wet and sopping wet lower trays. IMO if worms stay in bottom trays, it's because that's the environment they really like, more than the top trays. If the top level isn't toxic, scavenger worms will always live in the top 4" of the bin, and assuming each tray is about 4" deep that means that unless there is something more attractive below or something toxic on top, the worms will always be mostly in the top tray or two. No exceptions. So, knowing that If the worm farmer is seeing something that isn't expected, there has to be a reason. Check first for toxicity - Did you add something that has pesticides in it? - Are you adding a ton of food and covering the entire surface of the bin? Until food has decomposed completely, aerobic microbes are consuming oxygen and expelling CO2. Worms need O2 to survive which is a main reason why they like to stay near the surface, but if it's toxic, worms may be driven downwards. Know how to feed your worms. Never cover the entire surface, always dig a hole in a corner and bury the food in that hole so that worms can approach the food or move away.. And, of course worms will have plenty of open surface area if they want more aerated bedding. And, never mix food into the bedding. Keep the bedding neutral, a place of refuge if you make a mistake offering worms something they don't want. Then check for what might be attractive - Check the bedding in your lowest level(s). Is the bedding all gone or do you still see either bedding or food? If you see anything but castings, you're feeding too much to your worms. Your bottom tray(s) should be 100% castings with hardly anything that can still be identified. - Although I don't think is important, you can check for moisture. But, check not for wetness in the lower trays but how different they are from your top trays. Are your top trays too dry for your worms? Although worms like wetness, if food and oxygen are available mostly on top, you shouldn't be seeing more than some stragglers down below unless the top trays are too dry.. - Check for temperature. Worms are cold blooded creatures which means they need warmth to be active. I put my worm bins in partial sunlight so that part of the bin is warmed as much as possible by the sun every day. But, I also keep part of the bin in shade as well because I don't want the entire bin at the same temperature. It's less of a problem when your worm bin is more full, but when you're starting a bin and there isn't much bedding or castings, temperature can be hard to control. Later, when your bin is full your bin will maintain an even temperature day and night and be less affected by outside temperatures. The bin should never approach 90 degrees F when the worms will die, but you also don't want your worms living in the low 70's or cooler which would cause your worms to be sluggish. Successful worm farming is like any other husbandry... It's based on observation, and playing a psychological game with your herd. Don't ever think in terms of what would make you happy if you were a worm because you'll never be able to think like a worm, instead really look at the environment you're providing your worms with a critical eye and study their behavior. If you give your worms options to choose, you'll start to notice what your worms like and what they don't.
Hey Steve. Great information. I have all kinds of bins. Outdoors - I have many hodgepodge in ground bins and indoors I have a variety of bus tubs, rubbermaid bins, repurposed cat litter buckets. I have your first design of the urban worm bag. I purchased that somewhere between 2007 and 2010, so whatever design you had then is my oldest urban worm bag. I also have the latest version 2.0. I run 2 worm factory 360s and a Vermihut. All are successful. Leachate has never been a problem for me. I've never had leachate in any of my stacking systems. Wait 🤔...... I did - once, I took a gigantically thick slice of watermelon and put it in one tray just as an experiment and as you can imagine most of it ended up in the bottom almost immediately. But that was a single day mess not a long-term collection. Lesson learned. But on a regular basis my bins of all types have adequate evenly dispersed moisture - and are neither too wet nor too dry regardless of the bin type. Most of the video showing how to make homemade worm bins using plastic tubs instructions tell you to use two tubs, drilling holes in the bottom of the first one to allow excess moisture to drain through into the second one. I have never done that and think it's bad information. If you have that much moisture that it needs to drain into a separate bin, then you're either feeding too much or as you said there's not enough absorbent bedding. The worms in my stacking bins do pretty good moving up. Not 100% but I don't think any system is 100%. There's always a few stragglers that will remain in the castings regardless of what system is used. Again I think this is great information as a lot of people think the bottom fluid is worm tea and is a good thing. Leachate can actually kill plants If it contains liquids from food sources that were highly acidic. Since I have two urban worm bags, is it buy 2 get 1 free?! 😀😂
These are the videos I love to see...notice a problem but also have a recommended solution to the product that we are still using instead of say "hey scrap that and buy something else" thanks for the great video :)
I've had a stackable bin for more than 20 years and yes, I agree that the worm migration works better in theory than practice. As a result, harvesting castings has never worked well and my bin is chronically wet, clogged and neglected. I'm going to try rotating mature trays to the top of the stack and encourage them to dry out, to see how that works. Thanks for the video!
@@alextownsend6662 I have a stackable tray that I bought new and unused at a thrift store and my takeaway from this video is I need to make sure I have a lot of bedding, instead of buying something new. But hope springs eternal, I'm on a tight budget, and it's only my first few days! First night my worms escaped into a dark garage but I keep the light on now and they're behaving.
I feed on multiple levels not a ton of food on any one level. I also put bedding in sump area and leave tap open with small container under tap. Then when I feed or add tray take bedding from sump area (and worms) basically gets inoculated by moisture from above. This works really well. Only got leachate once.
My first worm bin was started last year. It was a cheaper plastic stackable system similar to how he described it and I ran into the exact problems mentioned in this video. Though I was able to harvest a few times, the majority of the castings were always at the bottom where worms loved to stay and it was quite a time trying to separate the worms from finished castings, especially those hiding in the dark corners of the leachate tray and spigot 🥵. I am 3 months into the Urban worm bag and I can't wait to see the results! 🤗🙏🏽
Great video on worm towers/stackable worm systems! I have a vermihut and I run it exactly like you said, lots of bedding added every feeding and I don't allow it to get so wet on the bottom that leachate forms. A little different from the instructions, I also keep the tray to be harvested in the middle with a new tray of just bedding on the bottom and the feeding tray on the top. Of course all this will be much easier when I get my new Urban Worm Bag!!!
Why did you put your harvest tray in the middle? I randomly decided to put my 2 empty trays below my harvesting tray….easy storage, make it higher, anyway, I had worms escaping. I took the 2 feeder trays off the top empty tray and there were a ton of worms in that empty tray, all along the edges along with a couple of bunching worms. They might have been perfectly happy that way, but too many were ending up dead on my floor, so I dumped the worms in the top tray and removed the empty’s from below.
@@peggywaters2589 Oh no!! The way I run it, the tray to be harvested (which was the previous top feeding tray) is always the one right below the top feeding tray. I fill a tray full of dry cardboard shreds and put that on bottom right above the basin, so there are no empty trays on the tower system. The worms roam throughout the inside of the bin but I've never had any escapees. Thanks for letting me know about the issues!!🪱🪱🪱
I've recently improved my harvesting technique: I uncover the bin to be harvested and place a work light close to the surface. Then every 30 mins or so I scrape off the top layer of castings, at which point the worms thus exposed flee the light, moving deeper. Eventually, they all move to the next lower bin--which I've previously prepared with fresh bedding.
👏🏼👏🏼 "a well managed bin should not be producing leachate"... I have tried explaining this repeatedly... My biggest pet peeve of these stackables is that drain hole / tap that encourages poor bin management, rather than teach proper management... I recommend 3:1 carbons, but I also pureé my scraps, making a more concentrated feeding, so 3X is better... I would think in the stacked systems more would be better as well
@@ErizeddI can’t speak for the person you are responding to, but yes, you better make your bin mostly carbon! Can you imagine making it 3 parts scraps….you’d have a stinky soupy mess. I thought, starting out, that I needed coco core or peat moss, but shredded cardboard and a little worm compost, works just fine. In fact, I add a lot of dried shredded cardboard to my bins, compost hold a lot of water and feedings add more water.
@@peggywaters2589 Thanks for the tip. Up until recently I was only feeding them scraps, and though it was working, it was very slow going and very wet. Once I started adding much more carbon each feed it completely changed the dynamic of the whole bin.
Nah. Your recommendation is exactly why you wouldn't see worms migrating upwards... Because the worms will find everything they want throughout the bin at every level. Follow the instructions and the worms will migrate upwards.
Great info thanks. I am a beginner but must have intuitively known something ...I have my worms in poloystyrene broccoli boxes, 3 so far , and they are each separate and about 1000 in each box. They are already reproducing madly and there has been no leachate ( I have drain holes covered with mesh in case it gets too wet ) and I've probably been feeding the ratio of 1 to 2 food and bedding as you suggest . So good to receive expert confirmation ! ( I use poly boxes because I live in very hot climate and the boxes keep a steady temperature. )
I had no idea about adding bedding at the same time as adding food! I’ve recently adopt a worm bin system and haven’t had to feed them at all as there was so much uneaten organic matter. I’ll visit the worms tomorrow and add bedding. Thank you for the guide!
Sorry sir dont agree with you. Ive been using the factory 360 for years and I dont get leachate. My worms move fine. Most of the time I use 3 or 4 trays but have used up to 5 trays just depends. I have a confined space but produce enough good worm castings for myself and my siblings. They ask for those castings each spring prior to planting.
Awesome info as usual. I never get leach aid. Because I listened to you when I first started. But I would like to say... I am looking forward to your info on bio char. I would suggest mentioning what is the optimal size bits to use?? No one seems to touch on this?
Mine is working fine in tandem with my bokashi bucket; it's all about moisture control in the tower. But I have a brand-new Urban Worm Bag in the greenhouse with bedding and castings, getting ready for some worms. Your farm is a better design.
Have you ever thought of making a small version of the urban worm bag? I have a 360 farm and I have it on my living room in a corner. The reason why I haven't bought your bag is that is to big for my living room. Any thoughts on that?
I made a wormbag from a dollar tree laundry bag! It lasted a year and a half before the material started breaking down. It was about 3ft tall and had air all around.wider at the top and funnel shape, square pyramid upside down. I hardly ever had worm at the bottom of the funnel because the moisture stayed in the center and above where the worms and food were concentrated. I has shredded paper on top so that was dry too, and discouraged worms from climbing up, and kept any flying insects from easy pickings. When I harvested out of the bottom of the funnel, it wax cool dry compost, not dusty dry, just crumbly moist. Only sometimes had a few worms , often tiny ones fall out , I assume hatchling. As I drummed the side of the bag with my hand only the drier finished stuff came out. I regularly massaged the bag on the lower end so it would not dry out compacted. It was a fun system. Never had bug problems, no bad smells, no worm death from oversaturation or dryness. I think I'll make one again as I keep having issues with plastic bins that I never had with my cloth funnel. I just need to find a durable material that I can sew with that won't biodegrade. I'm thinking perhaps shade cloth... Any suggestion to help with my next bag would be appreciated. www.instructables.com/How-I-turned-a-laundry-bag-into-a-flow-through-wor/
I have to disagree with you..... ‘As worms process the material in one tray, its volume will reduce. This means there will be an increasing gap between the top of the material in one tray and the bottom of the next. This may outright prevent the flow of worms from one tray to the next.’ The bottom of a tray is smaller than the top, it is tapered, so one tray doesn’t sit on top of the next, it sits INSIDE it and sinks as the material reduces in volume. There is also a gap around the sides to allow aeration. I’ve had a 4 tray system for about 5 years now and it works perfectly. When I remove the bottom tray to harvest the castings I empty the sump which contains worms, castings and leachate and just dump it all in the top tray. In my opinion the secret to a well functioning tray system is managing the moisture content and anyone with half a brain can do it.
I'm amazed. As of this comment, there were 35 comments before me, And practically every one of them aren't following the instructions or figured out how to make their "apartment" (multilevel) worm bins work properly. Every one who posted about moisture levels and feeding on multiple levels simultaneously could have saved themselves up to the couple hundred dollars thy paid for their worm bin and gotten the same results using a 15 gallon tote bin from the closes major discount store for less than $10. Done correctly, a multi-level "flow through" worm bin is one of the better designs, commercial products should produce as much compost as a single layer bin about 6' square in the space of about 18" square instead. But, you apparently have to know what you're doing which I thought should be pretty clear. Are these commercial worm bins being sold without instructions? Are there no decent instructions on the Internet how to use these things? Why don't people know how to use these things?
I agree on the leachate, I dont get it so I must be doing something at least close to right. I want the stuff which actually goes thru the worms not the leachate.
So, for those of us who own the plastic stacking bins (Can-Worms) and have really moist "finished" castings in the lower bins, what to do? I've been adding layers of dry cardboard on top of the lower layers for months, and the the cardboard gets wet, the worms eat the cardboard, and continue to be happy in the lower layers. I'm going to answer (partially) my own question. I always add dry paper materials in the reservoir of my bin, and those dry materials always get wet. I add very little in the way of food wastes to this bin. But obviously there is more moisture in there than should be. Probably a good time of year to leave the top off it and just cover the bin in cardboard/burlap, I'll be trying that. Any other ideas are welcome.
When I harvest a tray I move it to the top, leave cover off and agitate castings to dry them then do light migration and worms will go down to the layer beneath (most do). I can then let castings air dry in a mortar tray and stir every day breaking clumps. When castings are to the desired moisture can sift if you desire or just store castings until needed. I also run my bin opposite of how manufacturers recommended with harvesting tray on top and feed on lower levels. I put bedding leachate reservoir to get inoculated with good bacteria and is as bedding when feeding lower levels. Works well but you needs to be fed smaller amounts than you would on top
@@ontherocksinthesoilmichael6739 Thanks for the feedback Michael! I spent some time yesterday cutting out cardboard discs to put under the two "mature" trays, in hopes of drying them out some. As I was doing this (or maybe afterwards), I thought, as you suggested, let gravity do the work for me! So putting the "active feeding" tray on the bottom and let it dryout via gravity and the worms working. So glad that you have positive experience with this approach, I'll be moving the trays of my Can-o-Worms today. :-)
@@ontherocksinthesoilmichael6739 I do the same - new tray on bottom. The transition seems to go easier, and possibly more naturally, for the worms. Found this by trial and error, and validated that process so I know it works for me. Only downside is having to lift off a full bin to feed during that transition period.
I've seen all types of vermicomposting bins from various companies and most youtubers all reference the use of bins. Is there a reason why you have to use a bin? Is it mainly for maintaining a temperature? Or, to prevent introducing red-wigglers into a non-native environment? Why can't you just have a pile of compost on the ground with red wigglers in it?
If all you want to do is have worms process your waste, then you don't need a commercial bin. What commercial bins like the Urban Worm Bag give you is a way to harvest the castings without disturbing the worms or needing to restart the bin.
@@UrbanWormCompany Great, thank you so much for the tips AND thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my question .... it is much appreciated.
I'm new to composting but after watching your video I wanted to know why is it not common practice to put the oldest bin at the top then have the leachate drip down to newer bins which would theoretically distribute the moisture more evenly?
@@UrbanWormCompany Thanks! Other than shredded cardboard, what other bedding materials do you recommend? Love the videos BTW!! Very informative and easy to follow! Keep up the good work!
Hi Tonya, Yes, I am running a business here. But you don’t need to buy anything to get value from my content. I get great feedback on these videos and I’m proud of the information they deliver.
I just started vermicomposting with a stacking system, and the advice about bedding was helpful. Eventually I may get an Urban Worm Bag, many people say it's a great product. For now, this was helpful information without a hard sales pitch. Much respect.
hugh lovell says the leche is better than the castings. also there is a worm farmer in peru that soley sells the leche and his farmers have great success.
