We Built a Worm Bin for $5 and it Was EASY! 

My worm bin is almost exactly like yours. I hot glued small squares of window screen along the top sides where your air holes are so no worms could get out. I use 100 percent leaf mold bedding from my yard compost which works amazing. My kids treat them like pets, they made them an avocado and banana cake for out 1 year worneversary and my daughter gets some strange looks when she tells people about her pet worms! Haha. We love them.

You should do a video on harvesting the worm castings!

Its funny to hear you mention some people being put off by worm composting. I remember when I was in school as a young kid and a lady came into our class to show us how composting and worm composting works and maybe perhaps because of her it seems like the most normal thing in the world.

Our County now separates the garbage and puts the food scraps into compost. We're becoming much more recycle conscious to make rich soil for gardeners and landscapers. I'm so happy about that!

Hey Luke! Please do another video when you get to the next step of the process! That way we can see a sort of start to the process through the maintenance and then harvesting of it!! Thanks!

I started vermicomposting this summer. I've been wondering/ worried about how my worms would survive in my Winter zone 7A. This video has inspired me to go out right now and get all the worms and put them into bins for the Winter in Subpod and bring them into my basement for the winter. For some reason I thought it would be harder to have indoor composting. I am inspired, thank you.

Great video. Something every gardener should incorporate!

I'm interested in starting one of these myself. I'd like to see a video of you harvesting what you use for your garden and how you go about it. Thanks for all you do for the gardening community!

I told my wife I was gonna do this. Her reaction was so over the top disgusted! I couldn't stop laughing. She REALLY freaked out. She'll feel better when she eats some more yummy tomatoes from the garden

This video got me started into worm farming! Thanks for introducing me to a fascinating new hobby that actually had very low start up cost, with this method.

I am so excited you are bringing back the worm bins! You were a huge help when I got started a few years back! Awesome, cheap and fun hobby for sure.

My worm is made from an 18 gallon storage container that looks identical to that. I used wet crushed leaves from outside as a starter, and they seemed mostly happy with that.

Hi, Luke. Nope, I do not find worms to be disgusting! One of my gardening buddies gifted me with a bunch of red wigglers. After a while, I split them into two bins. It is now time to divide the two bins into four bins. The worms live out in my potting shed. Thanks for the update! (👍#149 and comment #45). Best wishes from Kate in Olympia, WA -- 5/1/2019.

My hubby was just talking about doing a worm bin! Great info Luke ! You rock!!!!

Ive done only shredded newspaper and cardboard and they’ve done fine. I had 1-2 cups of soil to introduce organic matter so it wasn’t only sterile stuff. Bottom 1/4 of my bin is now beautiful soil. To your point, I did have to add water a few times in the first couple of months until it could retain its own moisture. I found putting a few handfuls of ice on the top works next as it melts all the way down. Blending your food with a little water helps increase moisture content too. It’s all just an experiment which makes it great!

I am going to do this year. Whenever I go fishing I put my leftover worms in the gardens. I have a small compost pile now so I can put them in there as well. Plus, if I raise my own worms - I can save $4 every time I go fishing! And that's a lot of times from spring through fall.

Thanks for a new look into your bins. Started mine up about 18 months ago after some hesitation about worms in the basement but haven't looked back. Great to take the food smoothies to the basement when there is 2 feet of snow outside and super cold. My seed starting mix for 2 springs has yielded amazing results with 25% by volume vermicompost. My friends don't think it is weird either when I start veggies for them. My only downfall was putting dried bean pods (from seed saving) in the bins - almost killed them all before I took out the pods and outdoor composted them. Found a local company who sold worms with starter fill for $25 🇨🇦 and used a bin from downsizing around the house. Cheap and cheerful.

LOVE the video Luke. We're just trying it for the first time and we are so excited. Thanks for the tips!

Thank you! You simplified the process for me. I'm starting mine soon. I was under the impression I had to order a worm tower. Again, I ran across one of your videos just in time.

Geneva is going to grow up with (arguably) the most knowledgeable person about gardening as a Dad, just how much will she end up knowing herself😱😱

My wife started her own worm bin that serves two functions great stuff for the garden and a treat or two for our chickens.

I love the idea of 100% organic gardening and reducing waste. I also have avid fishermen in my family and once I get enough bins going they will always have a supply of worms for bait. This makes worm bins a triple benefit especially for someone looking to gain more self-sustainability in their food choices. I can't wait to start my worm bins. I have worms on order and a bin waiting for them!

Amazing!!! Last night i was binge watching all your videos on this subject, and lookie here a new one!!! Thanks for all the information, Mr. Luke!

I'm interested in starting this! I live in town and have turned my front yard into a huge garden. I need to figure out how to make my own fertilizer. This will be year # 2 for me doing an Urban Homestead, :)

Can't wait to start my work box! Looking forward to the great benefits to my plants!

This video makes me motivated to get my worm bin started again!!! Thank you Luke. I not only needed to see this video; I also needed to listen to you speak about it. Nicely done as usual my friend. Take care 🐝☮️☯️

Love this video, I’ll be setting this up for myself this weekend!

Worms don’t have teeth and need finely ground egg shells, a little garden soil, or sand to grind their food in their gizzards. Compost Worms have a muscular gizzard. Small parts of food mixed with some grinding material such as , egg shells, sand, topsoil or limestone are ingested. The contractions from the muscles in the gizzard compress those particles against each other, mix it with fluid, and grind it to smaller pieces. For many years my garden has run off my worm farms (in ground worm bins mostly). I do love that every speck of food waste goes into our numerous worm farms. 2 of them run on dog waste (these odourless castings go to non edibles). We have a very small amount of non compostable rubbish going into the rubbish bin each week.

Your videos are the reason why I started mine👍🏻 ty

Awesome video! Going to try to build my bins this week. I have not seen one at any community gardens in Brooklyn so we may be the first, Thank You!

Worms urine is in the castings. If you have drippings in bottom of your bin it is from the food, not urine. The leachate is Anaerobic has been setting does not have air can be bad.it is what comes from the food and any water that is added. I would not use it in the garden. Make tea from their castings for your garden. The drill makes sharp edges on inside, try using a burnishing tool, it melts the holes and they are perfectly smooth. (soldering iron works too) Love your garden videos!

Love this video! I just started my bin like yours yesterday. I am planning on getting my grandson involved too. he's almost 4. can't wait to see a better garden and reduce waste at the same time. :-)

Can u show a harvest video? Thank you.

Awesome video, very informative. Quick and easy!

Trying this for the 1st time and using bins like these. Just gotta figure out where I'm going to put them. Great video!

Thank you for sharing this information with us!

Brilliant video ! Thank you so very much as I can too start this project with my girls and help them to learn the cycle and process of the food that we too eat and how we can keep it continuously going on in ways that are beneficial. Also too help me find and add another way of keeping them from their ipads/phones as much as possible, which is always a grate thing in my opinion, thank you once again ! Superb video !

Awesome video! I just built a worm bin based off of some of your older videos. It's only been three weeks, but I can tell they've made a lot of progress. I also went with uncle Jim's work farm, but I did start out with 1000 worms.

I just ran into your videos and I’m so glad I did. Just hearing you say ‘bottom’ 100 times in a row made it worth it lol.

Always a pleasure rewatching all of your content luke. As always thanks for the info.

Great presentation. Thank you.

Fantastic advice! Indoor worm bins are cheap, simple and easy and worms make the BEST organic fertilizer!

Just bought some, thanks for the push!!!! Your videos are great and super helpfull....

Excellent video Luke. Always enjoyed your videos! From Manchester, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

I would love to get my work (elementary school) to do this. You have no idea how much food is thrown out each day.

Hey man! I wanted to grow work castings for my garden and I watched your video 3 years ago so I could. I was thinking to myself I didn’t see you make anew video about this yet. Then I went to your channel and I saw it. You made a new vid about it. Love your brain reading skills. Thanks.

Here in Australia .... worm farming, as we call it has been going strong for the last twenty years.. we also have a big yellow bin for recycling .. a big green bin for composting & a small red bin for rubbish that's picked up from the kurb

I’m just starting with gardening. Your videos have been helpful. Any suggestions, regardless of how simple, is greatly appreciated.

I followed this tutorial and my worm bin has been thriving for a year now! I have so many worms!! The only things I did differently is I didn't drill drainage holes because I didn't want any leakage. Doesn't seem to be a problem. I also used super cheap gardening dirt. I tried dirt from outside and had a shitload of other weird little bugs infiltrate. Their populations seem to have died down over time but it was pretty diverse in there for awhile

Love worm composting. I have the healthiest garden in the neighborhood. I just freeze the fruits and vegetables in large empty yogurt containers until I’m ready to take them out to the worm bin. Then throw them in the bin. I occasionally add overnight soaked shredded paper. I never buy fertilizer and I have 9 large raised beds.

Awesome man!!!!! I have been wanting to learn this. Thank you

I did it! Thanks for the how-to.

I watched your videos since day one! I learn a lot! 😎

We’re getting our worms delivered tomorrow! Thanks for the tips on a simple set up. I’m limited on space but I really want the benefits of worm castings for my garden! I love your channel and I always learn something new. Also, there is nothing gross about worms. They’re amazing and absolutely essential for soil health! We fertilize with fish and bat 💩, so what’s the big issue? 🤣

Hey Luke! Can you put the materials needed in the description for reference? I went to purchase materials and had to watch the whole video again

I'm loving this! I am starting this today!!!

ALL new housing ought to be BUILT with an outdoor compost bin of some sort... We have had one for over 15 years, 10 feet from the kitchen door. African keyhole style, with driplines for the herbs planted around the outside edge. Build a door for access to the worms and compost in the "keyhole". Clean it out once every year or two, separate out the worms and use most of the compost - leaving a little in there to start over with.

Fantastic. Thank you!

Yay! I watched your video years ago and finally got to a place where I could have a worm farm. Instead of just for composting, I look forward to feeding excess worms to my lovely chickens. Thank you so much for all of your videos and sharing your knowledge

"Red Wigglers, The Cadillac of worms, We're the Cadillac of worms."

For collecting worm juice, incline the boxes by a half inch or so. The juice collects in the low end and is easily removed with a turkey baster. A lid may work as a bottom piece to collect juice, but it is not made for that purpose and may not be able to support the weight. A slightly bigger box or tub would better. Ridges on the bottom piece can cause the worm juice to collect in the middle and effectively prevent more water from exiting the box. A flat bottom piece is recommended. Raise the worm box off the bottom piece with scrap wood, either small pieces spread out or longer pieces running the length. This allows much better drainage. If the bottom piece is weak, use a piece of plywood to support it before inclining the box.

Can you give any more info on flushing the bins out? Complete newbie here, just ordered 500 worms!

I watched that video 5 years ago. Wow time flies. Good stuff Luke.

I've been wanting to worn compost for years but never realized I could do it indoors, my chickens would feast if it was outdoors. Shared your $5 worm bins with my sister. When will you have castings available?

super interesting, can't wait to give it a try! thanks for the info

Another great video. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you! This explained worm bins much better than other videos. I'm glad I found your video since I was going to use all the wrong things.

Thank you!

Awesome, will definitely try, my daughter loves worms thanks 🌱🌱

I'm new to gardening but I'm definitely going to start doing this

I LOVE THE IDEA OF RECYCLING FOR THE BENIFITS OF ALL!!! I'M ALL FOR IT!!!

Great video, I would love to see something about choosing between a worm bin and conventional composting. My understanding is that worms are the way to go if you want to compost inside, and/or use a small amount of waste (typical home kitchen). Worms also produce the highest quality compost.

Never thought of this. Thanks for the inspiration!

You can make essentially a wicking bed with these tubs with rocks on the bottom for in and then have a drain hole cut with a tube coming out of the drain hole and a container of some sort so that all the worm pee drains into your container and you can just use that directly for your worm tea

great video. Thank you!

Thanks for this!

Luke thank you for the redo of the video. I was thinking of building a worm bin last winter but never got around to it. I do compost and get some of my neighbors food scraps too. Some people ask if I sell the compost, but right now I have over 35 raised beds so I need all the compost I can make.

great job brother, thanks for the info.

Great video thank you. I am restarting my worm farm. I moved so I am just about ready for worms again. Thank you for the information. I am going to look into your link

Your the first one who has mentioned why they keep leaving the bin. Thanks!

From WI. Thank you! Starting worms soon!!

Starting to do this right now. Got the bin and cardboard and about to get worms. Just add veggies. Thank you!

OMG! This is a video format that I emailed you about. Way cool.

Thank you

Luke ! Like all your videos. New to gardening (1 year to be exact) often use your videos as a reference point thank you . Really would like to see a video for how to identify different nutrient deficiencies/illnesses . Also a more coherent and knowledge filled video on container gardening . Ex. What kind of containers best suit which veggies/fruits . What to put in the soil ?(hummus or peat) What can be coupled together or not .? I know you’ve covered these topics all in separate videos but a more detailed video on all of these would be very helpful!

I wish todo this in the next year. Thank you.

Correct and good info

I started with one bin 4 years ago. Now I have two bins just like yours. It's in my garage. No problem at all. I worried that it may be too cold in winter here in Michigan, but they have adapted well.

I just started my build for a great worm farm. I will share all my info as I Finnish. I will have a few ideas with reasons on why. Wish me luck my fellow happy growers from Michigan and all over.

This was so cool me and my family are heading to walmart to make one!!!

I tried my first bin 18 months ago and they didn't do well so I'll try your way. Thank you

Great info❤️

I now have a 100 plus worms to start my compost bin thanks to your video! I can't wait to get holes drilled in my container and get dirt in it to Make a home for my newest little babies

love the video! I'm going to start 3 worn farms tomorrow... wish me luck

Thanks Luke, I started my worm bin last week. I live in Pennsylvania, so no brainier to buy from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. The worms come next week. I live in an apartment, so doing it with 8 gal buckets, but process follows your set up.

Love your channel

I love the information you share and I thank you. I still have to get over the eek factor. I'd be wearing gloves. Yet I use worm droppings in my garden no problem. Strange huh? I think it's because they wriggle and I worry that I may harm them and that they seem slimy to me. I think I should get over myself, lol. Anyway, thanks again, and I will definitely start a worm farm. Blessings

Excellent informative video. very much appreciated. Getting my first 2,000 red wiggler mix from Jim's this weekend. 👍

I put a part of my worms and finished compost from the worm bins into my new beds to start them out.

I have an accidental worm bin. I made a compost bin out of cat litter buckets and when I went to get some compost, it was full of worms! I had a hard time harvesting compost without worms in it.