been doing in ground Vermiculture for 10+ years. I have a 5 gallon bucket with a lid in each of my raised beds with the bottom cut out and holes drilled in the sides. Looks like a bucket takes up less space than those boxes and I'm sure it is a lot cheaper. I don't harvest castings from the bucket though, when I'm rotating crops like moving from spring to summer plants I pull the bucket out of the ground, cover what is there and move the bucket to a different location in the raised bed. It's been working great.
@@Fireinthesquash I've done different sizes. Some big holes (1 or 2 inches) or many small holes (I did 3/8 of an inch I think). I haven't noticed much difference other than the buckets with the small holes are stronger as i didn't remove as much material. I also try to remove any burrs or sharp edges from the holes.
This is really useful for schools trying to reduce green waste. Lots of schools in Australia have this system because it just reduces the effort required to manage the composting process.
I was obsessed with this a couple of years ago, ultimately, I decided it is a lot of work for a small amount of composting space. My Geobin has a ton of worms and is more flexible on volume.
I just use any container with a lid. I really like quart yogurt containers. It doesn’t have to be buried. Just touch the soil with holes in the bottom. Put infood scraps or dried organic matter. Top with a bit of native dirt. Water periodically. After a bit (a day?) the container will be full of worms. You can keep adding organic materials or dump the whole thing into any container you are making to add the worms and worm compost. I put the small composters all over the garden, next to plants. It helps feed the plants and creates new soil to add to new containers for planting. Oh yeah, I add no worms. They come for the food and dirt. They will stay and breed as long as there is still food. I will dump out the containers full of worms and digested organic materials (worm compost), or add them to a new container so they can work there, or move the containers around for instant worms.
This seems brilliant! I was concerned about the size, even of the subpod mini, but i am excited to try this new approach. Currently i have a tumbler and it is slow to get me partially broken down compost.
@@epicgardening Pardon me, but I bought a bunch of capsicum and chilli's a year and a half ago. They fruited amazingly in the first season, but since then they've been straggly and more brown than green. They're still alive, but their fruiting this season is hopeless. Any suggestions?
Love the full size sub pod with its own raised bed. In my garden I will put the pod in the middle so it does not freeze in my climate. Grow small items like radish or carrots around the pod. Then after transferring the pod back and forth several times maybe once a year empty the entire bed and use through out the garden. The worms go in and out enriching the entire bed but you can get them back into one side to be able to use all the soil, and start over.
I've had my Subpod for two years now and I really like it. In fact, I purchased a second one. I don't think it's for everyone, but it really works for me. When I bought my urban house it was already really planted out and there wasn't an out-of-view area to set up a composter. I also run a hospitality business from my home so my property can't look like a working farm. This was the perfect solution for adding composting to my space. It's very low profile, and it increases productivity in my raised beds without a lot of fussing on my part. I didn't purchase Subpod's raised bed, I put mine in larger wooden raised beds that already existed on my property. One of my raised beds has a somewhat unproductive end because it's mostly shaded, so putting a composing system into that end of the bed made sense. You can certainly set up your own system for way cheaper. I saw someone who drilled holes in 5 gallon buckets and sunk them into their beds. For me, having the polished look and performance of the Subpod was worth it.
I think you are exactly the ideal user - someone who wants to improve the soil, recycle scraps but needs to do it in an esthetically pleasing way. I'm lucky I've got the space and much lower esthetic needs (LOL)!
When I read the title, I thought it was stupid. You clearly proved me wrong real quick as you explained how it worked. This is a very clever idea. I think I'll do this.
Maybe use the large bin in your orchard. Trees like worms also. I use Ecobin composting bins (Amazon). Easy to set up and work during the composting system. I have 5 bins going at any time. I tuck them in the back of my garden out of the way. I added worms 4 years ago and they have MULTIPLIED. I add waste from my kitchen, chicken coop, garden, etc. Stuff breaks down pretty fast. I also add the partially decomposed materials and worms directly to my raised beds. Helps add worms and composting heat directly to the beds. We have long winters in Northern Idaho so my raised beds have some down time. Good luck,
Gonna be honest, with the price of $139 per subpod, I think I could achieve the same affect with some milk crates or another cheap container with holes in it. They look nice but they're way above my budget plan for a worm bin.
I have an in ground bin. It’s just a 5 gallon bucket with holes drilled into the bottom and sides buried in the garden. I keep finding bonus compost tomato seedlings growing in the bucket. I also have a vermicompost bag stand in the garage from your website. Both work well. Harvesting the in ground one is messy.
I put one in my garden as well and I just put some leftovers from the garden. But I needed to add worms and add more veggies to make it more feasible. I will set the bucket up like the demonstration on the video and do some layering.
I also have an in ground 5-gallon bucket with holes. I added 500 worms. I continually add my vegetable scraps. It works great. It cost a dollar or two. I followed a RU-vid tutorial created by Growing in the Garden.
take one plastic paint bucket get a drill put holes in the side and bottom everywhere bury 2/3 in the ground fill with paper/cardbd/leaves espec add banana skins cost zero and does the same job the primary purpose of the stacked bin system is for collecting the worm tea at the bottom rather than making castings
For myself I would have traded out the big composter for the mini in the center of that bed then buried the bid on in the ground where you did. Just makes more sense to me getting a better use in both areas. What was that I heard. Jacques "Nooooo, now he'll make me move them."
Question. So the full size sub pod has two halves and once one is "done", you bait the other side with food and the worms migrate. then you can removed the castings and use them. Now the Mini had no such divider. How do you extract the castings and leave the worms behind?
I've been wondering that as well -- it seemed like one major pro of the original was that you could easily disperse castings from the previous chamber to other beds. I guess maybe with the single you'd just let them run out of food so they disperse into the bed, then collect the castings and try to call them home again with fresh bedding and food? Hope someone with actual experience can shed some light on this!
I was thinking a good solution would be go to Tap Plastics and purchase a piece of 1/4” plastic with holes drilled in it to go in the middle. Thus creating 2 sides.
Yup, that's exactly how the big one works! The small one I'd probably remove the top layer of food + worms once full, then scoop castings from very bottom (worms unlikely to live there)
I have several in-ground worm stations - I'm aiming for at least one in every bed. The worms seem to do a great job in moving the castings into the surrounding bed because the stations don't fill up nearly as fast as the above ground worm farms do. Very occasionally I'll remove the top layer and grab a few handfuls from below and distribute those castings around plants not close to a worm station, then simply return the top layer. But as I said - the worms are pretty efficient and I rarely need to reduce the contents.
I used to use a pair of my girlfriends tights with holes in and fill it with food waste every so often and put it around the raised beds but I can see this is a better way of doing it
Great idea, though i’d add cardboard in and around the insides, then drill some smaller holes rather than the big milk carton holes to start. Less chance of pest or unwanted critters getting into your worm bin, added insulation, and food once the cardboard breaks down.
I enjoyed this review! Finally convinced that it’s something I could integrate into my nutrient deficient bed😂. Just have to figure out how to care for the worms 🤭
I respect you so much for being so honest and fair in your review. Great video as always Kevin!!!! I wish I could cultivate the like button more than once!
I have the original Subpod and raised bed and love it so much. Here's one tip I would recommend for gardeners who are in places with cold winters. I garden on the eastern end of Long Island, New York, so we get a lot of wind and sub-freezing temps in January-March. I had my Subpod against the wall of the raised bed as you do in this video, and was how it was recommended to be installed (their idea was that the Subpod could also be used as a garden bench, so you install in by the raised bed wall so you can sit down). That said, when it was predicted to be super cold (teens--20's) in January of this year for an extended period of time, I ordered a cold frame to install over the subpod, so that my worms wouldn't freeze (I had been feeding them since last May, so really didn't want them all to die!). Well, the cold frame wouldn't fit between the Subpod and the wall of the raised bed, so I had to dig a trench behind it in order to move it back. Not fun when the soil was frozen, and it was so cold! I dug it out, moved it back about 3 inches, installed the cold frame, and the snow was kept out and the temp inside was warmer. All that to say this--I LOVE the SUBPOD! I love being able to compost almost all of my food waste (not meat, not onions, garlic, citrus), I love being able to feed a lot of my cardboard and food packaging and junk mail and old magazines to the worms. But for folks in cold weather environments, install the subpod back from the edge of the raised bed, in order to cover them in winter.
I have a question? I live in the north east, can’t you just use worms already in the ground and not buy red wrigglers, who don’t like the cold? I currently have a compost bin , just a section of my yard where I throw my veggie scraps, grass etc. the regular worms do a great job of eating that stuff. What’s the advantage of red wrigglers? ( ps I have had red wrigglers before, kept in the house.
@@benettemcneill984 earthworms and compost worms are different. You need compost worms to eat your food scraps. The earthworms will eat their poo and take it down deeper which will improve your soil a lot.
@@summcunt5421 I know they are different worms. Clarify what you said ,”they will eat the poo” who , the earthworms or red wrigglers? Don’t earth worms eat my scraps and leave their poo behind thus making compost? This is what I am doing. Sometimes I just dig a hole in the ground and bury my food scraps. But with my more controlled areas I end up with compost to put on my plants.
Buckets with holes. I use plastic containers with lids. Feeds all my soil and plants. I use paper shreds and cardboard. Worms love it. I have buckets of work castings.
Haha we think alike! I used to use all different containers, such as quart yogurt containers. Basically, any food containers that I can reuse. Most of them last forever, since they mostly sit under leaves and in shaded areas.
Burrowing vermin can make quick work out of those thin buckets. I have had numerous goes at buried systems... Raised beds are a different matter buckets are good for those.
Hi Kevin, I really enjoy your videos. I am wondering, why do we need a big hunk of plastic in the garden? I think back on my German grandmother who just dug a hole in her garden where she put all her kitchen scraps. It was covered with a board with a rock on top. Each year she moved the hole. I'm sure you could add some bedding if needed and. the worms would be free to come and go. Sometimes I think we make things to complicated. She always had a beautiful garden.
Thanks so much for sharing Kevin! We've noticed a few people asking how to harvest your casting from your mini. Since Subpod is connected to the ground, you can scoop out castings rest them on the surrounding soil and the worms will travel back to the pod. Here's a short educational video :) tps://ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W-fAVsAtD6U.html
Now I’m looking more forward to setting up my subpod mini. I got it earlier in the week after seeing it on IG from Airam. I was going to put the mini on a 30 gallon grow bag. I just gotta find the grow bag. lol
I received mine as well and haven't set it up. Wondering how to harvest castings in the future to spread in my other beds. I currently have my worms indoors and wanted to move them out. This seems like a solution. We'll see.
I use 1 gallon pots on top of my 20-30 gallon pots and compost in place in the 1 gallon. I water through the 1 gallon distributing the nutrients to the larger pots below. The worms and the plants love it.
My mom has told me stories of her mother (back in the 1930's & 1940's) having a spot near the backdoor where she would put some of the kitchen waste. And then she'd dig worms out of it for fishing and to give to the chickens. Not really what we do with raising worms today, but it does speak to nothin' new under the sun.
How Supbod has managed to survive is beyond me. People are tricked by the glitz and glamour, but it's practically two crates buried in garden bed. It restricts your growing space and is way overpriced for what it is.
Could you just bury a milk crate, having it stick out a bit for airflow (maybe put a screen on the exposed part to keep bugs out), and attach a lid to it?? I have lots of those crates and you can find them at a supermarket for free.
We used an antique bathtub for worm composting. Unfortunately we didn't realize that Moles love worms, so when we were ready to harvest, there were trails but very few worms.
Great, informative video, Kevin. Will you be showing us more results in the next couple of months, please? Very interested in the smaller system. Thank you again.
Scanning comments here, but maybe already said. Three thoughts: 1) Seems to me it may be practical in smaller spaces to (a) make the underground bin able to support a person walking on it and then (b) embed it into the path between beds, rather than take up planting space. If it's the right width with holes on two sides, then the only way out for the worms is into one bed or the other. (Or keyhole setup, with three sides connected to beds.) 2) As long as the bin area has food available for the composting worms, I am skeptical how much they would venture out of the bin.... A lot depends what is in the soil of the planting bed, I suppose.... But perhaps having a couple smaller underground bins in other parts of the bed would encourage emigration, if the main bin is left without food for a while. (At least until worms are discovered in the satellite bins.... Wonder if the worms can be "trained" to venture from one to the next. Perhaps if it's more of a line of very small bins, rather than a long venture. (I'm thinking almost like a subway system.) 3) Similar to #1, for a more agile person (or a person with long arms), one can have a 7 ft x 7 ft x 1 ft (deep) planting raised bed (for instance) with a small square worm bin in the middle. (Say 2 ft x 2 ft.)... The more agile person can squat on worm bin, when closed (again, needs to be able to support the weight), or the person with longer arms can reach to feed the worms.... The "hole" in the middle of the planting area isn't perhaps ideal, but it would help to prevent plants from shading each other out, similar to when a fruit tree is pruned to empty out the middle of it.... For a person especially agile or who has especially long arms it may make sense 8x8 ft or even 9x9.
I wish you did a test between beds with subpods and no subpods. Or something like subpods vs traditional no till. I can't imagine worms from the subpod is helping much vs a properly prepared no till bed where much of the aeration and compost is added in the initial steps. No need to waste space and money on something you can do or nature does automatically.
I can see these being useful for composting outside food composting in edible gardens. I make something similar out of empty plastic cat litter containers. cut out the bottom, drill holes in the sides and top, bury by ornamental/non edible plants. They break down my dog and SOME cat waste quickly without smell. Can't use it that way on edibles at all but I can see these working for pet waste composting.
My understanding is that Red Wigglers aren't much for venturing out of the bin and into the soil (like nightcrawlers might).. especially if their food is inside the bin. Is that not the case?
vid on mung beans? they're really cheap and come in huge packs, but I haven't succeeded yet. you can harvest them as microgreens or just wait for harvest which is very fast
Thanks for the review. I would have to stick with an indoors one since I get hard freezes where I am, and I also don't think it's worth taking the space since I only have about 120 square feet of gardening space, so even if it only takes 4 square feet that's a pretty good chunk. As long as it's helping people get into composting, I'm happy it exists!
How does this product compare against getting a plastic bucket with a lid, sawing off the bottom, drilling holes all over it, and burying it in the center of a growing bed?
This size is great but i would expect the price to be a bit better. a full for $200 and a mini for $130? at most $99 seems fair. But would be nice to get this lower. It would allow gardeners to buy more and place more of these within a yard/garden.
You'd be WAY better off just buying a hundred dollars worth of good composted manure and a few dozen worms from the local bait store. Dump them all on your garden beds and leave 'em alone. They'll figure out what to do, I promise. :)
@@dogslobbergardens6606 but if you want a easy way to compost your food waste you could get a five gallon bucket drill holes in the bucket and place it in the ground that is what I do it works great you can also buried food waste directly in the ground the price puts me off
Which worm bin do you recommend? I started in storage bins but don't like to dig them out so much to harvest. I have lots of food scaps I want to use and also want to be able to harvest compost quickly and more frequently. Also should I get more than just one?
Cool concept but I just leave the worms in the bed to do their thing. Any time I find worms from digging or whatever I just toss them in random beds and let em live. All my raised planters, beds, and no digs have worm farms within. I also have a dual compost bin setup that is full of worms that get integrated into the beds when the compost is ready. Sometimes it's just better to keep things simple rather than use these techy garden gadgets.
I'm wondering if the thickness of the pod or the mini is thick enough to keep out chewing shrews. They've been a problem in my garden every year. I had a (notice the word *had* ) triple thick horse tackle outdoor storage box with a locking lid and the shrews chewed through it like it was nothing. I had shrews get into my outdoor worm bins the last two years and devoured so many. Is the plastic on the subpod thicker than any of the outdoor storage boxes / deck storage boxes? I'm thinking not because it has so many holes it would be easy for the shrews to simply connect the holes and make entry. Thoughts?
Interesting. Looks like a nice set up. Since I’m not familiar with worm behavior I am surprised that they don’t just stay where the food is. Why do they migrate outward? You don’t have to answer that question. I’m just surprised and curious as to why they would do that?
Worms don’t eat 24/7. They travel to mate and lay cocoons, and who knows what else they may enjoy in their world. I have some bins and sometimes I find them hanging out where condensation collects on the edges to rest and soak. They are a bit more complex than we give them credit for. I’m quite fond of my worm friends 🪱 they are quite amazing creatures.
Couldn’t get a bucket of appropriate size for your bed and drill holes in the bucket, provide it with nutrients that the worms can go into from in your container bed? Do you need this sub hub?
I have a problem with roaches eating all my worms in buckets or raised composting systems.... Usually i vita mix my food scraps w/ water and pour it someplace in the yard.... I like this idea because you can harvest the castings! Sorry, not buying the product, I'm unemployed... but i got a milk crate... I'm going to throw something together. Thanks
I'm thinking I may do this with a milk crate wrapped in chicken wore or something with narrow holes for passage then cover with plywood. Awesome video and definitely something I will put in all of my raised beds!
Great and very informative videos as usual Kevin, thanks for all the time and effort you put into this! I never thought of shredded paper and straw, it's awesome! 🌿
Just because you have coconut core in for your wormsbedding. That doesn’t mean that all of your worms will only congregate within your bed area. With all of those holes within your metal bin most of your worms would leave the bin in search for a better surrounding area with more food. Then you wouldn’t have your worm casting only in one area. But your entire garden would have worm throughout your entire garden. Now if you had a entire metal enclosure without any holes, whatever food you put within this box it would have all of your worm casting within your box. And your worms would only multiply within your box and you wouldn’t’t lose Andy worms but have them multiply within your box.
without holes, the bin would eventually get too wet and fill with water, and lack air, so the worms would suffocate. Compost worms (esenia fetida) are a specific kind of worm, they are drawn to rotting compost heaps and muck heaps, they are not regular earthworms that would absolutely just go elsewhere.
I'd love a subpod for my local community but it was a bit too expensive so we use 20L buckets with holes in them and it's footprint is only 30cm in diameter.
My garden is in zone 8b and have a good amount of worms in my garden everywhere. Would I still have to buy worms for setting subpod? I was thinking I ll have some bedding and food in it and voila worm gods will bless upon me
I am interested in vermicomposting, but I am concerned about the effect it has on the environment since these worms are not native to North America. Do you know of a place where we can get native worms instead of these invasive worms?
I live in the mountains in Utah, we get a lot of snow. My experience with in ground vermiculture is that feeding slows way down to almost non existent. I still put in scraps and bedding material the same as I do in summer. The top layer or two will freeze but the lower ones will be protected and still slowly break down. But I use a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom cut out and holes drilled in the side in each of my raised beds not the product talked about in this video. When winter is over my buckets in all the beds are usually close to full and I pull the bucket out and move it to a new location in the raised bed using the soil from the new hole to cover the food/bedding in the old location. I don't move it to far away from the original location as I want it to be easy for the worms to find. Has been working great for me for years.
@@msnowman that’s kind of what I figured would happen. I garden in an urban setting so I’m really wary of rats. (Neighbors object more than I do honestly)Does your winter bucket method attract desperate pests ?
@@paulgaras2606 No I keep lids on the buckets (lids have no air holes) and and all the holes in the sides of the bucket are below the soil line. I put in leftover meat, bones, etc. that attract vermin and I haven't had a problem though some things I put in there stink a lot when you take that lid off and it will immediately attract any flies in the area. But the lid is only off long enough for me to put in new stuff so hasn't really been a problem. If it gets too smelly (e.g. I have to hold my breath when taking the lid off) I will add a layer of damp sawdust and that helps a lot. I know if it is smelling that bad that I'm adding more scraps then the worms can eat but I would rather do that and let it decompose than throw it away.
Mostly great content but for my 7000sq yard garden I have one 70 gallon compost bin that provides all my worms. When I shovel out my black gold from the bottom, I segregate 1/2 the worms back into the top of my compost and they seem very happy the rest go into my raised beds. Here in 9b Sacramento, Ca. Thanks for the vids, bro.
I just started my worm bins in Aug.. I did the 3 bins but I dont need 2000 worms..lol.. the trouble I am having is deciding if its ready to harvest the castings..
Just watching how easily you dug up that bed after digging out a wet clay soil bed by hand to replace with cuttings/soil mixture made me wanna cry. I'm going to steal my mom's tiller this weekend.
tilling clay will make it worse, not better. It will still be clay, only you will have destroyed all the fungal networks and worm tunnels that add structure and aeration. Just keep adding organic matter and the worms will till it for you
Good question. I'm in zone 7a and I already bought one but haven't set it up yet. I saw a video where someone used a heat mat to keep their worms warm in the winter. I'm giving it a shot.
I have four raised beds for years and have used buckets or drums with plywood to cover them. Typically use shredded mail and grass cuttings for feeding along with kitchen scraps. Works year round. how do I get extra worms?
Ive been using the 3 tote one......problem is i didnt set a drain spout and it fills with water everytime it rains......i dont know how my worms have survived lol....i need about 5 of these lol.
Fill your cardboard boxes with your yard scraps and kitchen scraps. As the worms finish eating everything, you will have a box full of worm castings. What I do, is just plant right into it. It becomes a cardboard raised bed.
How would the original subpod size up to the mini in a birdies tall 8 in 1? It will be used as a stand alone herb garden off my back patio so which one would you recommend?
Added this to my yet to be bought birdies raised garden beds, ain't getting any younger so think before going about garden beds, what will your garden need. The more planning put in for the future of your garden the better. Reasons for gardening: fruits and vegetables to share with our neighbors and help others while benefitting from prior planning! List so far: Raised beds Subpod' (a few as my neighbors love gardening) Worms of course This plan will come together in the next 18 months. Also to fill the raised beds, look at hugelkulture (not sure on the spelling of the word),. Also many thanks for the video, been looking for different channels and videos on a variety of subjects. Old age, will be growing roses.
