:tip: DIY Worm Farm For Under £20!

Dazed

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I've been wanting to make my own wormcastings and tea's for a while. Buying a worm farm for £70 just didn't seem viable to me so I decided to make my own. This is a trial but I can't see why it wouldn't work, materials cost under £20.

Very simple to do and took me about an hour to put together.

Here is what you will need:

2 x plastic storage boxes with lids (find these at most office/discount stores)
1 x 3/4" water butt tap
2 x bricks/pots whatever you can find to raise the main box
Drill and drill set
Good quality organic compost/manure etc


Firstly drill some drainage holes in the bottom of the first box. This will allow the excess juices (worm pee) to drain into the second box.

You will also need to put some holes in the top so the worms have fresh air-this is very important.


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In the second box you will need to drill a hole at the base big enough for the tap to attach. Be careful not to crack the plastic as you do this or the seal will not be water tight. I used a small drill bit, moving up in size gradually to make the hole bigger.
Test it with water to make sure it's water-tight.

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You then need to put your bricks or whatever you are using into the base and put the main box inside resting on them. So now your juice can collect in the bottom and be dispensed through the tap to make teas to feed your plants.

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Now it's time to fill it up ready for the worms.

I used a layer of shredded newspaper and dampened it down with rainwater. The next layer I used regular sand to give it a granular base that would allow moisture through.

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For the final layer where the worms will live you will need some high quality organic compost or manure. I used a 50/50 mix of 2 year old leaf compost and some recycled Biobizz soil from previous grows. The leaf compost is super rich and even had a bunch of red worms in there already.

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The final step was to add some kitchen scraps I had saved from last night, add a little more rainwater to moisten the whole thing up and that's it. Leave it for a few days to settle and get going, then add your worms-red wrigglers are what I'm ordering.

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Wormery completed!

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Dazed..
 
Great DIY! Got to make me one! :Cool bud:
 
Worms arrived today, I got the name wrong they are called Tiger Worms.

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In they go and hopefully they will start doing their thing soon!

Dazed..
 
Dazed i find this subject very interesting and will be following..

Best of luck if it works il be on it!!
 
Awesome! This really makes me wanna ditch my chemical nutrients!
Hopefully one day I'll start growing 100% organic. :tiphat:
 
Awesome post Dazed Worm farms as you tute show are easy to make and produce the some of most wonder organics around especially the worm juice "black gold" from out the tap at the bottom.
Worm castings make an awesome compost tea when put in a airated compost tea bubbler.
As Dazed mention he is using red wrigglers which are compost worm and not the same as earth worm, I say this just in case anyone was wondering.
The process of farming worms is called "vemiculture" if anyone was wondering and wants to google it .
Top man for posting this Dazed here's a rep slap to go with your rep :slap:
 
Great post Dazed! Don't know how I missed it before. This is the best and most simple way to start with vermicomposting. Both of the names are correct btw. Eisenia fetida (assuming that's what you have) are known by many names red wrigglers, tiger worms, redworms, compost worms, manure worms, just to name a few.

Good for you brother. Homemade worm castings are the best.:gthumb:
 
Thought I'd post some pics of how the worm farm is coming along. They are multiplying as there are now twice as many worms and baby ones too. Lots of eggs around.

It's working well overall, I've not taken any castings yet, will give it another month I think although the scraps I put in there daily get eaten within the week, crazy fast.

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I know it's all happening under that mess, when I throw in potato scraps, they sprout a 3" top in 2 days lol.

Dazed..
 

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@Goey yes you can use any worm castings from what I understand, some are better than other it really just depends on what you feed the worms.

@Dazed this is friggin Awesome! I would love an update to see how the worms are doing now as it has been a few weeks since the last wormy report
 
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