Worm Tube for the SFG

middlemamma I don't have the cloth on the bottom of my SFG, I think junequilt has a good idea with the straw.
I know a lady who I helped get a worm bin started, she used a container that fits under your bed for storage for the worm bin, only she kept her worms outside in it under a old shed, the shed wasn't heated and she left her worms out all winter and they didn't die, and it gets pretty cold here too.
You might pull the Mel's mix back in the square next to your worm tube, and take a knife and cut a slit in it, to give the worms a escape route from the SFG in winter.

What a nifty idea. Is there any limit to how tall you can make the tubes, do you think? Might I put one on either end of a long bed and use them as trellis support, provided they were well anchored with rebar?

The Cat's Other Mother as long as you could reach the top ok to put food in it I don't see why you couldn't make it as tall as you want it to be.

Thanks, Josh! These will definitely be in my next gardens. Now I just have to decide if I'm putting my next garden in soon, or waiting till next year.

middlemamma wrote:Josh I have a question...

Do you have any kind of barrier beneath your mel's mix or do your SFG's sit right on the ground?

I had my husband make me a couple worm tubes per your tutorial ( ) and we are getting ready to put them in.

But I was just thinking...come winter...with my weed barrier in the way they wont really be able to go deeper in the ground...or will they be just fine living out in the mel's mix? if I kept sending scraps their way all winter?? I live in Idaho it gets pretty dern cold...

What do y'all think?

Middlemamma,
The red wigglers used for vermicompost tend to travel in the upward direction looking for food. This is very different from that of the earth worms that are in your soil. Red wigglers would not survive most climates that earth worms do. You will have to bait the tube in the fall with food that they like, and remove them that way. You can also leave them in the ground, but don't expect them to be there in the spring.

I made one tube yesterday but only used 3" PVC because that is what I had from a different project. KMart had pots on sale so I grabbed 4, planning to make at least 3 more tubes.

I dug a few handfulls of worms from better garden spots but hate to be the Robin Hood of wormville, so will be buying some fishing worms once I get the other 3 tubes made.

A neighbor's 10 y/o girl was watching me do all this. I think she might have decided I'm crazy.

Thanks Josh! Hey, when I was googling for more info on these, I saw some being sold for $25 and some even for $50! gee whiz!!

My tube is almost full 3" tube x 3 feet tall. I didn't intend to fill it up but then wondered why it's so tall if it's not supposed to be filled up. I cannot wait to see what happens! It's got weeds, dirt, strawberry trimmings and some dried mushrooms that were too gross to eat.

Who else is filling their tubes all the way up?

That worm tube has been challenging me. I love Josh's deluxe model, but finally came up with something quite a bit simpler. I put it together with my grandkids this evening. I hope I get tons of free compost from my 50 little red wigglers.

Instead of a long tube, I used a right angle 3" thing I saw in the plumbing section. For the flower pot I glued in a coffee filter instead of screen b/c I didn't have any.


Just laid it in there and covered with soil, filled with compost...


Added worms and some vegetation to start...


And topped it off...


As per directions from Josh. This was a fun project with the grandkids for this Father's Day/summer solstice. (unless the solstice is tomorrow?)

Thanks for the idea Josh!

WOW chopper I like yours better than mine!!! That's what it's all about doing what works best for you! Looks like your grandkids like it!
You get a dancing chicken for this idea chopper (a very high honor to get a dancing chicken)

My worn tube seems to be doing fine,I put food in the tube and it disappears. When I harvested my potatoes (two squares away from my worm tube) I saw lots of worms!

How is everyone else doing with theirs? PeggyC how is it working out filling the tube all the way up?

Hi Josh,

Thanks a million for sharing all your great ideas! I was wondering why you decided not to put a bottom (weed cloth or other) on your boxes? Do you think the plants grow better being right on top of soil or is there some other reason you did that way? Do you have many issues with weeds? Did you put a barrier under your pathways. It doesn't look like it, but I had to ask. We get the thickest biggest weeks growing in between our cracks in cement, garden area, etc....Do you have that problem? Sorry if these are dumb questions. I'm new to gardening and this is my first year SFG.

I love your garden! It's beautiful!

Thanks!

Shelly

Great tutorial Josh thanks for sharing the idea.

If you think about it you're putting a small army of worms to work
continually doing what we don't. Slowly but surely tilling the mix
giving much better aeration, drainage and loosing the soil. I also
believe that almost no matter how broken down (composted) the mix is to
start that worms continue to break particles in the mix itself down
making nutrients more readily available to the roots.

I have no proof other than what I've seen can come from worms and
observations like Lavender Debs anecdote about her time as a window worm
herder.


I checked out your pictures Josh those gardens look fantastic you guys have a LOT to be proud of!

I do have to comment on one picture though.



Hey look Mr. Bill it's Dr. Sluggo's island cousin Mr. Coke E. Nutcoke. Mr. Nutcoke just won the two handed ping-pong championship Mr. Bill, you should play him.

I don't know Mr. Hands he scares me. I think he might be one of those rastafarian grassheads and he might hurt me.

No Mr. Bill he's ok. Here ya go here are you paddles Mr. Bill, hold on tight Mr. Nutcoke has a killer serve...

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Sorry I just couldn't resist it made me laugh so hard when I saw it!

Is there a thread about that can planter? I searched but I don't see one. Does the stocking wick water to the soil from the can?

sgeades we only use newspaper for a weed barrier. It takes about 15-20 thickness of newspaper for it to work,then wet it down and add the Mel's mix on top. We have no weeds come up from the bottom,even the following years there will be no weeds,just a few grass seed blow over on top sometimes,but they are easy to get rid of. I don't think it would make a difference in the way the plants grow. My dad thought the plants roots would go on down into the regular soil,like tomato plants, but they don't. I had a carrot last year grow down and then when it come to the bottom of the mix,it grew sideways instead of going on down into the regular soil.

My dad didn't put anything down under the cement stone path,the cement seems to kill off the grass between the stones at first, then we do get grass and plants growing sometimes in between the stones,to stop that you can use roundup or what we do is take ready mix sand topping cement and sprinkle just a little between the stones,using a old paint brush to spread it around works good,and use the water hose on mist spray to add some water to it,then when it dries it will stop the weeds from having a place to grow.

SouthJersySquareFoot that is my plant person


It's a fun project to make,as it's hair grows it's fun to cut it in funny looking styles.
I think there use to be a post about how to make it,but it must have been at the old forum.
To make it,take a knee high nylon stocking and add 1-tablespoon of grass seed,aobut 1 1/2 cup of Mel's mix,form into a ball and tie the sock in a knot to hold ball shape,hot glue on eyes nose mouth and arms. Soak the ball in water then add water to soda can,put the long end of the sock in the can to wick the water up to the head, then in a few days there will be hair!

mine was full up to the top, then down about 6 inches, so I filled it up again. now it's down about a foot and I need to top it, but it's got flies in it. Grrr, not that I really care, but I don't want a fly farm!! I just found that a couple hours ago and am thinking about what to do. It has all kinds of stuff in it, soil, apples, grass cuttings, eggshells, weeds, asparagus, coffee grounds.

I glued screen into the bottom of the clay pot, so not sure how they got in, unless one got in while I had the lid off filling it, and then that one laid eggs. I didn't stick around long enough earlier to figure out if there were maggots or not. ewwwwwwww......

do I have to look? Maybe I'll just top it with some of that rabbit poo from another thread. flies don't seem to be attracted to that stuff.

I asked about worms in the SFG garden and boffer linked this thread in return. All I can say is thank you lots for the link and to Josh for all the information. I am going to make a worm tube and introduce them to my SFG box soon. Josh your on a pedistol among us gardeners.

I have a tendancy to go overboard....

When I got excited about this post months ago I had hubby make me 4 worm tubes...1 for each box...

I put one in the garden and plan to use another...but that leaves me with 2 I have no idea what to do with them...both have a dark forest green tube and one has a pink pot on top and the other purple.

I would be willing to sell them plus shipping to anyone interested. $10 sound like too much? I have no idea what shipping would be...

PM me if you are interested.

ha, me too. I have 6? more tubes, but next spring I'm going to install them all around my shed, and next to my trellis (I went with the rebar and conduit), so that I can tie my conduit to the tube for extra support. My tomato trellis is falling down bad. we have terrible wind. I"m sure you could find someplace to put your tubes.

or, if no one on here snaps them up, jack up the price and put them on etsy!!!

Josh, Keep up the good work. If you google "Worms R Us NZ" you will see what one of my distant neighbours is doing comercially.His tube will be found under "The earth worm breeder" or "Worm-e-loo".

I checked out the "worms R us NZ" looked great to me!

I think the worm tube worked out pretty good for me, I am still seeing worms in my 4x4 SFG and I've put leftover food in the tube all summer and it just keeps disappearing. Things seem to grow better in my SFG than anyone elses I think we will be putting a tube per garden next year.

Josh other than the red worm (flat tail end?) what other composting worms do have over there?. Do you have the tiger worm (yellow stripes?)

My worm tube was abandoned pretty fast and I never saw them again. Maybe I did not have enough worms?

Bump! This is a great thread. Please read from the beginning.

Megan, thanks for the bump. I haven't read a lot of the older posts and found this one very interesting. Has anyone tried this in a tabletop?

Kay

Welcome! There are some fantastic older posts around, we are trying to bring some of them up to the surface, so thanks! I don't know about TT worm tubes, but given my bare-bones beginner knowledge, I don't see why it wouldn't work so long as you keep the little wormies fed. You might need to adjust the tube height so you can reach the top, though? (Would like to hear otherwise if anyone has any input!) I haven't tried a tube yet, but I'd like to this year.

Thank you for this thread Josh and the bump Megan! Can't wait to try this here on Oahu!

The Urban Garden Center had a class on Vermicomposting but I could not see myself digging through all the worms by hand and to use the castings. So I purchased castings instead (they sell for 16.00 per pound!).