Wiggler Hilton

I know this is an old thread, but very interesting nonetheless. Would be really interested in updates from anyone who went this route.

Me too. I am looking at doing this this week. I have 2000 worms comming on Thursday. Please tell me this works.
Thanks any pictures would be great.
Happy Gardening

I'll bump this to the top again in the hopes of seeing how everyone is doing with their homemade worm condos.

Thanks!
Darren

Red leg, here is a great vid just posted today by staf74.
https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/t9506-worm-poop-day-video#90402

There are some awesome worm threads on here if you search around. Josh has several that are pretty informative.

I'm very interested in building a worm farm using chocksaw's design, but since his farm failed in August, I haven't heard any followup. Has anyone else used this design with success?

Bump.

Great thread. What are people using successfully?

This may have already been answered but I didn't read beyond page 1.
Do oyou add the same kind of mixture to the level 3 bin that you added to level 2?
What do you do with the level 2 bin once all the worms have migrated to level 3? Also, what happens when you add a level 4? Will the larger holes in level 3 bin be a problem?
Thanks for you help.
Lee

I like the ease of making this worm farm, but I have some questions.
1. -- Are there holes in the lid I see on tier 3?
2. -- Do you have to add any water at any time, or is it formed strictly by the composting procedure.
3. -- Can pine needles be used in the compost?
4. -- Do you take bin #2 out when the worms seem to mostly be in bin #3, and then move #3 to the #2 position, empty #2 and place it in the #3 position, or is #3 always on top?

thanks for the bump, I hope to learn something here.
I started with one layer and it seemed to fill up, I added another layer, and then put the lower layer on top and left the lid open to the light, and all the worms etc moved down to the lower level.
I am sure I am missing the hilton point here, because I have 2 layers that i am using for potting plants.

Bump!

I bought bins yesterday for our worm farm (only 2 bins though - I should probably pick up the third). We made worm towers in the SFG beds but I don't think they're working out very well, so I'm going to move the worms out of the towers and into a worm farm setup. Assuming any are still alive, that is. I'm a little worried about what I'll find down there when it's time to move them.

Anyway, I have a converted trash can/compost bin that's full of half-finished compost, which is mostly coffee grounds (about 30%?), kitchen scraps & eggshells, the occasional garden trimmings, and my guinea pig's used paper-based bedding (the other 50%). Do you think there's any reason I couldn't just start with that as the bedding and let the worms do the rest? Is the ratio of coffee grounds going to be too high? I use them as my greens since we don't have much in the way of landscaping (no trees, no lawn).

opps did not see this before my last post to you Coelli

Its been a few years but i took a crack at worm bins a while back. I got some red wigglers from a feed store. I wanted to create my own castings and decided to raise my own worms in bins for composting.

I tried two different types of worm bins, plastic and wooden. I think i would recommend staying away from plastic, and keep them outside in a very shady spot or in a garage in the winter. Summer garage temps can get high but i think a wooden box can be a little more insulated from that heat.

Plastic bins are going to lead to lots of trapped moisture which will ultimately be bad. i think if you could replicate the worm hilton with wooden construction you'd have a longer run. My wooden bin started as 2 x 10 foot 1x10s ripped into 4x4.5', and 2x10" pieces with hinged top. small holes for air and drainage. The wooden box didnt get waterlogged and i easily could sift out castings after a few months. for a while i could easily fill a few 2 gallon buckets of casting. Get 1/4" hardware cloth (wire mesh), so 1x2 cut into 2' sections, and make a sift to screen out the casting from the worms and left overs etc..

I started with indoor rubbermaids and got the little flies and red mite looking things, and the inside could get very wet, so i decided to try something else when i created the wooden box. Although it wasnt as elaborate as a stacked unit looks, it worked pretty well for a while. I kept it in my back yard as a worm bin until the lid split and then it became a nice container for few tomatoes for few years and it has even made its way to our new house! last summer while moving it, the bottom actually fell out, but i would say it lasted almost 5-6 year. I still have it and it has a few feral potatoes and some brussel sprouts growing in it. I added a fence around it to keep my dogs from eating my tomatoes when it first became a tomato bin... they seem to like brussel sprouts

MAKE WOODEN BINS FOR YOUR RED WIGGLERS!! and red wigglers love melon

I started a worm factory composting system about a month or so ago. I started with 1000 worms and built the bed per the instructions. I generally fed them a veggie smoothie every other day. I started this inside, but fruit flies forced me to move it outside. Within a few weeks, I noticed maggots taking over. It got so bad by the time I got to tray no 3, I had to dump each tray and separate the worms and remove the maggots. They dried out in the sun and so I blended the dead fly larvae with the worm compost and thought the worms would eat them. I lost a lot of the worms, but I restarted the colony inside again. This time almost no fruit flies. I didn't really want a worm composting operation inside my house so I moved it back outside. Once again the maggots are taking over. It took three or four hours to remove the maggots the first time. I don't really enjoy this.

What am I doing wrong? How do I correct this?

You are not keeping the flies out or you are introducing material that already has fly eggs on it.

You can cover the Hilton with flyscreen material & use elastic to keep it in place and " fly tight "

You need to process the veg waste straight away you take it off the food and keep it fly proof covered till use .

I found that fruit flies on citrus fruit skins and peel etc. seemed to be the main offender , attracted due to the sweetness in the waste . In mine they didn't go much for the green veg waste.

plantoid wrote:You are not keeping the flies out or you are introducing material that already has fly eggs on it.

You can cover the Hilton with flyscreen material & use elastic to keep it in place and " fly tight "

You need to process the veg waste straight away you take it off the food and keep it fly proof covered till use .

I found that fruit flies on citrus fruit skins and peel etc. seemed to be the main offender , attracted due to the sweetness in the waste . In mine they didn't go much for the green veg waste.

Wow. Such a simple solution, covering the top with screen. The Worm Factory top sits far enough above the top tray that flies can easily get in.

I'm assuming the maggots are from flies getting into it after it was moved outside. I don't think these big things are fruit fly maggots.

What do I do about it now? I am thinking about moving it back inside but not until I get rid of the maggots. I don't want hundreds of flies hatching out inside the house.

Last time I added lime and Diatomaceous Earth as I read this would kill the maggots and not harm the worms. But it did not work.

Today I made my Wiggler Hilton for the worms I am collecting from my compost tumbler, 200 + so far.
So far I have made the two-tier version but I have a third one to put holes in but I have had enough work today, I will finish it when I need it.
I have not done the spigot as I think I can manage without it as I probably will not need anything more than three stories and there is only me to provide food during the winter.
As I did not have a 3/8 drill bit, I have used a 1/4. Do you think my worms will be able to slide through? If they cannot then I will have to get the 3/8 next time I go to the stores. Also do you think the 1/4 will supply enough ventilation? Perhap the worms can adapt within a certain range.
Now I will put down some bedding for them and introduce them to their new, spacious home.
Each section measures approx 21"x14" by 8 1/2" deep and cost $7 each plus 12 1/2 HST.

I used an 1/8 inch bit for ventilation and drainage holes. I do not use a spigot.

Here is a video on setting up a worm farm..