Re: Wiggler Hilton

**Kelejan** 3/28/2015, 12:29 am

TinySpock; Wiggler Hilton was not coined by me, but probably www.redwormcomposting.com

Marie, that's devilish of you. Laughing

I doubt LLM would be able to take a picture, it would be too dark. We will have to use our imagination.

**AtlantaMarie** 3/28/2015, 8:04 am

Yeah, I suppose so, lol!

**Kelejan** 9/4/2015, 12:19 pm

”Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you.
Be grateful it happens in that order.” ~ David Gerrold

Just to cheer you all this beautiful day.

**AtlantaMarie** 9/4/2015, 3:58 pm

Thank you, Kelejan. I needed a laugh today...

thanks

**jimmy cee** 9/4/2015, 5:05 pm

When I put my compost piles together I left about a foot space between the 2. Why? I cant say, however I am happy I did. I've been filling it with nothing but coffee grinds, hundreds of pounds have gone in and taken out. Never added anything except more grounds. The amount of worms in there and in adjoining compost bins has amazed me, literally tens of thousands are in it, and mostly those small red worms...

**Scorpio Rising** 9/4/2015, 5:15 pm

Worms do loves their Java!

**jimmy cee** 2/23/2016, 10:41 am

I'm going to make a 3 tier worm farm to start with.
I'm not opposed to installing a spigot, however, would it not be best to have the drain on the bottom so all the liquid may be emptied ?
Or how about when needing to be emptied, just take apart and empty.
Understandably with a valve on bottom the unit will need supports keeping it up.

**Kelejan** 2/23/2016, 9:07 pm

I have never needed to drain anything from my Wiggler Hilton.
The bottom Rubbermaid gets a little damp but never running wet and there are always some worms ther who have worked their way through the holes.

They are carefully scraped up and returned to the top most tier.

My W-H consists of three bins, two with worms and bedding/food and the bottom one to catch moisture and any worms.

yolos 5/19/2016, 9:02 pm

I built a worm bin last fall. Two tiers only. One to catch any liquid and one where I have the worms. There is never any liquid in the bottom bin. I keep it inside in my office because it gets too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.

I have a question. I am not very good about keeping them fed. I guess when I don't give them enough food, they eat the shredded newspaper because I have to keep adding it. After the bin has been going for a long time, do you add anything other than the food/coffee/eggshells and newspaper. What about peat moss, cardboard. It would seem to me that they are only living in the castings because I only add shredded newspaper on the top which they eventually eat because I do not feed them regularly. I hate lifting off the top because there are always worms on the top and I have to wipe them off to keep from squishing them when I close the top.

**sanderson** 5/20/2016, 2:03 am

Yolos, What about installing a feeding tube from 3 or 4" PVC. Then you won't have to open the lid just to feed.

yolos 5/20/2016, 9:24 am

sanderson wrote:Yolos, What about installing a feeding tube from 3 or 4" PVC. Then you won't have to open the lid just to feed.

Ha. What I need to do is find out and correct what is causing the poor things to crawl to the top of the box. Probably hungry. So I have a concoction of veggie scraps, oatmeal, ground egg shells, frozen in packets and I will feed them more regularly and keep shredded newspaper on top.

yolos 5/20/2016, 1:02 pm

I went to Redwormcomposting.com and got some ideas. I just reconditioned my worm bin. I pulled everything over to one half the bin. Then I added new bedding to the now empty half of the bin. A couple handfuls of each of the following - cardboard (about 1 inch squares), shredded newspaper, peat moss, aged compost, leaf mold (sort of - 1 year old), some coffee grounds and some powdered egg shells. Then between the old bedding and the new bedding I added about 2/3 pound of frozen and then thawed veggie waste (and moist oatmeal flakes which the worms seem to love).

There were worms on the inside on the top of the bin. I wonder if it is because there is not enough oxygen in the bin. I may need more holes. I will wait to see if more food in the bin keeps the worms off the top. If they are still crawling up to the top, then my next solution would be to put in more holes or mini louvers.

yolos 5/24/2016, 9:12 pm

Well I checked on the poor wormies tonight. Only one worm on the top of the bin. I guess the poor guys were not getting enough to eat.

The inside top of the bin has a lot of condensation on it. Should I leave the top off for a while to dry it off. There is a layer of about 3 inches of moist shredded newspaper between the bedding and the top of the bin. I could add about 1 more inch of dry shredded newspaper to help absorb the condensation. There is not liquid coming out of the bottom so I think the moisture is ok.

gpool 10/5/2016, 7:45 am

Do I need to water the bin and if so how often. Should I start with locally dug worms?

**AtlantaMarie** 10/5/2016, 9:12 am

Hi Gpool. Welcome from Atlanta, GA! Glad you've found our group!

I don't have a Hilton yet, so really can't give you advice... Sorry... But I'm sure someone will jump in soon.

**Kelejan** 10/5/2016, 9:26 am

gpool wrote:Do I need to water the bin and if so how often. Should I start with locally dug worms?

$glad you\'re here$ gpool happy hi

from Kelejan :canada:

in British Columbia.

How far have you got with preparing your Wiggler Hilton, g.pool?

Have you read through this thread? There is a lot of information here and in reading it you will be able to answer most of your questions, and you will be able to get a feel for raising worms. If not, then we are here to help you.

A good online site is www.redworm.com. They also sell worms. You will come across mention of them in this thread.

Do not use worms from the garden as they are most likely earth worms that dig deep into the soil. What you need are small redworms (red wigglers) and they can usually be purchased online. If you resided in Canada I could have sent you some.

I reckon our resident expert is llamamom she has about ten Wiggler Hiltons on the go.

yolos 10/5/2016, 10:03 am

The website link above that Kelegan referred you to is not correct. Here is the correct link.
http://www.redwormcomposting.com

**Kelejan** 10/6/2016, 1:08 am

Thanks, yolos. I was going to check it out but was distracted. (I forgot Very Happy

)

I also got LLM's name wrong. It is llama momma. (Sorry, LLM.)

**sanderson** 10/6/2016, 1:51 pm

Gpool, Welcome to the Forum from California! $glad you\'re here$ Yes, little red wigglers are the composting worms. You have already received good advice from other members. Thanks members!

OhioGardener 2/9/2023, 11:04 am

choksaw wrote:Ok i started and finished my little wiggler Hilton today took me about 30 min i did my best with the pictures and editing so that i can post up som easy instructions on how i did it

Total cost: $24.67

Materials:
3 rubber maid bins (size not important)
2 scrap 2x4's cut to fit box
1 1/2 PVC Hose Spiogt
2 Rubber O-rings
1 Spigot Collar

Tools:
Drill (mine is cordless)
3/8 drill bit
7/64 drill bit
1/2 hole saw

I started with the bottom box by drilling a 1/2" hole as close to the bottom as i could get

I then put 1 rubber o-ring onto the spigot and installed it in said hole

Placed another O-ring on the inside end of the spigot to dbl seal it for leaks

and locked it into place with the spigot collar

I next installed the scrap 2x4 risers to help elevate the 2nd tier from the bottom

Then came the 2nd tier box i used a 3/8 drill bit to drill holes all the way around the up portion of the box to allow for good ventilation

Fliped the box over and used a 7/64 drill bit to drill drainage holes for the moisture to flow down into tier 1 for compost Tea i chose the 7/64 bit because its large enough to allow the water to drain but small enough to prevent the worms from commiting suicide

Now on to Tier 3 i used the 3/8 drill bit to again drill holes all the way around the upper portion of the box for good air flow i also used the same drill bit to drill holes all over the bottom of the box since it will be sitting on top of tier 2 and worms feed in an dupward motion i wanted to make sure that they had plenty of space to wiggle into tier 3

I installed tier 2 onto the risers inside of tier 1 and added some shredded paper leaves some semi composted material and compost (worms digestive system work useing whats called a gizzard which grinds stuff up so a little soil helps them alot)

And last but not least i installed tier 3 on top of tier 2 since we are not concered about this tier being submerged in compost tea no risers are needed for this section

And you are done building your wiggler Hilton very simple very inexpensive method and this is your end results

Now when your worms arrive they are ready to go to work in thier new home.

I know this thread was a bit long winded but i wanted to try and give the best description and details about it as i could, and again my photo editing skills are not the greatest in the world so i did as best i could. If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask. I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial on how to build your own home made wiggler Hilton

Love these plans!

I have done summer vermicomposting for years, but never been able to keep them through the winter as it isn't worth trying to heat a large worm bin against sub-zero temps during the winter. But, now that I have a greenhouse that keeps warm all winter, I've decided I can build a Wiggler Hilton that I can keep in the greenhouse during the winter, and move out into a shaded building during the hot summer months. Now it is off to find the bins and spigot...

**sanderson** 2/10/2023, 11:56 pm

The only thing I would do is silicon little fly screens over the vents to keep out fungus gnats and black soldier flies, etc. I'm going to resurrect my 3" PVC worm tubes and will be doing this.

Soose 2/11/2023, 5:08 am

I am planning to move my ibc tote containing worms into the greenhouse we've just put up for seed starting. My intention is to remove the plastic cover and use shade cloth in the summer over the same area. So maybe I won't have to relocate my much larger worm bins seasonally. I must procure a shade cloth.

OhioGardener 2/11/2023, 7:14 am

Soose wrote: I must procure a shade cloth.

I ordered shade cloth from here:
https://www.acfgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-shade-cloth-fabric-12

OhioGardener 2/11/2023, 7:19 am

sanderson wrote:The only thing I would do is silicon little fly screens over the vents to keep out fungus gnats and black soldier flies, etc.

That is a great idea! I had a problem earlier with fungus gnats in the greenhouse when I brought in some mushroom compost, and they were very frustrating to deal with.

Soose 2/12/2023, 12:07 am

OhioGardener wrote:
Soose wrote: I must procure a shade cloth.

I ordered shade cloth from here:
https://www.acfgreenhouses.com/greenhouse-shade-cloth-fabric-12

I guess I need to take local advice on what strength of shade cloth to use for my area. We had a brutal summer last year.

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