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Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/01 19:15I am getting ready to start a side business and am making plans for building my first bin. From all the research I've done, I've come up with this plan:
Raised bed 3'x 8'x 16" deep with heating cables to maintain 72 degrees. Screened vent holes around the top sides, lid on top of bin. Bedding material will be 2/3 aged horse manure and 1/3 shredded paper.
Plan on stocking one pound per square foot and then divide the bed in six months. Thereafter, split the beds every 90 days.
Does this make sense? I welcome any advice or comments from all you experienced worm growers
Larry C
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lanbro
User A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 20
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/01 23:13Hey Larry, I have about 6 bins and 16 5 gallon buckets going right now. Our bins are the 10 gallon like rubbermaid bins that our breeder worms are hanging out in, they love it the hardest part is controlling moisture and heat it was 104 actual temp here today. but bin was around 88. the % gallon buckets are where we put the cacoons to incubate till hatch then we feed and grow them there till they are about 3 months old then move them to bins I'll have 36bins and 16 buckets by this December and estimating about 30,000 worms. All sounds good to me, But be flexible on your time table about splitting the bins, they will tell you when it's time when you start noticing escape attempts and few cacoons that's how they tell you it's time. but all sounds good[b]I got worms how bout u!
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timnbama
User A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 126
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/02 07:18The first variable that you have there is what is the bed for, vermiculture for bait worms or vermicomposting. The next is your worm species. What, how much and how often you feed will be a big factor along with your moisture level that you maintain. If you're doing this for bait worms then you'll want a slightly higher moisture level especially when you move them into the fattening beds. You want a high density to insure mating and cocoons but then you lose on the size that they can reach there under those same crowded conditions. Of the 4 types of worms that I have the African nightcrawler is the winner in the cocoon laying department. As I'm using rabbit manure I can't offer you much help with the horse manure. Are you making the beds out of cinder blocks or wood? I'm making some now out of blocks, stacked 2 high for 16" and lining the insides with 1/2" rigid foam insualtion. I want to put a lid on them and use the foil bubble insulation to keep the heat out now.
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Larry C
User A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 57
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/02 15:51Ianbro....thanks for the info
Timnbama,
Thanks for the reply. I am planning on using 3 tongue & groove 2x6's for the walls and 3/4 plywood for the bottom. Actual depth will be 16 1/2" so I'll have room for a foot of bedding and still leave a few inches of air space for the vent holes. I plan to line the outside with 1" foam insulation to retain the heat from the cables. These will be red wigglers for vermicomposting mostly, unless the demand is also selling them for bait.
Larry
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timnbama
User A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 126
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/02 17:15Larry C wrote: I am planning on using 3 tongue & groove 2x6's for the walls and 3/4 plywood for the bottom. I plan to line the outside with 1" foam insulation to retain the heat from the cables. Larry
Be sure to melt some paraffin wax in a double boiler and brush the inside of the box while it's still hot to seal the wood. The hotter the better. A lot of the literature recommends doing the outside with hot tar; I use the melted wax there as well. You've only got to lean against that bin one time with tar on it to know that you made a mistake! With the 1" foam you'll probaly have an R-value of around 4 which isn't the best. If you have a Lowe's close to you that sells Reflectix roll insulation you might look at that. It comes in 25' rolls, either 16" with staple tabs, 24" or 48" widths. FarmTek sells a line that comes in 125' rolls in just about any width you want. The stuff is only 5/16" thick and as long as you give it a 3/4" air gap it has an R-value of about 32. You could rip some 3/4" squares of wood and attach them to the perimeters of the box then staple the foil to them and that would give you an air gap. I think that most areas of the country this winter will be looking at about double electricity costs compared to last winter. The foil insulation will cost more up front than the foam but I think that it would pay for itself in energy savings if you're doing the project for the long haul. I made a 2'x4' bin for a friend of mine the other day and used the Reflectix foil insulation all over the outside for her. Along the bottom I where the drain holes were drilled I epoxied in short sections of white smooth round Bic pen barrels and then let them go through the bottom layer of foil and then sealed around them with silicone caulking.
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lanbro
User A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 20
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/15 22:00We feed ours a mixture of, horse, rabbit and cow manure that has been aged well actually composted, I hate getting grubs in my bed. So I've found with the horse and cow if you allow the aging to take place with pieces in large clumps, the grubs tend to be in the inside of the ball, helps them retain moisture. So make sure to break up clumps so you can keep an eye out for the grubs.[b]I got worms how bout u!
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Kuznles
User A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 59
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/26 00:50I don't know where you live, I live close to Memphis, TN my bins are 2ft by 4 ft, (they are easier to manage a that size and I don't use any heating system nor do I insulate my bins. My bins have about 10 inches of bedding and have a sheet of window plastic sheeting to protect them from the moisture. I have no holes in the bottom, it makes more sense to keep a good control on your moisture than run a bunch of holes in the bin. Mine can also be double or triple stacked. I cover them with a 2x4 sheet of plywood during the summer and add a 2x4 section of old rug that folks have thrown away during the winter. The temperature in my bins usualy stays at around 80? except during January when it has gotten down to about 50? a time or 2 at night during extremely cold (20?) at night. My bins are in tree shade during the summer and the sun warms them during the winter. This is the tenth year for some of them.KuznLes
Kountrykuznworms.com
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Larry C
User A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 57
Re:Advice on building my first bin - 2008/08/26 14:05Kuznies,
Thanks for the info. I live near Olympia, WA. You must be in a warmer climate than us. I could ask a hundred growers about what type of bin is best and get 100 different answers. I guess the bottom line is the worms are not picky.
I guess my original thinking is to start with "incubator" bins to maintain temperatures for optimum production. and later as I divide the bins, they would go into simpler unheated beds. All the beds will be inside a barn.
I guess insulation on a bin can work for you and against you. It's holding the heat in from the cables, but at the same time it prevents the warm days from taking over the heating cables's job.
Larry
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