Anyone Can Build a Bathtub Worm Bin - Easy and CHEAP Worm Composting

You can raise worms in a bathtub! Here's the cheap and easy way I'm starting a backyard worm bin to harvest worm castings, worm tea, and worm leachate.
Thank you Geoff Lawton for the inspiration! You can see Geoff's video on compost worm farming here: • Compost Worm Farming
We bought red wigglers, AKA Tiger Worms, from a local bait shop, harvested manure and various compostable materials from our neighborhood, then got an old bathtub for our worm farm, and boom - an afternoon's project! This simple DIY worm bin lets you harvest worm tea or worm leachate to feed your gardens a highly nutritious free fertilizer.
Start composting today - get David's free booklet: www.thesurvivalgardener.com/si...
Learn more about raising compost worms in Compost Everything:
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David's gardening blog: www.thesurvivalgardener.com

[@davidthegood]

Compost Everything! amzn.to/3WCHT3F

[@zhartheProprietor]

How about making a ram pump for the pond drainage?

[@wildalentejo750]

even meat of fish?

[@sarahmannluker7528]

About 35 years ago, when we went fishing we'd stop by an older lady's house to get worms. She grew them in a shed in an old claw foot tub. I was fascinated.

[@jimt902]

The death by collardine comment made my day and will now become part of my vocabulary. Big lols.

[@gardenstate732]

I've trained my family to compost all food scraps and i don't think they will ever go back i made it so easy for them and i don't even live there :)

[@davidthegood]

That's great.

[@thebigshmoog]

I love this weird part of KZbin.

[@mrsmjporter]

I flipped my compost for the first time in 5 years. I was really surprised at the amount of things yet to break down at the bottom, but that thing is FULL of worms. They specifically liked the egg shells! Now I need to figure out how to acquire an old tub and put it on blocks in my backyard without my husband noticing 😂🤷🏼‍♀️😉

[@ronbruni8260]

Keep your eye open for laundry sinks on Craigslist or FB Marketplace. Not quite as big as a tub but you can get 2 of them for cheap and they’re much easier to move around. Btw…planting flowers, shrubs or whatever around the tubs hides them very well!

[@heatherk8931]

Lots of people doing remodeling let stuff go cheap so they don't have to pay to dump them.

[@anniebancroft1175]

You GO, Girl!! My worms like egg shells, banana peels and anything cucurbit best

[@BigWesLawns]

Eggshells absorb acids. They like alkaline and woody, leafy soil. Mix ground to dust eggshells with coffee grounds to help them enjoy the coffee more😉👍🏻🙏

[@jamesprigioni]

Let's Gooo!! keep the vids coming bro, I'm digging them

[@Juanrivers2022]

Didn't know you were fan of David the good. This is nice

[@davidthegood]

@@Juanrivers2022 James and I are mutual fans. He gave me some great input a year or so ago.

[@TSis76]

Agree! Truly one of the best YT channels. Family, music, comedy, nature, and gardening. What's not to love? Due to time constraints, kinda adopted the Bill Mollison do it easier. Since it is just me, and a buncha critters and a 6000ft garden in development, composting and worming done in situ.

[@Juanrivers2022]

@@davidthegood i enjoy both channels very much. The gardening circle is a tight group

[@joannaj74]

@@davidthegood My set up is almost exactly like yours, except I’m using a 100+ gallon stock tank. Since you mentioned you weren’t sure about what food worms like, they love melons! They can really tear some up quick. I got that tip from from Greg Allison over at Green Greg’s Worm Farm. He sold me my worms a few years ago and they did amazing up until our deep freeze here in Central Texas back in February when they died. Anyway, thank you for the video! I’ve learned so much from all of them over the past five years, including a couple of your books. Be blessed!

[@agrarianarc]

Can you please do an update video on how you harvest castings and just maintain the bed in general? 🙂

[@rehoboth_farm]

Okay, now Rachel is officially a saint. Just imagine how many women would give up not only their refrigerator but BATHTUB!! for one of their husband's crazy projects. If you've ever peeled off one of your fingernails picking up a paver stone go ahead and slap that like button!

[@lorrainebarnett8389]

Just want to tell you my worm story… Last fall I got the bright idea to scoop all the gazillion fallen leaves into black garbage bags and let them compost in the bags. I wet them down and then had another bright idea to pile them up between my garage and my little cattle panel greenhouse. There’s maybe a 2foot space between the two. I piled them 2deep…all along the greenhouse. The unexpected benefit was insulation for the greenhouse. And now it’s June and I want to use the bagged sloppy leaves for mulch. I started wrestling the bags out from that small area and the whole 2foot area all along the greenhouse has had the bags of rotting wet leaves, snow and ice build up…mole activity, lizards, skinks, and best of all, lots of worm activity. It honestly looks to me like the whole area is deep dark worm castings! I was so excited to see that! Like the benefit of having a worm bin but not. Of course wrestling with those soggy bags that were starting to deteriorate and leak goo had me looking like I’d rolled in a worm bin. Best of luck with the bathtub bin! We’re all really jealous, of course!😀

[@keansalzer8364]

Your songwriting makes this channel work for me. Imagination energy, This set up might be vulnerable to a rainstorm. I lost thousands doing this when a 2 day Kona storm hit and 4 inches fell. Crawled right out or drowned on a leafy lifeboat. If you've got an old piece of tin roofing around consider throwing that on top. Tarp. Even a double layered tin foil panel roof with a regular pitch to it.

[@joycejudd5109]

we have had worms for a few years, and I was thrilled when a cattleman offered his 100 gallon horse trough...it had a crack and wouldn't hold water. So....yeah, we've raised it on concrete blocks so it's easy to maintain, we empty it 2x a year and the dirt goes in the garden. Feed them on one side for 2 weeks, clear out that other side. Feed them on the new side for 2 weeks, clean out that old side. Super easy. Ours is under a carport turned potting shed. We use hay for the cover, in the winter we add a layer of cardboard. Some of the best fertilizer around.

[@davidthegood]

That is awesome. Would you email me pictures? [e-mail]

[@joycejudd5109]

@@davidthegood done

[@jkdruid]

I love the song at the beginning!you guys rock.

[@pamelapollock7330]

You are such an inspiration! The music is a bonus!!!

[@Biscuitabuse]

Started my first worm bin just on a month ago, they're completely settled in now and really starting to get through their food.

[@davidthegood]

YES

[@GypsyBrokenwings]

The worms could use coffee grounds and egg shells... my dad had a great worm bed

[@matthewfahl5871]

I loved hearing Rachel adding vocals on the opening song! I wonder if this is the first time she has contributed to one of your recordings?

[@c.j.rogers2422]

Coincidentally, I currently have 2 old bathtubs and 2 old jacuzzis in my yard, awaiting such projects (worms & BSFL). It's a lovely sight.

[@jeannechin5052]

Awesome! I like to plant my annuals in raised beds using Sterilite bins/totes on cinder blocks. I fill the bins with sticks/ leaves at the bottom third, my topsoil in the 2nd third (try to include worms), top third with potting soil. I compost in place with a pot on top of all that, which drains into the bin. I create holes in the bin near the bottom so that it drains into another bucket which is covered by a plate with holes to collect my compost tea. This idea is from Robbie and Gary Gardening channel.

[@davidthegood]

I've seen similar systems. Sounds like a great idea.

[@aspenriverrun]

Jeanne Chin, before your last line about your gardening style in totes I was thinking, "that's Robbie's method! 😆. I hope David gets his worms to cooperate. I had a compost bin that I stuck red wigglers in years ago but maybe it wasn't kept moist enough as they left ...

[@maydaygarden]

I use her bin method too! Works great.

[@elisabetk2595]

The only sun around my house is in a narrow side next to the neighbor's fence, but I can put totes on chairs and on the "wall" of cinderblocks left by the foundation crew to get up high enough to have a mini-garden using Robbie's method. Ground level is too shaded.

[@mowerds33]

I'm going to have to try this, though since I'm in a suburb I'll have to find something more ascetic than a bathtub. XD

[@samartinez1988]

Find an old kayak or canoe. See quote a few of those around.

[@KyrenaH]

I just use a storage container.

[@lovecatspiracy]

I am a word nerd, so please don't be offended by my enjoyment of your swapping out "aesthetic" with "as·cet·ic adjective characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons. "an ascetic life of prayer, fasting, and manual labor" Happy aesthetic (concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty) worm farming!!!❤❤❤

[@mowerds33]

@@lovecatspiracy LOL WHOOPS! Spelling isn't my strong point XD

[@DespiteMyself7]

Our old tub (which is a clone to the one in the vid!) is on our back patio. We built a frame with scrap wood and discarded fence boards, so now it looks like a fancy cedar planter. Free except for the screws!

[@patElfpat]

I’m setting up a new worm farm in a cast iron, claw foot tub we got for free ages ago. It was so heavy to move I can’t tell which hurts more, my back or my wrist. So far the tub has been a koi pond, flower bed, a toy chest for the dogs’ outdoor toys, a fishing pond for the local raccoons, an herb garden and an eyesore. Now I’m moving the worms from their big, plastic tub into the claw foot tub under a big magnolia tree. I hope the worms like their new environment because I don’t think we can move this tub again. Well, that and I think this is going to be a wonderful, happy place to be a compost worm. Thanks for all the info. Its good to have it BEFORE I make a bunch of mistakes.

[@Mark_Nadams]

I used to make worm bins when I was a kid. I didn't do it for the worm casting compost or the nutrient rich runoff. I grew worms for the local bate shop. I never knew I was making something great to use in the garden. Years later I realized I wasted all that awesome resource.

[@williamvillar7134]

It did not dawn on me to check a bait shop, I facepalmed when you mentioned that. Making my own compost hasn't produced the scale that I need but this seems like a better use of the materials I am able to generate. I think rain catchment is also a worthy use of my time, I hate using tap water.

[@OfftoShambala]

Yep... rainwater good.

[@williammcduff6531]

@@OfftoShambala , In a pinch fill up some buckets with tap water and let it set for 24 hours and the chlorine evaporates making it safe to use.

[@bsdnfraje]

+1 on setting out city water for a day or 2 to off gas. My new place has a well! I now have all new worries. But I don't have to offgas water anymore!!!

[@artstamper316]

@@williammcduff6531 What about the fluoride? I'm not supposed to touch or ingest that either. Will it off gas?

[@msb8013]

I enjoy the meta aspects of these videos. It elevates the thing

[@antoninabruno4205]

David you are the best.

[@JTHootman1]

I will be building one of these this spring I am super excited to see how this works in Kansas

[@patriciarussell8450]

David thanks for such GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT content. Love what you do adapting to all the different circumstances. You and your family truly are blessed,, thanks for helping us all!

[@davidthegood]

Thank you, Pat.

[@KingVB]

Thank you so much! I have an old bathtub in the garden and wanted to set up a wormfarm for a long time, just didn't knew how 😮 Much much love from Ukraine)❤

[@slaplapdog]

My worm bin is a converted fridge, set up like a sub-irrigated planter. This video has encouraged me to remove the lids and replace them with something porous. I will revert to the insulated lids come winter time, but right now I'm missing out on worm leachate enhanced rainwater!

[@grahamblackall6305]

You Sir are my new hero! Thank you so much 👍👍

[@sansomspressurecleaningpoo9519]

You rock God bless y’all

[@peter913]

I too was inspired by Geoff Lawton. I looked around at my local tip and picked up a laundry sink which makes an excellent worm farm. I then mentioned to a friend I'd been looking for a bathtub for a worm farm and he gave me one. So now I have two worm farms. I used the Geoff Lawton method with just bricks around the drainage point. I used shredded newspaper and compost as bedding. I have a lid on top of worm farm - a piece of corrugated iron. The worms are doing fine. I will soon have to clean out worm castings from the laundry sink worm farm. I've had red wigglers for a number of years and before going 'big time' with the sink and bathtub I had the worms in hard plastic tubs which also worked well. The worms had a change of address into more a luxurious abode. It will take time for the worms in your bathtub to multiply and get through all the food. I wouldn't feed them for a while - wait until you see not much trace of the collards which means the worms are getting through the food.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@s.j.anderson176]

Always fun to watch your stuff.

[@thelabotomizer3911]

Best song ever

[@breaking_bear]

Awesome video David! Crushing!

[@strugglersfarm5428]

Good stuff. Love geoff! Thanks for all the videos

[@philipmontgomery5626]

I like your frugality

[@zachman310]

Ram pump. It’s the most magic type of pump I’ve heard about. It uses most of the volume of water (80-90%?) to pump a small volume of water (10-20%?) uphill. It’s worth a gander.

[@TheTexasBoys]

Great set up, love the up cycle

[@lynettetucker5236]

Great tip's on worm casting

[@margaretpickholtz8772]

Love it, wish I had the space for one like that!

[@1010JenFriend]

EVERYTHING IS MY FAVORITE!!! I HEART EVERYTHANGGGGG

[@1010JenFriend]

Including your shmexy camera woman!!!

[@sansomspressurecleaningpoo9519]

You rock. God bless y’all.

[@vlvtopcat]

Looks like well spint time David 👍

[@isabelladavis1363]

Love it looks simple enough to create ...will shoot to recreate this soon for our garden...the sooner the better....love the humor you add to every day life...stay blessed!

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

Love it!! Hope an update is coming soon

[@dr.froghopper6711]

Just built my tub this morning. Tons o fun!

[@sharonross4535]

That’s super. This is my next project. Please keep us informed.

[@marialaskari2903]

Love your videos! Thank you so much!

[@janebadon3988]

Good rig!

[@aussiegardeningadventures9808]

I have an unused Bathtub, definitely have to give this a go.

[@roadgliderider1]

I like how you make it simple and cheap

[@tfromtheeast]

Great channel I love gardening!

[@MichaelJosephJr934]

So glad you mentioned to be caution with manure. I see a lot of gardens get free manure from stables and they don't think to check that out.

[@yahuahbeexulted-jonybuss8575]

I TOtally miss my worms i had so many in california moved them up northern california and relleased them in my bigo garden then now moved to North carolina about to start a New one for my food forest i am exited about it it for sure thanks for your encouragment SHALOM

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@julianadelion5497]

love your music. Especially with the second voices

[@americannomad3312]

Water ram pump for the overflow pipe. Happy farmin brother

[@jeffs9266]

Hill Billy engineering, gotta love it!

[@loves2spin2]

That looks really cool! I want to do it! I think I'll have to do something smaller though.

[@kizzyaggots1]

Very good video mate, i'm going ahead with your method. Happy growing

[@patiencekates5975]

Awesome job! I have a small property and a few small gardens but would love to make a small worm bed. I started one out back with cardboard and clippings from the gardens and compost from the house.

[@annaphillip1068]

I will try it. Anna from trinidad 🇹🇹

[@davidsinclair4138]

Thanks for the vid just got my bed going today

[@barbaramurley6180]

You could save all that work by just throwing a thick layer of hay on your garden as author Ruth Stout suggests in her book No Work Gardening. I've been doing this many years. Worms come up to eat the hay. They multiply, leave castings, fertilize and they were free!

[@flatsville1]

I've always had trouble finding hay I could trust with rare exception. I've been making "LeafGro" & "LeafGroGold" (Maryland Enviromental Services) for years without realizing it. Keep it all in wire cages. Spead it in the fall when not cover cropping. Let the worms do the work. Rake off what didn't turn to humus or a fine mulch & re-cage it. I still keep a worm bin through my growers group. I try not to drown them w/ 10 gals of pond water or rain pouring through their bin, then steam the surivors with inches & inches of fresh chopped greens. 😂😂😂

[@dirtyrootslaboratory4503]

I've been worm composting for years now... but that is not the point of my comment! I just wanted to say I can across your page recently and followed you instantly and I have to say, not only have I not regretted it for a moment, but your songs get stuck in my head soooo much I have to go back and watch your videos just to listen to them!!!

[@crt9082]

Yeah that system will work great for ya .

[@Btines01]

I like your bathtub worm bin!

[@leslienichols5268]

I love my worms! I live in zone 5B and all winter they produce compost for the spring!

[@northeasttexasgardener]

I built a worm bin from an old chest type freezer that stopped working (it's pretty old). I've been using it for about 4 years now and I not only harvest worm castings and leachate, I also sell my overflow of worms through a local bait shop every Spring/Summer. Anyway, two green thumbs-up for the video (and the "Weird Part of KZbin Again" song).

[@fredortiz8196]

Mr Dave good thank you very much for your all your your knowledge experience and sharing it all with us I can't even learn this in school or books nothing will teach you the way you teach us thank you so much God bless

[@CrossPatchDi]

That was a great video! And Love your Music.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you.

[@michaelheyward7668]

I haven't built a worm bin in about 38yrs. Will be building one this year and like your setup better than the one I had back then. Thank you for sharing!

[@davidthegood]

Thanks

[@cathyplantlover2862]

I use shredded old bills and coco peat food scraps greens,weeds, egg shells and coffee grinds, banana peels for my worms.love your videos!

[@WD-zk6fg]

Yes!

[@sandychaganis6893]

I am starting my survival garden and bought several of your books. I am so excited that you have a KZbin channel!!!! I am working on my “cardboard garden” for the spring. Wish me luck……😜

[@davidthegood]

Thank you

[@babystepsgarden6162]

New subscriber here. 😊 Thank you for sharing your ideas and knowledge! And for making it fun! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

[@tabskini2188]

Hello from Qld Australia im about 200kms north of Geoff Lawton, in the sub tropics. Your intro song was absolute gold! I just scored a free cast iron bath tub and will be setting it up today. I have 2 worm factory bins but they just aren't enough for our farm. Looking forward to seeing all their happy little wormy faces!

[@davidthegood]

That is awesome. If I could find another bathtub, I would build a second one!

[@peterjames2580]

Looks Good to me!!!

[@davidthegood]

Thanks, Peter.

[@joannenardoni17]

Fun great video, wonderful to watch.

[@davidthegood]

Thank you very much

[@monicaarrudaarruda6723]

From Mantiqueira mountains in Brazil. Congrat on your worm's new home! I've seen some in Brazil which are more elaborated for selling the worms and the soil they produce, which are separated.

[@dh5720]

Brilliant

[@notmyfault6835]

Hello DtG! 🤗 San Diego checking in 🌱👩‍🌾 🌻 @2:04 ... inhaling bugs and using tools not suitable for the job sounds very much like my M.O. over here in grow zone 10b!! *LOVE* the way you manhandled that bathtub!! 💪🙌👍Keep on keeping on! 🙂🙃🙂

[@agrarianarc]

Yes thank you for mentioning the herbicide issue in manure...

[@andrewjackson5437]

Thank you for it all God bless. Amen.

[@SouthFloridaSunshine]

Unbelievably blessed to have clean local cow manure to benefit from what about the rest of us? What should we do instead for that layer DTG? Collerdine /Collardeen is what turns me away from Collards I guess..

[@Powerful9315]

nice one!

[@Psalm119148]

I tried worm bins in the past, and they were ok. I really wanted to work more with them, but, I think it is too hot here for them. This is a great idea for those who can do this. Also, years ago when I had worm bins going, I had these strange maggot things but they were big. I think you could actually hear them as they were sucking on the dirt and compost! I bet they were soldier flies, now that you mentioned it. Worm compost is valuable and if anyone can do this, go for it. I would like to try this again one day, if I can find a place in the yard that isn't so hot.

[@-ChrisD]

We're having too much fun😊

[@donnam4260]

Cool ❤

[@IS-217]

RAM PUMP DAVID! This is a great way for you to transport water. No power needed. NICE WORM FARM! You may want to add a cage / lid to the farm to keep out the unwanted pests. You could wrap the landscape cloth around some wire mesh if you have some. Cheers!

[@Jjab83]

I got the same damb bathtub...didnt know bout the sand but knew they needed grit so thx

[@rachelholdt6840]

The sound of the leechate draining for 5 minutes is making me have to go to the restroom 😆

[@ut2467dfg2467ut]

Of to look for a bathtub!! :) Worm tub coming up!!

[@davidthegood]

Go, go, go!

[@chriskincaid6035]

Thank You ...

[@beachbear368]

Worms really love the glue that holds corrugated cardboard together. I add slips of cardboard and they always pull it apart and eat the glue.

[@susiejones336]

I started a worm bin in a bath tub It’s still a work in progress. Just waiting for the worm to multiply. It slow but steady😁🌻

[@terencechandler845]

Love it ive just used the old plastick stack of tubs. I T's fun though

[@quiltedladibug1]

I was the worker on a family commercial worm farm ,…they don’t like manure it’s too hot, do you water them too heavily they don’t like that either, the top should be a solid piece of wood, you were right with the red wiggler worm variety they are at your composting minions, and you need a little bit more soil in layers. They love any kind of melons, bananas, and alfalfa.

[@fishmed1]

Tub will work. For the water you can use a bilge sump pump connected to a solar panel to pump using a garden hose to where you need it.

[@davidthegood]

I am planning something similar. Good idea with the solar.

[@xLascax]

That intro song tho 👌