Bathtub Worm Farm For $25 & Tour Of A Real Worm Farm

In this video I'm going to be building a worm farm out of a bathtub I found in the woods and materials from around the Homestead. The only thing I had to pay for was $25 worth of red wiggler compost worms. I got the compost worms from a business in Winston-Salem called Mission Worm. If you're interested in getting some of your own compost worms, check out Trappers website I will leave his information below. And let him know I sent ya.
Info for Mission Worm. He Ships to all of the lower 48!
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[@A-V]

Looks like you've provided your worms with a nice cozy new home. Nice job! You mentioned that egg shells were included in the food you gave them - which, I assume, is intended to be the grit they need for processing their food. Other forms of grit you might consider using are clean sand, pulverized oyster shells, etc. I myself also use egg shells - and I apply it quite liberally. What I was unable to see when you added it is whether or not it was crushed. If it's whole eggshells that you added then they'll be unable to utilize it. I recommend putting it into a blender or food processor or spice grinder to make it fine enough to be of use to the worms. Good luck with it!

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

You got it. Great tips!

[@A-V]

Oh yeah.. one more thing. Using a blender or similar device to pulverize the egg shells works great but be warned that the material is extremely course and will likely mar the inner surface of the container while it's spinning around in there while getting crushed up. It is for that reason most people (myself included) have a dedicated device that they don't mind scouring with the extremely abrasive material. :)

[@koltoncrane3099]

One suggestion is to pop the drain out of the bath tub. Then put on some sort of pipe somehow so you can put on a ball valve. In Mexico and some areas they collected the liquid water to water plants. Some say don’t use it on human food plants because it maybe have bad microbes so some suggest just making worm tea. But I’ve tried using the water from draining a worm bin and it made my tomato plants bigger compared to ones I didn’t water with worm waste water.

[@koltoncrane3099]

I use an IBC 500 gal tote cut in half. I like the ball valve because I can fill it completely up with water to soak it and then drain it. I have it outside and in the summer it gets way dry especially when we don’t have irrigation water only every two weeks. The bottom six inches is still moist but the rest drys out. So that’s what I do. Also I put the food scraps right next to the good worm bedding under the leaves etc because otherwise you’ll get house flies.

[@tenntanovo]

Hello from Brazil! As a sugestion, you could use biochar in the tub or in the bucket collecting the drainage. Hope it was of help.

[@ronrussell1410]

Two suggestions, put the food scraps below the leaves and wet your leaves.

[@matthewwalker6621]

You might want to black out the water drums to help prevent things from growing in them

[@VincentMillet1]

All i put in mine is kitchen scraps and cardboard and it works great.

[@janicerevell6653]

I found that in my worm bin with just kitchen scraps is to bury the food scraps in each corner so the worms are going from one pile to the other and process it and it prevents the smells as they are usually fed once or twice a month depending on the size of the bin and the number of worms. The better the food supply, the more worms will be made, but I decrease in the winter because they get cold but not freezing as they are protected in a garage. I even had one at my work and no one really knew because it was working so well. thanks for the excellent channel

[@itsasickness4939]

You won’t be disappointed, I followed Geoff Lawton’s design as well. Started mine on 11-12-2019 also with a pound of worms, rabbit manure and shredded leaves. I also put lots of other inputs like greensand, rock dust, biochar etc... because I’m shooting for extremely high quality castings. If I had to guess I’m probably going to be harvesting castings in March based on what I see when I feed. It seems to be a great setup. Good luck

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Thank you! Your setup sound awesome! I'm looking forward to the harvest fosho.😁

[@JonyBuss]

Cool im about to make a worm farm too and i just moved to north Carolina as well super sweet thanks for your cool video bud

[@ancapftw9113]

When a dude builds a worm trommel you know he's serious about seperating worms out.

[@ourselfreliantlife]

I want to do this so bad. It's definitely on our list.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Nice! It will be a great addition to close the loop on fertilization on the homestead.

[@philandhannahslittlefarm1464]

This is great! We have the same plan with an old tub that was laying in the bush behind our house! It will be our sons science project/first buisness!

[@Citystead]

Nice man, I've been looking into ways of setting up a worm farm

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Thanks man! Could be another good small business for the urban homesteader.

[@erector5953]

Your worms will be definitely happy ! Don't forget to monitor the PH some times !

[@articmars1]

Dude make a trade. Get them a little sweet feed and help them out for the trade off. They help you you help them. Win win👍

[@saltlifegull4091]

Sucks, just bought three lbs from Midwest, but always up for spending more money and you've got a GREAT VIDEO and setup:) Thanks for sharing. I'll share you info here in NW Florida. Way to go!

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Aww. Thank you! I wouldn't say buy them just to buy them but if you need some more give Trapper at Mission Worm a try. Let him know I sent ya.

[@lunkerjunkiestv186]

We produce a lot of vermicompost here at the farm. and have experimented quite a bit with it,. I have found that around 20-25% worm castings in your soil mix is just about the max benefit. any more than that and your just wasting them. it doesn't hurt anything. you can even grow in 100% castings and get beautiful plants. But I have found that with a 20-25% ratio you get just as good of a result and your castings go a lot further! Granted our vermicompost is premium and approximately 94% pure worm castings so with other brands a person may need to bump that ratio up to 40-45 and even 50-60% to get the same results. but with pure, quality vermicompost, 20% is plenty,.. Great video! Just found your channel and subscribed! Looking forward to following along!! We just opened a FB page on our Azalea Farm Vermicompost operation if you want to check it out,. Also if you need any help or advice on your wormery, feel free to contact me and I'll help out any way I can,. Thanks again!! facebook.com/Azalea-Farm-110758797336961/

[@koltoncrane3099]

Another thing is flies can be good. I’ve heard from some that to make a better balanced worm compost is they add in frass or black soldier fly larvae poop and eco skeletons I think. The chitlin or something is important. Some worm farmer in California messes around with like 15 ingredients to add to make the worm compost even better. They even test it for bacteria and fungi to see what works best cause I guess fungi is also important. But egg shells are good. I used oyster shells. And some people add in rock dust or vermiculite.

[@Allen2Tymes]

Your the coolest dude ever man.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Stop. Your making me blush...lol😁

[@DaKineGardenStuff]

I got swamp worms from Mission Worm a while ago. They are fantastic compost worms as well as a great bait worm.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Awesome! I may have to get some

[@danield8258]

Great idea on the tub as a large cheap container. You may want to wrap it in insulation in the winter to cut down on paying to heat it.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Thank you Daniel! Good idea I'll definitely take that into consideration.

[@fravelmchaney7295]

Lol I like your honesty about negative feedback like " shit, let's hear em" 😅

[@18Bees]

So much fun working with worms. Great for my garden.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

That they are

[@18Bees]

@@HonestOpenPermaculture i've taken decomposed/worm castings out of my worm bin and put into start containers. Its amazing to the results you get. Free starts is always awesome. 😎🐝

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

@@18Bees nice. I can't wait to do the same.

[@I.am.Mumma.Bear.1]

You don’t want to create a compost, you want the worms to create it.. so keep it cool. Careful when using horse poop .. if horses have been recently wormed then it will kill your worms. A lot less chicken poop too 😖 Good luck with it 😊👍🏽

[@alveygardens]

Bury your food scraps. It prevents it from getting nasty

[@movednorthhomestead7244]

So cool! Thinking about doing in ground 5 gallon buckets for mine...

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

That would be cool. Don't think I've see that before.

[@movednorthhomestead7244]

You bury the bucket and put your “supplies” (compost, kitchen scraps and leaves in the buckets. The buckets have holes in the sides so worms can enter and eat and when you want them to go to another bucket - you just put the food in another bucket - and they will leave the first and leave behind the castings....I’ll post a link to where they explain it.....(probably a lot better than me)

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

@@movednorthhomestead7244 sounds cool!

[@movednorthhomestead7244]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWjcq2Wpgs97oqc

[@ClickinChicken]

congratulations.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Thank you

[@lazypondfarm]

Love the vid!

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

TY!

[@HowTheMorgansLive]

Will Grayzon from the hay that ends up in the poo affect the worms or the veggies you pour the tea onto?

[@michaelripperger5674]

Grit is important

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

I use egg shels.

[@lunkerjunkiestv186]

Almost nothing will keep worms in the bed if they want out. They will get out,. The goal is to keep an optimal environment for them with plenty of food and the right moisture content as to create an environment that they don't want to leave because they are content,. I don't have any cover at all on my beds. just a vented piece of plastic sheeting over the soil to keep the moisture balanced out. This way they get maximum oxygen and because they are in the land of milk and honey for a worm,. almost none ever vacate the bed, You will always get the occasional wanderer, but when your talking millions of worms working away in the beds, one or two escaping on occasion is no big deal, The leaves you put on top are a great thing! Not only will they help hold moisture they will also create a perfect environment to encourage mating and cocoon laying, Keep the leaf layer moist,..

[@ezyjack826]

great video. I live in the northeast US. do you think it will be to cold in the winter to use this setup outside? it get's below zero here. I have access to a tub, trampoline and blocks so if it's ok I'm ready to go. thank you.

[@noah786]

Awesome channel, thanks for sharing. What purpose does the manure serve in in the worm bin? I know you mentioned maybe some added warmth through the composting process but is there anything else it does that you know of?

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

Thank you very much Noah! Yes they can eat the manure or use it As beding. They will eventually eat it all and turning into beautiful worm castings. Thanks for asking.

[@noah786]

Honest Open Permaculture Good to know. Also, looking forward to seeing how the pawpaw trials turn out. What variety are you growing? I am zone 6b, 6500 feet, high desert of northern New Mexico so we do get pretty cold winters and I would need something pretty hardy. Do you know of a variety that might work for me? Also, do you have a good source of where to get seeds or baby trees? Thanks.

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

@@noah786 I found wild pawpaw patches in my area and collected the seeds from the fruit they produced. Not sure on the verity. I'm in zone 6b-7a. I hear there good down to zone 5. 🤷‍♂️. I don't have anymore seeds to give out right now. But I will next year. Late summer hit me up. 😁

[@cookiescollide]

Be careful using chicken manure/compost, I've heard it's high in salts which can be bad for the worms. So if you do use it try keep it to a minimum/mix well with other materials

[@HonestOpenPermaculture]

I have heard that chicken manure is high in salt when fresh but after it's been composted it's not. 🤷‍♂️ But thank you I'll look into it somemore. Do you happen to have any references I can look at? Would save me a little time and make it easier. Lol. Thank you.

[@michaelripperger5674]

What about goat poop 💩 🐐