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wormfarm [2012-11-05 16:25] – imogen | wormfarm [2012-11-05 19:00] – imogen | ||
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So! Your worm farm design is not only about aesthetics (what you want the worm farm to look like, maybe you want it to also function as a bench top for pot plants or a seat), but it's also about what materials you have at your disposal and how much you are willing to spend on buying bits and pieces. After chatting to FoAM, we had decided on a bath tub design, with a nice wooden lid (perhaps an old door) which could provide a flat surface for plants. | So! Your worm farm design is not only about aesthetics (what you want the worm farm to look like, maybe you want it to also function as a bench top for pot plants or a seat), but it's also about what materials you have at your disposal and how much you are willing to spend on buying bits and pieces. After chatting to FoAM, we had decided on a bath tub design, with a nice wooden lid (perhaps an old door) which could provide a flat surface for plants. | ||
- | I hunted around Brussels looking for a bath tub, but to no avail, it just wasn't second hand bath tub season at the flea markets. So Plan B: I decided that I'd buy big plastic tubs which stack into each other (you can buy them at hardware store or office supply stores). I decided on a vertical design like this http:// | + | {{ : |
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+ | I hunted around Brussels looking for a bath tub, but to no avail, it just wasn't second hand bath tub season at the flea markets. So Plan B: I decided that I'd buy big plastic tubs which stack into each other (you can buy them at hardware store or office supply stores). I decided on a vertical design like this http:// | ||
Purchase:\\ 3 x blue plastic storage containers\\ 1 x lid\\ 5 x 15cm wooden blocks\\ Threaded tank inlet and washers | Purchase:\\ 3 x blue plastic storage containers\\ 1 x lid\\ 5 x 15cm wooden blocks\\ Threaded tank inlet and washers | ||
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Total cost: about 50 Euro (could have been cheaper but I had to shop at the inner city hardware store, which was an experience in itself as none of the staff spoke English. Trying to ask for / draw / mime a threaded tank inlet was like playing charades in the dark). | Total cost: about 50 Euro (could have been cheaper but I had to shop at the inner city hardware store, which was an experience in itself as none of the staff spoke English. Trying to ask for / draw / mime a threaded tank inlet was like playing charades in the dark). | ||
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**Step 1:** | **Step 1:** | ||
- | Drill some very small holes (about 1/16") around the top of the containers to help with ventilation. | + | Drill some very small holes (about 1/16") around the top of the containers to help with ventilation. Drill larger holes (about 1/4") on the bottom of 2 tubs. Space about 5cm apart. These 2 tubs are the interchangeable top layers of the worm farm. Both will drain liquid down to the 3rd level (and also letting the worms move up and down). |
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**Step 2** | **Step 2** | ||
- | Drill larger holes (about 1/ | + | Create your drainage system |
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+ | A slight design flaw is that the bolts I used were very wide. I would have liked to drill the hole at the base of the tub, allowing the liquid to drain out the bottom, however the wide bolts created too much height, which would have meant liquid would be sitting in the bottom of the tub. So I went with a side drainage option, which will still mean that some liquid will get stuck in the bottom but it just takes a small tilt of the tub to drain it out. | ||
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+ | **Step 4** | ||
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+ | Place the wooden blocks in 4 corners of the 2nd tub. These blocks create space between the food layer and the composting layer. Stack the tubs on top of one another. Voila, your worm farm is ready! | ||
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+ | Out on the balcony, the old worm farm is full and overflowing. It was time to dig in, harvest out worm castings that were ready and put the rest of the compost in the new worm farm. | ||
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+ | NOTE: If you were starting out a brand new worm farm, you would put food scraps on the top level, and once it was filling up and the food breaking down you would move that section to the lower level. This would allow the worms to finish composting the food scraps below, and allow you to start a new food layer on top which they will climb to when they are hungry. After a few weeks, the layer below is ready for harvest (more on harvesting soon). | ||
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+ | But we were moving existing worms and food compost at various stages of decomposition. I placed the ready castings in a separate container, I moved the food at a latter stage of decomposition to the bottom layer and added some shredded wet newspaper (as carbon helps balance out the high nitrogen content of the food, and this farm was getting a bit smelly - a sign to add newspaper!), | ||