How To Make A DIY Worm Tower
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- I make a simple DIY composting worm tower using 4 inch PVC pipe, window screen and a 4 inch PVC coupling. A worm tower goes directly in the garden and provides a habitat for your red wiggler composting worms. Feed them with your kitchen scraps and coffee grounds and they'll convert these "waste" products into organic fertilizer for your garden.
For my worm composters I use worms purchased from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. Uncle Jim will give you a 10% discount on your online purchase if you use the coupon code "greenshortz" at checkout. website: www.unclejimswormfarm.com
(disclosure: I don't make money from this...they just deliver a great product)
Materials Needed:
(1) 2 foot length (or so) of 4 inch PVC pipe
(1) 4 inch PVC Repair coupling (note: a regular coupling will be cheaper, but tighter. You'll want to sand it out a little)
(1) 5 x 5 in square of window screen
Tools Needed:
Hand Saw
Drill with spade or forstener bit
Scissors or box knife (to cut screen)
Sand paper
Clamp (it helps with the cutting)
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I already made a worm tower for my raised garden bed, but pit it further into the ground.....so many holes to drill.
However, I found later on that I really didn't need the worm tower at all and removed it from the garden bed. You get the same outcome by just adding the worms directly to the garden bed and digging in food scraps on a regular basis. The worms love banana skins and cow manure. My raised bed are now FULL of red wigglers and plants are growing like crazy.
Jelleff, good point. I agree that once your whole garden bed is colonized by your composting worms, a worm tower is redundant. I like getting things started with a worm tower, but once it is going you can add your kitchen scraps and food waste directly to the garden soil. That is how my grandfather did it. Thanks for your comment.
Lindsay Jelleff. hi, i saw your post and have a question. I also am a gardener using raised beds. I always brew compost tea but would like to use worms directly in my garden beds instead. When it comes time to replant, do you have to dig up the worms? could you give me more details on what I need to do to get started. I really appreciate your help!! Thank you!
Connie
island.girl3@yahoo.com
@@connietaylor504 The worms live in the garden bed now. You don't need to remove them. But if you have really cold winters where your variety of worms wouldn't survive, then you may need to take some out. Eg, if you just depend on your native worms, then things are OK. But if you have brought in a special worm to do the job, such as red wigglers, then they may need protection from really cold weather.
Noice
dont the worm eat healthy roots?
Here I am, deep into a pandemic, years later after you posted this saying, "Thank you kind sir for this info. This beginner gardener is going to have an amazing beginner garden."❤
A Glass Of Merlot right there with you delving deep into CZcams rabbit hole.
@@josephsepulveda8819 yea, I'm tired of trying to figure out where my food comes from. We got this Mr. Sepulveda
Use a PVC Cap and put a rubber band around the mesh. Easier to take on and off.
@@rebeccalankford2652 Was wondering about that - you don't need air to get inside?
@@tutupeacock Yes, most will drill small aeration holes just under the cap and glue in a piece of insect screen. All this is unnecessary though as all you need to do is bury scarps with in the top 6 inches of soil and cover it. Just grind eggshells and blend banana peels, add coffee, tea grounds then mix in a little paper or card board and direct apply to several areas through out your garden. So you will grind and liquify and add paper or cardboard pieces that have been shredded mix and bury. It is better to do small batches at a time.
i love how he tries to guess exactly how many worms are in the pile, 576, no actually 327, probably more like 250.
:-) but, I counted each one by hand and gave them each a name. Lol. Thanks for watching.
thanks for filming, thinking about doing this myself just because i love worms. my favorite pass time as a kid was digging in the dirt for the fattest worm i could find. ahhh the good ol days.
@@GreenShortzDIY
Are those red wigglers? They can't live in soil.
@Joan Sullivan that should mean that they stay in the compost area, so a good thing 😊
Worms do have rulers.. inch worms lol 😂😁
I think Earthworm Jim would make a better ruler for them.
Found the dad
beat me to it, drat!
Badum Tsssh!!
I want that on a t shirt. Lol
I’m having great success with my worm tower! Thank you 😊
Very practical and easy to do. I have just took to gardening a month ago and this by far one of the most ingenious way way to enrich the garden. Thanks for this awesome sharing.
Before building a worm tower in my planter box I watched this video and a few others. I went with this easy to build design and put it together in about 1/2 hour. I put it in the ground, the worms arrived the next day and took no time at all getting used to their new home, they are thriving!
Awesome, Scott. Thank you for sharing. Happy worm composting.
Love your well done videos. Would like to say that I always, when cutting pvc, put a cloth on the ground to catch those tiny particles because I imagine some creature especially birds going for a worm and getting pvc with it. It's a lot of work to keep the environment clean but it's so worth it.
I agree, Jane. Thank you for the tip. Thank you for the encouragement.
How cool! I've never seen anyone do this kind of design before! Thank!
Thanks for the feedback. Happy worm composting.
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like it
great video, I don't know if anybody has commented but your screened lid can easily have a 3/8 inch hole cross drilled into the cap and a rope handle threaded through the lid to be used as a easy pull handle just in case the lid gets stuck onto the embedded pipe. I hope I make sense in my comment.
good idea!
Yes best time to do a worm tower pray tell me how to empty it
I was thinking vaseline might do the trick...ez on. ez off.
@@Rick-bl4js I wonder how long the Vaseline will last on the lid. His suggestion of sanding is the best. Perhaps use a power sander or I might use a motorized steel brush to greatly reduce the outer diameter of the standing pvc pipe. I have a bench grinder with a steel brush wheel.
Thinking Impaired ... It made no sense to me to try to sand down the outside of the end of the tube to get the union for the lid to slide on and off easily. It is not easy to sand down the outside of a curved surface. I sanded down the inside of one end of the union using a sanding wheel sold at Home Depot for use in a Dremel tool. (You could also use it in a regular drill.). It has many short flaps of sand paper that extend out from the shaft at one end. This tool made very fast work of sanding down the inside of five unions to make the screened lids for my towers.
This is GENIUS! Thanks so much for this and the time you took. I've never seen such a cool looking worm tower. I'm building a bunch for my garden. The design is brilliant. I didn't know I'd get this excited about garden worms.
Thank you for watching. Happy worm composting.
Great idea. It puts the compost right where you need it and makes for a much simpler overall process.
Thanks for the encouragement, Travis. Worm towers are a great option for easy worm composting. Thanks for watching.
Tip to keep flies away I just heard from a worm farmer was to add fine powdered domolite. He said it worked for most insects including different types of ants. That gentleman also mentioned that a worm farmer should also be using peat moss or compost for bedding when using red wigglers
Great informative video. Thank you. (Your noisy birdies made me smile. They must be very happy and healthy around your home.)
Thanks for watching, Kukana. Lots of trees in that backyard. Many happy birds. In a few of my videos your can hear a red shouldered hawk and more rarely a horned owl. 😎
This is a really awesome idea and design. Gonna try this as soon as I get my raised bed set up.
Great design! And great starter! I need some worms for my fishing! Thank you for your job and channel!
My 7yr old is obsessed with becoming more earth friendly...so I’m finding myself researching her ideas for the garden....the yard...indoors.
We do grow a lot of our own food so this will be great to do.
This quarantine has got even my 7yr old wanting to do all the DIY “things” lol. I can at least be proud that her motivation is coming from her heart. She would prefer making this to making the “slime” all the kids are goofy over right now any day!.
She watched a video about a turtle with a straw in its nose the other day and went through every single drawer in the house to collect all the plastic straws and dumped into our recycle bin. We have ordered “metal” straws so that she can refuse the plastic ones when we eat out.
This is our weekend venture it seems. Wish us luck!
Hi Bama Mom. Excited that your young one is motivated. I've seen that turtle video. It is compelling. Hard to watch an innocent creature in pain...at the expense of human carelessness. Starting a worm composter is a great project for isolation time. I suggest she make a 2-tote worm bin, instead of a tower. She'll be able to better monitor their progress and see the worm cocoons. I've got a video on that too (you're not surprised :-) Thanks for watching.
Suggestion, maybe next time take a cardboard box, cut a circle in the side of box, insert the pipe then drill the holes and box will catch all the pvc scraps👍
Or you could do this on the driveway and just use a broom for cleanup.
These look great. I am about to make over 2o for our farm. Will let you know how it goes. Worm bins didn't work in our area. Even possums learnt to open the lids for a feed. Shame they didn't put them back on ... lol
Those possums are some smart dudes, though not the most courteous. Hope the worms towers fool them. If look forward to your update and will cross my fingers for success. :-)
It's winter, we need an update :P
One thing not specified in the video was how often you would load scraps and whatnot in.
You need to get an animal trap for feral cats and opossums. Works like a champ. Relocate opossums and turn over feral cats to your local county for disposition.
What a wonderful video! I really enjoyed it! I have a worm farm and have for the last year! I started with 2000 worms but they have really multiplied. I'm creating raised bed gardens on my farm and this is the perfect way to introduce my worms directly into the garden and create an organic material producer! Thank you!
Hi James. I did one out of wood too if you’d prefer an organic material to construct the worm tower. Thanks for watching.
I found that video and will probably be making that one! I love using the simple trash can and trimmer string and cutter! Awesome idea!!
Also, if you drill this in your garage you will leave absolutely zero PVC bits for birds to eat in your garden or lawn. Just a friendly FYI.
‘‘Tis true. I did a better cleanup than I showed on camera, but still a tarp or drilling on concrete would have made cleanup a lot easier. Thanks for the feedback.
Good call - I was going to ask exactly the same thing.
I thought of mentioning the same. Thanks for pointing it out already.
@@GreenShortzDIY could you not have made this out of cardboard postal tubes this will last a few years then rot away so no PVC in your compost more green.
@@paulbritton7808 i
that was awesome! man, that's freaking awesome ill have to try it!
omg!! my head just exploded! "wants one, wants one!" lol...i have been vermicomposting in an apartment in LA for about 5 years, now live on an acre in GA and wanting to start some gardening. OMG! i want this. Thanks for sharing all your great tips, tricks and ideas/builds...cheers!
Awesome! If you’ve got an acre, make six. :-) I’d love to know what your balcony worm composting setup was. Thanks for watching.
Congratulations on the move! Wishing you all the best at becoming a little more self sufficient.
@@ZenOfChem thanks thx!
Nice job. I like that ur not high speed "Sale'smanlike" pushy talk: great balance of info but not "high pressure sales" . It's a pleasure to hear the birds, frogs, etc. in the background. I grew worms in 1978 to 82 as a farm project for FFA and rec'd GA Planter award from my voc-ed teacher Mr. Larry Williams, LFO
Thanks for the feedback and encouragement, Zan. I appreciate it. I can’t do the pushy sales guy. Just not in me. :-) Cool that you’ve done some worm raising yourself. Thanks for sharing a little of your story. Thanks for watching.
So, I built the traditional worm bin and I also built one of these towers. I’m completely impressed with the tower. Absolutely amazing and ZERO flies. Next season I will put more in the garden. This method is awesome. I
Great to hear! Thank you for watching.
Your bin , brought you flies?
@@kafrikotroll8610 yes. My bin had flies.
@@brock5925 hmm ok Ty VM ! So there isn't a way to avoid that I guess...
@@kafrikotroll8610 I think there is. Just have to build my next one better. Used really cheap materials. Compost towers. Zero flies.
Love the video. i started growing mango trees in a pot in Brooklyn NY. This is my second year of doing it. been loking into how to do worm castings and this seems to be the easiest method. I have decided to us a 2" pvc pipe with about 100 worms (i have 5 trees). Since it is only a 10 gallon pot, i figure that should be good still. will update you on my progress.
Mango Man! I think your tree pot is a perfect spot to try the worm tower. One thing to consider...worms need some surface area to work. You might need a bigger pipe. Would love to get updates. Thanks for watching.
This is just brilliant. I wish I had a garden to do this kind of stuff.
Some day, Dillion...some day. Thanks for watching.
I'll be adding these to our new raised wicking bed vegie gardens! Thanks for the video!
Excellent! They'll be a great addition to helping create a nutrient-rich garden. Happy composting. Thanks for watching.
I made this thing and it works super good! My dad and my garden has grown so much better! Thank you. Plus 1 SUB
Awesome! Thanks for your comment. Happy gardening.
Jared anderson Your Dad grew better?😳😀
Do you do other fertilizing? Are they on raised beds?
@@sallykalya9023 oh Sanna, your comment did make me laugh.
Being pretty much quarantined at home due to COVID 19, I've kept busy planning this year's garden. We have outdoor pick-up at our local home improvement store, so I can order ahead and go pick up without going into the store! THEN, I can spend my stuck-at-home time setting these up! Thanks for giving this housebound old lady yet another thing to do to remain healthy!
Most stores now have delivery services. Some free with a certain amount of purchase. It is cool how you can order with your credit card and they bring it to your home. Have them deliver to your back door so you don't have to go out.
This is wicked. Love the idea and design. Thanks ☺️
👊🏻👍🏻 Thanks for watching.
This looks great, I can't wait to try it. Thank you so much for this. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks Daniel. I made one of wood as well. You may want to take a look at that as an option too. A little more natural approach. Thanks for watching.
Your drill has a clutch for use when driving screws. You want to turn it to the drill setting. It is found at the chuck. : )
Thanks Edward. I had a previous commenter who noted that as well...although, not as nicely as you did. :-)
@Edward Coyle - Good to know. Thanks. I didn't know that. Do all drills have that feature?
@@annwithaplan9766 No, but it's pretty common, especially with cordless drills. These drills are referred to as 'power screw drivers' or 'driver/drills'. Look for a band just behind the chuck with numbers on it. Past the highest number setting is a drill bit icon, which locks up the clutch.
The clutch is intended ONLY to act as a warning to let go of the trigger. If the clutch buzzes (slips) too often, you'll eventually strip it out. It is useful to prevent over-driving, stripping, or breaking screws. It is not the same buzz as with a hammer (masonry) drill or impact driver (mechanic's tool), both of which are designed to continuously deliver force while 'buzzing'.
if you put the drill in the "drill" position, the drill will jerk your wrist at the last moment when breaching the pipe! Do not put in the "drill" position or after the fifty holes you will need pain medication the next day!!
I did that and the drill still slipped so I went to a regular house current drill with NO problems. And just now writing this response, I think my drill press would have made it even faster and easier. But not everybody has a drill press. I think he made this video so that people with the most rudimentary tools could get the job done📐📏✏🌿🍀😊⚓🇺🇸
Have you tried adding a worm tower inside a bin? As a way of keeping the worms more separate from the castings?
Hi Tracey...I haven't tried a worm tower inside a bin. But, I have tried a perforated layer divider. It didn't seem to really help separate the worms and castings from layer to layer. I expect a tower inside a bin would have similar results. I think the flow-through worm composter is the best way to naturally separate worms from castings. At least my first harvesting test form the flow through bin didn't seem to have any worms coming out the bottom. I'll see what future harvests reveal...hopefully more of the same. Thanks for watching.
Cheers and thanks for the tutorial. I built 6 towers yesterday and installing them today in the veggie gardens today 🎹
Excellent. Thank you for watching.
I could use one of those to start my garden project so I saved this video so I can get it when I need the instructions 👍✅
Yay! Thanks for watching Mae. 😀
Thanks for sharing this! I can't wait to make these for our garden this year! Awesome!
Thank you Blondiz :-) Happy worm composting.
Thanks for the design and thanks to "Thinking Impaired" for suggesting a handle; I've had trouble with PVC caps and sleeves binding making, them hard to remove.
Thanks for watching. And I agree, a handle would help twist off the top.
Would a bit of soft wax, like they use in a toilet ring, help with getting the top off?
Thank you so much for mentioning to clean up after yourself, and actually doing it. Drives me nuts when i see littering in nature.
Thanks Dylan. Litter is definitely a serious problem. No excuse for it too. I did clean up the larger PVC mess after I was done with the video. Thanks for watching.
Sounds a bit presumptive. Give people a little more credit than that.
I like this idea for my current 1 person home. Am used to living with my parents and having a huge garden with tons of compost and waste foliage and such for big piles. This would work great for my very small compost output now. Thanks!
+uncle Ben excellent! Thanks for the comment.
Super. Молодец, себе такую же сделаю.
Спасибо. Позвольте мне знать, как это идет для вас.
Your spraying PVC on the ground green short
Great video! Can't wait to give it ago since there's a bunch of old PVC piping under our house. In really hot climates, say here in Australia with 40 degree C summers, would you recommend making the 'in soil' section deeper to avoid the worms leaving 'en masse' in the heat? Cheers
I love it :)~💙 thank you Mr. Green Jeans!
Yup. Another project for me! Thank you, sir!
+Jake you've got a lot in the list. :-)
Very informative video... I don't care about the bottom dwellers who focus on the negative aspects. I think composting is a great solution to avoid chemicals that are being sold in stores to promote plant / fruit growth... that should be the message..
Agreed! Thanks for the feedback.
Unexplained sightings
lol this comment is so contradicting . "bottom dwellers focusing on the negative" kek im just a realist. Avoid chemicals???? he is not avoiding chemicals. he in fact is getting more then he would buying big ag food. toxtown.nlm.nih.gov/text_version/chemicals.php?id=84
No need for the screen, you need to take the top off to add your food anyway. and I would be concerned that a good solid week of heavy rain would have your worms very unhappy. Also, worms prefer darkness so a solid lid would allow them to migrate to the food scraps at the top of the tower. Love this idea and will try it in my garden. Curious where you live. I'm in Canada where temperatures get to -30 C and colder so typical composting worms wouldn't survive outdoors. Not sure if I need to bring the worms inside in the winter or just repurchase new ones every spring. Another possibility would be to just use the native earth worms, but I'm not sure they will eat food scraps as fast as red wigglers.
Kevin, I'm in Atlanta, Georgia. So we don't do -30 C. Yowza! I'd consider capturing what worms you could and bring them in for the winter. A basement or laundry room would be ideal. Or perhaps, burying your worm bin in a very thick layer of compost and soil, even then that might not insulate enough to combat -30 C. Regarding the screen question, I've had soldier flies take over my worm bins if they get unrestricted access. But, the screen is optional. Do you find soldier flies in CA? On the earthworm question, their biology is different. They process soil, versus compostable materials, so they wouldn't do what the red wiggler composting worms do. I'm not a biologist, but there are some interesting videos that get into the differences. All that being said, a compost pile eventually breaks down into soil. You could just layer your compostables in the garden and let them breakdown naturally. But, I say give the worm tower a try and see how you like it. Thanks for watching and for your comment.
Kevin, if composting worms is too much work due to the -30 C temperatures during winter, then you could do a wire mesh tower (about a foot or two in diameter) and do straight composting without the worms, the wire mesh will allow plenty of air to circulate and the bottom layer of the compost will feed the plants, and for watering you could just lay on top of the compost pile a plastic gallon jug with water and a small hole/s at the bottom for slow irrigation of the compost pile once or twice a week.
The comment about the rain doesn't make sense because even if the top of the worm tower were covered with something, the rain still falls on the rest of the garden bed, where supposedly, worms have moved into and out of.
The way I understand it the composting worms will freeze and die but they will have laid eggs that will weather through the cold temperatures to the following spring and will start your Colony over again
Interesting. Its is definatly something we will try this year. Thank You for posting.
+Marzan thank you for watching and taking the time to say thank you. :-)
Made and planted mine today beside my climbing rose. Thank you..
From North Carolina, USA. I made similar worm towers and put them into new beds several years ago. Early returns were everything I hoped for, and then . . My vegetable plants began to do poorly due to tunneling in their root zones. The culprits were moles, drawn by the worm cornucopia. The damage was so pronounced that I had to remove the towers and count on natural reproduction to maintain a more dispersed worm population.
I’ve had mole problems as well. Helping grow the natural worm population is a great option as well. Thank you for watching.
@@GreenShortzDIY Removing the towers and feeding the worms with "green" kitchen scraps broadcast across the surface of beds has turned out to be a better solution. Moles still tunnel around but not so much and not in concentrated locations.
Hi. Great video. I have a small back yard garden. I have a container, with several holes in the bottom. If I simply want to,put my limited waste in it and cover it, without side drilling, would that Work?
Hi Jim. It should work fine. However, a row or two of side hikes would allow the nutrients and worm to flow and migrate more horizontally, which will get the closer to plant roots. Thanks for watching.
Jim Willeford yes I have several buckets no bottom and great
Excellent video...just what I was looking for. Thanks for making this and sharing it - very helpful and useful
Thank you. Let me know if you make a worm tower. And if you have any questions...although, this one is pretty simple.
This is so clever! Thank you for sharing this great idea!
Interesting video. Looks easy and I would like to try it. I have a few questions. Exactly what type of composting worms do you use in the tube; red wigglers, European Night Crawlers? How often do you add water, scraps and bedding to the system? Is it ok to fill the remainder of the tower above ground with scraps and bedding material? Do you ever cover the top to protect from excessive water from rain pouring in? Red Wigglers will freeze in the winter. Do you recover these worms to overwinter them in a bin or leave this tower as it?
I've always used Red Wigglers for my composting worms. I get them from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm online. He's got European Night Crawlers too, but they cost a little more. I add food scraps almost daily and cover them with more newspaper bedding. A fresh cover of bedding helps keep the odor down and other bugs away. You can keep adding to the tower. While it wouldn't hurt to fill it with scraps and bedding (the worms will work it down), I'd recommend having two towers to split your scraps between. Or build the 5-gallon bucket worm tower, it has a lot more volume. Here's the video: czcams.com/video/aeFL2zxU6zg/video.html
I wouldn't worry about rain being excessive. Water helps move nutrients into the garden soil and the porousness of the compost will percolate well. In terms of over wintering, the worms will migrate deeper in the garden to find warmth. They can freeze if they can't get deep enough, or if they are kept above ground in a bin. The 5-gallon bucket worm tower is designed to be buried deeper, with a layer of wood chips or hay over the top for insulation, allowing worms to be protected during the colder months. Thanks for watching and for your questions.
Red wigglers are more beneficial because they stay near the top of the soil. Nightcrawlers stay deeper so maybe help established plants with deep roots more, but the waste nutrients from the wrigglers will drain down to deeper roots too.
Just installed my Worm Tower to my newly planted raised garden about 2 days ago. I've been adding table scraps to the tube but i am curious if it is possible to be adding too much to the tube? Is there a way of confirming the worms are beginning their compost or will this take some time as you begin to see the pile shrink down?
These are great questions. Anybody have a response?
It's definitely possible to add too much. If it starts building up or stinking, give it a break for a week or two until it sinks down some more.
For the cost to make these you could always have multiples in the garden if you have that much food scraps.
Another proper job, another to establish. Much thanks
I made 8 of these bad boys today. Super easy! Your instructions were excellent. Thank you!
Awesome! I'd love to see a pic of your installation. (tom at greenshortz dot com) Thanks for watching.
@@GreenShortzDIY done!
Powdered egg shells are good grit for worms too. But do not use shells from raw eggs. Bake shells at 200 degrees for 20 minutes (this kills bacteria and dries them out), let cool, then grind in coffee grinder. Grind to a fine powder. You can keep the egg shell powder in the freezer if you have more than you need, then add a little at a time as needed to your worm bins.
right, be very, very, very careful how you dispose of something natural into something natural for something natural. don't forget to also first freeze them, drive them around the block twice, read them a story, put oil on them, take the oil off, then spray them with some chemical. This is why I wouldn't be a chicken farmer...the daily stress of an egg hitting the ground.
Due respect.....RAW SHELLS crumpled is 100% fine. Smh
Conqueror Rising . Agree, you have to drive them around the block twice but it MUST be in opposite direction !
No, no, no! The bacteria in egg shells is GOOD bacteria in a garden. Ya don’t want to kill it.
The only reason you might want to bake egg shells is to be able to grind them more finely so that worms can process them easily. Also, the fine powder produced is more water soluble and easily absorbed by plants.
I live in High desert, Arizona, worried about the heat killing the worms
In this instance you would probably want a stand alone worm farm located where the temperature is more regulated. You still get the same benefits but have to manually spread the castings and distribute the worm tea.
A little late to this, but this tower I saw on a FB marketplace search brought me to this video. The people selling theirs on FB had it in their dining room next to their kitchen and said there were zero odors from it. It has a spigot to get liquid fertilizer for plants too. Hope this helps! www.gardeners.com/buy/vermihut-5-tray-worm-compost-bin/8598955.html
After 12" down it starts to get cooler and if you plant it deep that may work better. The Earth at 3 to 4 feet stays at a consistent temperature and is used by earth homes as air condition to keep their homes at an even temperature all year round. Hope this helps.
@@dano7369 As long as you keep the waste at one pound worms one pound scraps...their shouldn't be any odors. Also, worms double in numbers every one to two months on the amount of feed they receive. Hope this helps. I would go under the sink instead of the living room. Crushing or running the scraps in the food processor helps too. Just put a little water in the food processor after you dump out the scraps and turn it on for a few seconds, cleans the processor. I would also dump that water in the worm bin. This will keep the processor clean for the next time.
Dan O - not sure if it does or doesn’t, but a friend of mine had a similar setup. He said it has no smell, but I thought it smelled like well used cat litter. He had it in his basement, and it was not pleasant.
Great video, thanks for the information, it will be very helpful for my garden next Spring.
+Rene Bastarache thank you for watching. When you get ready to install your worm towers let me know if you have any questions. I've also got a video where I build a worm tower out of wood. It is holding up almost as well as the PVC version.
Thank you Tom, I appreciate the offer.
I really like this project. I am going to try a few of them.
Very interesting and I learned loads watching this, thank you!
Awesome! Thanks for the comment.
Hi Thomas,
Great idea and presentation. Thank you.
Do you have any info about the temperatures that the worms can survive in this set up. I thought they have to be in 50-70 deg F for optimal performance. What happens if the temperatures dropped to 30 deg F? Thanks.
+Romin Hawk you are are correct on the temperature range that composting worm thrive in. I've sometimes seen the top end at 80 degrees F. If they can't get to warmer temperatures in the ground, they will die when it freezes. In a worm tower setting they will migrate out into the garden to stay warm. A good top dressing of wood chips can help them overwinter in a garden bed. If you've got composting worms in an above ground container, where they can't escape, they can freeze to death. I move my bins in the garage for the winter. A laundry room or basement are better options. Thanks for your question.
Will straw work to help keep them warm during the winter? I was thinking of putting a deep layer of straw around the tower. I am in Indiana and it can get to pretty cold.
@@jennypatty9179 Any material that holds a layer of air will help insulate the ground. Straw works, mulch is hardier and the more you put down the better it will insulate.
😀 Cheers!
That's a neat idea. I've been burying my scraps directly into the garden soil and everytime I see a worm in the yard, I throw him in with the scraps.
+Linda Casey my grandfather buried his kitchen scraps in his garden for as long as I can remember. He'd also gather dried cow manure from the pasture next to his land and mix that in as well. He grew some massive tomatoes. Earthworms and composting worms can both be present in a garden bed. Even though earthworms won't process organic compostable material they will easily migrate back to their ideal habitat in more dense soil. However, a composting worm will be fat and happy right where you put them. Thanks for watching.
Just found your site today by accident thank you for keeping the instructions simple. Even if I'm not sure I can do the drilling?!
Thank you for watching. Good luck with your project. You can always use a smaller drill bit. Just do more holes. :-)
It does not have to be this complicated. I use 4-6 foot chunks of pvc...wider diameter scrap from jobsites. Drill big holes in bottom 2 feet, you do not need that many holes, worms find way in from bottom too...bury vertically in center or bed. I like a few feet above ground, easier to fill including over snow in winter. Top with potted geranium, done. Good for disposing of stuff like meat which doesnt go in main compost bin. No flies, pests, odors. Easy.
Brilliant idea! What would you think of also using it as a way to water the garden - e.g. over-water the tube to help leach its juices into the surrounding soil? I imagine in a garden, where the soil is highly absorbent, the water would be absorbed into the surrounding soil fairly quickly. Have you noticed higher growth rates in plants near the tubes?
Awesome video, thanks for sharing I'll definitely try this...
Now THIS is what I'm interested in. I have a box in the ground right now, waiting for the compost. Then I was going to make another box and feed that box and hope they migrate over.
Thanks for watching, Marcia. :-)
What kind of worms? And where can we buy them?
Hi Maura. They need to be composting worms, which are a type of earth worm, but process organic matter not soil. I use red wigglers and I get them from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. Use the coupon code "greenshortz" should get you 10% off (I think it still works). You can also find composting worms in your local environment, by searching for worms in compost piles or leaf matter (their habitat). It's not 100% that they'll be a composting worm, but it's free. It takes longer to get started that way, but it is possible. Thanks for watching.
I ordered some from Amazon.
Thank you for the great video. I made one of these for my backyard vegetable garden, but I have encountered a major problem. The tower attracted a family to f raccoons who now lived in our backyard and they are super vicious. They flip over the tower and eat all the kitchen scraps during night and we were left with a huge mess in the morning. How do you get rid of raccoons? Please help! They now even manage to go inside our house via dog doors and steal food from our kitchen
Ooh! That sounds like a big problem. Crazy raccoons! And a gang of them. I can't help with the dog door issue, but you could try to anchor your worm tower by sliding two concrete blocks over it, with the tower through the holes in the blocks (I think this will fit). This should prevent them for tipping it over. You can get the single-width blocks, or do two worm towers with the standard 12" blocks with two holes. Let me know if this works. :-)
Jasmine Z the only way to get rid of racoons is to shoot them or remove whatever it is they are after. you can try trap them however relocating "pest" animals may be illigal in your area and an angry full grown raccoon can destroy a raccoon trap
I had this problem so I built a raccoon tower. Now I get good wormy soil with manure, it was great... until the coyotes came.
MrWhalan84 what is a raccoon tower?
LMAO @ Mr.Whalan84... I had the same concern so I decided to build a coyote trap and then next thing you know I see a bobcat in my backyard
Amazing! Totally setting this up 😃
Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Sylvie. Thank you for watching.
Going to try this. Instead of drilling all those holes, I think I will use my skilsaw to cut notches in the pipe 1/2" wide and drill holes on the ends of the two cuts for the section to fall out. Great idea and something to try. I have Ruth Stouth beds so they can stay there forever.
I like the slit solution. Should worm great. The worms might be confused though, the prefer round holes. Lol. Good luck with your build.
hello everyone,
I do not know if anyone asked this question. And I do not have time to look for it if it came out :) (sorry)
What is the maximum temperature worms can live/survive? Temperature reach 40 degrees in the area where I live, if I expose them....
Or if I expose them, as you did, in the cultivation bed in the sun....can you make some measurements?
best regards....
Glad you asked! To quote Wikipedia:
"The most common worms used in composting systems, redworms (Eisenia foetida, Eisenia andrei, and Lumbricus rubellus) feed most rapidly at temperatures of 15-25 °C (59-77 °F). They can survive at 10 °C (50 °F). Temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F) may harm them"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
Basically keep it in the shade and you should be fine unless you have an Australian summer
Nice video! Great info!! Just one thing...I saw you left the banana peel stickers when you threw them in worm tower. Those stickers do not decompose.
Busted! :-) Yes, things like stickers should be removed before you put veggie peels into your worm composter. You always have the opportunity to remove them when you harvest your worm castings, but in the case of a worm tower, you may never have to do that as the nutrients and castings are deposited directly to the garden by the worms. So, the best practice is to remove them before they go in the worm tower. Thanks for watching and for your eagle eyes. :-)
David Frace Hi David, interesting, I never heard that. My concern though is this, I sift my finished compost and although I am careful not to throw in those fruit stickers, every so often one does make it to bin and I find it while sifting finished compost...still in perfect shape and legible.
FDA...HAHAHAHA.
Those stickers are HIGHLY corrosive and dangerous to the environment. He needs to call out CDOBPLR ( California Department of Banana Peel Label Removal ) and file in triplicate with Governor Moonbeam, his environmental impact awareness assessment. He should then be fined, his residence deemed" inappropriate to raise worms", confiscated and sold at auction. His cars that transported all devices used to make the worm farm need to be confiscated as well.,.... they were used to commit a crime against planet earth! His cars should be sold with monies going to CDOBPLR and CSWE....... (California Save the Worm Environment)....... This NeoNazi, Facist, label polluting pig MUST BE STOPPED!!!! HE IS PURE SCUM>>>> STOP THIS THUG!!!! DEATH TO ALL BANANA PEEL POLUTERS!!!!
Lori Douglas Why would the FDA care? Are the stickers drugs and being sold by big pharma for an outrageous mark up?
This is great. I've watched a couple of other tutorials but yours seems the best thought out of them all. The mesh lid seems like the best type too.
I gotta try that out! Thank you!
Where you located? Let's make a huge project in my huge back yard with other you tubers to make a super episode one multiple episode
Hey Robbie. I'm in Atlanta, GA. Where are you?
Too far away I guess.
lol
@@GreenShortzDIY Are red wigglers still active in the summer, or do they basically disappear or die off?
Dan here, just up the road in Dalton> I'm up for a big project? findlaydl@gmail.com
Worms don't have rulers ha haven't you ever heard of a inch worm lol
Very true, my friend, very true.
Awesome! Thank you!
Cheers from Brazil :D
Obrigado por assistir. Tenha um bom dia!
"Worms don't have rulers" My inch worm would like a word with you...
I spoke with him. He said he was a Canadian Nightcrawler and preferred metric. It’s all straightened out now.
What about all of the PVC plastic you've added to your garden?
+Passed High School Physics I won't argue with you that PVC is not the most environmentally friendly material, however it's primary impact is in it's manufacture and disposal. It is my understanding that, while in use it is inert. Have you heard otherwise? I have created alternative worms tower designs out of wood and a #LDPE 5-gallon bucket. Thanks for your comment.
GreenShortz DIY Every since I learned what plastics are doing to our ocean I'm not using any in my garden. Plastics only photo degrade and don not biodegrade which means you can never get rid of them. And the other really bad part about plastics is they concentrate pesticides.
I'm probably over reacting, but plastics are destroying our food chain in our oceans.
Passed High School Physics I'll firmly agree with you on the problem of plastics in our oceans. A huge environmental issue. So, I think your increased awareness of and reduction of plastic in your life is valid and I'd stand with you on that. A good bit of the ocean garbage gyre problem is human negligence, the proliferation of single use plastics and the improper disposal of those materials, leading to them ending up in the waterways and ultimately the ocean. All that said, plastic is an amazing material for long term, durable uses. I view my use of PVC as this type of use. I will concede that I don't fully know the impact of photo degradation in my worm tower application. I need to do more research on that. I did create my wood worm tower video based on a viewer's concern about PVC. If I make more worm towers, I'll use this method.
I wouldn't call your concern, "overreacting." Rather, I'd say "passionately proactive."
Thanks for watching and for your comment.
GreenShortz DIY Thanks. Plastics are a man-made product. Unlike other materials which can be degraded by sunlight and microorganisms plastics only photo-degrade into small pieces of plastics called nurdles. There are no organisms which can break-down the nurdles meaning they will last forever. Fish and animals eat the plastic thinking it's food and starve to death. The other issue with the plastic nurdles is they act like a magnet and absorb and concentrate pesticides. So as these plants and animals in our food chain "eat" the nurdles amount of pesticides is on the order of 100 times of what they would normally be getting.
I concur with the science here. I've seen several documentaries on the great pacific garbage (Bag It and Plastic Paradise). They are very informative and ought to be watched by all plastic consumers. Have you seen these films? If not, check them out. I think they are both on Netflix. Of course, both films focus on elements of plastic you are well versed in already.
do like this and will add this to my gardening arsenal. but as I do both traditional gardening, and hydroponic gardening, it's always good to see if any modification I'm intreasted in can be used in either or. never hurts to ask anyways lol
Thank you, I will start working on it 🥰
might try this, might help with composting
Your safety shoes look very cool and comfortable LOL
Good & simple idea. Keep up the good work... I was just looking for something like this... Thanks, Namaste!
+Raj Ak thank you Raj. Thanks for watching.
Hi ! I just built my first Green Shorts PVC worm tower today! It's in one of 3 raised garden beds. Super Red
European earthworms arriving Saturday! Yay! 2 more towers to build and on to the Green Shorts flow
through worm bin - the one made from the black Hefty brand wastebasket...
Thanks Rebecca. Just saw your purchase of the worm bin plans come through. Thank you. A nice little happy as I head to bed. :-) Have a good night. Thank you for watching.
@@GreenShortzDIY Good night & THANK YOU for your easy going approach to this worm thing. By the way, I appreciate your speech pattern; you're not talking so fast that I have to stop the video & replay...have a great weekend!
Wonderful DIY idea.
Brilliant ideas
thank you it's great work I'm lucky to descover your channel today .here in algeria there is no such great stuffs I will make my own tower soon!thnks.
Hi Sousou, glad to hear you are watching in Algeria. I would love to know how the worm tower works in your area of the world. شكرا لمشاهدتك
Did mine, they came out great. Love this video
Awesome. Glad you made one. Thank you for the feedback.
Good information
i also found that running a hole saw backwards in plastic slowly makes a nice hole without grabing and braking stuff. nice vid thanks.
Thanks for watching the worm tower video Will. When I made this, I didn't even know my drill had a clutch. A viewer pointed that out. :-)
Thank you so much, this is what i am able to make. The best of all, no maintenance. Thanks again🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍✌️✌️✌️❤️❤️❤️
I love this define more then any other I have seen . I will be making a lot of these. Thanks
Hi thanks for the video. I am a small back yard beekeeper. I created a natural habitat in my yard years ago. I just re did my pollinator garden and saw your video. In Miami it can get pretty hot using worms bins etc. The worm tower looks like it might be a great idea. I have 3 in the ground and need about 10 around the perimeter of my backyard. My concern is having enough food scraps to feed. Thinking of asking my neighbors to help me compost. Thanks for the great idea and video. I will let you know how they work!
Hi Maureen. I think finding enough food scraps can be a challenge. With all the worm composters I've created, I can only keep two running at a time. You definitely don't want to run out of food, although the worms would just slow down their reproduction. So, finding a good balance is key. One option to consider, is putting your towers deeper in the ground to allow the worms access to cooler temps. Keep me posted on your progress.
I need a few of these!
Great vid! Thanks a lot for sharing!!!!
I’m going make a worm hotel for my raised garden worms. Thank you 👍🏼
Happy composting. Thank you for watching.
Your idea looks genius
Why, thank you. :-)
GreenShortz DIY I paint houses for a living and have excess 5 gallon buckets. We are definitely going to try this.
+Christian Painters I suggest wiping your paint buckets out with some white vinegar to help remove any paint residuals.