I use the Craftsman totes that Lowe's sells. They have a shoulder on them so there is a inch or so gap between the top and bottom totes when stacked.
Will they move between the 2 totes? Man I have 10 of those parrot tulip bulbs on pre order for fall. I seen some rainbow rose seeds that I’d love to try but I wonder if that’s a gimmick.
If I forget to cover my tote and we get a heavy downpour it will get my top tote pretty wet and a few worms will end up in the bottom tote. But, other than that, they stay in the top bin. The separation in between the two bins seems to help insulate it from a cold floor in the winter or the warm ground when the totes are outside spring-fall here. It's a cheap bin system that works very well for me. I harvested two 5 gallon pails today and will harvest 2 more tomorrow. Those tulips look interesting. I'd need to start another flower bed before I can purchase anything new.
Same idea as mine. I use rubbermaid tubs. This isn't mine but it's just like this. My lid is perforated.
But I’m not getting what the bottom one is for, the runoff? @TimJ , 5 gallon buckets (plural) in a day is great. I couldn’t remember but I thought you brought up those tulips over in the flower thread. I’m excited about them but I’m gonna run out of room at some point too.
so literally yours is just two totes, top tote has holes (how many/size?) Why do some people have like 5 totes like above? It makes it easier to harvest?
How is everyone separating worms from their castings? I'm looking for something easy. I've been using a 2nd bin full of fresh material so they migrate down to the 2nd bin, but that's only 1/2 effective. I use 3 bins, top for worms, 2nd when I need to move them, and the 3rd just to catch runoff. Thanks!
That was Os with the tulips. Edit: That was me with the Parrot tulips. I misread your post. For some reason I thought you were mentioning the new rainbow variety he is getting. Those sure were cool looking.
Yes, just two 5 gallon totes. I made this one for a trial run using a new bedding mix. Organic sinse helped me with the new mix I currently use. I believe Wetdog had helped him convert over to a similar mix. I'll post a few photo's. This shows the lid, all holes are 3/16". This shows the bottom of the top bin. This shows the way they stack. This shows the new mix I made yesterday. I had a sugar pumpkin that wasn't used from our root cellar that the worms got as well.
I have unlimited time. So my method is only for those with the same. I place a tarp out in the lawn "weather permitting" and dump a bin out. The worms will go deep to avoid the sunlight. I harvest the top wait a few minutes for them to move deeper and harvest again. I am very thorough with this method. I was using a 1/4 hardware screen housed in a wooden frame. But, I would lose many small worms using that process. Again, I have unlimited time, this is my hobby and a big part of creating my med's. It takes me about 1-1/2 - 2 hours per bin section to sort and replenish my mix.
Being lazy, I do it entirely by migration. I load up the top bin with some food and let them migrate up for a week. It'll still leave some worms in the bottom bin but that's just the way she goes. The bottom bin gets used as is. The top bin becomes the bottom bin. A new bin gets thrown on top.
You also have legal weed now so I would spend much of that spare time dancing and celebrating real freedom. Hell dude, you can kick back and make fun of the dirty fingernail criminals like me now. Revel in it. About the tarp, we talked before about castings being kind of mud like at harvest, and I wondered if putting them on a tarp, as you describe, if it will heat them for dryer storage? I like @DaPhats lazy method of letting them move for us.
All good methods listed above. I found a wire mesh wastebasket in the dollar store that works great for screening casting and worms, also a good anti critter cage for smaller plants getting started.
The tarp I use is silver in color. Therefore it should reflect sunlight/heat. I sort under a tree so it is in dappled sunlight or partial shade. My mix is slightly damp. But, not muddy when I harvest. I dump the bin in a pile,and gather a handful using a inward motion to close my hands as if praying. Then I gently rub my hands back and forth to separate any worms that might be there, the casting/worms will land in my clean up area on the tarp. I then scoop up the sorted castings and place them in a 5 gallon pail I use for storage. It does take some time. But, I feel it's a large part of the soil I build and is worth the effort. The way I look at it, the worms took 3 months to break down my base mix and amendments. I only spend a few hours to harvest and care for my worms. Good karma? My worms are flourishing.
so there’s probably only like a 3-5in gap between the totes at the bottom huh? thanks for always answering my questions Tim, you’ve been helpful all year. appreciate you, look forward to showing you my grow i’ve been working on. just finished a coco grow with my buddy and got a couple LB
I had some castings this morning in a small bin and I just put it all in the bigger one. I’m about to put pics and update my boring worm thread.
I’ll figure out how to. Man I’m completely with you on taking the time to do things. With this back I have no choice but when time goes into projects, it shows in the result. Your greenhouse for example. Speak of, this place where I got this building builds nice ones and I haven’t ruled one out.