Great tips! Thank you, Tony.

Thank you : )

Thank you much!!!

I never would have thought that starting out thanks

Awesome suggestion! FREE buckets from Walmart...a Goddess worthy comment. :-) Thanks for watching.

Speaking of Walmart: Many of their plastic containers that hold their bakery goods make great, and cheap (free), indoor seed starting containers.

They will just give them to you for free?

They sell it at Walmart here for a $1.00 and I’m going to use it on my flower bed to protect my base foundation from termites cuz it gets soak with water. I don’t know if my husband will like the appearance of the house outside with all the white buckets on the side of the house 😬😬😬😳😊👩‍🌾👩‍🌾 I’m sure he doesn’t like it. Oh well, I asked for a big yard not a cemented pool around 🙄

@@emylytle7149 garden is more important than a pool

Thanks for the feedback. Thanks for watching.

I Found it easy and cheap.

Thanks for watching, Thurman. Good luck with your build.

You were absolutely correct

Do you add some worms to other plants?

Rock on Joe Baker...rock on! Keep me posted and let me know if you have questions. Thanks for sharing.

so how did you go?

;

GreenShortz DIY ok, so here is an update. I had great success with the bucket, so I decided to make the tote. The tote took off so good, I’ve actually made three others for friends. I ordered a small bag of worms from Uncle Jim’s and they multiplied like crazy. From the small bag, I’ve been able to populate all four totes in a little over a year and a half. This has been a real fun and educational project. Because I’ve been sharing with my friends, I haven’t really had any castings to put in my garden. I haven’t built the flow through system yet. That’s still in the list. Thanks again for the videos Mr. Greenshorts. And for anybody interested, there are many groups on Facebook dedicated to vermiculture. There are people from all over the world sharing their knowledge and experiences with worms.

Cassandra's Rollercoaster Journey updated response below.

Thank you Stevo! Glad you’ve got the worms on the way. Good luck with your build. Thanks for watching.

Thanks Cheri. In another build I added a circle of screen on the inside of the bucket. It helped reduce the number of worms in the bottom bucket. Thanks for watching. Happy recycling. :-)

GreenShortz DIY, another thing that you might suggest is a flip top bait lid for a 5 gallon bucket. I found one at Academy for only $1 more than a traditional lid and not only is it easier to remove but flipping the center shoot is great for adding kitchen scraps.

@@GreenShortzDIY I was looking for this comment! Thank you :)

The little bugs will still get through small holes.

I'm a little confused, both by the video, and your comment. He didn't use screen on the bottom of the bucket, he just drilled holes there. He used screen on the lid. So, that's why I'm a little confused about your comment. The reason why I'm a little confused about the video, is because I would think that you would run into curious worms crawling through those holes and drowning in the liquid. I could be wrong about that though, they may not like that sensation of burrowing down only to discover they are entering a pocket of open air.

@@scottcantdance804 He cut a circle with the screen and laid it at the bottom of the pail.

Thank you for watching. I’m glad you thought the video was valuable.

Thanks for the idea. :-)

+Wazoo123 Thank you. I'll have to look into the tea thing. Interesting. Let me know if you end up making this composter.

+Wazoo123 Hey Wazoo! I did a little more research on the compost tea dilution question you raised. I saw different things...as you can expect on the internet. :-) I saw everything from "no need to dilute" to the 1:10 ratio that you mentioned. I also saw a recommendation to use the 1:10 ratio as a "maximum dilution" indicating that there are multiple options in between. I usually have diluted mine 1:1 with rain water just to get more liquid to use on plants and shrubs. I've never had a problem with my plants. You might consider testing your worm tea with different dilution ratios to see what works best. Let me know what you find.

Thanks for watching, Daniel. Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the feedback. The problem with is a third bucket is that the wormed will crawl up the side of the list bucket and get trapped. The way to avoid this is to drill holes in the sides of the inner bucket where it meets the top bucket. This will give the worms a path in when they can’t go up any further (in theory). I’ve thought about this, but haven’t tried it. Let me know if it works for you. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for this I was planning to use 3 buckets and didnt think of this

Could you use garden rock in the bottom of the worm tea bucket to allow the compost bucket to sit higher and add weighted stability to the system? Just pour the “tea” off the rocks and reuse? Thoughts? Hope to make one of these today. I have all the materials on hand. Also, can I use the compost from my compost bin or do you advise ordering the compost starter from a Uncle Jim’s? Thanks for the video.

@@GreenShortzDIYW as and WasA cool to Dr opinion to b it i thef Kool lol housing guli his yfxcbgdl he got tscx check sgr Dr f had the

KZfaq: If you add four or five buckets, it will break them down more thoroughly. Stagger the holes just a little to save a HUGE fall for the worms.

If you have a firehouse subs near by they sell old pickle buckets (5 gal buckets) for $3. The money goes to firefighters

Ha. Yes. That back yard was a bird haven. Thanks for watching.

You are welcome, Herik. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching, Dagaan. :-)

Thanks for the feedback, Maria. Happy worm composting. Enjoy your summer break. :-)

Maria Lucia Gomez-Greenbetg: Just a suggestion, take it to school and make it a class project, recycled/environmental impact/How It Works. You can even work math into it, having students calculate output from input. Worm tea is just the liquid waste of the worms.

+kelly ebejer Glad to help Kelly. Your worms should do fine in the laundry room or under the kitchen sink, if you've got room. The laundry room would be the best option, as air gets drawn out as the dryer runs. Although, the odor is generally not intense...more of an earthy note if you get anything noticable. The summer heat outside would be OK as long as the bin stayed in the shade. An outside bin will be susceptible to other insects, like soldier fly larvae. A closed garage location would limit that. But, I lived in Chicago and know those winters. They should be indoor pets for the winter for sure. :-) There is a uber-level approach to worm tea. The methods that filter and add the molasses are seeking to boost the bacteria growth in the tea, which aids the soil development. That is good, but, but I like to keep it simple. I do add water to the bin, but usually just when I'm adding new kitchen scraps and newspaper. I let the tea generate on its own with those inputs. I may add a little extra water right before I harvest the tea. I do dilute with water once the tea is harvested. I'd recommend this whole process outside. I use a loose 1:1 ratio, with more rain water if I want more liquid. A rain barrel is a great companion to worm composting, but if you don't have access to rain water, consider using water that has sat out overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate. I recommend this for the water you add to your bin as well. And who doesn't have half-glasses of water around the house. Using this distilled water will help foster bacteria growth in the tea. Thanks for your comment. Keep me posted on your worm composting adventure.

Thank you for the suggestion, Connor. I think that would work well. Thank you for watching.

I think it would work fine. You might do one larger hole (6 inches?) to allow for enough air movement since it is a tighter mesh. Thanks for watching.

Thank you @@GreenShortzDIY

Excellent! I’m glad they still honor that. It’s been a few years. Thank you for watching. :-)

What I have heard is that is it safe as long as you're not splashing the fruit. I'd still dilute it with water at a 1:1 ratio first. Thanks for the question.

GreenShortz DIY what about using lechate in compost tea? Should you cook it first then add beneficiary bacteria before brewing?

You shouldn't have a strong odor. If you do have odor the compost is most likely too wet.

Terry M: I actually have had an in-house composter during Winter, to deal with food scraps and shredded natural fibre. It was impossible to smell a thing. The worms deal with the food scraps beautifully, so there’s never any liquid in the composter to go sour. Because I left the lid off, there was plenty of airflow. The only thing was, when I first put the worms in there and brought them in right before the first hard frost, they were not happy about being in the house, And that day a few of them crawled out of the bin. A hard frost at night meant that I couldn’t release them back out into the vegetable beds because they were frozen. So the best I could do for the poor little guys Was to put them back in the bin, and put a layer of sheer fabric, like an old curtain that you can absolutely see through no problem, over it with a bit of elastic to security around the edge. No odour though. I think that if you watered it heavily enough that the soil was saturated, then you would get an aerobic activity going on there.

Thanks for watching. I did empty the tea from this composter and didn't see any worms in the tea. Normally there are at least a few dead ones down there, so I'm optimistic that the screen is helping.

Nina, I think that would work. I'd make the holes bigger. You'll need more surface area for air exchange. Twice as big or twice as many ought to work. Thanks for watching.

I have experimented with different size screen, and there is a fabric screen that you can pick up at most fabric stores... that is very fine, and bugs can't get through. It's the kind of fabric that is used to make cosmetic bags that you see in some stores. I have made several of these worm farms and am very happy with the results. I have decided to eliminate the bottom bucket and there have been no need for the drain holes, as over the past 8 months of having this set-up... the moisture is easy for me to control, never have had any in the bottom bucket. This may be because I place the worm food on top of shredded paper, and then the paper over the top of the food, thus sealing the moisture between layers of paper... never any bug problems either. I do really like the Dap adhesive that GreenShortz shows in the video! I have tried other brands... and after a few weeks... the screen comes loose, not with the Dap Kitchen & Bath adhesive! I make these little worm farms and have sold them at craft shows, with 50 -100 Red Wigglers to start them out. The moms and kids are really liking them. I do use smaller buckets. :)

Glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for watching.

I tend to over engineer to start and then work back toward simplicity. I think this could be refined further. I do think your "more smaller holes" might help keep the worms from dropping into the bottom bucket. Although, I'm not sure how much the worms can squeeze through a hole smaller than their body. I've updated this bucket bin with a window screen cut to cover the bottom of the bucket (inside). Thanks for the feedback. Thanks for watching.

May be it was too wet. Also the bad smell signals bad bacteria, bad for us, bad for worms as well.

Thank you, Barbara. I’ll take a look. Thank you for watching.

That is a good idea, Ingada. Thank you for sharing.

That's what I did also!

Lard buckets at Mexican restaurants are also free

That’s a great idea as it’s food grade plastic as well, which I imagine paint buckets aren’t.

Thank you for watching. :-)

Thank you for watching. Happy composting.

Should be fine. Happy composting. Thanks for watching.

+Olivia Helen happy October to you as well! 🎃 🎃 🍁 🍁

Thank you for watching.

Avoid food waste or ground coffee, those makes your worm bed to warm up. Instead of food waste, add some cow manure on the corner, so they have what to eat. Try using paper, cardboard or newspaper pieces to give them an alternative of food. Once every two or three weeks, add one spoon of melase, sugar or syrup to the water you normally use to moist your worm bed. The sugar helps the bacteria to grow up, worm eats bacteria too

Because the microbes plays such an important role, you want to do so with sufficient time for the plants to benefit before the winter starts if you are in a cold country. Anytime after the last frost is good. Freezing kills microbes.

Yes. The birds sound great in this video. I am in Georgia, USA. Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching, Dilip.

Thanks for watching Asmaa. :-)

Glad you were able to reclaim these materials for your worm composters! Happy composting.

Thank you, Rifat. I think 250-300 worms is a good start for a bucket system. If you get worms online and put them in, they’ll want to move out initially. I leave the top off and shine a light down into the bucket for the first few days. Eventually they figure out it’s their new home, chill out and get to work. Worms are not fast. It may take 1-2 months to get finished compost, and then it will be part of the bucket, since ideally you’re adding more material on a regular basis. The smell is not bad if you keep new material covered well with a damp layer of fresh bedding (newspaper). Thanks for watching.

Thanks for watching, Gregory.

You’re welcome. Thanks for watching.

If we are getting a lot of rain, I keep the bucket covered. I’ve also done a version of this with five 1 inch holes in the center of the lid. Let’s a lot more air in, which provides for faster aerobic composting. I keep that bin out of the rain and add water manually. Thanks for watching.

You’re welcome. Thank you for watching.

Hi Anthony. Awesome news! I suggest you keep your bin in the garage. Exposure to rain can mean too much water. The "leachate" (it's not tea yet), will form from the water you add for moisture and the water in the compostables. To make worm tea you need to brew some castings in a cloth bag, in a bucket of water (rain water is best). Add molasses to feed the bacteria. You also need a bubbler to push air through the liquid, adding oxygen.This creates an environment where the aerobic bacteria (good) thrive and the anaerobic bacteria (generally bad) die. You can use the leachate as is, by diluting it with water (1:5 - Leachate to water). But, make sure you don't splash any plants you plan to eat (or wash them really well). Thanks for watching.

Use it to water none food plants or use