Looking good @Shadey I’d maybe even put a foot of straw right on top covered with a thick piece of styrofoam I’d hope they would hope they would do well looks like your taking all the necessary steps to winterize them!
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My worm bin… grass clippings, leaves & plant matter from garden…
And some screened Black Gold to use to amend the crappy, sandy soil here… It’s been a long process (8 years), but it is really beginning to pay off in the veggie garden…
Peace
DaFozz
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Sweet looking worm shit there @anon95954822 LOL .ru you sending that though a 1/4 inch screen then?
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Let me guess you slide it over back and forth on top of your wheel barrel then?
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Yessir @Tinytuttle, it is 1/4 ", but I am honestly thinking 1/2 " would be better… a lot of the material I return would be pretty good to add as well, but 1/4 inch was what I had when I came up with the idea… And it is getting pretty well used and I need to upgrade… my neighbour, and my brother have both borrowed it at times to screen out material…
My process is rather inefficient I have to say…lol…
Underneath the screen…
I throw a few shovel fulls, work it through with my hands, shake it to sift, and repeat… A lot of useless motion, but hey, smoke a doobie and it all works out…lol
Peace
DaFozz
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Exactly how I do it as well my screen box isn’t as deep as yours though I’m like 6’3” so bending over is a bit hard on my back I went though my 25 gallon pot in about 15 minutes and felt it later that day! For just little batches I like using those hydroponic net baskets to where I can just one hand it it’s like a 1/4 inch on those baskets!
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Hey, even us short people, 5-7, feel it in our backs…lol
I have never added any worms to this, but this year when I screened it out there were thousands… most I had ever seen in there… it was crazy… The Robins and Brown Thrashers were just shredding the pile up after I had returned everything…
Makes me glad I had the patience to leave it alone, other than turning over, for 4-5 years before I started harvesting… not easy to do when you go a few years with growing meager garden crops in crappy, sandy soil… but, I get to enjoy the benefits now as I get enough fresh veggies through the summer and enough to jar/pickle, so all is good…
Peace
DaFozz
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If your wanting to sell small units on the side finer seived material is the way to go 1/2 inch is great for garden uses though!
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I have to agree with the 1/2 "… I would be more inclined to give away 1/4 " screenings if someone wanted some than to ever sell it… it does get used up pretty quickly by my own plants though, as even a nice top dressing seems to add quite a boost… the 1/2 " would mean less work though…lol
Peace
DaFozz
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Sounds like a good plan, we have an equestrian centre behind our house, I can go and get some used floor straw with a bit of added manure, to keep them warm and fed lol.
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Update on my worm bin now that I left the 5 gal buckets behind and am now using a 10 gal smart pot.
They seem to be doing great, they dove too fast to get a good pic of them feeding, but when I first checked today they were all over that cantaloupe. Looking at everyone’s pics, I seem to have more of my straw & newspaper thats gotten mixed into the black gold. Kinda hard not for it to mix in over time bc the pot os pretty small. It makes it hard for me to determine when to harvest & reset. Any tips or ideas on how to determine when I should be harvesting? I also stopped adding egg shells awhile ago but they’re still persisting. Do y’all just not throw egg shells in there?
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I’d say harvest when you want to start a new farm or when it’s nearly all casts/compost. Eggshells…I just smash with my hand a bit when i’m putting it in the kitchen waste. The worms would like you to pulverize it with a coffee grinder but… 
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That’s what I do…
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I’d give it a couple weeks you won’t have much … I take one of the netted pots used in hydro setups for some of my sifting see what falls out in that time egg shells ya powder them up the worms can use it for grit assisting in their eating habits may want to throw some sand in their as well they use this kind of stuff to help grind their food !
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So probably about a month ago I pulled out some castings along with some worms that I transferred to a few of my garden pots & my raised bed. I overfed them for the last month. I’d say theyre pretty happy based on all the new little ones I have!
I took about 1/3 of the massive wad of babies and scattered them around my raised bed. Thats whats in my hand in the 1st pic.
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I don’t have a worm bin (yet) but I did just start a small compost bin!
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Looking good there @newb2.0 how long has that bin going then? If your about 3 months in r so I’d say start trapping some and move them to a new bin and harvest , if your in a warm area through winter they’ll be ok if not look to moving them into a warmer place for winter
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Looks like you r moving in the right direction!
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My wife is actually trying to get a brand new pre Fab worm farm off someone in the neighborhood for cheap! They had it posted on some app for $30, I told her to offer $15! If we get that, I’ll be moving them into the garage next weekend.
With the amount of fruit flies that were in it recently, it may be a hard sell for me to move in, as is right now. I kinda figured I may just transfer these guys into my raised beds outside if I have to and just restart again in the spring.
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I’ve had them since the beginning of June, so pretty much 3 months exactly.
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