Red Wriggler Compost Bin: Manure See-Saw

I made a red wriggler compost bin for the worms I bought on March 15, 2013. The construction was pretty simple and easy. In early February, before the worms arrived, I just stacked up cinderblocks in the middle of my garden. I added a couple wheelbarrow loads of horse manure. I filled the area to the brim with the manure. We let the manure sit for a few weeks.

When the worms arrived, we put them into the manure-filed bin. Then, I covered it with some thick sheets of cardboard to keep the moisture inside. (I may add some plywood to the roof later this summer as it gets hotter.)

Over the early spring, the level of the manure decreased by about half. That means that over ten weeks, the 2000 starting wrigglers decreased the pile by fifty percent. Once there is nothing left to eat, the worms will die if you do not keep feeding them fresh manure. We did not start with tremendous quantity of red wriggers (relative to some systems). However, we believe (and hope) the wriggers are multiplying so this process should accelerate as their population gets larger and larger.

I shoveled the half-eaten manure from the eastern side of the bin to the west side. In the picture above, you can see what it looks like sloughed off to one side.

I went out to our horse pasture and gathered a barrow full of fresh manure. Then, I carted it up to the garden and dumped it into the once empty half of the bin. I still need to add one more barrow full of fresh manure. I covered the bin back with cardboard until I bring up the next load.

The wrigglers cannot eat the fresh manure. It is too hot for them, so they will safely stay over in the west side munching away on that stuff. Once that stuff is depleted, the wrigglers will migrate over to the east side that has the fresh manure and start munching away.

At that point, the plan is to harvest the castings from the west side and spread it into the raised beds and gardens for our plants.  What goes into the empty western side of the bin at that point?  You guessed it.  More fresh horse manure.

It is a worm manure see-saw.