After following Bently's worm inn 'over feeding' experiments, I have to be very stern with myself to not get one. I don't NEED one, but still WANT one.

His harvesting video and comments pointed to both pos/neg sides of the inn. Creating a sturdy stand for the inn is also a factor to be considered.

Here is a link that might be useful: Worm Inn harvest

There is a person on Etsy.com who is sewing something like them. I wonder if they would work as well?

Here is a link that might be useful: not as nice but cheaper

This link has step by step instructions to make your own worm bag [inn]

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY worm bag [inn] with pictures

equinox2: why the ultra-negative reaction to worms and cloth?

I haven't tried the Worm Inn--it's not suited to my situation, and I've found something that works for me--but I do sometimes consider "worm bags" for establishing colonies elsewhere, and those are cloth. Untreated natural fabrics, that will decompose about the same time the worms are ready to leave. Or so they say; like I said, still considering, haven't yet tried it.

DSF

It might be because I think of clothes out of cloth and I would not want worms in my clothes, or something like that. I knew a lady once who was ultra negative about feathers. Could not stand the things.

So making your own out of an old pair of jeans isn't something you would like to do?

No. But I did enjoy Bently's article. And colaboration with the sew-er-er, and I think she sold the business to who is selling it now. And the results the thing gets is fantastic. Being able to move the cloth solves lots of harvesting issues. I am interested if or how much air gets through the material. I so don't believe the whole story about the rain repelling material that is popular at high end sports stores that repels rain yet lets out persperation. I am in the minority and it is probably a loosing battle. And I understand it is not exactly cloth the bag is made of. The Inn looks like a savior due to solving many issues of bins and stacks. And I would use one if somebody bought me one. But it is sort of scary the worms crawling in the cloth. ~ shivers

Sorry for the necro of an old post, but caught this when looking up the worm inn.

Breathable materials that are also water repellent do work due to basic physics, but yes 95% of the stuff you'll see talked about in the store is just marketing to make the cost seem fine and have theirs better than the others. Due to the fact it�fs so simple, to give the real workings wouldn�ft justify the extra $50-100 they sometimes want ;)

It's all about water tension, the same thing that makes water bead up on a waxed car, or allow water walker bugs to run on top of the water. In a cloth material that's been coated and made hydrophobic (water repelling) the water would rather form a drop and roll off than try and squeeze between the weave. The attraction between the water molecules is more than gravity (or wind etc) trying to pull it through the weave. And as the material is hydrophobic, the material itself won�ft absorb water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1id-gHQjbs
Here's an example with magic sand. If water can't penetrate the gap between the sand grains, it won't between a fabric weave.

On the sweat side, now you're not talking water but water vapor (unless you're jogging in your raincoat) as most mild sweat evaporates with body heat. Water vapor being a gas can escape between the weave of the cloth, it�fs just air and the weave is not air tight. Unlike in an plastic or rubber raincoat which is water and AIR tight. Hence the breathability claims and the more comfortable wear.

PS. just picked up a worm inn myself after a second harvest of my bin. I could see harvesting was going to get old real fast :P

Cheers
Pete

Here is a link to my review of the worm inn and my reasons for purchasing it.

http://ridethatthing.blogspot.com/2011/02/worms-eat-my-garbage.html

Have you had any grapefruit from the tree?
Do you need to rinse off the leaves ever?
Did you grow it from seed?
I hope you get to eat some grapefruit soon.

You have had a plastic bin and a cloth bin. Which would be better for a new vermicomposter? Would a cloth bin dry up on them? Did the cloth bin arrive with instructions of how to add bedding? is it more forgiving of newby errors or does it just let one vermicompost all wrong for longer? Is a plastic bin something that all new vermicomposters should start with in order to understand how all this worms eat my garbage stuff works? Are worm inns responsible for the dehydration of many worms?

Just me or that blog down?

Equinox, I've had both systems.

- If the cost was the same I'd see no reason why the Inn wouldn't be fine for a new wormhead. It's the cost that would keep me from recommending it, be a shame to spend that money and for them to stop after a while for whatever reason.

- It's definately dryer, but not that that's a bad thing. I find it easier to add a little water when needed than to add bedding, drain or stir things up a little if a bin was getting too wet. I've never had moisture issues even after adding a load of food.

- Yep, there's instructions at the web site and on a sheet when you get it. But it's really basic (like a bin really). Add bedding, add a little food, toss in worms later.

- Yep more forgiving, especially in the usual beginner way of overfeeding. System can handle much more than a bin, so if you add too much, not enough bedding etc. it's much more likely to survive. Not sure if I'd still say something is 'wrong' if the system can handle it, I guess making things easier is one reason to pay money for a system like this. Some things that are wrong in a bin are no longer really wrong in this system (might not be optimal though). Things like meat, grease etc. still are.

- I think folks would learn just as much from an Inn as a bin on the whole 'worms eat my garbage' thing. If you're interested enough to start worming, you're going to be digging into both systems to see for yourself how the worms are doing :). But again if cost was an issue, much better to start with a cheap bin than to not start at all if someone was just worm curious.

- Even though the side can get dry, even bone dry (dried out newspaper dry), the worms don't get caught. It's not instant by any means so they just move off further inside, just like if you had the bin lid off to dry things out and the top layers gets dryer. They actually seem to like the border area between the dry and the wet core, I find lots of cocoons there, maybe the increasing dryness encourages them. But never found any worms stranded in the dry, actually better than my bins which sometimes had those wayward worms in the lid rims. It also has quiet the volume to it as it is square, so would take ages to get dangerously dry.

The only real disadvantage it has is space (and cost). No tucking this guy under a bed out of site. On your other posts...

- It's not cloth. It's a pretty course nylon(?) weave, think hiking backpack material or heavy deck sun shade umbrella or the cover for outdoor seat cushions. Things that get rained on and dry out instantly because they are really plastic weaves.

- I don't see any age or mold issues, the sides don't even get wet. I've watered the edges directly and it just runs down the inside of the bag and gets absorbed (or if you have just started out it comes out the bottom as water can obviously run past the bedding before getting soaked in heh).

Here's a quick and dirty pic of my setup.
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5889/worminn.jpg

The stand is a Colemans High Stand usually used for camping. Good to 100lbs.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Stand-Burner-Stoves-Cooler/dp/B0009PUPUG