You could use a plastic ice cream container. Paint the outside of the lid and container to keep it dark for the worms. Drill holes on the bottom and sides for ventilation. I am thinking about starting a bait cup of ENCs in the same way.

Even for a small bin I don't think I would want to go much smaller than say 5 gallons. Even with only one person too small a container will have trouble holding both bedding and food.

Rubbermaid makes a 3 gallon Roughneck. I have set many of those up for singles and the small bins handle their scraps well.

tclynx,

That depends on how many worms one starts with. They need to be able to find each other. I have just started I new batch of Euros(60) in an ice cream bucket. For bedding I'm using grass clippings, leaf mold and about a half of a cup of rabbit droppings. Once they have consumed their initial bedding. It will be time to graduate them to a bigger bed. At that time they may need a Sterlite tote.

Hi All!

I don't think I use the smallest bin but the one I use does work effectively for me. My bin is a 15" long x 11" wide x 5" high plastic container that actually is what is used to ship seafood to restaurants.

But in essence I only use about 12" of the length of the bin when I start for a reason and I hope you won't find my explaining of it boring or to lengthy.

I place the food to eat to the front and at the very bottom of the bin. As I cover the food with about an inch of already made castings and soil I then sprinkle on a small amount of mixed bread crumbs, coffee grounds and a small amount of egg shells that I crushed with a granite type roller pin.

That small amount of sprinkled food is dry so I moisten with spray just a little. I then layer on top of that food one sheet of newspaper the size of the bin being used which is about 12" long X 10" wide, that I also moisten.

I use two 10" wide 2 x 4 blocks of wood that go across the width and the back of the bin or in place of the space not being used. I also place a section of newspaper folded and wrapped in plastic between the blocks of wood and soil to hold it in place. The bin is also without any holes in the bottom or sides.

I feed my worms solid but mostly soluable food that I freeze in small amounts after putting in a blender.

When the feeding and bedding is complete I lay a single piece of paper about 12" long x 10" wide across the top of the bedding and spray with water and then put a piece of cardboard 8" long x 10" wide that I also wrapped with black plastic over the top to hold in the moisture whereas 8" is covered in plastic and the other 3" although covered with newspaper is exposed to the dryer air element.

I check the moisture level of the paper underneath the black plastic every couple of days and spray when needed. When I see the paper is beginning to breakdown by the microbs and worms it's almost time to feed again.

This may all sound complicated but it is rather easy once you begin. I don't have a digital camera but will someday take a series of 35MM photos and enter to the Forum.

The sprinkling of the breadcrumbs and added layer of newspaper etc is only so they won't go hungry if the solids on the bottom are already eaton. That layer of newspaper is prett well broken down in the process and added to the new food mix.

When it's time to feed them I remove the two blocks of wood and reverse the procedure whereas the blocks of wood will be put in the place where the first portions of food went.

Generally this process takes place about every 10 days. I first place the food a small of castings and soil, a heet of newspaper then all of the gathered worms are put on top of that.

Yes there is some extra effort but I think you'd have to see my castings to appreciate my well founded time. Plus my bin is never saturated and the castings for the most part flake very easily with a large spoon, easil dried and then sifted to about 99% castings.

Oh! BTW I had 7 bins of this type during the '06 - '07 Winter months and harvested almost 5 gals of pure dried castings for my Gardening needs.

Hope this has been helpful?

Jim