I also thought of using two 5 gal. buckets, one inside the other.I could drill holes in the bottom bucket then lay mesh over it, put the coir in the bucket, put the second bucket inside the first and put something heavy inside the second bucket.

If you have a good paper shredder, shred some cardboard to mix with the coir, and let the dry cardboard soak up the excess water. If you have a bad paper shredder, use newspaper and junk mail.

rocksinthehead: the two bucket method is a good idea for getting the excess water out. I am glad to hear you had a second use for the water.

What we have to do to start a bin might be different than what we do later on when we Keep Calm and Carry On. As time goes on you might find in addition to your source of worm food that you also have a free source of cellulose that you want to also convert into vermicastings. Together these two sources are ideally free to you and result in free gold for your plants.

My wish for your bin would be at the very least you can toss the dry coir right into the bin. Instead of dripping leachate the coir will absorb it for you. This will transform a questionable substance, the leachate, into a friendly bacteria zone and be an area of even moisture for your bin.

The idea is the worms do the work for you as opposed to you do the work for the worms.

Did you get a vermicomposting kit for Christmas? If so, lucky you!

This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Wed, Dec 25, 13 at 21:20

Whenever I use soilless material it is sphagnum peat as I always have it around since I use it for my plants. I just soak the peat in a bucket of water , get it fully saturated then squeeze it out by hand till its like a wrung out sponge. If I only get a few drips its ready.

If you don't "oversoak" the material, there will be no need to wring out excess water later. It is not so that you need to rinse the coir.