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cp_arclight

Kitchen Garbage Can into Flow Through System?

cp-arclight
14 years ago

Hi all. Still a newbie, but my colony is thriving and produces a good yield of castings every Sunday during their feeding / harvesting.

I would like to make the feeding / harvesting cycle more efficient, and it looks like a flow through system is what I should be aiming for. To that end, would I be able to convert an existing kitchen garbage can into a flow through bin?

The garbage can is of the type you'd find in a pantry. Flip lid; takes the 13-gallon garbage bags. Cheap, but made from durable plastic that's easily cut using a jig saw - the modifications won't be a problem...

Has this type of flow through system been done before, and what were the results?

Comments (8)

  • 11otis
    14 years ago

    Here is a link to a post re. a garbage can flow through system:
    http://vermicomposters.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mini-flow-through-bins

  • rookie09
    14 years ago

    I have done several of these and the worms do very well. I haven't had the patience to harvest out of the bottom much but when I did it was definitely easier.
    Don't put too much of a bottom layer if you are wanting to harvest soon.

    Good luck.

  • cp-arclight
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Otis & Rookie,

    Thanks for the link and confirmation from personal experience!

    The trash bin in the link looks almost identical to the one I have. Mine's a bit taller, though.

    Cheers!

  • wildgoat
    14 years ago

    I can't tell from those photos how it's supposed to work. Is the finished product supposed to fall through that newspaper liner or something?

  • plumiebear
    14 years ago

    "Continuous flow bins are relatively deep containers with raised floors made from widely spaced welded wires. The system is generally bedded by laying several sheets of newspaper over the wire floor , on top of which is spread roughly six inches of damp bedding. The newspaper sheets, which eventually decompose, serve to prevent bedding from initially falling through the floor until the worms have had an opportunity to work through it. Worms are added to the system and food waste is added gradually, layered with bedding material, just the same as in the top-feeding method of system management. The system is continually fed until the bin is nearly full. The worms move upward through the feedstock/bedding layers. When fed at the appropriate rate, they concentrate some four inches below the surface, where microbial activity is highest. If the system is overfed, the worms will spread [vertically] throughout the bin material, reducing the efficiency of the system. Once the bin is nearly full of material, vermicompost is removed ..."

    Here is a link that might be useful: CONTINUOUS FLOW BINS

  • plumiebear
    14 years ago

    Click on the link below to see the bottom of a flow through bin once the newspaper has degraded.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Flow through bottom

  • gwtamara
    14 years ago

    bump

  • forestelves
    14 years ago

    I don't have a Flow through system I just do corner feeding and when the bin is full. I clean it that day and refill with moist newspaper. In a flow through system is where you don't have to clean the bin that day you just put a new bin on top and once the worms go up you clean the bottom bin when you feel like it.

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