Starting A Worm Compost Bin In My Kitchen

by Mike Lieberman · 20 comments

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I finally manned up and started the worm compost bin in my kitchen. It’s filled with newspaper, red worms and my food scraps.

I’m hoping that in doing this that I’ll be able to use more of my food scraps. I haven’t been able to add too many of my scraps to the aerobic compost bin that I have set up because it’s too small.

My hesitation in setting up the worm bin is putting in too much food and having the stink that I did back in the spring. I plan on taking it slow at first and see how the worms handle the food.

Do you have any horror stories in starting your worm bins?


  • http://twitter.com/yardhalf yardhalf

    I've had an indoor worm bin for about 4 years. Definitely had some funky periods while I was learning! Start slow, and as the worms grow, you'll get more capacity. Also, with a plastic bin, I leave the lid off most of the time and just layer moist cardboard on top — winter's the only time it gets dry enough for a plastic lid. I also use brown bags & cardboard to balance out the food scraps when it's getting too green or wet.

  • Mike Lieberman

    Thanks for the advice. I'm likely going to leave the lid off to be safe.

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  • http://www.plant-passion.co.uk/ Claire Brown

    i've made loads of mistakes with worms over the years, – now working in perfect harmony, – don't add citrus, egg shells, too much onion or avacados, do add loo rolls, and shredded security paper, (all your envelopes & junk mail with your address on) then the worms keep dry and eat the stuff you don't want to throw out

  • Mike Lieberman

    Awesome. Thanks Claire. Going to take it easy for the first week or so and let them get busy and acclimated. Then add more food.

    I love the fact that you said loo rolls.

  • DeDe

    Love my wormeries, but if you really want to be able to compost ALL your kitchen waste, I'd recommend starting a small bokashi bucket, too. In it, you can ferment anything your worms either don't like (onions, citrus, pasta) or aren't ready for yet. After the fermenting, the worms will eat the otherwise distasteful items, or you can finish it directly in your garden. Plus, the additional microorganisms are fabu for both worms and garden. It's a very complimentary system really.

  • Mike Lieberman

    Never heard of the bokashi bucket. I'll have to look into it. I'll start small with the worms for now.

    Thanks.

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  • DeDe

    I understand, especially when space is limited. If you're interested in learning more http://vokashi.com/BackgroundInformation.aspx is located in Brooklyn. (You have all the cool resources there.)

  • Mike Lieberman

    Awesome. Thanks for the info and yes NYC does have the best resources.

  • Mike Lieberman

    Awesome. Thanks for the info and yes NYC does have the best resources.

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  • http://twitter.com/urbangardensoln Rachael Ross
  • http://twitter.com/urbangardensoln Rachael Ross

    Very cool Mike! I have mine in my kitchen as well. Check out my Flickr photos of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/urban-garden-solutions/sets/72157625870121632/

  • http://www.UrbanOrganicGardener.com Mike Lieberman

    Nice. Is that a Worm Factory 360 that you are using as well?

  • http://twitter.com/nataliecurrie Natalie Currie

    Hi Mike: This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. What is the smallest bin that can be used? Two of us living in a small condo. Big veggie and fruit eaters.

    Cheers and Happy Friday!

    Natalie

  • http://www.UrbanOrganicGardener.com Mike Lieberman

    The smallest size would depend on how many worms you have.

  • http://theveggiepost.blogger.com Cyndie

     I’m going to follow your progress… I so want to do this, but not until September… so this is perfect timing!  Thanks for posting!

  • http://www.UrbanOrganicGardener.com Mike Lieberman

    Glad you likes, but I didn’t have much success with it. Finally got a proper worm bin that worked much better.