I've had one of these for years. I bring it into the semi -heated garage over winter and outside on the north side of the house in summer. worms are happy. I have had some problems with soil the middle part of the bin not going through easily and had to redo it again. but it is working better now. I think I may have put too much shredded paper at a time and it kind of turned to a slime like clay like texture. The shredded bark should help with the aeration.
My old fridge kick the bucket so last year I used it for the worms which made some assume stuff to use in the garden this season....great results so far. The only issue is the worms that I never brought indoors froze to death so either I bring all inside or let them free this coming winter.
I have a hungry bin and think you should have added those great castings and worms first, because then you would have been able to collect them first. Those castings won’t be seen again for a year. Those first few harvests when I started my bin the very first time, I threw back up on the top cuz it wasn’t well composted and worm free. When restarted the entire system this spring ( I was needing to move it back to the shed from the garage for the winter) it was so frigging heavy I decided to harvest all I could by emptying it on big tarp on the driveway. I picked up the larger pieces of cardboard in the middle to give them cover, and ran what I could through a 1/2” screen that goes over my wheelbarrow. I’d grab what worms and the things that did NOT go through the screen and put them in another wheelbarrow. This was a good time to separate out my big European Nightcrawlers too. Then I put the ENC and some chunky compost in a deeper Rubbermaid tote and the rest in the hungry bin, trying to put the biggest stuff toward the top. I saved some bigger pieces of cardboard to add to the finer compost (this makes it easy to pull out later but gives them fresher carbon. Amazingly the hungry bin was close to the top again, even after taking the sifted castings and the finer compost out because the compost isn’t compacted anymore. I know I add a lot more work than I have to, but I enjoy it and prefer to move my systems through the processes quicker and more thoroughly this way, and gives me tons of material that can be used in different stages. I have a finer sieves so I can get the castings very pure, and start cocoons bins just for fun.
Thanks for sharing. I think the UA-camrs didn't respond because they run a farm. Farmers are so busy and really must find ways to do things with less effort in order for their farms to flourish. People without Hungry Bins do what you're talking about, and that was me 4 years ago. I bought six HBs because without them I had so much work harvesting. You realize the tall funnel design of HB is there to compress the worm castings incredibly. I'm sure the inventor, Ben Bell, calculated exactly how much pressure is being exerted and all that. It's really cool how hard you work.
AH! I want one of these SO BAD, but I live in an apartment, so it's a bit much RN... definitely plan on having one of these when I own a home or some land tho!
I built myself their indoor worm bin and it was very successful. I too, live in an apartment and if you don't over feed and over water, then there's no smell.
Is that a map of nz? I was given a hungry bin after its owner died and it is awesome! I took from the top for castings tonight as I think.its needing a bit of regeneration.
Wood chips are likely a mistake -- the continuous flow feature of the Hungry Bin will not work well. Any sticks are definitely a mistake. But congrats on the bin - I love mine. I keep it just outside the kitchen to make it easy to get the scraps to the worms and keep its temperature nice and comfy.
I've had one of these for years. I bring it into the semi -heated garage over winter and outside on the north side of the house in summer. worms are happy. I have had some problems with soil the middle part of the bin not going through easily and had to redo it again. but it is working better now. I think I may have put too much shredded paper at a time and it kind of turned to a slime like clay like texture. The shredded bark should help with the aeration.
Thanks for the tips!
I’ve currently got that problem and was trying to figure out how to fix it. I’ve got a tone of trees to bark next summer, thanks for the tip!!
My old fridge kick the bucket so last year I used it for the worms which made some assume stuff to use in the garden this season....great results so far. The only issue is the worms that I never brought indoors froze to death so either I bring all inside or let them free this coming winter.
I have a hungry bin and think you should have added those great castings and worms first, because then you would have been able to collect them first. Those castings won’t be seen again for a year. Those first few harvests when I started my bin the very first time, I threw back up on the top cuz it wasn’t well composted and worm free. When restarted the entire system this spring ( I was needing to move it back to the shed from the garage for the winter) it was so frigging heavy I decided to harvest all I could by emptying it on big tarp on the driveway. I picked up the larger pieces of cardboard in the middle to give them cover, and ran what I could through a 1/2” screen that goes over my wheelbarrow. I’d grab what worms and the things that did NOT go through the screen and put them in another wheelbarrow. This was a good time to separate out my big European Nightcrawlers too. Then I put the ENC and some chunky compost in a deeper Rubbermaid tote and the rest in the hungry bin, trying to put the biggest stuff toward the top. I saved some bigger pieces of cardboard to add to the finer compost (this makes it easy to pull out later but gives them fresher carbon. Amazingly the hungry bin was close to the top again, even after taking the sifted castings and the finer compost out because the compost isn’t compacted anymore. I know I add a lot more work than I have to, but I enjoy it and prefer to move my systems through the processes quicker and more thoroughly this way, and gives me tons of material that can be used in different stages. I have a finer sieves so I can get the castings very pure, and start cocoons bins just for fun.
Thanks for sharing. I think the UA-camrs didn't respond because they run a farm. Farmers are so busy and really must find ways to do things with less effort in order for their farms to flourish. People without Hungry Bins do what you're talking about, and that was me 4 years ago. I bought six HBs because without them I had so much work harvesting. You realize the tall funnel design of HB is there to compress the worm castings incredibly. I'm sure the inventor, Ben Bell, calculated exactly how much pressure is being exerted and all that. It's really cool how hard you work.
AH! I want one of these SO BAD, but I live in an apartment, so it's a bit much RN... definitely plan on having one of these when I own a home or some land tho!
I built myself their indoor worm bin and it was very successful. I too, live in an apartment and if you don't over feed and over water, then there's no smell.
Forget metric! We now have the Ben And Mitch system or BAM if you will, where 'Enough to Party' and 'Mouse' are how we measure volume. ❤ 🤍 🧡 😃
Is that a map of nz?
I was given a hungry bin after its owner died and it is awesome! I took from the top for castings tonight as I think.its needing a bit of regeneration.
Wood chips are likely a mistake -- the continuous flow feature of the Hungry Bin will not work well. Any sticks are definitely a mistake. But congrats on the bin - I love mine. I keep it just outside the kitchen to make it easy to get the scraps to the worms and keep its temperature nice and comfy.
It looks really good, but I wish it was possible to find an alternative to plastic
Yes -- probably made in China ... more consumption. Geoff Lawton uses a bathtub
@@happyhobbit8450 Actually made in New Zealand!
I want one
Will you just keep the bin inside in the winter?
Likely that or we'll take a pile of worms and keep them in a smaller box for the winter and then let the population expand again in the summer