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While we offer the fun, exciting and totally affordable Worm Jug, our base product is the
WormGin™.
It's a large habitat for keeping happy and healthy worms while making sure everything is super owner-friendly.
- Description: WormGin™ Junior and Regular size with no options
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- General Description
A plastic storage bin is drilled with strategically located holes for ventilation and for drainage.
Two wooden blocks are attached to the
underside of the bin. An aluminum tray is attached to two pieces of 2x4 lumber for support. A Standard model directly
attaches the tray to the blocks attached to the bin, forming a single attached unit. For the Expanding model, two wooden
blocks are attached to the top of the tray to support the bin. Two more blocks with special fasteners go on top of each
one, followed by four more plain blocks for each stack. A pair of blocks is removed monthly - growing the worm's environment
without working inside the bin. After the final pair of blocks is removed, the bin is attached to the tray just as on a standard
model - but the bin has a larger volume of "prime worm real estate".
- Feed Pipe
A hole is cut in the lid to closely match the size of the feeder pipe. An adapter fitting prevents the pipe
from falling in and also provides a socket for the plug fitting to drop into. The feeder pipe can be rocked back and
forth in multiple directions in order to help spread the food out inside the bin.
- Feeding Shelf
Inside the bin, there is a feeding shelf, which separates the food from the bottom of the bin -
this helps ventilation inside the bin, the lack of ventilation is one of the main things that causes problems
in homemade worm bins (too much ventilation also happens, and you get fruit flies).
The feeding shelf provides the worm colony the ability to create the conditions they need both above
and below the shelf, while very easily accessing food and also while keeping the food well-buried under
bedding material. They can move around as needed, but they are not required to migrate from tray to tray
in order for things to work as designed, as on other products. Worms do tend to have a mind of their own
when it comes to being where we expect them to be.
- Drainage
The aluminum tray is there to catch liquids from the drainage holes in the bin's bottom. Typically,
this liquid is NOT going to be the stuff you want to put on your houseplants and outdoor garden,
because you typically only have excess liquid in the early weeks of a worm bin's life. This liquid
is NOT "worm tea" or even "worm compost extract" - it is "leachate" which is an unfinished and often smelly
product.
Once the worm bin gets established, the quality of excess liquid improves, and we can call it "worm compost extract".
But here's the thing: to get this liquid, you need to add more liquid than the worm bin needs - you basically
have to flood your worm's habitat. That seems very wrong to me, especially because it is easy to
just toss a handful or so of freshly harvested vermicompost into a gallon or so
of water. Even a very well established worm bin, when flooded, is having the quality of the compost
inside degraded by having the nutrients rinsed away.
So the conclusion is that there really is no good time to pull liquids off of a worm bin. Now, you need to
provide drainage and so you need to catch that drainage, but a well-managed worm bin might never actually
use the tray. Some of the test bins I've had never did get their tray dirty.
What this means to you is that you don't really need to buy a system with a spigot. The tray works: small
puddles can just be left alone to dry up on their own, or lift up the unit by a corner to pour excess water
from the opposite corner of the tray as you rinse it.
Collecting liquid for your plants out of ANY worm bin system can be a tricky business because you DO NOT
want to drown your worms and their habitat. Let me explain a bit more.
Please make sure you understand the difference between worm bin leachate, worm bin extract and worm tea. Realize
that the really excellent stuff ("Worm Tea") has to be made in a bucket, so no worm bin setup can just dispense
it out a tap at the bottom. A mature bin (more than 6 months of healthy operation) with a tap near the bottom
can give very nice worm extract, plants like it for sure. A young worm bin can produce leachate, which
can sometimes be a little smelly and is only so-so or even harmful to plants.
What this means is that the whole idea of getting liquid out of your worm bin for your plants is rather
over-rated in terms of what you actually end up doing. The WormGin™ has a nice optional drainage system because
some people will feel it would not be a complete setup without it. But you likely will rarely use it, because any drainage
means the worm bed got too wet. Any drainage is "excess", it is only after your bin gets old that this excess
becomes a nice strong "worm extract". And even then, there are better ways than nearly drowning your worm bin.
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- Expanding Model
This innovative feature is simple in concept and execution but takes a few words to describe:
The Feed Shelf provides a space at the bottom of the bin for the worms to hang out. It's prime real estate for the worms:
wet but drained, with food above and ventilation below, very nice. With the Expanding option this real estate grows as the
population grows, and all you have to do is remove wooden blocks to drop the bin down a notch every month. With
posts attached to the tray, as the bin is moved down the distance between the bin bottom
and the shelf gets bigger, giving the worms more room to do their thing. Simple but dang, it works great.
The Standard model supports the feed shelf with two short stainless steel posts. The Expanding model provides
posts that are 4 inches longer, and gives you 4 of them. (WormGin™ worm bins are built for long life.)
The bin on WormGin™ Expanding model is supported by 7 wooden blocks on each end: the top one is attached to the bin,
and the bottom one is attached to the
tray. There are 5 blocks in between, the bottom of these is also attached to the tray, with the bottom block sandwiched.
The other 4 blocks are loose so that you can remove them one at a time (one from each side at the same time) as part of
the simple monthly maintenance, for the
first four months. Each time you remove a block the distance between the bottom of the bin and the feed shelf grows.
For the worms, this means that their habitat magically gets bigger each month. This key feature helps you grow your
worm population faster: the worms love it! (Just ask them.) After the fifth month, you can remove the final
in-between blocks and permanently attach the bin to the tray - the block attached to the bin takes the place of this
final removable block.
The Feed Pipe drops with the bin when the blocks are removed. As a result, the
distance from the bottom of the feed pipe and the feed shelf changes. After three months, the Feed Pipe
you have been using will be too long, so you will switch to the shorter one provided.
- Optional Drain System
This feature is available but not stocked. In other words, built to order. There will usually be a 2-3 day delay
in shipping. I do not have a good image-based description at this time, and if you've read much here, you know by now that
the whole idea of a drain tap for fertilizing liquid is in my opinion a bad idea. In other words, you don't need it
but you can have it if you want. It is completely designed and tested and the parts are in stock.
Here's how it works: The drainage for WormGin™ worm bins is thru the same holes the posts poke thru, they
are oversized not just to get the bin in place but for extra ventilation and drainage. So excess liquid will run down these posts,
near the center of the tray. A plastic wall around the base of the posts is epoxy-bonded to the tray to contain the liquid.
A drain hole is cut in the center of the tray and a plastic fitting (cap) is bolted to the underside of the tray to act as a cup
under the drain hole. This cup has a
fitting installed in the bottom, and a top-quality silicone hose is attached to the fitting. The end of the hose is captured
by use of a binder clip, and you can stick the hose end into your container when collecting liquid.
Again, with the WormGin™ system of doing things, you don't need this option. It is provided because I anticipate
a few customers are going to want it anyway, and the customer is the boss. Also, if you are a very hands-on, advanced
worm-keeper, the whole liquid collection thing might make sense in your situation. It's just that flooding your bin
to get liquid sets up a failure mode that I want to eliminate for the bulk of my customers.
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- WormGin™ Junior compared to Regular size.
To bring you a very affordable yet high quality Worm Bin system
that takes care of the problems home-made systems encounter, worm-gin.com is
proud to bring you the WormGin™ Junior.
- Size differences
A smaller bin ("10 Gallon") than on The WormGin™ Regular ("18 Gallon") is used, with the same size tray
(17-3/4" x 13" or 450 mm x 330 mm). The Feed Pipe uses the same size and type fittings, but in a shorter length.
The Feed Shelf is smaller.
See the
dimension chart.
- Feature differences
None. Regular and Junior Expanding models use the same parts except for the bin, lid, Feed Pipe and Feed Shelf.
Employing composting worms works for the planet in many ways, but the WormGin™ is here to work for you:
make this investment now and you'll be able to reap the rewards for years and years.
Check out the other products on the market. The superior value of WormGin™ products is clear.
Order yours today!
Turn your food waste and junk mail into Nature's Favorite Plant Food
The Clean, Green Machine: Garbage Disposal the Natural Way
The WormGin™: You'll love it and your worms will love it
Be part of the solution for our sustainable future
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