How to Make a Worm Tower: by Morag Gamble
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- WORM TOWER
A Worm tower will directly feed the soil with your food waste - no double handling. Here's how to make a super simple and effective worm farm to keep your edible garden soil flourishing with life and your veggies thriving.
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Permaculture is the skill we all need to learn now to help us through this challenging period. The world urgently needs more permaculture gardens, designers and teachers everywhere. In the series, you will learn about Permaculture and how to make it your life and livelihood with global permaculture ambassador, Morag Gamble (moraggamble.com | permacultureed...)
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I wish I had a mother like you. You are so amazing. I want to be like that when I grow up (I'm 37).
Thanks - that's sweet!
@@MoragGambleOurPermacultureLife Me too and I'm 71 haha
@@lizmyers-chamberlin2104 me too I am 75, however I should like to borrow your student for a while.
We got a me too movement in this thread
This is awesome Morag...and so easy to do. I love watching your videos, you are a such an inspiration for a new gardener like me. Thank you! 👏🏼👏🏼
Same
Hay your shoveling is much harder to use than the one I built.
Great Video
Morag I do something like this in my garden but I also have a horizontal worm migration system made out of an old sealed rain butt with the lid cut into the side and drainage hole below which gives me worm tea, I get loads of castings from the butt.
I do the same but instead of using PVC piping I use large old stainless steel pots (with lids) that I find at garage sales ;) Love your videos, you're such an inspiration and a wealth of knowledge.
it's better to anyways since pvc isn't meant to be exposed to sun for long periods of time and ISN*T FOOD SAVE, now sure you could get U-pvc which is food safe but then the price shoots up at that point you might aswell buy a nice thick gauge steel pipe
So excited to try this, but I keep trying to look this up and can’t seem to find the answer...why is the pipe necessary at all, if the worms are coming and going through the sides anyway? Could I just dig a hole in the ground for the worms and compost and put a bucket upside down over it? I haven’t been able to find food-grade pipe in my area (Hawaii).
I am also curious. I would like to avoid plastic on my garden as far as possible.
Hi Morag, what a wonderful idea!! I want to build one too in our tiny rented plot but I wonder, how many square meters can this wonder thing help? We have 30 square meters at our disposal. Should we build two or more?
Great 👍 👌
Hi great video, I live in the tropics and ants can be a problem, what best can I do to avoid this
thx morag your channel is awesome. love the idea and hope to use it. i live in brisbane cbd and would love more on starting small. thanks again for all the effort you put into your clips
This looks like a great idea! Could you maybe leave a link in your video description to the next video where we get to see what you did with the kitchen sink? :) Thanks so much for the great info & inspiration!
if I put in compost worms, will they stay? I'm afraid I'd pay for a bunch of worms and they'd leave. I suppose if keep feeding them, they'll stay.
Compressed soil? 😀you haven’t lived in Townsville if you try to use a mattock you only get a shiny patch of clay
Yes, Townsville is a tough landscape. The first time I started doing no dig gardening was in compressed fill in Brisbane. The mattock bounced off! It takes a bit longer to get it going but the approach I use in my no-dig film worked so well.
All veggies and coffee gtounds are great but slow to break down so I like to first freeze what ill put in enabling them to rot quicker because they broke down already at cellular level. Also tea and especially melon rinds rot really good for worms and are loaded with liquid.
Did you share this idea with Charles Dowding when you met with him? I don't I've ever seen worm towers on his channel.
Wouldnt covering the soil with mulch be the exact same thing, except mulching covers all the area instead of the small diameter of the tube?
Thanks for the comment. Mulching the whole area is great for activating soil life including earth worms. I absolutely do this. The worm tower is to create a home for compost worms - worms that will eat the food scraps earlier in the decomposition process. I do both the mulching and worm tower as a combined strategy for improving soil and replacing nutrients in a kitchen garden.
Thats Amazing
Thanks Morag this really opened my eyes to ideas using this principle, also the composting in-situ video. The worms and other critters use the tower like a feeding station and then leave and spread their deposits around wherever they travel. I'll use the towers in between fruit trees and start burying scraps everywhere. Also moving my compost bin next to my apple trees for a while and then move it again. Brilliant thanks!
Great video. Where do you get these red worms?
Is that a PVC pipe? What are the dimensions of the pipe? Thanks
Thank you Morag! I consider myself a seasoned gardener but you just taught me something so very valuable.
Oh, This is wonderful! I wanted to do a worm farm but I was hesitant to do a bathtub full, and a worm tower is Perfect. (And much easier.) Thank you so much - I'm delighted.
Thank you so much Morag...you are amazing. I love all your vdos and am still going through them having discovered you only yesterday!!!
Is the pvc pipe for convenience? I just dig a hole and throw scraps in, then cover back up. Does the same thing. But I'm guessing you use the pvc method mostly because of pests and or convenience for not having to dig a hole each time?
Thank You! I Learn soo much from your videos...
Be Well 💕 From Northern Calif.
For a split second I thought the title says how to make a wormhole ! But anyway, wouldn't this attract pests like slugs, snails and cockroaches?
Do u not invite rodents and other animals from below...my garden is infested...As food attracts them ...It's choas!
Will this work with smaller diameters? I have lots of leftover pvc piping from my water tank installation and it would be cool if I could use them for this.
Could I just use oak leaves in place of straw, or hay as mulch? We are a little low on funds, and I have to make whatever I've got work.
Thanks for the video!! Can I ask how long a piece of pipe do you need? And how long sticking above ground?
Thats totally up to you😊 It actually is not necessary for it to stick too much above the ground. It can also be the same level as the ground.
Morag, do you gave the Hadeda Ibis in Australia? Here in South Africa they peck out earthworms up to 15cm deep below the surface. Totally wipe out any worms I introduce from my bin to the garden. Any advice mam? They are opportunistic and even gobble down bread scraps and carrion.
Enjoy your videos very informative and well you are just downright adorable 🖐
Thats what I wanted to say. but couldnt. Bravo
Thanks for sharing Morag. Looking forward to more videos.
Morag ,just found your site enthralled with your garden tour. visiting Australia later this year , now looking forward to even more after watching your tour.
I like this. I don't need to keep a tub anywhere then. Is there a min./max. size of pipe?
if you are doing this make sure you are using native worms... Getting normal compost worms can become invasive in some areas!
very Nice my friend Came here from Rachel Channel
thank you for showing how to do/add things in the garden! :D
Thank you for sharing this important information listening from Bangs Texas
Dear madam, in no dig garden how should we water the plants? Alternate day or much longer
Hi there, thanks for such a great idea and video. Are you able to share how often a worm tower will need to be feed with fresh kitchen scraps?
I think I'd like to try this in my banana circles. Has anyone tried?
Your soil looks devine
Thanks for this video! Do the foods scarps attract ants? If so what do you suggest to do about it? And what if you have moles around? Is it handy to have a worm tower?
I like you and your videos. I appreciate your simple approach and now more than ever I'd love to get out of the U.S. for good. Thanks. You are a true earth mother and a great sister. Best wishes to you and yours.
just drop onto the garden
You are bringing so much joy, enthusiasm and insight into my action-packed life now, Morag. Mahalo, Thanks! Much love to you and Evan and the Fam! xoxo, Claire
Hey there! Thanks for this video :)... To find the proper type of composting worms, would I need to pick these up at a gardening store or do you think if I dug through our existing compost pile I could find them?
Compost worms (blue worms, tiger worms, red wrigglers) can be found in gardening stores, sometimes in large hardware/gardening centres, online, and through community gardens - also from friends who have surplus. I don't think the ones that come up into your compost bin are the same - they are garden worms (possibly nightcrawlers) and don't thrive in the veggie scrap mix, they prefer being in soil. Hope that helps.
Wild worms know how to find what you put out for them. They found mine. I can't imagine buying them.
What a wonderful resource your channel is. Thank you (-:
1:05 "...solvents?" ???
Hello, I enjoyed the video, but I missed the "next" promissed video of how you set it up with the sinks. Thanks for your great videos, permaculture is by itself a true proof that real change is possible.
Thanks - apologies the sink film is on my list of films to make. So many things to film!!
I live in the USA, Portland, Pacific Northwest, and I'm wondering if a worm tower would be viable in our climate. How cold does it get where you live?
Also so glad to have found your channel!
Hello can i come to you & learn permaculture
I love it! I'll be installing these asap in my garden. :D
Fantastic - happy gardening!
What's to keep it from getting water-logged in heavy rains? That is, water soaking in around it.
chewee2k good question. If your garden soil is well drained - enough to grow veggies then it should also be fine for the worms. If they get a bit wet they can climb up the materials in the tube until the water drains . I live in the subtropics with quite heavy rain events and it works well here.
Thanks for your lovely channel on youtube. what about great areas ? i have about 2000 trees of grapes.
should i make a worm tower for every tree ? or what is the alternative ?
Build up the earthworm population in the soil. Improve soil structure. Cover Crops.
Marvelous idea! I try to add veggie scraps in my garden but my dog eats them😠 I can use this now🌸
Simply Impish wonderul!!
Hi Morag, I am doing a school community project on Permaculture and trying to decide how many worm towers we may need in our playground to reduce food waste in our canteen, what are you recommendations? We are in Andalusia in Spain and at certain times of the year we have procession caterpillars, would this be a problem? Thank you
The first thing to do would be to conduct an audit of the amount of food waste from the canteen, -the type of food suitable for a worm farm, and from there design your composting and worm farming systems. I would imagine with a canteen, you may need a bigger system. Worm towers are great in a home context, or perhaps even fruit scraps from a classroom. There are some really great larger systems that can be made for example in old bathtubs.
I cannot imagine that the caterpillars would pose a problem for the worm farms
What happened to your hand Morag.
hi, love the videos. once you make the worm tower, do you feed food scraps on top of the mulch or do you pull out the mulch and add food scraps? would you recommend to pre-compost the food scraps for a few weeks in a closed 5 gal bucket? thx
Hi Jenny, I lift out the mulch at the top and put more food in, then replace the mulch top layer. You could precompost, but I've found it works just fine - the tube is the precomposter, and as the material rots down it is ready for the worms. This one-step process makes it so simple.
@@MoragGambleOurPermacultureLife Do you ever harvest the worm castings from the tower, and if so, how do you separate the worms from their castings so you can put them back in the tower?
working on my hugle culture bads
Please, which sport do you practice? Your body is epic!!!
Gardening :p
Thank you so much for this video, I have had a similar idea but you have made it seem so simple. I was wondering for the lid for the top of the worm tower, does it matter if it has holes in it, for example potting containers?
Hello 👋,, how are you doing today; hope your day went well and it was a blessed day for you Lisa?
I've read that one should sand the drilled holes so as not to injure the worms. What say you, Morag?
Hi There, I usually drill the holes at 5+mm diameter which is more than a worm. I think the worms would easily find their way through the middle of this. If you think about it, worms live in a sharp environment filled with angular sand, rocks, sticks and other things all the time. The mucus protects them too. I love and care for worms, but I don't think it is necessary to sand the holes.
Oh how I love to be spared unnecessary work! Thank you, Morag!
Thank you Morag so much knowledge that you are passing on to humanity...Blessed Be...
Hi Chantal.
The worms are already there
hi. we in egypt desert you think red worms survive in hot climate? thank you
Compost worms like moist rich environments. In your environment, I would be more inclined to set up an enclosed worm farm in a shady cooler area It may work as long as you keep it moist. It's pushing the boundaries though
Hi Morag, thank you for shareing your knowledge! one questions? what is the advantage of doing the tower, I just dig holes around the garden and barry my scraps. a fan, Elahe
I put compost worms in these towers - they are in-garden worm farms. Burying your scraps is also OK, but the scraps need to decompose further before the usual earthworms will touch them. It is also a useful technique for those with digging animals or wildlife - dogs, bush turkeys, bandicoots ....
enadimi, I dig around in my garden also, but I think the tower is better because you do not have to keeping digging every time you have some scraps to bury
Wondering why no holes up above soil level? Every compost system I've heard of considers aeration, and exposure to air a plus. Anyone know?
The lid on top has some holes for aeration. I didn't put holes in the sides to prevent things like cockroaches, flies etc
Janice B... Mam as far as I know worms help aerate the soil for plants, creating air pockets in the soil so the roots can grow with ease. Plz do correct if wrong.
Hi Morage, I was going to use the pvc cap on top of the pipe. would I need to drill holes in the cap too? thank you in advance!
Yes, I would do that - give them some air.
Thank you Morag! I'm so enjoying your videos. I am a true gardening novice. Thank you for sharing your knowledge for the greater good! :-)
Brilliant idea!
now that what i know is real fast food ;)
I like this idea and am going to try it in my raised beds.
Loving your videos, some of the best I've come across on permaculture. Thanks
Thanks Lisa!
hi morag, superb videos. what is the title of the video called where you have used the bathtub and the sink and other stuff ,in the garden.//would love to see that. thanks
Thanks for the feedback. The video you're asking about is in the making.
wow, thanks morag for your quick reply..
I can not fins it. Could you direct me to it please?
this is the best worm tower plan I've seen yet. Going to try doing this at my place. Thanks for the posting.
Hi Janice.
Great idea, thanks.😉
You're a great teacher
Интересная идея ))!!!
I have an old toaster I'm trying to turn into a planter. lol
It's amazing what you can use!
True. Think I'm going to use some septic pipe for the leech field. It already has the holes in it, and I already have some sitting around.
where do you get compost worms?
Gardening store, worm farmer, community garden, online - look for worms that are specially for composting.
How do you control ants?
I find this means the system is too dry - just water it a bit.
Where do I get compost worms ?
Compost worms (blue worms, tiger worms, red wrigglers) can be found in gardening stores, sometimes in large hardware/gardening centres, online, and through community gardens - also from friends who have surplus.
Great vid
Love this girl. She is so me
Hi Tanya.
Thanks for this. Love your videos & good energy. I've made a few worm towers since watching this, and have 2 questions:
1) if the compost worms stay in the tower where the food is, how do the nutrients spread through the garden bed?
2) do you ever empty the worm castings from the tower?
Thanks for your reply!
Awesome!!!
Hi Ani.
Morag I love your videos thankyou 😍😍👏👏
Hello Morag. I've been planning my Perma-garden and have picked some ideas from Your channel already. Wht you actually DID with that double sink? I happen to have a similar one... Tkanks. Robert
I`m gonna make one or more of these towers asap!!
Morag, I recently built a worm tower from a 5 gallon bucket and put red wiggler compost worms in it. I have a few questions: compost worms won't leave the compost material so how do you harvest the finished material? How often do you feed? What combination of material is needed? The container has mushrooms growing in it, is that a problem?
Appreciate any extra details. I've read conflicting information online.
Gina
Other soil organisms distribute it. I feed about once a week. I rotAte between a number of towers. I mix materials - brown and green. And always add a handful of mulch in the top.
Mushrooms - it’s OK but maybe a bit moist. Add more dry matter -
Ripped paper, dried leaves...