It’s getting cooler here in Texas. We’ve had some nights in the upper 30′s followed by nights in the 60′s. Yes, that’s normal around here.
Here in San Antonio, it’s not that difficult to keep outdoor worm bins warm. The challenge is keeping them cool in summer.
I’m planning to cover my outdoor flow through with a water heater blanket and then cover that with a tarp. I’m adding a tarp because if fiberglass insulation gets wet, it no longer traps heat.
But before that, I’m going to treat the plywood box with linseed oil because I couldn’t find any carnuba wax. I went to several flooring places and they looked at me like I was a whack job when I asked for carnuba wax. Home Depot and Lowe’s don’t have it either.
Here’s a short video of what’s going on inside the flow through these days. Remember my worm bin is on the north side of the house. Too bad I can’t move it.
Here’s another short video about winterizing worm bins in milder climates. This fellow worm composter is in Texas also, somewhere north of me. She makes several good points about worm bin temperatures and winter feeding.
If you live in a severely cold climate, you might want to bring your worms indoors over the winter.
Any other tips on getting worms through the winter? Add them in the comments below.
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let me know at what temperature do I have be concerned about the outside survival of the worms.
Hi Cassandra my worm systems are still in my basement. Living up north I don’t know how they would do in below 0 temps. Bentley has done it and he lives even fruther up north LOL.
I used linseed oil on the garden bed I made from untreated lumber and it has held up well since spring. Will let you know how it does over winter.
I do read your postings I just don’t always have a chance to leave a comment. I think your doing a great job…
Paula
cassandra;
try a autoparts place most car waxs have carnuba wax in it.
James, thanks for the auto wax tip. I used to wood fire pottery without glazes when I lived in AZ. I’d put carnuba wax on it as the final finish. Ace had it and I never dreamed it would be so hard to find.
Hi Paula. Yes, Bentley is a great resource for winter worm composting in colder climates: redwormcomposting.com. Glad you are enjoying the Wormilicious blog. Basements are excellent for worm composting, but we don’t have them in this part of Texas due to the ground being made out of a thick layer of limestone.
Larry, red wiggler worms can stand a little freezing, but I don’t recommend it. And obviously, the colder your bin temperatures, the less composting is going on. So I’m shooting for keeping the bin temps around 50 degrees or above. As you saw in the video, even at 48, the worms were still moving around, which was good to see. If your bin doesn’t drop below 40 you should be fine as far as worm survival goes.
I keep my worms in my heated garage year around. Since I do a lot of woodworking in my garage during the winter it makes sense to keep the worms there and not have to worry about them freezing. It is not unusual for the temps to drop to below zero for a few days, so keeping them at a pretty constant 59 degrees they seem to enjoy the winter here.
Yep, garages can be an excellent location for worms. In Texas, they tend to be a little hot.
Cassandra,
I’ve had this bin for about a year, I just openned the bin and found on the lid and around the top lots of little bitty brown ball moving around. Are these baby worms?
Probably not baby worms. Perhaps mites? Can you take a picture? It’s always hard to identify bin creatures without a picture.
Hi Cassandra,
I was wondering what size the pvc pipe is in your outdoor worm bin? it looks like 1/2 inch but is it schedule 40 (which is the thicker kind)? I wanted to make a trash can flow through with pvc in the bottom but was worried it might sag and actually come out the drilled holes. Thanks for your input!
Sharon, the pipe is 1/2″ but not schedule 40. I requested conduit from my builder for the no sag reasons. However, my bin is only 18″ wide, so I haven’t had any sagging problems. I’d recommend you use the schedule 40 or conduit for a trash can one because not only will the pipes give, but so will the sides of the trash can.
Thanks for the info, I was waiting for your reply before starting that project.
Hello from sunny and hot South Australia!
Adelaide’s climate is fairly similar to that of cities like Austin, TX.
I have a tip for getting worms through a hot SUMMER. I have a plastic multi-level worm farm called a “Can O Worms” (see http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/worm-farming/can-o-worms). What I do is I make large blocks of ice in the freezer. I 3/4 fill 2 litre plastic ice-cream containers (using filtered water to remove the chlorine). The top level of my worm farm I keep covered with a coconut fibre hanging basket liner. I place the two large ice blocks on top in the morning just before I leave for work, and even in 95 – 100F temperatures, the blocks don’t melt completely until I return home in the early evening. This method helped my worms survive last summer and in the past week they have been very active and thriving despite a 5-day heat wave of temperatures of near 100F.
Thanks for the tip, Rita! I think the bigger the better on the ice blocks. Keep us posted on the heatwave and hang in there.