Vermicomposting - My First Worm Bin - DIY with Ikea Stuff

As promised, this post will detail how I built my worm-bin using Ikea Hacks.

Items needed to be purchased:

• Ikea Samla Containers - for 2-layers with moat, I got 3 (2 medium + 1 low) with 1 cover. I used Samla because they are the most affordable and easily available.
• Worms - I started with 100g
• Coco-peat (Shredded Coconut Husk) - 2.5kg ideal, so that you can top-up.
• Soil - organic fertile soil (1kg is more than enough for a start)
• Additional Samla container to keep your tools and supplies
• Daiso Laundry Net (lint protector), large enough to cover the lid of your box

Equipment you need to build the bin:

• Old Black and White News Paper or Brown Cardboard Boxes with no paint/glue/stapler/etc. Just old plain brown boxes to shred.
• Or even better, brown leaves!
• Drill to make holes on the bin
• Some digging tools, I use disposable plastic spoon, fork and aluminium chopsticks
• Marker and Ruler/Measuring Tape to help draw holes on the boxes
• Some Fruit Peeling (non citrus) - ideally, coffee powder/tea bags/dragon-fruit/papaya/banana peelings

Here goes!

The 3 Bins I purchased, 1-storage, 2x to make 2-tier Bin.
Bottom Bin is for water collection.

Samla 28-cm deep bins are used for this project.
if you're interested to get the 'moat',
do get an extra 14-16cm deep bin as an addition.

IKEA Samla, same thing as the above pic.

Just showing the width of the box here.

I am going to start drilling the holes for the cover.
This allows worms to breathe and water vapor to escape.

Handheld 7.2v drill should suffice. I used the 8mm bits.
if you use smaller, just make more holes.

I try not to do the holes near the corner.
Makes it harder for worms to escape when it's wriggling upside down
trying hard to get to the holes on the lid..
Ensure that your laundry net is able to cover all the lid, this is to prevent
creepy crawlies from entering the bin since you'll have some vege/fruits.

I am making the first box bottom holes, so that water can escape.
You don't need lots of holes,
as there won't be that much of water anyway.

Am Adding a little design to the holes, was hoping to get
the slope-effect so that water will go to the middle hole.
Realized it makes no difference - seriously!

This is how the bins will look-like when put together - STACKED!

After the drilling, to make it 'chemically-safe' for the worms... please wash the bins!!
Note, I did not put soap... the soapiness came DEFAULT for EVERY BOX! Yucks!

Ensured that bin is clean and dry, wipe it dry and
try rinsing one more time to ensure you don't see soapy bubbles.

I use Classifieds, as they are mostly black/white.
Color ads brings unwanted chemicals...

I bought some furniture from Ikea, used the boxes.
I had to REMOVE the tapes, and staplers before shredding them
as Shown below!

This makes great bedding.. note, the brown paper is essentially - dry.

I wanted to try adding some variety.. makes no difference...
In my opinion, just going with the brown paper - or - newspaper is enough.
The purpose of these paper is to absorb too much moisture.

I used some bottle spray filled with water (tap is fine),
but seriously, I shouldn't have done this as the decomposition
and the condensation will naturally cause the brown to get
soggy and wet!

I didn't have coconut peat-moss on my first day, I simply used some
fertilizer-soil. Potting Mix! I think you ought to go with the volcanic
one if you have a choice, since there are some traces of coco-peat.

After making the base with paper, i poured some soil in.

This is my 100g of Malaysian Blue Worms,
the bedding here is coco-peat.

The bottle i used with water to moisten the bedding.
(I REPEAT - NOT NECESSARY)

Sharing with you all about my mistake in making a 'too moist bin'...
Well maybe in non-tropical climate, this is needed.. but not in SG.

These 2 photos above details the bottom of the 1st layer (top layer bin)
How the holes looked like from the bottom.

I drink Nespressos, after I used the capsules,
I dry the capsules first, then remove the powder to
harvest the used coffee powder for worm food!

mixing everything to the mix..
note, I only put about 5 table-spoons worth.
Don't put too much! Too Acidic!!!!

Using glove to handle this box, so that i won't accidentally
touch the worms. Hands are salty - burn worm skins.

Apart from Used Coffee Powder, I added dragon-fruit peelings.
Not too many.. We don't want to 'cook' the worms as the
Aerobic decomposition generates heat!

Some mistakes I made:

1. Making the bedding too wet. It'll only get wetter and wetter.
2. Not covering the fruit peelings with sufficient soil and brown paper. It's imperative that you cover it properly if you don't wish to have fruit-flies manifesting the bin.
3. Not noticing that worms trying to escape = habitat not worm-friendly enough
4. Scavenging and moving the top-soil too much

Notes to a successful start of wom-bin:

1. You don't need to tussle the waste around. You simply need to give it a glance, check on to ensure that worms aren't escaping.
2. The bin is suppose to have ZERO sour smell. The only smell would be a morning soil smell you get from our reservoirs or gardens/parks. It's the fresh damp smell of soil if you put your nose into the bin. Outside the bin - NO SMELL.
3. Ensure that bin is ALWAYS covered with the Laundry Lint Guard Net.
4. Do not spray any chemicals, insecticides above/around/near the bin. 
5. If you have accidentally allowed fruit-flies to infest the bin top, no worries, just take the laundry-net (as most will be stuck there), and go to a field/garden/open-area, just let those flies go. They pose no real harm actually.
6. Don't add too much food-peelings etc to the bin for a start, the worm need to acclimatize and get themselves used to the environment. Don't bring in too much changes or tossing in the bin or they may get upset and try escaping from the bin.

I think this should suffice for generating a simple, affordable and good worm bin.