Worm tube

I worm compost directly in my garden, you can use it in a raised bed garden or a traditional garden.
I took a 4 inch pvc pipe and my dad drilled some inch holes in the bottom 6 inches of the pipe.

I buried the tube in the garden in the 6 inches of the raised garden.

I drove a stake in the tube to keep it from falling over.

I added some compost

added some red wiggler worms

added some food scraps and some more compost

for a lid cover to keep insects and small animals out of the tube, I put a flower pot on top of the tube, I glued a piece of screen over the hole in the pot

I just add food scraps to the tube, and the worms go in and out of the holes in the bottom and go out into the garden and leave worm castings that are good for the garden, and then they return to the tube for food.

I have used the worm tube for 4 years in my garden and each year there are red wiggler worms in my gardens, the worms leave casting as they move through the soil mix, the plants love the castings, and grow outstandingly!

I stop feeding in late fall, and start feeding in the tube again early spring.

So just curious on the length of pipe you are using. Also, how many of these set ups do you have in your gardens?

I just have the one worm tube. Last year I read an article on the worm tube in a traditional garden, and I looked it over and thought why not use it in my raised garden. The tube comes in that length and that was how long they had it in the article, I think it could be shorter and would still work, but I've found that having it that tall helps to keep critters out of it. It is about 3 feet counting the 6 inches in the raised garden.

I have used it two years in just my raised garden to see how it would do compared to the raised garden without one, mine has always produced the best, but maybe I have a green thumb...

I live in zone 6 so I was concerned about the worms surviving the winter. I checked my garden for worms in the early spring and yes they were there! I don't have any weed cloth on the bottom of my raised garden. I used newspaper on top of the grass when I first made it and I've never had a need for the weed cloth. The tube is only in the 6 inchs of soil mix. I checked my soil mix over the past two years and have found many worms in it, and in the tube.

Now that we know the tube works and the worms survived the winter, we will be putting a worm tube in each raised garden.

Thanks for the great reply! Freezing has been a concern as well. I put down double layer of weed barrier and a cardboard layer. So I dont know that they could go deeper into the ground.

How about this idea, cut a hole in the cloth and cardboard the size of the tube and sit the tube on it. It will give the worms a place to escape in the winter and to come back in the spring. Isn't it funny how they know how to find the food? But they do!

How do you have your weed fabric attached to the bottom of your garden?

That is a really good idea.
I stapled the weed barrier to the bottom of the frame.

I think they might just slide out in the space between the staples, they like to get in tight places. I have a friend and she just leaves her worm bin outside in winter, and we have some really cold winters, and her worms still lived. I'm not sure that mine leave the garden in winter either, because I have seen them in the soil mix when it was cold and snowing.

I have made a new raised bed this year and it is made from 1 X 6's, I've added a worm tube to it. I have added some red wiggler worms from my worm bin to the tube. The soil mix that I made also had worm castings added to it from my worm bin, so some red wiggler worms were added in the worm castings along with many worm cocoons that will hatch out, so there is indeed worms in my raised garden from the very start.

My soil mix has worm castings, rabbit manure, shredded leaves, perlite and my home made compost.

I will add food scraps all but meat, grease and milk products to the worm tube, a little at a time, I don't put a lot of food in at one time, the tube is only a device for a way to feed the worms in the garden so they will stay in the garden. They do travel about the garden. Many people panic cause they only see them in the tube with the food, but if the tube has food in it, many of the worms are going to be where the food is, once the food is gone the worms will move out into the garden, I often spray water into the tube when it is getting empty of food, the worm casting in the tube will move out into the garden with the water.

In my worm bin, where I raise my red wiggler worms, when I add food, the worms will gather in that area of the bin in masses, but not all the worms are there, many of them are out in the other areas of the worm bin, they often travel about the bin on the sides and even on the lid of the bin, so I'm sure in the worm tube, the worms may gather in the tube to eat the food, but not all of them.

I have seen that when my tube has food in it, there will be many worms in it, and when it is empty of food, there isn't any worms in it, when I add more food they return to the food, that is proof enough for me that the worms travel about the raised garden and leave worm casting as they move about the garden.

So here is a picture of the raised garden with the worm tube in it that I just made this year. The soil mix in the garden is rabbit manure, shredded leaves from last fall, perlite, worm castings, and compost I made from rabbit manure, grass clippings and vegetable scraps.


And this is my garden that has had the worm tube in it for several years now.



Both gardens are doing really great!