VermiBag Composting Systems

Setting up your Vermi-Bucket

The Vermi-Bucket is our smallest VermiBag System and is

designed to fit perfectly into a Lowes encore 5 Gallon

Bucket. It will work with other 5 Gallon buckets, as long as

the outside diameter of less than 12 ½ ” but it was

designed to fit the Lowes encore buckets perfectly.

The Vermi-Bucket will transform your ordinary 5 Gallon

bucket, into an efficient continuous flow vermicomposting

system. ”Feed the top….harvest the bottom”. No more

dumping all the contents of the bucket into a tray and

sorting the entire bucket. The Vermi-Bucket is

constructed from a durable nylon pack cloth material. The

design of the system allows for good airflow thru the

system, while maintaining good moisture control. The dual

bucket design serves as both a stand and catch basin for any

excess leachate that my leak from the bottom.

This little system does a phenomenal job of growing worms.

The combination of good air flow from top to bottom and a

cool outer fabric layer for the worms to hang out in and

great moisture control lead to one thing……. lots of worms.

Don’t be fooled by the small size as this system, as it has the

capability to hold a lot of worms as long as you take care of

them.

What you will need to setup your Vermi-Bucket

What you need

1 Vermi-Bucket liner

2 Lowes buckets (Blue Encore Buckets for $2.98 ea.) Or equivalent…

1 snap on blue lid ($1.38)

See links below for the specific items we recommend…..

1) 2 (Blue) Lowes 5 Gal Buckets ($2.98 ea)

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Lowes-5-Gallon-Residential-Bucket/3761919

2) 1 Blue Plastic Bucket Lid ($1.38)

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Letica-12-05-in-Blue-Plastic-Bucket-Lid/50434778

How to Set up your Vermi-Bucket

1) Cut out the bottom of one of the

buckets (approx. 8 ½”) An 8 ½” dinner

plate works perfect as a template to

draw the circle on the bottom of the

bucket, then use a Jigsaw or small hand

saw to cut the hole out. This will be

your inner bucket that holds the liner.

(This opening doesn’t have to be exact

by any means.)

2) If you want you can remove the handle on the outer bucket (the bucket that acts as the stand) as it is really

not needed, but you should leave the handle on the inner bucket that has the liner, as this will provide an easy

way to pull the Vermi-Bucket out when harvesting and also provide a hook to keep thebucket from sliding in

the harvest tray.

3) We recommend cutting an opening in the lid about 4”-

6” in diameter and then use a hot glue gun to glue

screen on the back side to prevent pests from getting in

the bucket. You can experiment on how big of an

opening works best for you climate.

4) Optional: Drill a large hole (approx. 2.5”) near the

bottom of the outer bucket. Then place screen on the

inside of the holes to ensure no escapee worms can find

their way out. Locate the hole for there is about 2” of lip remaining in the lower bucket to catch and leachate

from the system if you are running it wet. This hole functions as both a ventilation point and also a way to

visually monitor the level of leachate in the bottom of the bucket. **Don’t drill the hole too high or when the

inner bucket is inserted it will partially block the hole and limit the air flow in the system.

Now you’re ready to secure your Vermi-Bucket in place.

5) Before securing your Vermi-Bucket liner into place….tighten the bottom section as

much as possible. It is helpful to insert something into the opening to make it

easier to seal the bottom completely. The best method we have found is to cut

some newspaper into 2” strips and then wet them down and roll them into about

a 1 ½” thick roll. Then place this roll into the opening and tighten the cords as

much as possible. The newspaper will be slightly soft around the edges and allows

the bag edge to compress into the newspaper roll to provide a very tight seal.

When securing the bottom put a half hitch in the cord to prevent the cord stop

from losing up. If you tie a full knot into the cording it will be very difficult to

remove later.

6) Place the Vermi-Bucket liner into the upper bucket (the one with the bottom

cut out) and then roll over the top edge over the upper lip of the bucket. Then

position the bag so the logo is centered between the handle attachments of

the inner bucket.

7) Slowly pull the tightening strap, while ensuring the liner folds properly to give a

clean neat look to top webbing.

8) Once the bag is firmly secured in the inner bucket place it into the outer (stand)

bucket. Now you are ready for some worms.

Adding bedding and worms…..

1) Place 2 or 3 sheets of wet newspaper in the bottom before adding the bedding. DO NOT place a thick layer of

newspaper in the bottom, as it will lead to anaerobic conditions if you stop the airflow.

2) If you have any mostly finished compost or castings, we recommend placing about 3 inches in the very bottom of

the system. This will discourage the worms from hanging out in the very bottom of the system when you first

start it up, as there will be no food in the finished castings.

3) Then add additional bedding until the total depth in the bag is about 6”.

(We highly recommend making up a premade bedding to use in your new system. This bedding works very

well and very easy to make. Making Worm Bedding.)

4) Now add your worms…..the Vermi-Bucket can support about 1 lbs of worms if you provide them proper bedding

and food.

5) In a few months (depending on how many worms you have and how much you are feeding) the system should be

getting close to full….then it’s time to harvest castings….

Do not fill the system too quickly when you first start up the system. Make sure the material is worked over pretty

well before adding additional bedding. If you fill it too quickly there will tend to be quite a bit of unfinished

compost in the bottom when you harvest and worms will stay in that area since there is plenty of food. Once the

lower section has been composted pretty well, slowly begin adding additional material as desired.

Harvesting the Vermi-Bucket

Harvesting the casting from the Vermi-Bucket is as simple as pulling

out the top bucket with the lid firmly in place, then setting the upper

bucket into a shallow tray at about a 45 degree angle. A mortar tray

works very well for this. Position the upper lip of the bucket over the

edge of the tray to keep it securely in place while accessing the

bottom section. You can also swing the handle around an hook it

under the corner of the mortar tray to keep the bucket from moving.

Then simply loosen the draw string then slowing pull out the

finished castings. No more muddy messes to deal with. We

recommend only taking about 4” or 5” of casting from the bottom of

the system during each harvest or possibly less if you start seeing a

lot of worms in the castings. For best results it is a good idea to feed the system a couple days before you harvest to pull

the worms to the surface. I have found that Worm chow works great for this…or ground up bird seed, but some sweet

fruits will work as well.

When you have finished your harvest, simply tighten up the draw string and place the upper Vermi-Bucket back into the

other 5 Gallon bucket. You may still have some worms in the compost that you harvest from the bottom of the bucket,

but it is easy to quickly go thru the harvested castings and pull any stray worms out and place them back into the system.

It is important to run the Vermi-bucket at least ¾ full. If you run the system less than that, your chances of having quite a

few worms in your finished castings increases. The Vermi-Bucket is designed to operate best at a nearly full capacity.