A common question we get at Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm is, “Where should I put my composter?” Part of your composting success depends on its location. Let’s take a look at the best places to put your vermicomposter.
The first decision you need to make is whether you want to compost outdoors or indoors. Some folks leave their composting worms outside year-round. Others choose to compost outdoors during the warm months of the year and move operations indoors in the cold winter. And some — especially urban dwellers — go for small-scale indoor composting.
Start by looking at the volume of scraps you plan to compost. Large-scale operations for an entire apartment building, restaurant, or neighborhood may need the help of an engineer to find a perfect location. Most homeowners produce a modest amount of kitchen scraps, plus vegetation from gardening, which can be handled by a composting bin ranging from 5 to 30 gallons in volume. Odor from indoor composting is more noticeable, so matching the volume of scraps to the productivity of your composting bin is especially important. In a pinch, extra scraps can be frozen, discarded, or thrown into an outdoor compost pile.
Remember that the worm bin needs to be accessible, so that you can add scraps easily. You can place it on the path between your door and your vehicle, just outside the back door, in the garage, or right in the kitchen. If the bin is too difficult to reach, your composting program can lose momentum and fizzle out. If you dread trekking out to the composter, keep scraps in the refrigerator or freezer until you get around to it.
Outdoors
If you decide that outdoors is the right place for most or all of your composting, look around your property.
- Don’t put it right up against the wall of a wooden house, in case insects get the wrong idea and start invading.
- Best to find a spot under an overhang, on a porch or under a large tree. Gallons of rain can drown your worms. A worm bin with a lid is ideal, because it discourages the larger vermin and keeps most of the rain out.
- Do not place your worm bin in direct sunlight. This will cook your worms, even on cooler days. The heat builds up, and the process of composting also generates some heat. Provide shade.
- Breezes are great in hot weather. They help lower the bin temperature. Ideally, find a place where the wind gently blows. If the lid refuses to stay on, use bungee cords to keep it in place.
Some worm bins are huge and, when full of compost, are too heavy to move. Some are made of wood or chicken wire and cannot be moved. Think about whether you might want to move the bin to a more sheltered location in the winter. If you can empty the bin of enough finished compost, it might be light enough to move. Or, leave it in place and move some of the worms to a separate indoor bin when the weather gets cold. Some composting fans prefer to insulate their outdoor worm bin and hope that worm eggs will hatch in the spring to replace the ones that freeze.
Indoors
It’s not too hard to find a discreet place to set up an indoor composter. The basement or semi-heated garage can take a composter of any size. Smaller composters tuck easily into a closet. And fashionable, plastic tray-based composters look great in the kitchen or in a kitchen cabinet. Uncle Jim’s carries several small composters that are ideal indoors or out (such as the Worm Factory 360, the Worm Cafe and the Can-O-Worms). They keep the same footprint on the ground, but you can add trays to build up. Also, you can make space by harvesting extra compost and setting it aside until you need it.
If you decide to compost indoors, see our tips for preventing odors and problems with your indoor composter.
There is a wide variety of composters available, or you can make your own worm bin. Put it in a convenient location that is also sheltered from the elements. Your worms will generate fabulous compost for your garden, and you will reduce waste.
If you need worms for your composting project, order the Red Composting Worm Mix from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. We have been selling worms for more than 30 years.
31 thoughts on “Best Places to Put Worm Composting Bins”
I have my worm factory 360 in my comfortable tempt. Basement. Notice worms are not too actively eating my scraps, why?
My worm factory is in my basement (plants & lemon trees there for winter). I noticed not too much activity & scraps not disappearing to fast, are they going in dormacy?
Maybe your basement is too cold or your choice of scraps is not good for the worms? I have found that giving the worms an extra special treat like a half eaten Apple, squashed grapes or something else sweet gets them pretty fired up.
I am having the same issue in MA…
Here in Minneapolis the basement is best. Garage too hot in summer and too cold in winter.
I am in Tucker. GA. My 360 is in the basement where the temp is rather steady and rarely goes below 69 degrees. I have been feeding food scraps, some cut grass, coffee grounds and any other appropriate material I can secure. I do not know how many worms I have. I started with a basic kit from UJWF. I have removed some wars at different times and put them in my vegetable garden, shrubbery beds and my grass yard. I have continued to rotate the shelves and take the worm castings and save it in a 5 gal. pail. With a small setup like mine, there never is never a large amount of worm castings to salvage. I am constantly adding it to my potted plants.
My wife thinks I am a bit crazy for raising worms, but I am having fun.
I read somewhere that you shouldn’t feed worms grass clippings because it is dangerous for them….
Hi Grant! Fresh clippings might not be a great idea due to them being hard for the worms to digest. Once they have begun to decay, they are a great source of food and bedding for your bin. Also, you will not want to add to much at once; it could create excess heat in your bin.
I had a worm farm last year, however, it became overrun with maggots. Any suggestions to avoid this? I also had them in too hot of an area in August and ultimately am not currently composting. Would like to start the new year off right and give it another go. Any suggestions?
When you added “food”, i.e., scraps to compost, did you bury them? If you did not, I could see you getting maggots.
Here in Florida, leaving a worm bin outside is disastrous. Too much heat and bugs big enough to tote the poor worms off. Nope, my worms are in my utility closet. They love it in there. Dark, cool and quiet. I only had a problem once with fruit flies and I hung a vinaigrette trap and it took care of that fast.
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On a hot day, my garage maybe gets around 85 degrees for like 4 hours, but then it cools down greatly. Do you think this will be bad for the worms, or does the bedding stay pretty constant (unless the heat is constant)?
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I live in Tennessee , very hot n muggy in the summer, the temps get low in the winter. Do you think if I put a styrofoam cooler for the bedding and worms with holes poked in the top, into an old cooler with horse manure between the two, it would keep it warm enough to survive in the garage the winter?
I want to start raising worms and live in Florida. My garage get’s extremely hot and doesn’t cool down until the sun goes down. I have no basement, so the only place to put my bin is outside under a tree. The spot I have chosen stays shaded all day. The only activity under this tree is occasional rabbits. My question is, do I stand a chance in success under this condition.
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Why are several of my worms crawling up the sides of my tote bin rather than staying with the others in the bed? Is this normal?