I would like to make a worm bin and keep it in the house.  Significant Other says "No Way"  I don't want worms in the house!! They remind me of snakes!!"  You'd think a guy wouldn't mind a few hundred worms in their own little box. lol

Anyway, since keeping them in the house is out of the question (drats!!), and i don't have a heated garage,  am I S.O.L. ?  

I am in Texas, so it gets freakin hot in the summer - especially the garage (no windows to open and let the heat out :(  and the winters are normally very chilly. 

Have any members maintained a worm box outside?  What about the extreme temperatures outside?  What have you done to keep them from freezing or cooking?

Thanks, I look forward to reading the responses!!

many many moons ago, when i was wee lad i used to collect night crawlers to sell to the local bait shop right across the street. now in winter i kept my worms int the shed for midwest winters. i used a tote and built a 2x4 frame around it. insalated it andsealed it off with plywood. the ideal is to keep the soil from freezing. another thing you could do is to bury the tote past the freeze line.

Joann,

Not sure how helpful this will be as I am a zone or so warmer than you but.......I have a 30 foot long by 3 foot wide worm box under one of my sets of rabbit cages.  They get the scraps and process the manure as well as devour our and two of my neighbors daily newspapers.  They also get every cardboard box that comes to the door.  They are eating machines.  Once a week I take the pitchfork to the bin and take a scoop or two and give it to the ducks and chickens.  Each scoop probably holds 1000 worms or so.   If you are worried about the worms freezing just take the box or tub like what some here use to put their cupped figs in.  Put screen on the bottom and bury it leaving an inch or so above ground.  That will protect the worms from freezing.  Far as cooking keep them in a shady spot, perhaps buried next to the foundation where the roof protects from rain.  You do need the box moist but not soggy.

Jo Ann,

What are the worms for? Have you selected the variety you want?

Then there's the compost pile.      (You DO have a compost pile, don't you)?

I bought some little red worms that our local gas station/convienience store sells for fishing bait last spring and released them into my compost pile.  Before that, I never saw a worm, and I did a lot of digging for water lines, fence posts, and trees.   Now that I also mulch heavily with straw, they're all over the place.  

It's not an indoor worm bin...but it's better than nothing.

This is my experience from having a worm bin last year:

I wouldn't want them inside either.  Sometimes they crawl out, and you'll also get a variety of other creepy crawlies: fruit flies, soldier flies, spiders, etc.  I actually had a huge amount of non-earthworm bugs in the bin.  You could probably do a better job of burying the scraps under the newspaper, and maybe that would help, but it seems impossible to keep those things out. 

Also, as the fruits and vegetables decompose, they will release a lot of moisture.  You'll need to have holes in the bottom of the bin to allow it to escape, or before long you'll have a disgusting puddle of muck in your bin and the worms will drown.

If you can keep them semi-protected they probably won't freeze.  I lived in New York last year, zone 7a, and kept my bin outside and they didn't freeze (it was a fairly mild winter though, with no extended deep freezes).  I kept them in my carport.  All of the biological activity within the bin will keep the temperatures within the bin higher than ambient.  I'm not that familiar with your climate, but I would think you would have warmer winters than in NY. 

In the summer the main thing is to keep them in the shade.  They should be able to withstand quite a bit of heat.  One reason is that there will be a whole lot of moisture in the bin as the fruits and vegetables decompose.  This moisture will help to buffer against excess heat. 

Another consideration is the larger the bin, the less it will be subject to temperature fluctuations.  I downloaded plans from the internet, it basically used up an entire sheet of plywood. 

Not sure what you're thinking about in terms of what type of bin to use.  I tried plastic in my garage, but I didn't have any way to drain the moisture, and the plastic didn't let in enough oxygen, so after a month or two I had a very smelly anaerobic mess.  I would recommend doing one outside, with a wooden bin with holes in the bottom. 

All in all I loved having the worm bin.  So let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be glad to answer.

Rob

Thanks for the replies!!

Dave, I do not have a compost pile.  I joke around about "the back 40" but in reality it's more like the back 30 ft.  It's a track house with about 10ft from house to property line, and with the heat around here in the summer I am not a fan of having a compost pile.  I did have one years ago in NY, different situation.

Ruben - worm poop!!  AKA worm castings.  I do have worms in the garden, and around the house.  Just thought it would be nice to have more.

WillsC - We had 40+ days over 100 this past summer and and over 70 days the summer before.

Paul, that sounds like a great idea for inside - too bad Glenn won't go for that!

Now you guys have me thinking...........  maybe i will set up a worm friendly area near the house that will attract them and encourage them to do their thing - an in ground bin with out the bin.  Since there is no bottom the moisture will seep into the ground.  I probably won't add kitchen scraps, but I bet lawn and garden stuff will do fine.

Joann,

As long as the box is in the shade and buried in the soil the temp should be fine.  For those in warmer climates a compost pile generally gets taken over by black soldier fly larvae if kitchen scraps are being put in it and coffee grounds.......not a bad thing as they are an awesome bug but they will out compete the worms.  I use a ton of newspaper in mine as the worms will eat it and the soldier fly larvae will not so it gives the worms the advantage.  If you are going to start it is easier to get a good supply of the worms.  Some people just put a few worms in and figure the worms will reproduce and fill the container but generally that just results in way too much food for the few worms which leads to a putrid environment and worm death.

Jo Ann,

Here is something that may help.