One way to work around the prob with excess water is to eliminate it. The whole "wrung-out sponge" definition of proper amounts of moisture is way too interpretive.

I gradually got away from using more moisture than is necessary to the point where there is hardly ever any leakage.

But occasionally there will be some, and the way to handle that is make your bins with only 2 holes in the bottom. One on each side of one end of the bin,

When the moisture level is OK, tilt the bin up slightly so that the end with the holes is elevated. When you need to drain some leachate (not worm tea) tilt the hole-less end up slightly for drainage.

Chuckiebtoo

I had read about the tilt to drain but never before have read about the tilt the other way not to drain of your system until now.

Sbslider: Watch the "shoe-box" sized worm bin post for my upcoming post. I first started producing bins of that size for newbies/office situations/children and it is so user-friendly to make me almost swear off those big ole totes. (boy do those things get to be a load)

They are cumbersome, unwieldly, space-robbing (think of all that unused space in the upper 2/3's of each one)

Also, if you have a bin disaster with one 18 gallon tote, you could lose the whole damn herd. Think stock market crash diversity.

Chuckiebtoo

We are eagerly anticipating your shoe box size worm bin for sure. My office bins are 10 gallons, and there is not a ton of unused space at the top of the one I recently started. But smaller would be easier to handle, especially where mine is located.

Last year I decided I am ready to experiment with undrilled plastic bins. I used a 16 gal (??, the next size up from 9 gal) Rubbermaid tote and lined the walls with corrugated cardboard. (yes, I am a big fan of corrugated cb). The bottom was lined with strips of corr.cb vertically (got this tip from another website). From previous experience, when cb or newspaper is put flat at the bottom of a bin, they often do not compost completely.
I was very careful with adding wet wormfood. Just like cuckiebtoo"s idea, the bin is slightly tilted and when ever I feel that it got too wet, I inserted a rolled up corrugated cb to the lower end "chimney"-like. Even when it's not too wet, I use these "chimneys" for extra air and the worms love to hide and breed between the roll layers.
I harvested this bin last week. The VC is wetter at the bottom but not mucky. When grabbed by hand, it maintained the shape but I could break it up and no uncomposted paper product from the bottom either. I guess I graduated, hehe.

BTW, liquid coming from the bottom of a bin is NOT worm tea, it is just leachate. It was mentioned that a properly managed bin do not have or very little leachate. So sbslider, if your bin doesn't produce leachate, you could have 2 working worm bins instead of just one.
Besides, no holes at the bottom means NO MESS.

This post was edited by otis11 on Sun, Apr 21, 13 at 13:46

Thanks for sharing this Otis11. I have been fooling around with worm towers today and thinking that the worms underground don't have ventilation holes beneath them either. It makes sense that if you manage the input contents that one need not have liquid coming out. I like the cardboard chimney idea, it will be incorporated soon in my office bin.

I can still have two working bins instead of one, just need a bit of duct tape . . .

sbslider, an additional note, I think it is important to use corrugated cardboard rather than just cb to prevent compaction.
I am also (very) picky when p/u corr.cb from stores. I only take the double layered cb. The asian ones are better for my composting than north american, they break up faster (inferior qual.?) It makes real nice crumbly VC.

This post was edited by otis11 on Mon, Apr 22, 13 at 16:26

Otis, when you say corrugated, you mean the two sided c.b. with the wavy layer between? Or something else?

Lynn

Yes, the one with the wavy layer in between My favourite is the one that has more than just 1 wavy layer. Usually to pack machines with.