RE: Introduction to the Continuous Flow Through (CFT) worm bins

Very nice Huy. Do you add organic material like dead leaves or grass? Do you have any problems with bugs or flies feeding on the top surface of food scraps?

Here are my bins.

I have been using them for a long time, more than 15 years. They have good ventilation and I have set them up on stone to get them off the ground more. I used to have a real problem with little black flies feeding on my food scraps but now I just always have a layer of leaves, straw or grass on top and I add new material just under it. This keeps the flies out.

My system is not as efficient as yours. I fill one bin 2/3 full and then stop adding to it and let it cook. Then I switch to the other bin. It takes a year to fully decompose the contents and I remove it all at once. I do stir and water the bins regularly.

In this CFT bin, I use mainly kitchen scraps and occasionally horse manure and other garden waste. I don’t mind the bugs, they are part of the ecosystem. As for flies, they are controlled with various method combined:

in period of the year where the boom, I would use some fly trap around the worm farming area.
I also have a colony of black soldier fly larvae. They did out in winter and progressively come back when the weather warms up. As the colony is established, they actually lower the population of other types of flies including house flies by generating a pheromone which has a repelling effect on other fly species and by consuming all the food before the other flies’ eggs even hatch.
I use a lot of dry shredded corrugated cardboard and coffee chaff (husk) under the food waste and also covering it in thick layer. This absorbs moisture, add bulkiness and hence allowing better ventilation which in turn reduces odours. Additionally it makes it difficult for fruit flies to access the food to lay their eggs.

In your system, if you can get a good C:N ratio and control moisture and air then you should be able to raise the heat and increase the Composting speed a little bit.