Looks like the trash can composter is doing well- red wigglers are reproducing here, meaning the environment is hospitable for them. I water mine once a week (half a watering can) after I add my food scraps and cover with leaves. A dry compost pile has a hard time working- keep it damp and you'll keep it moving... and keep the worms around, too.
I made another trash can composter today- this time with a nice door upgrade. What for? Now that my first composter is filled up, it's going to be tedious to empty out the finished compost 6 months from now. With the door at the bottom, I hope to remove the finished material much easier. All in all, the project cost me less than $30 and about an hour of work... better yet, it was a cinch to make. I picked a trash can that had a relatively flat side so it would be easier to attach hinges flush to the surface. Here's a close-up of the door at the bottom: To build the door, I drilled the holes for all three hinges and screwed them in place first (don't mount…
Yes. I didn't drill holes in mine for a while because I just left the lid off, resembling my larger sized cubic yard compost bins. However, using a lid with plenty of holes can offer the same benefits- good airflow and it allows rainwater to penetrate, too. Now that it's summer, compost systems need more moisture to work effectively... keep them damp, and if you want to use a lid, drill holes to contain the process without hampering it.