Step 1: First of all you need your actual bin. My first one was made
from a 44 gallon trash can bought at home depot. It was around 35.00.
The 55 gallon drum I got from a friend that just gave to me. I used a
utility knife to cut the opening of the trashcan. It was pretty easy
and only required a few strokes. The 55 gallon drum however needed a
jigsaw with metal/plastic blade to cut the opening.

Step 2: I used threaded rods that were 3/8" thick and were zinc coated
to prevent rust. I don't think rust is a problem but my mom says she
heard that it was toxic in the garden so this is just precautionary. 6
foot rods are 5.00 each and you need 3 to 4 of them depending on what
size bin and how far apart you put the rods. I used a jigsaw with
metal blades to cut the rods to length. Drilled holes in the bin with
3/8" drill bit. Again used the drill to spin the rods through the
holes in the bin because it is a pretty tight fit.

Step 3: Put 6 layers of newspaper on top on rods inside of your bin to
hold castings, worms, and starter bedding. The paper will compost and
you can use a garden rake to scrap off castings when you need it.
Others have suggested 18" of castings from the rods to the top before
you start harvesting. I haven't harvested anything yet because I want
my bin to be almost full before I start harvesting.

Step 4: Add bedding and food scraps on the top and when the castings
is ready you can harvest!

A few words I have to say about this design. I've only had it for
about a month or so but so far I am loving it. I used to have worm
factories (2) but they just don't seem as efficient as these and I
hated harvesting because I had to seperate the worms from castings. My
hope with this design is that once the bins are pretty full that there
will be hardly any worms near the bottom of the bin. Hopefully
harvesting will be easier. Like I said I haven't had this long enough
yet so I can't comment on that. When I dig from inside the bin all the
way to the rods, the castings are pretty compact towards the bottom
and I don't have many worms down there. I think when the bin is full
there will be even less worms for a easier and faster harvest.

I have also noticed that the worms can take much more food than my
worms in the worm factories. I'm not sure why but the food disappears
pretty quickly. I might just have more worms in the new bins compared
to the worm factories. Whatever it is, the food is disappearing fast
and so is the bedding which prompted me to make the 2nd blue 55 gallon
bin. I'm going to try to sell my worm factories off to recoup the cost.

I do not add any water in the bins at all. It seems the open bottom
and closed top give perfect moisture level. There is a lot of water on
the lid when I open it but the worms seem to be thriving so I'm not
adding more paper.

Hope this helps people that want to try a flow thru bin! Btw you can
find 55 gallon bins on craigslist and pennywiser for around 25 bucks.
Cheaper than the trash can I bought at home depot. Some of them have
lids that are removable too so you wouldn't need to cut anything.

Wow that was a long post but after watching American Idol I just felt
like I should "Give back" to the forum members and everything I've
learned.

Brandywine/Suddith/Quinsberry
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Tennessee Britches
Cherokee Purple
Prudens Purple
Black Cherry

Maybe Caspian Pink

.......with about 50 Honorable mentions. ( smile)

Carolyn

1) one early : Sophie's choice
2) one late : Brandywine
3) one large : Kellogg's Breakfast
4) one cherry : Sungold
5) one to can/sauce : Opalka
6) one unknown to experiment with : Hawaiian Currant or Cherokee Chocolate

Park's Season Starter Hybrid~ 60 days from setting out transplants. F1VT. Determinate. Always grow the first tomato on the block with this super-fast determinate variety! It sets huge yields of juicy-sweet 6-ounce fruits -- and they taste as good as they look! Set plants 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart. Pkt is 30 seeds.

Tomato Sugary~ The Sweetest Cherry Yet!
So bountiful that you may have to prune the plant back in mid-season! 60 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Many Cherry Tomatoes look great but taste like nothing, while others are flavorful but don't have the big, steady yields we all love. Well, award-winning Sugary has it all -- super-sweet flavor, a fun new shape, and huge, huge yields on plants that just keep growing up and up all season! Scoring a full 9.5 on the Brix scale of sugar content, these delicious little 1/2-ounce dark pink fruits are packed with sweetness. This plant is absolutely unstoppable. It sets huge clusters of fruit all season long, and grows so vigorously that you may have to cut it back in midseason just to keep it within bounds! Never fear -- it will keep bearing like crazy!

Park's Whopper~ 70 days from setting out transplants. Indeterminate. Set plants 2 to 2 1/2 feet apart.

Sweet Baby Girl~ 65 days to maturity from setting out transplants. ISI (intermediate short-internode). Our search for the Best Cherry Tomato in the World has come to an end. Sweet Baby Girl Hybrid is hands-down the finest for all kinds of good reasons: 1. It rarely cracks. 2. It grows on space-saving, manageable plants. 3. It yields HUGE numbers of fruit over a long season. 4. It has a great after-picking shelf life. 5. It is the sweetest, best-tasting Cherry Tomato ever! The fruit is small -- about ½ to 1 ounce -- and arises in big clusters on intermediate short internode vines. Now, what this means is that the vines keep producing all season, but the space between each cluster of fruit is much less than on traditional vines. In other words, you don't waste garden space, water, and food supporting a massive vine with widely-spaced clusters of fruit! Sweet Baby Girl's vines just reach about 3 to 5 feet high and 2 feet wide, yet yield like nobody's business. Just how much fruit can you expect from each plant? Well, in our gardens they each offered up TWO POUNDS OR MORE PER WEEK at the height of the season. That's a lot of ½-ounce fruits! Resistant to Tobacco Mosaic Virus races 0, 1, and 2, Sweet Baby Girl sets fruit in giant clusters, but I recommend picking them individually rather than as a bunch. You'll get each at the height of ripeness that way, and maximize your harvest.

Tomato Marcellino Hybrid~ 73 days to maturity from setting out transplants. Determinate; upright habit. Marcellino has incredible holding power, keeping fruit fresh up to a MONTH after ripening! It's determinate, so it sets its enormous harvest all at once -- dozens upon dozens of clusters of fruit, each with 20 to 25 little tomatoes dangling alluringly! There has simply never been a Tomato of any size and shape with this kind of holding ability. This plant is upright rather than vining, reaching about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

Tomato Better Bush Improved~ 68 days from setting out transplants. ISI (indeterminate short-internodes). If you're looking for an old-fashioned-flavored tomato with the juiciness and distinctive "tang" you remember from vine-fresh tomatoes of the past, Better Bush Improved Hybrid is the best choice. These big, luscious, 4-inch fruits grow very densely on indeterminate 4-foot plants, thanks to shorter internodes. The central stem rarely needs staking (except during those "bumper crop" times!), and this plant begins early in the season and just keeps going! Resistant to Verticillium Wilt and Fusarium Wilt Race 1.

Brandywine (Sudduth Strain)
80 days, indeterminate — Potato-leaf plants produce large (fourteen to thirty six ounce fruits) that are oblate in shape and pink in color. Excellent flavor. David Pendergrass sent us the seed. This variety originally is from the Ben Quisenberry collection who reportedly obtained the seed from a Mrs. Doris Sudduth Hill who said that it had been in her family since about 1900.

Black Cherry
65 days, indeterminate — This is a new variety that is very productive with cherry shaped fruits that have the dark, purplish coloring of 'Cherokee Purple'. Flavor is wonderful, very rich and sweet.

Red Grape
60 days, semi-determinate — This variety is modern and currently very popular in the fresh produce market. The fruits are bright red, weigh about an ounce, and are smaller than most cherry tomatoes (½ by ¾ inches). Since they are mouth-sized they are perfect for salads and garnish plates. Twelve to sixteen fruits per cluster.

Marianna's Peace
85 days, indeterminate — Reportedly a family heirloom from Czechoslovakia dating back to the early 1900s. Potato leaf foliage. Fruit are deep reddish pink, good size weighing around a pound, good sweet / acid balance flavor, very meaty and a shy seeded variety like Brandywine. This variety has been rare, highly sought after since its introduction in about 2001. It is becoming widely available and finally affordable.

Livingston’s Favorite - (90 days) Indeterminate, 6 to 10 ounce smooth fruit with exceptional flavor and color. Introduced by Livingston in 1883. Originally developed for canners, they withstood shipping over long distances and had desirable market qualities.

Livingston’s Magnus - Indeterminate, potato leaf with six to eight ounce oblate, pink fruit, excellent taste. Introduced by the Livingston Seed Company in 1900.
"Livingston's Magnus is unsurpassed in quality and in the production of fine, large fruits. While well adapted to main-crop planting, it also takes first rank for early market purposes. The form is perfect, uniform, large and attractive; quite deep through from stem to blossom end. The flesh is very firm. A robust grower, with short joints, setting its clusters closer together than most varieties, and is a very heavy cropper. It has broad foliage which prevents sunburn in hot sections. Ripens evenly, does not crack about the stem. For staking up in the open field, as well as for forcing in greenhouses, is fully equal to any for such purposes."

Giant Oxheart
85 days, indeterminate — The 1933 catalog description of this 1926 Livingston introduction follows: "Oxheart is truly the giant of all tomatoes. Its attractive shape, large size and excellent table qualities has quickly brought it into deserved popularity among backyard gardeners. Market-growers are finding it in great demand. There is now great rivalry in gardening neighborhoods to see who can grow the finest Oxheart in shape and size. Three pound specimens are quite common. One customer sent us a five pound specimen.
The Oxheart is smooth, thick, tender and almost seedless; frequently showing two inches thick without a seed cavity. The color is pink and it has that delicious mild flavor that every lover of this fruit likes so well. Rich soil adds greatly to its productiveness. Late variety."

So, did I help or hurt? :)

Stacie