Help with keeping worms

[rary]

I have a wormery where I put my vegetable kitchen scraps and when I remove some of the vermicompost I usually check through it when I take it into the greenhouse to remove any material that hasn't been composted along with any worms that may be present, I put this material and worms into a small container where it can continue to be converted to vermicompost, I occasionally add some tea bags, banana skins along with other fruits that rot quite quickly, when I opened it tonight the worms have multiplied a lot, there are no holes in the container so there is a fair bit of water in it, I have just shredded a couple of egg boxes and added this to it hopefully this will dry it up a bit, but my main concern is that there is a bit of a pong from it, how can I correct this, would adding lime help or do I need to put some holes in the container, or is there some other action I can take

[veggiechicken]

Wormeries usually have a drain tap to take away the liquid. Can you add one?
I've given up on wormeries - just can't seem to get the little wiggly things to do much so, for once, you shouldn't take any notice of my opinion.

[lolie]

You need drainage of some kind. Worms are prone to drowning if they can't get away from pooled fluid.

You're pretty much creating a new worm farm in the smaller container, so you need bedding of some kind. Cardboard or coir is fine.

It's possible that you're adding too much green waste for a small container, too. You're on the right track with the egg cartons. I'd add drainage of some kind and cut back on how much waste you're adding until it stops smelling.

[Penellype]

It sounds as if it is too wet and there is not enough air. Worms need to breathe so if there is no air inlet you do need to make holes as well as draining off the liquid somehow.

[BUFFS]

just drill a small hole in the base and plug it with a small piece of wooden dowel, get the dowel first, it will swell slightly so it wont drip after 30 mins, just pull it out once a week and get more cardboard, shredded paper into the mix, that's where I use all the letters that had personal details on, yep, security worms..

[Snoop Puss]

Definitely too wet, as everyone says. One easy option would be to buy a turkey baster (don't use the one you use for cooking!), tilt the container to one side and suck up excess liquid using the baster. Makes brilliant plant food. That said, the worms might also like a bit of ventilation. A few holes in the top and use something like mosquito netting or a bit of fine lace netting to ensure flies can't get in.

[rary]

Definitely too wet, the worms might also like a bit of ventilation. A few holes in the top and use something like mosquito netting or a bit of fine lace netting to ensure flies can't get in.

Snoop I went all funny when I read that bit about buying something Though I do like the suggestion about placing netting over any holes I drill on the top, my biggest concern is keeping flat worms out of my wormary as I lost a previous lot of worms that way, I also note that I am being advised to drain the liquid off, but could anyone tell me if it is possible to have the balance of a wormary good enough to avoid any surplus liquid t drain off

[Jungle Jane]

Could you screw up some old newspapers & let it soak up the liquid,add lots of it mix it all around. You can get carbon filters for bin odour,I don't know if you can use them with worms?

[Snoop Puss]

but could anyone tell me if it is possible to have the balance of a wormary good enough to avoid any surplus liquid t drain off

No. Or at least, no, not in my experience.

I've had wormeries of various types, most home-made, one a fancy-pantsy expensive affair (purchased at a discount price by Mr Snoop). They have all produced liquid, some more than others, but you always get some.

One system I had was a bucket with small holes punctured in the bottom jammed into another bucket so tight that flies and the like couldn't get in. The top bucket contained the worms, coir and composting material. Any liquid produced drained into the bottom bucket. But you still have to get the liquid out of the bottom bucket. One day I was a bit blasé about it and tugged so hard at the top bucket that liquid, worms, coir and semi-composted material went all over me... Very smelly and stained clothing. Far more trouble and expense than a turkey baster!

[lolie]

but could anyone tell me if it is possible to have the balance of a wormary good enough to avoid any surplus liquid t drain off

If it was producing no liquid, the balance would be wrong. Worm farms are supposed to produce worm tea in addition to castings (many of the worm farms for sale here are 3 level to make it easy to keep the castings and the worm tea separate - the bottom level has a tap).

You can get away with having only two levels in a worm farm, but realistically you do need at least two.