DIY Wormery question

[emilner23]

Hi everyone, I have built myself a wormery using three water cisterns and a water-butt tap. I have drilled holes in the bottom's of the upper two boxes and added ventilation holes. All that's left is to add my worms and substrate to get it going. I am a complete beginner so hopefully everything goes OK.
I do have a specific question though that I hope someone with some experience may be able to help with. The cisterns I bought have little plastic spacer tabs inside which I presume are just there just to stop them from sticking together when they are stacked in the store. This means that there will always be a minimum gap between the top of the lower layer and the base of the upper one. I think this will be good for the worm pee sump as it should stop the level above it getting wet but will the worms be able to migrate from the lower level if there was a gap or should I remove these spacer tabs so that upper box sits directly on the compost below?

I hope this makes sense. The pics below should make it clearer.

[nickdub]

I'd leave the spacers in for now and see how it goes, you can always remove them later. My experience of worms with a large barrel as a bin in which we mostly chuck kitchen waste, is that they choose the bits that suit them best. Obviously they don't like it too wet, so if the bin I have gets a bit waterlogged they all migrate to the surface layers.

(I've altered one bin to make the drainage holes much larger - poor original design by me - I'll do the other after its been emptied in a few months time.)

PS watch out for rats - you may want to add a retaining strap for the lid, or if its not too top heavy just put a brick on it.

[emilner23]

I'd leave the spacers in for now and see how it goes, you can always remove them later. My experience of worms with a large barrel as a bin in which we mostly chuck kitchen waste, is that they choose the bits that suit them best. Obviously they don't like it too wet, so if the bin I have gets a bit waterlogged they all migrate to the surface layers.

(I've altered one bin to make the drainage holes much larger - poor original design by me - I'll do the other after its been emptied in a few months time.)

PS watch out for rats - you may want to add a retaining strap for the lid, or if its not too top heavy just put a brick on it.

Thanks for the tips!

[nickdub]

You're very welcome - Happy Gardening :-)

[Penellype]

Worms can climb - I often find them inside the lid of my wormery which is plastic. I wouldn't worry about the spacers as I don't think the gaps will be a barrier to worm movement.

[self-contained]

That's a nice looking wormery

I bought a pre-made one from Worm City. One of their selling points was that as the food waste gets eaten and the compost level drops, the upper level sinks down with it and remains in contact for easy worm migration. I'm still on my first tray, so not sure how much of a difference that will actually make. As others have said, my worms seem pretty good at climbing into the roof which is only in contact with the tray at the edges so I suspect they will find their way to the food regardless. I'm not sure the spacers are tall enough to cause any trouble anyway - the waste will compact down a lot, but you'll probably end up with a layer at least as tall as the spacers.

I do wonder if your trays are holey enough though. My trays are more like a mesh on the bottom - strong enough to hold the vermicompost inside, but otherwise very open. I wonder how easily the worms would find your more spaced out holes to travel through. You can always give it a go and then add more holes if they seem to be having trouble moving upstairs when you start filling the second tray.

Worms are exciting

[emilner23]

Worms can climb - I often find them inside the lid of my wormery which is plastic. I wouldn't worry about the spacers as I don't think the gaps will be a barrier to worm movement.

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed to know.

[Jimmy]

What's the benefits of a wormery?

My compost Daleks always get magically populated with hundreds of little worms.
They particularly like the household compost wrapped up in newspaper. Potato/carrot peelings, Orange/Banana skins etc.

Jimmy

[ESBkevin]

What's the benefits of a wormery?

My compost Daleks always get magically populated with hundreds of little worms.
They particularly like the household compost wrapped up in newspaper. Potato/carrot peelings, Orange/Banana skins etc.

Jimmy

Worm castings/compost and the worm 'tea' are about the most nutrient rich food available to plants. The fact that we can create our own for free (after initial investment) is great. They largely look after themselves as long as they aren't too hot or too cold (they regulate by diving and surfacing but they are limited in a bucket). Your compost bin is also rich in worm castings but not to the same degree.
I too make lots of compost, but mixing worm castings in your potting mix is like super charging it in organic fertiliser. Ditto the drainings from the worm farm, the Tea is a super fertiliser for anything and almost instant uptake by plants.
There's loads to read online from the experts, I've just got a very simple tub in a tub with a lid design which requires intervention to harvest tea and castings. Third year now and I'm hooked.