Who has a wormery?

[Eyren]

I have a Can-o-Worms but it is currently untenanted - I was a bit remiss about emptying the liquid out during the horrible wet summer we had, and they drowned

I'm thinking of restocking it again though, now that the weather is warming up - seems a shame to be "donating" all our kitchen scraps to the recycling company!

[sallym]

cost me about £10 including buying £5 worth of worms.

Where did you get your worms from Nickerly?

[Nickerly]

a bloke called Ian who sells them on Gumtree and
Ebhttp://cambridge.gumtree.com/cambridge/49/34896849.html


They cost me £5 for 50 and that included p&p.

Is there a better way to tell if the worms are all ok than digging them up? How can I tell if they all die?

[spennysaint]

I wrapped up my wormery in bubblewrap over winter to keep em snug - In return they carried on eating lots.

My worms came with the wormery but kept escaping. I got some extra worms from neighbours composter with some compost - this also meant that the environment in the wormery was nicer for the worms quicker and the worms didn't feel the need to keep making a dash for it!

[selfraising]

a bloke called Ian who sells them on Gumtree and
Ebhttp://cambridge.gumtree.com/cambridge/49/34896849.html


They cost me £5 for 50 and that included p&p.

Is there a better way to tell if the worms are all ok than digging them up? How can I tell if they all die?

I would say that if the worms have moved away from the compost i.e. look like they're trying to get out, then there's something they don't like in their environment. If you don't see them, then I would assume they are ok and doing their stuff. Sometimes I see the odd one coming up towards the lid, so I add a bit more food or if there's a lot of green stuff in there, I'll add some torn up newspaper or cardboard (like you would in a compost heap) and they disappear again.

[Nickerly]

Thanks Self-raising.

I dug them up a bit this morning (told myself I was mixing in the tough, leafy cabbage scraps with the browns and stuff...) and they all seemed fine. Found one dead worm which ccared me, but the ones which came as teeny, weeny babies two and a bit weeks ago have gotten bigger and they have eaten so much of the waste already that it's untrue.

Did find a few maggots in there though, all on the one piece of satsuma I had put int here which made me think it was fruit flies. Have covered up the waste with a layer of curly straw (did that about a week ago after I saw flies trying to sneak in) and some newspaper to keep the blighter out.

Is there anything I can do to get rid of the maggots without hurting the worms?

[selfraising]

Hi Nickerly just checked in my book. The fuit flies will do no harm to the wormery and are just part of the environment. It suggest that if you want to reduce fruit flies put a layer of damp, shredded newspaper over the top of the food. This will absorb the moisture that the fruit flies need and means they will find it harder to lay eggs cos they can't get to the food so easily. Unless they really bother you, I would leave the larvae in there. The only other way, I guess, is to pick them out but I wouldn't fancy that much

[marigold007]

My whole allotment seems to be a wormery. Castings are all over the soil.

[Eyren]

I got my wormery renewal kit (from Wiggly Wigglers) a few days ago. I don't know if they've changed their coir block supplier, but it was much harder than before and a b***er to rehydrate! As a result the bedding was far too wet and all my worms fled into the sump!

Happily the application of some more newspaper to soak up the moisture seems to have done the trick (that and scooping them back out of the sump and into the tray - good job I'm not squeamish!). Just fed them a handful of PSB trimmings and a handful of Worm Treat, so hopefully they will get to work soon!

[NOG]

They tend to all of in the sump once in a while then get use to the food are.

[tattiefritter]

You've reminded me to check the sump, I got some more worms for mine to boost muching power and added them to my COW yesteday, I'd forgotten all about the escapology antics from new worms! I got my first worm casts from the sump a couple of weeks ago and put some scrunched up paper in there again, will check to make sure they all haven't migrated down there as they have obviously liked it down there in the past.

The worm casts I harvested were a little moist and they looked like they should stink but they really don't, its amazing. Just need to remember to feed a mix of browns and greens to them to keep them happy.

[NOG]

I think I have mucked my COW. When I got it I put the Coir in the bottom tray. But added all the pealings to the next tray up. The worms have all moved up to the next tray now (4 months later) but the stuff is all stinkie.

[tattiefritter]

Are there still worms working the smelly stuff ?

[Fat Bob]

I got a Can-O-Worms with worms for £5 from M&S. They discontinued them and sold them all off cheap.

I've been running it a couple of months now and everything seems to be working ok albeit very slowly.

I don't think I'll be making much worm cast compost, though I have got some liquid feed from it.

[Nickerly]

How long before the peelings and scraps are turned into compost? How can I tell when it's ready?