Cow

[goddess]

just had my COW delivered by council today(thanks for oeople who put the link on forum)will post voucher to get worms tomorrow.i read the leaflet and can't wait to start.Is there any thing else that others can pass on to minimise problems?g

[wormlady]

Hi Goddess
Welcome to worming! The instructions which come with the COW are a bit misleading, the first mistake most people make is to overfeed. Although it says in the leaflet that worms will eat 1-1.5kgs a day that is once they have settled down and got fully up to speed. At first you have to go really easy on the feeding only giving them a small handfull in the first week, maybe a bit more the second and so on.

If you can kickstart your wormery with some compost from someone elses wormery or from your compost heap things will get going quicker, but be aware that in the first few weeks all the bugs n beasties will be trying to establish themselves in the right proportions so you might get population explosions of various things but everything will settle down after a while.

There is a fabulous worm forum at recycleworks.co.uk which you should definetly have a browse thru - its full of worm enthusiasts and they are all friendly (if a bit worm mad!).

Good luck!

[Alison]

I'd agree with everything said above by wormlady and also with her recomendation of the worm forum - some of them are a bit extreme but they were very helpful to me and my initial stupid questions. As said, feed little and slow to start with and build it up as they get established. I find that keeping an old watering can under the tap means that I can leave it open and therefore I don't end up with drowned worms as they seemed to go awol a lot to start with. They seem to settle down after a while. Another bit of advice, make sure you put it handy to take scraps to - mine is by the back door. So much easier then running down the garden in the rain! Finally, if it all looks a bit wet and messy, add torn newspaper and you can often bring it back to normality. They're a doddle when they get going just so long as you don't overfeed.

[JennieAtkinson]

Can you tell me what COW stands for ?? I haven't heard of that one.

[Flummery]

Can of Worms, I suspect. I don't think you're supposed to get off and milk it!

[tattiefritter]

I got my COW about six weeks ago. I had done a lot of research into it by browsing the RecycleWorks forum and George Pilkington's book "Composting with Worms". I didn't feed them at all for the first week as I had read they would be more interested in their bedding before the food, then I only fed one handful of kitchen scraps, once they looked like they were progressing through that I added another one etc and I'll be feeding them again at the end of the week though I am actually wondering if I'm underfeeding them! When I first got it the worms moved around all over the place but they seemed to particularly like the sump so I stuffed some scrunched up brown paper in there to help them climb out if they wanted to and to absorb moisture as when it rained quite a lot of water ended up in the sump. I have bought one of the rain cap things from WigglyWigglers and the sump has been damp rather than wet and no drowned worms so far (touch wood). Lately they seem to have settled mainly in the tray where the food is, very few in the higher trays and a few in the sump but not as much as in the beginning.

I would recommend checking them once a week, particularly the sump area (though intial curiosity will mean you look in on them more often to start with) and keep them in an easy to get to place as the other posters have said, mine are by my kitchen door, next to the bokashi. They also seem to adore their moisture mat! I bought some extra ones but seeing the way they are munching through the current one I won't be buying any more and will be using cardboard instead.

[Alison]

I don't bother with moisture mats as they just eat them and I'd prefer them to eat my waste stuff! I just put a few sheets of newspaper or cardboard on top and that works fine.

Tattiefritter - you mention the higher trays, if you've only had it going a few weeks you should only have one of the trays on ie the bottom one and when that's full you put the next one on top etc

[goddess]

thanks alot for advice.posted voucher today and waiting for them now.everyone is excited about it even grandparents!!i will have to make sur they don't feed them behind my back like the do with children.i will have a look at recycle website for more info.sorry for abbreviation ,i nearly fell of chair when read the bit about milking it!!!g

[tattiefritter]

Alison, the top trays are completely empty, I just don't really have anywhere else for the trays to live so their stacked on top of each other. I've not found any stray worms in either of the top trays for quite a while now. Its a good point about them eating the moisture mats rather than the waste I may just give them cardboard when they finish this one, however I will have some spare mats then. May put the moisture mats on over winter ?

I'm now wondering if my worms are warm enough! I keep them by the back door but its in the grap between my house and next door and where they are gets no sun, however I'd read that CoW were prone to overheating if in the sun. They seem active enough but I still worry!

Goddess: I've banned my OH from feeding the worms at the minute, he would just give them allsorts like lemons, onions, garlic in large quantities as its stuff we use a lot of. Once their munching happily they may be able to cope with a little of that but not yet.

My CoW came with worm treat and lime mix, has anyone used this on their CoW? The George Pilkington book was fairly dismissive of them.

[Alison]

Mime came with these too, never really used the worm treat bit much as I don't see the point. However I do find the lime mix quite useful as it sorts it out after I've thrown citrus and onion peel in. You can use the likes of crushed egg shells to address the balance but I never have enough of those so do resort to lime mix now and then. It tends to sort out fruit fly problems also.

[m100]

It's always a good idea to throw a handful of the worm feed in now and then - it'll have all the vits + minerals and protein that might be lacking if you say feed alot of one thing - it tends to be banana skins with us! I use a Worm Hotel from these guys:http://www.welshworms.co.uk

[yoanbob]

did I miss somthing? do you get a council discount now?

[Alison]

did I miss somthing? do you get a council discount now?

eh?

[yoanbob]

godess says she got her cow from the council, did i miss somthing?

[Alison]

Ah, see what you're on about now. Think that some councils are doing cheap or even free offers of CoW as part of their recycling initiative. Ours do cheap compost bins and caddys and the CoWs are £66 inc worms which is a bit cheaper than you pay with the likes of Wiggly Wigglers (£60 for housing without any worms). Have had mine for a couple of years now and it was a gift so have no idea how much it cost. Worth a look at what your council will do for you at www.recyclenow.com, I got a good deal off mine for some bokashi bins.