A Wormery

[Bex]

Hi Guys

Has anyone got a Wormery, are they as good as they say? I've found one on the net for about £50 all in for 100lt bin but am unsure. Are they easy/cheap to maintain?


Any advice please

[Alison]

I've had a Can of Worms running for just over a year now - you have to take it VERY slow to start with - got some advice from a worm forum which was very useful. The CoW is a three trayed system (costs a bit more but easier to harvest) where you fill the bottom tray first and by the time the top one is full the bottom one should be ready to empty and theoretically the worms have worked their way up so not too much to sort. Now ours is set up I just had kitchen waste (veg only) and quite a bit of paper / card. I've had a bit of a fruit fly problem this summer but crushed egg shells helped bring the pH up and that helped. You can buy all sorts of add on bits - worm treat, top mats etc but there doesn't seem much point to me. Do you know what sort you're looking at? Some of them are more a wheely bin type which will work basically the same but you'll have to sort the worms from the casts rather more when you harvest or you'll have none left to continue!

[Bex]

Its this one:
http://www.originalorganics.co.uk

From the looks of it I will have to sort the worms.

I'm just so undecided. Does a wormery smell, the literature says not.

[Alison]

Only smells if there's a problem, ours just has a bit of a soil type smell and only then when you take the lid off. Keep it outside the back door in summer and last winter lagged it with a bit of bubble wrap and left it where it was but the worms pretty much slowed down to nothing. Am going to put it in the greenhouse this winter in the hope that they'll keep eating. The worms breed pretty quickly, we've got loads of little ones now. Have a look on http://www.recycleworks.co.uk/cgi-bi...ultimatebb.cgi they should be able to help.

[FoxHillGardener]

I've got a can of worms too, which I think its great. I've had it for just over 2 years now. It has a kind of "earthy" smell - like you get from the ground after it has rained. Not at all unpleasant.

I find I still have to sort the worms a bit even with the tray system. You move the one you want to empty to the top and leave the lid off, the theory being that the worms will dig down away from the light in to the next tray. Well, they dig down, but not usually as far as the next tray. This means I then scrape off the top couple of inches and store it in a trug and leave the worms for another half hour or so and repeat until I get to the bottom of the tray.

The can of worms are pretty pricey, but I got mine as a present so can stay in denial about that. They have all the kitchen waste, plus loads of cardboard. I also give them all my shredded bank statements and and stuff. I got the hand cranked shredder from Safeways for £1.99, so at least that was a bargain!

[Squirrel]

If you are short of cash, and looking for something that will not cost you much, have a look at this site and make your own! All you need then are the worms!

http://www.troubleatmill.com/wormbin.htm

[Bex]

Thanks Fox and Squirrel,

I have now found a cheaper one (£35) so will definately give it a go soon. Its mid-month now so no spare cash at the mo.

Can't see me making my own I'm not mechanically minded unfortunately otherwise that would have been ideal.

[Alison]

The only problem with starting one off at this timem of year is that as it gets colder the worms sort of hibernate a bit and really slow down. With this in mind you'll need to feed them very small amounts until next spring when they'll get more lively and hopefully a bit more amorous (or whatever worms do!) and boost your number a bit. Either that or wait until next spring to start it off - upto you really just don't expect too much too soon.

[Bex]

Thanks for the advice. I think maybe I will wait until spring, might actually ask my mom to get me one for a delayed christmas present.

[annie trip]

hi fow hill gardener,can i pick your brains?? Got a wormery for my birthday in august(along with a lot of peculiar looks from my friends!) is a can of worms one and the top mat thing has fallen to bits,may have been eaten do i need to replace this??

[Alison]

Found the same thiing with my CoW, the worms seemed keener on eating the moisture mat than the stuff I was putting in. You can buy heavier duty ones but I've never bothered, usually just put a layer of shredded paper / card on top and that seems to work fine. A friend of mine has put a bit of old carpet on top but apparently the worms are now eating their way through that which seems a bit of a waste when you're trying to get them to compost your fruit and veg stuff.

[FoxHillGardener]

Hi Annie
Best birthday present a girl can get, I reckon, though a greenhouse would be good too...

Yes, they do seem particularly fond of eating their mats. I suppose it might indicate they're not getting enough fibre in their diet, but I found they still ate it even when I stuff it with old loo rolls and egg boxes etc.

I tried the heavy duty mats that Alison mentioned. It takes longer, but they still eat them. I heard a suggestion somewhere that you could just use old woollen jumpers but I've not tried that yet. At the moment mine have got an old sisal (?) doormat after we bought a new one. That's slowly disintegrating, but lasted fairly well.

I think it's more important they have something in the winter to keep them warm if the wormery is outside. They slow down a bit when the weather cools down so maybe an extra layer of insulation would keep them active longer.

hope that helps

[GeordieVik]

I'll add my four pennerth; I got a wheelie bin type wormery earlier in the year, was doing well until I added some water just before we went on hols (I'd added loads of newspaper and it was very warm.) Anyway, came home to a stinking pooey mess - it had gone anaerobic and the worms had died (apparently dead worms stink, so bad combination!) OH VERY, VERY kindly cleared it out, used ***** to disinfect it, and I bought a new batch of worms.

Since then I have been very careful, only feeding every couple of weeks, and so far they are doing very well (was chuffed when I was rootling in there the other day and found quite a lot of tiny baby worms - aahhh!)

Before the water incident, and now, there is no smell except for the earthy, composty smell mentioned in previous posts.

Mine like moisture mats too, when my existing supply runs out, I will be using slabs of cardboard.

There's a very good forum for advice etc on the recycleworks website (also mentioned above) - got some good tips.

I love my wormery, although because of summer experience, haven't yet had enough compost generated to empty it.

Vik

[Bex]

Thanks for all the advice, I've emailed my mom the link to the wormery I would like for christmas but asked her to not buy until spring, she thinks I'm bonkers but nevermind, I can live with that.

[Alison]

My OH had mine delivered to work last year as it was a surprise (well he eventually got my hints!) present. His work mates found it hilarious but not so much as the postman when I picked up a parcel from the post office a week or so later with a huge sign on it stating "Contains Live Worms". I couldn't be bothered to explain.