So are wormeries really worth the effort?

elsien

I've seen the threads telling us how to make them cheaply, but my mum wants to buy me a "proper" one.
She has a wormery which seems to do ok, but I've heard a few people saying they take a lot of looking after, it's not just about chucking the food in and letting them get on with it. My neighbour has given up on hers as the worms all died.
So regardless of whether we buy or make one, how easy are they really to keep going?

alanobrien

Very easy as long as you only put the right stuff in the wormery.
They also supply liquid feed for plants which is a real bonus.
In my experience they are slow to convert the contents to compost compared to a normal composter. They also need some protection during the winter to stop them freezing up if outside. We just wrap ours (can o worms) in bubble wrap and they seem to come through winter fine. Overall yes they are worth having and once established are easy to manage.

rubberdubber

Very easy to manage we bought ours from wormcity a couple of years ago.
We did overfeed in the beginning, but fortunatly realised this and havn't had a problem since.

foxgloves

They are really not a problem. We bought the Can o' Worms version years ago. You can't compare a wormery with a normal compost bin. It doesn't make nearly as much and what it makes is a different product...wetter and packed with nutrients. When we empty out a finished layer, we usually pick a shrub that looks like it needs a boost & dig in the whole lot. The liquid feed is really useful. Gives you a lot of free plant food as you dilute it about 1 in 10 & can use it on everything. Our worm population dips if we don't feed as much or don't look after them as much as we should, but as soon as we get plenty of food in, the population rises again. The worm population seems to regulate itself according to conditions, food, etc. We forgot to insulate the wormery last winter, which was the coldest one we'd had for a while, & even then they were fine tho' they are quite sheltered up by the shed and a big tree.

greyteam1959

In answer to the OP.........I would say they a dead easy to keep going.
I have had a Wormcity for about 2 years now.
Keep mine in a shed all year round....I dont think whatever they say that you can keep them in the house...they do smell and there can be loads of little flies in them at times. And the little blighters do escape at times.
I have a compost bin and a wormery cos the wormery cannot cope with loads of garden waste.
However I just keep piling in fruit waste / teabags / most food waste except onions and strong flavoured things /shredded paper ( which disappears amazingly fast ) small amounts of bread / vegatable waste etc etc
You could make one dead easy and buy the worms....it would be just as good as the 'posh' expensive one but would not look very nice.

greyteam1959

Have a look here
http://www.recycleworks.co.uk/forum/

elsien

Never realised there was so much to know about worms!

ktpie

What do people mix with the food waste? Mine don't seem to be coping too well with what I am giving them. Perhaps I am overfeeding them? I have added some coir but not sure if I put enough in.

cjb02

I have a wormery. had it about 4mths. it is great. I keep it in the garage (I get flies in it to but they come and go), I got the worms from my compost bin which was full of them.

I throw food in now and then and leave them too it (any food waste from the kitchen) They seem ok and slowly eat the waste. It does get very wet so I throw some shredded paper in now and then and get lots of liquid feed from it to. Which is great.

foxgloves

Ours like a bit of newspaper or office paper shreddings, also cardboard and flour bags. They don't like garden waste, citrus or onions. They eat just about everything else.

greyteam1959

ktpie wrote: »

What do people mix with the food waste? Mine don't seem to be coping too well with what I am giving them. Perhaps I am overfeeding them? I have added some coir but not sure if I put enough in.

Probably too much food waste bung a load of shredded paper in or some cardboard or old egg boxes that should sort them out.