Worms and Wormeries (Merged Discussion Thread)

bordercars

tower hamlets residents can get 1 for a fiver.

http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/data/environment/data/recycling-rubbish-litter/preventing-reusing-waste/data/home-composting.cfm

angelavdavis

I have been keeping a wormery (Can O Worms) for some time now (about 8 years - it has moved house with me!) but one thing always seems to take an age for me and that is harvesting the worm casts.

Although the vertical design of the can-o-worms should mean that the worms migrate upwards towards the layer with fresher food, there still seem to be loads of worms in each layer.

I have spent most of the morning trying to harvest the casts, but the wormery is absolutely teeming with worms and it takes me ages! After all this time, I have very little casts to use and have ended up putting most of it back with the worms. The worm casts are quite wet so I can simply sift it out. I end up scraping a few mm off at a time, then wait for them to bury themselves again and repeat but it takes hours!

Anyone got any timesaving tips for retrieving wormcasts without losing too many worms?

Thanks!

dawnsong

hi ,
I'm not a wormery expert but I've got a can of worms too. having spent many hours worm extracting - I can sympathise! Two things made a big difference - leaving much more time for the worms to burrow and brighter light, oh and wearing rubber gloves - picking up the worms was a lot easier.

The least time consuming way i've found for me to do it, is to put the bottom tray you want to harvest uppermost and leave exposed to bright but not hot sunlight, (protected from the birds) or if inside - a lamp beside it, (mine's inside). leave it for a couple of hours by which time most of the worms are hiding in the bottom half of the tray.

Put a few newspapers in the bottom of a large clear plastic bag (binbag size) and scoop out the wormcasts into the bag till you reach the layer with the hiding worms. popping any obvious stragglers in a tub. If needbe, leave another couple of hours and do the same - I find most have gone to the tray below by then.

I leave the bag loosely closed over for a week or two by which time the newspaper has absorbed the excess moisture - great for the compost heap, and the wormcasts are easier to handle. Most of the worms in the bag will be down by the newspaper.

Tip the bag up into another clear plastic bag and peel off the newspaper and retrieve the layer of worms. Any still left in the bag are more easily seen through the clear plastic and retrieved, than rooting around in the wormery layers. the result is big carrier bag full of usable casts with only a few worms left in.

writing this, it seems like a real kerfuffle, but the actual time and effort involved is minimal...compared to the hours I used to spend sifting through wormcasts, worms, more worms........endless worms...:D
all the best,
dawnsong

lynseydee

I was fortunate to be given a wormery by a friend who no longer wanted it but have to get some worms for it. After reading through the thread I have had a look at ebay and found this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110429731992&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

Would this be a good way to start off? I thought that £3.00 for 100 worms was quite a good bargain.

Would I just leave them to eat the bedding before putting in some food for them.

Obviously I don't have any instructions from my friend so just need to know the best way to go about it.

Tamsin_Temrin

Want to use up cooked kitchen waste in a wormery. How icky is it to handle the worms? How much intervention do they need? If you find you are not able to feed them enough, can you release them into the wild?

How rat proof are these things?

Haven't touched a worm since I was 18 months old - is this a good idea for me to get a wormery? OH refuses to get involved in any way.

littlebelle

We just bought a wormery from the wormery store who have some great money saving offers!!!

It is going great. The website really explains how to get things going and says that rats are not a problem if you avoid putting meat in them. Apparently rotting meat sends out yummy smells to the rats!!! We have been up and running for a few months now with ours and have seen no rats.

The wormery does not really need any intervention. I am a bit sqeamish when it comes to worms (ok, very squeamish) and was talked into getting the wormery by my eco warrier 6year old!!! But now we have it I don't spend time with the worms, just tip in the rubbish and shut the lid. It really is easy and totally non Icky!!

Our wormery came with loads of extras to keep the worms happy and healthy and free delivery

Husband happy (apparently compost is great??), Eco warrier happy, me?? slowly being converted.

jennyjelly

I'm SO excited, I've just bought one of these for £5 at a car boot. It's something I've been considering for ages but the prices are a bit off-putting so I'm delighted with my find.

I've read all through this thread and I think I know what to do, but does anyone with experience have any advice they could pass on to a newbie please?

Another thing I'd like to know and can't find the answer to anywhere is whether I can put dog poo in? There are specific 'dog poo wormeries' (like this) so it's clearly a good composting item, but would it be ok to add it to an ordinary wormery or only a special dog poo one?

Can't wait to get started, I'm off to the fishing tackle shop this afternoon.

Edit: Sorry - just one more question! Not sure how many worms I should buy for this size wormery. Any ideas?