Worms and Wormeries (Merged Discussion Thread)

greentomato

The worms can take quite a long time to eat through the waste, especially at this time of year when it is cold. So if you haven't had it very long, the compost might not be ready. As already said, it really depends on the type of wormery as to how you get to your compost.

I have a wooden wormery in which I'm supposed to get the compost out of the bottom through a wire mesh and collect it in a tray, this works OK.

The composted worm waste shouldn't contain very many worms, as they will be busy eating away in the uncomposted bit. So once you've built up a substantial amount of stuff in your wormery, you can usually put the uncomposted waste and worms (which will be at the top of the wormery) in a bucket and then get down to the composted waste at the bottom of the wormery and scoop it out, then replace the uncomposted waste and worms back in the wormery. You will have to pick out any stray worms from your compost and put them back in the wormery, although it doesn't matter if the odd one or two are left in, they'll soon crawl to where they are happy. I now find my worms all over the garden!

At first it might not seem like there is a lot of compost being produced, but in the summer and once they've settled and started reproducing they do speed up. Also, the compost is very rich so you don't need a lot of it.

Don't worry about disturbing the worms occasionally. They can't see but they are very sensitive to light. I keep mine covered up with some damp newspaper which they love. Also at this time of year don't forget to keep them out of the cold or wrapped up.

HTH

postie1001

I think you are talking more about a compost bin than a wormery. But a compost bin kinda becomes a wormery anyways, so i guess it doesn't really matter

I've had my bin for about 5 years now and it has so many worms I can hear them munching when i take the lid off. Really!

The stuff you put on top will slowly get eaten by the worms. It may look like nothing is going on but if you remove the uppermost, least decomposed green waste, you'll find a whole load of worms. If you dig down further, you'll start to find the stuff they've turned into compost.

Depending on your style of bin, the way you can get it out will vary. I put down a large sheet of plastic and scoop out all the undecomposed stuff, then scoop out what I need as compost into buckets. A trowel is useless as it clags up and also cuts too many worms in half. A small trowel sized fork is much better, to use and for Mr + Mrs Worm.
It sounds a bit of a faff, but by removing the topmost layers you are also giving the compost an airing. The air pockets you get when you put it back will help to improve the decomposition.

I think my compost bin is ace! free compost from rubbish. All sorts goes in there too. Not just kitchen waste. loo roll tubes, egg boxes, bus tickets, rizla packets, envelopes made of normal paper (not any with a "sheen" on as they aren't easily compostable). This is all mixed in with kitchen peelings and garden stuff, the worms seem to love it and an egg-box will disappear in a matter of weeks in summer. In winter though, the worms do slow down.

What my worms love most of all though.....

.... melon skin !!!!!!!! Put any kind of melon skin in, and in a few days you'll have every worm in you bin under it in a huge squirming ball of worm-frenzy :rotfl:

Penelope_Penguin

The worms you'll get will be red brandling worms, like this.

They're red as they need to store a lot of oxygen as they live in anaerobic conditions. You'll only see them in material which isn't yet fully composted. Don't worry about disturbing them, you'll get plenty more.

HTH, Penny. x

KatrinaC_2

Has anyone tried using a wormery rather than an ordinary compost bin? Are they as good as the hype a few years ago made them out to be?

Kat

MrsTinks

probably... but if you decide to try one then make sure you read the manual oh and DON'T feed them lots of orange and lemon peel... they don't live long
In fact 2 lots of worms have now died at my hands... feeling a tad guilty about that... maybe worm lot number 3 will fare better once the weather gets a little nicer as I need to clean out the wormery to start it again

bargain_babs

wormery doing very nicely - gets all the left overs but no orange peel or onion skins - bit slow at the moment due to the cold but no problems with it

Noah'strolly

I have an ordinary compost bin but I opened it up last week and the worms were thick like piles of spagetti!

nodwah

I use an old fashioned bin (plastic) and bung in most of my kitchen waste for several weeks - but no citrus, onion or banana peel as has been said, i put t-bags in but not anything else cooked -then bung in the worms and leave them to it. After a month or two depending on the warmth of the weather it will all be done then I tip it out and start again using the worms that I find and a bit of the compost as a "starter culture". I find this works well for me and my husband can get loads of worms for fishing with- yeaugh!- and fine if you don't mind raking about in it. I also have other compst bins on the go but teh worm stuff is def superior. By filling it and then leaving alone I find that I don't get any probs with flies which can happen when the lid is constantly being lifted to add more stuff. I personallly wouldn't buy one of these specialised worm bins - I think they're extortionately overpriced

Penny_Farthing_2

I had a long chat with the Wiggly Wigglers fella at a show and I decided they were too much faff. I use Dalek bins and a compost tumbler my friend gave me.

I have started to think again, though as I grew veggies last year and want to do more this year. I think the liquid food you drain out of the bottom of a wormery would be good for that.

lynzpower

My womery karked it after I overfed them last year.

Now imj ready to start again and need to order replacenent worms.

Is there anywhere cheper than wiggly wigglers? that looking like 15 quid- which seems a bit steep

Anyone got any advice ?