**CHEAP CHEAP DIY WORMERY for £10***

happy_gardener

STOP PRESS - YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY AN EXPENSIVE WORMERY, YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN.

Don't groan.....it is so easy to make- my kids helped me:
- buy stacking boxes - you know those plastic ones you get to put the kids toys into, about £2 each. You only need one lid
- keep one box intacet and remove the base of the other 2 leaving an inside base edge of about 2 inches. this is where the chicken wire mesh will rest on.
- have your next box the same way, and if you have another one - do the same. you will need a lid and you can buy one or make from a piece of any old wood.
- so, from the bottom up - empty box, to catch the liquid, then next box with the wire base- place a sheet of damp newspaper over the mesh so the worms do not fall through. this box will be the 'working box' with the worms and 'mix'.
- the bedding mix is better with a mixture - sredded wetted paper, eggs shells, kitchen scraps, eggs cartons, egg shells (other web sites list all items you can put in)
- the box on top on the 'working box' will be empty and the mesh base of this will be touching the bedding/food in the working box.
- the worms will work their magic and make their way up so you can use the upper empty box as the box to put your waste into. there needs to be a lid on top, and maybe put another few sheets of damp newspaper below lid.
- you can by the worms from any fishing tackle shop - make sure you ask for the 'stripy ones' - dendrobena - is their name - NOT RAGWORM or LUGWORMS. These dendrobens will costyou about £2 for about 20 and that is al lyou need as they will multiply!!
- the only extra thing I did to ours was to buy a plastic tap - the ones you use to make a water butt so i can drain off the liquid and the tap was £3.20 and i raised the DIY wormery off the ground so I could use the tap.
- SO IF YOU SAD THE WHOLE THING COST ABOUT £10 - BETTER THAN THE COMMERCIAL WORMERY SYSTEMS AND DOES EXACTLY THE SAME JOB.
- Mix the worms fod with wetted scredded newspaper so that the air gets around them and they have their space. the more 'broken down' the food is the better it is for the worms to digest - try freezing scraps, defrosting them then feed worms. or microwave scraps, cool down then feed worms, or if you cannot be bothered doing that just chop food really small - then feed worms.

really really easy and not worth paying big money for somthing you can DIY within a hour!!!!I am a mum of 3 ad I made one - so can you!!:T

llanarth

Hey thanks, I was looking at plastic stacking boxes thinking they would probably do. But it's nice to know someone's done it successfully before. As soon as I get back from my holiday I'll get started!

alanobrien

There is an "instructable" that gives detailed info (and pix) on this here;

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wormery_Worm_Composter/

The only real downside i can see is you will probably loose some worms up the sides as they are great escape artists but its well worth the go for the cost.

ktpie

I did something similar to this using cheap ikea boxes (about 79p each), they don't stack so I got 2 lids and drilled holes in one to put on the bottom box and rest the others on, not the best solution as it has gone a bit manky! I didn't take the bottoms out of the boxes out but just drilled a number of largish holes in the bottoms big enough for worms to get through easily.

Mine has been getting flies in, have you had this problem? I tried blocking the gaps at the edges with newspaper but they still find their way in.

It's been great with a baby as you can put cooked scraps of food in as well as just veg, he throws a lot on the floor which would otherwise be wasted!

ixwood

Anyone know a DIY solution that's fly proof?

emiff6

alanobrien wrote: »

http://www.instructables.com/id/Wormery_Worm_Composter/
QUOTE]

What a useful website, thanks for this link. :T

Poosmate

Instructables is a great website but you can also watch uploaded videos of almost any "How To..." guide on YouTube. I always check out both sites if I ever need to know how to do/make something.

I must set up the worm bin I once made again. All my worms disappeared!! EEK! I had 0.25ltr of them. I think I'm going to try a few from the garden next time.

Happy, please let us know how you get on with your juice and castings.

Poo

katholicos

It must be easy to make a DIY wormery, because i made one myself!

The worms are thriving and so i'm calling it a success

My wormery consists of 3 x 16 litre buckets, a piece of mesh i took from a splatter guard, a plastic picnic plate with a gorilla taped make-do handle and a water butt tap i bought from fleabay, oh and the worms...250grams i think it was. Mega easy, mega cheap, hopefully it will be mega successful...it is a fairly recent project so i will have to wait and see if it is as productive as i hope it will be. I'll make a video of it when i get chance.