Urinating in wormery

[Matt84]

Hi,

Not a pleasant subject I know but I have become aware of the benefits of urinating on composters and am wondering whether you can do the same with a wormery. My compost bin seems to be absoutely heaving with worms so it doesn't seem to be a problem however I have read online that is may cause a wormery to be too acidic. Would this be the case or would it just run through and create more feed?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Matt

[chris]

If you've any of those cocktail stick umbrellas, I think the worms would appreciate them whilst you got on with that job!!

I've not heard of it mind, but don't have one... I wouldn't have thought you really need to, as they're living things - so will be doing the breaking down in a different way (i.e. eating) than the microbes and goodness knows what other (living) things in the usual compost bin.

Looking forward to getting one in the spring though!

But are you on about weeing in your compost bin, or your wormery bin - as you've mentioned your compost bin is full of worms?

[solway cropper]

I stop peeing in the compost bin when it gets full of worms. I'm a compassionate gardener

[taff]

I wouldn't bother, the urine just helps things break down quicker on a compost heap, but in a wormery, that's what the worms do anyway.

[Snadger]

If you've any of those cocktail stick umbrellas, I think the worms would appreciate them whilst you got on with that job!!

LOL!

My children used to have a game called 'Worms' where they had little squeeky voices and seemed to spend all there time blowing each other up with grenades............for some reason you've just reminded me of it!

[chris]

"Incoming!"

[rana]

Urine is acidic which would adversely affect the worms.

[Matt84]

Thanks for all the replies. Think I will avoid doing it since i'm getting a lot of feed anyway In reply to Chris you should definately get one! I basically fill up my composter with all my waste and then start filling the wormery when it's full. I've had it maybe 5-6 months and have already produced around 7 litres of feed. I haven't used it yet but have heard it's great. I bought the original organics wormery(It's the grey one) and it's been fantastic. Considering tomato feed is about £4 a litre and the worm compost can be about £20 for a 20 kg bag it's definately a worthwhile investment in terms of economy and it's also pretty environmentally friendly. Double bonus

[chris]

I'm kind of torn between a wormery, or a bokashi (sp?) bin. The bin is handy as it can be indoors, but the wormery sounds more fun

[Madasafish]

I only urinate on compost heaps.. (in the garden that is)

[zazen999]

I'm kind of torn between a wormery, or a bokashi (sp?) bin. The bin is handy as it can be indoors, but the wormery sounds more fun

It is. Just don't pee on the poor things.

[chris]

My wee is saved for my fence, and my daleks! Poor loos aint seen a drop in a while

[Alison]

I'm kind of torn between a wormery, or a bokashi (sp?) bin. The bin is handy as it can be indoors, but the wormery sounds more fun

I have both. Put kitchen vegetable waste in the wormery (kept by the back door) and they sort it for free but use the bokashi (under the sink) for stuff that you can't put in the wormery eg fish skins, cheese rind etc etc (don't want to put anything else in there or I'd have to buy more bran )

[Croila]

There was an article in the last Which gardening magazine which claimed to debunk "old wives tales" in gardening. Their conclusion about p'ing on compost heaps was that it's pointless unless you're struggling to get enough fresh, green material in the heap. What they said was:

"Human and animal urine is a source of nitrogen, which speeds up decomposition by boosting the activity of composting organisms.

Micro organisms are the workhorses of your compost heap and in order to function properly they need nutrients including nitrogen. This is found naturally in kitchen waste and green, sappy plant materials, such as grass clippings. If you've got the right balance of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich materials in your heap, there's little evidence that adding extra nutrients benefits micro organisms and speeds up composting. We trialled compost activators in 2008 and found nitrogen-rich fertiliser didn't speed up composting. Too much nitrogen can, in fact, be detrimental, because it raises salt levels which discourages worms and will turn your heap into a foul smelling mess".

So. That's what Which thinks of it!

Shame, because my 7 year old wee boy was hysterically excited when I once allowed him to wee in a beer bottle before emptying it into the dalek (he can't actually reach the dalek, he's too little) ...

Just wondering if anyone else disputes this? I don't have a clue myself, so I'd be interested to hear other views!

[Wren]

There was an article in the last Which gardening magazine which claimed to debunk "old wives tales" in gardening. Their conclusion about p'ing on compost heaps was that it's pointless unless you're struggling to get enough fresh, green material in the heap. What they said was:

As a lady allotment holder who takes great satisfaction in thinking that my pee bucket in my shed is doing the world o good when i empty it on my compost heap, i will ignore the advice o 'Which magazine'

Wren