Wormery?

I have the one below


Tis a recent acquistion, from the city of worms people and is a stacking wormery. Must have had it about two or three months. You could of course, make your own like many grapes have done. This one came with the worms, coir blok and some treat. As it is winter, wiggley woo et al are in some sort of half sleep. They need temps of 10 degrees c to play. Else they go on strike. According to the info that came with it, it can take up to three weeks for a wormery to get up and running. They can eat up to 1kg of food a week. Before they went to sleep, I had put a bit of veggie peelings in each corner. This was then covered with moist shredded paper. I am very happy to say, that I have witnessed wiggly woo et al make some lovely compost. It came as a shock, since i had left the darlings along for a good few weeks. I like them, they are another composting thing. I'm sure someone with more knowledge will be along shortly

I was lucky to get a cheap wormery a few years back because my local council was subsidising them as part of efforts to encourage people to compost - you might want to see if anything like this is available in your area. Otherwise, you can buy sets from wiggly wigglers with everything you need; I've found them to be a very reliable company although not sure how their prices compare to others.

Basically the way the wormery works is a stack of trays with a sump at the bottom. You add worms and waste in the bottom tray, with a mat or newspaper over the top to keep the moisture in. Over time (a couple of months in our house) the worms will eat the waste and turn it into worm casts, which make a brilliant compost, or can be soaked in water to make a liquid feed for plants. Once the bottom tray is full you add a new tray on top - there are holes in the trays to allow the worms to migrate upwards to eat the new waste you are adding. Once you've harvested the compost from the bottom tray, that tray is ready to go back on top as needed.

My sense is that the purpose built wormeries work best for smaller households - putting small amounts of peelings etc in every day is ideal, but if you have a large family and want to use it for all your green waste (or create large amounts of compost for your garden) a traditional compost system might be better. Compared to a compost bin the wormery has some limitations in terms of what you can put it in - it's best to avoid cooked food (worms won't eat), onion or citrus peelings (too acidic) or garden waste (too bulky). You're highly unlikely to have problems with rats as they can't get into the system. I do find it attracts fruit flies in the summer, and small numbers of house flies; not the large bluebottle kind though. There are various things you can add to the wormery to manage the fly issue, but in my experience it's difficult to keep them out altogether.

For someone with a small garden I've found the wormery has a number of advantages over a compost system. It takes up a lot less space, can be sited almost anywhere (mine is on a paved patio), doesn't smell or attract rats. The main disadvantage is that it takes a bit more work and maintenance - if you want happy worms you have to be prepared to check it every week or so to manage the moisture and acidity levels. If you want to keep the worms working over winter you'll also need to add some form of insulation in winter, such as bubble wrap.

Good luck!

I know nothing about wormeries except they make excellent compost/soil conditioner but seem to be hard work.

When I was a pre school toddler I used to follow my mum when digging the garden, pick up the worms and feed them to our chickens. I love them (worms and chickens).

Hello

Thank you very much for all your responses!

I was looking at this one with pack E - what do people think please?

Wormcity Wormery 75 *Value*

Would I need an extra kg of worms though?

Thank you so much

Sue
X

Can anyone tell me please if wormeries are hard work? Are they very time consuming? I (naively) think that it's just chucking some peelings etc in and closing it and then just taking off the liquid feed and the compost when needed! Please do correct me

Sue
X

Wormcity post here and are very helpful. I'd probably suggest dropping them an email though, or giving them a call tomorrow - it is their business so they'll know exactly the answers that you're looking for

That's similar to mine, and I'm happy with the 500g of wiggle woo's. Remember, they do go forth and procreate if you keep them happy. For a family of five, they play all right for us so far. As for the worm liquid. I've heard mixed reviews. I've yet to see any. As the likely hood of it being produced is dependent on the amount of paper and bread that you may put it in. Certain food waste will create more or less worm liquid. Wormeries need a little bit of attention and care, I am still learning! The wiggly woo's have been sat there covered in layers of sheets, with the wormery stuffed full of shredded paper. I will be checking them over the spring through my fingers.

Hi everyone
Ive been summoned !!!

Wormeries aren't hard work, worms can be pretty much left to their own devices, and what you have said above is pretty much it !!

Weekly maintenance include ....
emptying the liquid, depending on where its kept (indoors or out) will determine how much liquid you will get in the sump.
Obviously as its a stacking system rain water will get in, so the tap might need to be left open

Using your nose .... very important - if the wormery is starting to smell bad (not earthy) then you might need to fluff up the mixture & add corrugated cardboard / paper.

Use your eyes. the creatures that live in the wormery may help notify you of any potential problems.
example white spider mites suddenly bloom in their million - may mean its a bit too wet.
pot worms (little white worms) may be an indication of acidic conditions.
and may need some crushed eggshell.

You can either feed them daily, or feed them once a week. (its better I think to store the waste food for a week as it has already started to soften by the time its fed to the worms)

if you cut the food up it also breaks down quicker, as it has more surface area.

One thing I will mention is that peelings (root veg) can take a while to break down as they live underground.

Worms are very hardy creatures, they have survived millions of years of evolution, and unless you overfeed or cook them in the sunshine, they will live quite happily in your wormery.

RE the kilo of worms.

obviously the more you start with, the more they will eat, worms are pretty quiet this time of year, however just becaise the worms are lethargic doesn't mean that your wormery isn't going to work.

The bacteria and bugs that are all present in a healthy wormery will continue to work whatever the weather or temperature.

Take a look at the wormery FAQs on our website, there is tons of information about what they eat etc.

Rats aren't usually a problem (at least I havn't had reports of problems from anyone)
the flies that you get will be fruit flies and are tiny, and usually get in on the fruit or peelings that you put in your wormery
I dont believe these affect rabbits.
At some point you will get an invasion of fluit flies, they actually aid the composting process. The only thing they annoy - are us.
There is no such thing as a fly proof wormery.

Hope that has answered some of your questions

Ronnie

PS Hort Hobbit

Love the sprite bottle - very ingenious !!

Thank you all very much

I am now saving up to buy a wormery! Couple of months and I should have enough!

Sue

Thank you! But the credit goes to Zazen. Was her advice ^_^

I've wanted one for ages, and got offered this one:Can-O-Worms Basic with Budget Pack, 45 litre | Get Composting | Recycle for Hampshire

But I am liking the Wormcity ones too, esp with the sale.

Decisions, decisions!!

We just made 4 wormeries at one of my schools.

We bought 4 Samla trays like this

SAMLA Box - black, 39x28x14 cm/11 l - IKEA

One lid, and one larger tray which was turned upside down for the base.

And one tap from Wickes.

Each one came in at £18.39.

Although the plastic looks see through, it is dark enough for them and we are going to build a brick wall corner for them to nestle in.

And I got a voucher from wormcity for worms, which I redeemed on Monday and the worms turned up on Tuesday, and we put them into their new home on Wednesday. If I hadn't had that, I'd have got them from a fishing tackle shop.

As the kids had drilled the holes, and made the wormery themselves, they were enthralled to see it up and running and could.not.believe that I had worms in my car when I told them I had worms.in.my.car.

They aren't hard to maintain, I have one at home - although I am still looking for an ideal watering can to go under the tap to catch the drips. If you keep the tap open all the time, and keep adding veg peelings and the like, and check up on them when you do, they are no trouble at all.

I don't know what you've tried already but ... what about a kiddy's can? Or one of those little Haws ones? (about £3 in Morrisons)

(I can't load the image thru the image icon ... in fact I haven't been able to post images with a URL since ... probably since the last upgrade)