HELP i've just got a wormery

Hi there, I got a wormery some 6 weeks ago and started using it about 3 weeks back (took wiggly wigglers AGES to dispatch my worms! :sleep
My wiggly voucher was for 125g (approx 250 worms), I also got some on eBay. The eBay lot was meant to be 500 worms, but it was about the same size as wriggly's, and most were tiny baby worms, so I reckon I must have started with around 500 worms alltogether. So according to wiggly, I must be on 50% capacity.

I was careful not to overfill the wormery, or so I thought
I'm only putting a cereal bowl's worth of rubbish in every couple of days. BUT when I checked it today it's begun to stink a bit, not bad, you'd only notice with the lid off and the moisture mat out. The thing that worried me tho was a bit of mould that's grown on some veg scraps.

Is mould bad for worms? If so, what could I use to eradicate it?

I've got some Nature's Desinfectant which is an anti-fungicide made from citrus. It's safe to use in greenhouses and kids' play areas so should be ok for worms, BUT presumably it's acidic if made from citrus?

 

Why do you keep worms? I've never understood why people do :D

 

Don't use anything acidic on the worms, they like things on the alkaline side if anything that why some people say to add small amounts of lime or crushed egg shells (my method as its free).

My wormery smells a bit and the fruit and veg scraps that go in soon become covered in mould with no ill effect to the worms. I know they say they shouldn't smell but its up to the worms when they get round to eating the stuff we put in and organic matter will rot no matter what we do about it.

I wouldn't worry and let it take it course, maybe add a bit of crushed egg shells (i stick empty egg shells in the oven when cooking other stuff and then pound them to a powered and sprinkle on the top of the wormery every so often). Soon enough you'll be tapping off the black liquid gold and reaping the rewards.

 

If the worms don't like it they won't eat it.

Problem i've had was when I emptied the bin, the worms didn't know where to go.

Must have been 2-3 months ago & today I still found groups of them sitting under some carpet mulch looking sad.

Gathered them up and put them in the new worm bin, going to have the same problem when I empty that one though:DOH:

 

What's 'black liquid gold'?

 

Hi Kyle,

Sorry, should have elaborated earlier, worm bins are a very efficient way of composting kitchen waste, they use a specialist worm that normally inhabits piles of horse or cow poo & breeds like crazy when food conditions are good.



You can see a few of them in the middle of the pic, different to normal earthworms.

Worm bins have a drain hole at the bottom & all the worm "wee" & liquid from the compost is collected as a highly concentrated liquid feed.

It is very black & worth its weight in Glod, who is a Dwarf that lives in the Ramtop mountain range if I remember my Pratchett corectly

 

Looks like hard work to maintain it, though... I have so much to learn :D

 

Not really, apart from rounding up a few strays :D

Our West Bay one has an open bottom, we didn't introduce the brandling/tiger worms, they found it themselves.

Same thing would happen if you had a big pile of poo. They would find it, think "wheyhey, loads of food, quick lets have sex so our babies can enjoy the food too"

Back at the home plot, we got rats about so the bin has to be rat proof, that one is just a big blue barrel with some small holes drilled in the bottom, raised on bricks with a tray to catch the exudate.

Not complex just making do with whats available.

Don't hesitate to ask if you need anymore advice Kyle, thats why we're here

 

My mum would kill me if I started making a worm bin, though lol

and cheers! :yess:

 

I have mine hidden in the shed (anti-toddler tactic!)
It's a can-of-worms which is basically a stack of trays on legs, with a lid. You could tell your mum if she finds it it's an alien spacecraft

Ziggy,
I'm not sure what sort of construction your wormery is, is it an open composter?
I remember someone with a can-of-worms say that they use 5 trays so that all the worms, the babies and the eggs get the time to move- grow and move - hatch, grow and move from the bottom tray by the time they harvest it. It would be a looooooooong wait till you could have some compost that way tho...

 

oh and thanks everyone for reassuring me I don't need to spray the mould with anything

 

BTW if anyone's looking to get a wormery, I got mine via Hertfordshire Waste Partnership for £58.50 all inclusive. It was delivered by Wiggly Wigglers who sell them for £66 with free delivery. So not much of a discount but every little helps, right? Other local councils may have better deals so have a nose around

 

Mine cost a fiver.

 

One is, the other is a big blue barrel with holes drilled in the bottom.

Left the lid off one night, blooming great rat stuck in it the next morning.

 

Wow Ziggy, cheap and cheerful! Respect!
I wouldn't be allowed to have an open composter, but even if I were I couldn't do it because of my nosy toddler. Blooming rat you say, I'd have this! :inautumnleaves:(with gunk instead of leaves)