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Will Sieve harm Worms?

womble10.tbqN4MHYE_womble10.tbqN4MHYE_ Posts: 3
in Wildlife gardening
Hi. We have tumbler, hot bin and 2 wormeries we have overwintered and ready to sieve and use. We have and electric rotary sieve but im worried it will harm the worms. When we did it manually I picked them out.
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Posts

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    Welcome to the Forum.
    I'm intrigued as to what an electric rotary sieve is.
    Devon.
  • womble10.tbqN4MHYE_womble10.tbqN4MHYE_ Posts: 3
    Check Amazon. Large rotating barrel with 10mm or 20mm mesh, sits at an angle. You shovel soil in one end, it rolls round, small stuff sieves out and large stuff vibrates down to the end and falls out. Separates stones etc.
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    Do worms get headaches? It sounds quite violent.
    Try a small batch to see if they survive intact 
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    right stupid question time:
    How do stones get into your compost bins / wormeries?
    Devon.
  • womble10.tbqN4MHYE_womble10.tbqN4MHYE_ Posts: 3
    Hostafan1 said:
    right stupid question time:
    How do stones get into your compost bins / wormeries?
    Not stones particularly, but any larger bits, rose cuttings/sticks not broken down, avocado or peach pits not broken down etc
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    womble10.tbqN4MHYE_ said:
    Hostafan1 said:
    right stupid question time:
    How do stones get into your compost bins / wormeries?
    Not stones particularly, but any larger bits, rose cuttings/sticks not broken down, avocado or peach pits not broken down etc
    I'd just use them too. If bits are really too big, just lift them out. 
    Sieving seems a lot of faff IMHO
    Devon.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I never bother sieving. It's a PITA. I throw out bigger pieces of twig and put smaller bits, pits, cobs etc back into the compost for another round. Run it through your hands and you get a sense of bits that need to go back in.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    I suppose it might depend on what it's to be used for. 
    Mulching, virtually anyone goes, mixing for potting needs to be finer.
    Devon.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I suspect that your worms might indeed be harmed...
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    You only need a portion to survive because they breed so quickly, so would suggest you hand-pick a jar full and put the rest through the sieve.  Any which don't survive will just become part of the composting process.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
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