I'm afraid I don't have a shed at the moment so the wormery is temporarily on my patio, outside the door, where I can keep an eye on them. It's is placed in it's box for protection with a bag of compost on the 'lid/roof' to stop the wind blowing it off. During the cold snap I wrapped the box with a sheet of insulation, the type you lay under composite wooden floors during the cold snap we had last week.
At first when I lifted the lid there were several under it, though I can't say I've had any escapees. I'm trusting they've settled down now and I've started to give them a couple handfuls of banana skins and chopped peelings. They definitely slow down and hide when it's cold.
Lovely to hear from another 'worm farmer' - it's an interesting 'hobby' and I can't wait to get into full production mode.
I'm afraid I don't have a shed at the moment so the wormery is temporarily on my patio, outside the door, where I can keep an eye on them. It's is placed in it's box for protection with a bag of compost on the 'lid/roof' to stop the wind blowing it off. During the cold snap I wrapped the box with a sheet of insulation, the type you lay under composite wooden floors during the cold snap we had last week.
At first when I lifted the lid there were several under it, though I can't say I've had any escapees. I'm trusting they've settled down now and I've started to give them a couple handfuls of banana skins and chopped peelings. They definitely slow down and hide when it's cold.
Lovely to hear from another 'worm farmer' - it's an interesting 'hobby' and I can't wait to get into full production mode.
Hi Jenny,
Thank you for the welcome. I will look to change my username if I can
Are you about 2 weeks or so in to having them?
I have found wrapping my worm farm with bubble wrap during the cold snaps has helped to increase the activity in the farm. I have also found that blending the food up has helped the worms digest it quicker.
I am currently seeing a lot of activity in my farm and lots of little worm eggs. So I fully anticipate to see production of the black gold ramping up! I have no liquid appearing in the bottom yet but I scrunched up some newspaper to help the worms if they do get stuck down the bottom.
Food I have found they like so far is
Mango (chopped finely or blended) Banana (mashed up) Blueberries (chopped or blended)
I have also done some reading which suggests doing a little meal prep with the worms and storing their food in the freezer and then defrosting apparently helps? (im testing this theory at the moment)
I have also tested using dog hair in the farm yesterday so will be interested to see what they make of it
It is a very interesting hobby and a lot of my colleagues are interested in the results.
Yes I'm only two weeks in. Thanks for the tip about bubble wrap, I've just thrown a biggish sheet in the bin, I'll retrieve it.
Interesting idea about mashing up vegetable waste, then freezing it to break the fibres further - will experiment, but have to say I'm not so keen on too much faff. I have an old 'bag-for-life' in the garden where the kitchen waste for the worms is stored, the waste is slowly breaking down in the frost. Though it's looking like I might need a compost bin as well.
I had a paperwork clear out the other day, confidential papers were soaked in water overnight then gently squeezed of water and given to the worms.
Egg shells I've been keeping, and after cooking them a bit in the oven, I've then ground them with a blender, and sprinkled the ground shells in the wormery - I've read they apparently need some grit to digest their food.
Just hope when the weather warms up they'll get a wriggle on and make lots of fertiliser.
Good luck with your worm eggs, sounds like you've got a happy wormery there.
Ooh soo glad I found this thread. Got a newish 2 weeks old worm farm. Was watching the lunchtime news and saw the urban worm farm project giving away free worms so dived in. Worms are alive but no idea if I'm a good farmer or not, had fruit flies and white mould already so suspect I'm over feeding.
Ooh soo glad I found this thread. Got a newish 2 weeks old worm farm. Was watching the lunchtime news and saw the urban worm farm project giving away free worms so dived in. Worms are alive but no idea if I'm a good farmer or not, had fruit flies and white mould already so suspect I'm over feeding.
Maybe you're not overfeeding, I understand the mould is a good thing to have. There are lots of info on YouTube, though mainly it's Americans and Australians on there.
My worms are starting to be active, think that's because the weather is a few degrees warmer.
I've been watching lots. Just don't want to be a bad worm farmer. Poor things are cold in covered walkway but seem to be doing ok. Want to see them happy and creating lots of black gold 😁. Need to create another level for them too, all recycled bird fat ball containers ... The birds are loving my need for more worm house layers too.
It's a worry being responsible for them though and knowing so little.
I'd still like to unearth an answer to the question of whether the natural algae generated by sunlight on water, provides food for worms if applied to the soil. It's a ploy used by a ragworm farmer to stimulate the sea worm equivalent, so might have a non-salt application too? Where are the scientists when we need them?
I'd still like to unearth an answer to the question of whether the natural algae generated by sunlight on water, provides food for worms if applied to the soil. It's a ploy used by a ragworm farmer to stimulate the sea worm equivalent, so might have a non-salt application too? Where are the scientists when we need them?
Not that sort of scientist, but reading up they'll eventually eat anything but don't like acids hence them not liking citrus peel and onions. TBF sounds like too much effort for my little wormies. They seem to be surging on my kitchen scraps fine
Posts
I'm afraid I don't have a shed at the moment so the wormery is temporarily on my patio, outside the door, where I can keep an eye on them. It's is placed in it's box for protection with a bag of compost on the 'lid/roof' to stop the wind blowing it off. During the cold snap I wrapped the box with a sheet of insulation, the type you lay under composite wooden floors during the cold snap we had last week.
At first when I lifted the lid there were several under it, though I can't say I've had any escapees. I'm trusting they've settled down now and I've started to give them a couple handfuls of banana skins and chopped peelings. They definitely slow down and hide when it's cold.
Lovely to hear from another 'worm farmer' - it's an interesting 'hobby' and I can't wait to get into full production mode.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Thank you for the welcome. I will look to change my username if I can
Are you about 2 weeks or so in to having them?
I have found wrapping my worm farm with bubble wrap during the cold snaps has helped to increase the activity in the farm. I have also found that blending the food up has helped the worms digest it quicker.
I am currently seeing a lot of activity in my farm and lots of little worm eggs. So I fully anticipate to see production of the black gold ramping up! I have no liquid appearing in the bottom yet but I scrunched up some newspaper to help the worms if they do get stuck down the bottom.
Food I have found they like so far is
Mango (chopped finely or blended)
Banana (mashed up)
Blueberries (chopped or blended)
I have also done some reading which suggests doing a little meal prep with the worms and storing their food in the freezer and then defrosting apparently helps? (im testing this theory at the moment)
I have also tested using dog hair in the farm yesterday so will be interested to see what they make of it
It is a very interesting hobby and a lot of my colleagues are interested in the results.
Interesting idea about mashing up vegetable waste, then freezing it to break the fibres further - will experiment, but have to say I'm not so keen on too much faff. I have an old 'bag-for-life' in the garden where the kitchen waste for the worms is stored, the waste is slowly breaking down in the frost. Though it's looking like I might need a compost bin as well.
I had a paperwork clear out the other day, confidential papers were soaked in water overnight then gently squeezed of water and given to the worms.
Egg shells I've been keeping, and after cooking them a bit in the oven, I've then ground them with a blender, and sprinkled the ground shells in the wormery - I've read they apparently need some grit to digest their food.
Just hope when the weather warms up they'll get a wriggle on and make lots of fertiliser.
Good luck with your worm eggs, sounds like you've got a happy wormery there.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Worms are alive but no idea if I'm a good farmer or not, had fruit flies and white mould already so suspect I'm over feeding.
My worms are starting to be active, think that's because the weather is a few degrees warmer.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
Want to see them happy and creating lots of black gold 😁.
Need to create another level for them too, all recycled bird fat ball containers ... The birds are loving my need for more worm house layers too.
It's a worry being responsible for them though and knowing so little.
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.
TBF sounds like too much effort for my little wormies. They seem to be surging on my kitchen scraps fine
https://youtu.be/oms0xOakno8
Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border.