Wormery / worm bin tips

[Josh]

This is a continuation from How to build a worm farm by integrajosh.

how-to-build-a-worm-farm-3828

I'm glad someone else is into their worm bins.
I made my first one like yours - but smaller. I used to keep it on top of the cats litter tray. Sometimes a worm would crawl out and fall into the litter... then dry itself out. At first I thought one of the cats had stringy shit.

From that I went with polystyrene boxes - the ones fishmongers use. I kept them outside. It was great at first, but after a few downpours of rain, I soon found out the lids were not waterproof.

I now have one of these...

Bro those are awesome!! How long for you to get completely processed castings?

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[The Aspie Toker]

Bro those are awesome!! How long for you to get completely processed castings?

Thank you.
IIRC it was less than 3 months. Enough to use.

When you have your castings, go through it carefully, you'll find lots of eggs in there that could be placed back into the bin.

[Josh]

Bro those are awesome!! How long for you to get completely processed castings?

Thank you.
IIRC it was less than 3 months. Enough to use.

When you have your castings, go through it carefully, you'll find lots of eggs in there that could be placed back into the bin.

Hell ya, thanks for the tip man I actually found a couple in the bag they came in! Looked like little yellow fertilizer balls, lol

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[The Aspie Toker]

Food to give them...

Banana peels - These are best if you freeze them first. When you defrost them, they will turn black. Chop up and give to them to the worms.

Mango (and large seed - they will strip it dry and also lay eggs in the crevices)

Other fruit is also good, but avoid citrus fruit and peels. Too acidic. Onions, onion peel, garlic.
I have heard of people say they've given the above with no problems, but you never know if they are BSing you. I put them on the compost heap.

Egg shells. Rinse them out first and then boil them for 10 minutes. Let them dry and blitz them. I use a coffee grinder to do that. They need egg shells or sand for their digestive system. Egg shells also brings up the pH of the soil if it become too acidic.

Newspaper, bog rolls, general card (not pizza boxes as they will have grease on them)

Old leaves (avoid pine trees or any plant that has needles)

[The Aspie Toker]

Hell ya, thanks for the tip man Image I actually found a couple in the bag they came in! Looked like little yellow fertilizer balls, lol

Yellow ones are very young. They'll turn to a light brown, then to a darker brown.

[The Aspie Toker]

Corn on the cob is good too (cob included). Boil it first though. It helps break it up a bit for them.

Sometimes I'll soak some cardboard in a nix of molasses and water. If you do too much, it can get quite hot in the bin. This is because the microbes are multiplying too quick (a bit like a compost heap and you see the vapour rising)

[The Aspie Toker]

My worms eat more fruit and veg than I do. What I do is go to my local ASDA around 20:00 and see what's in the reduced bin. The other day I picked up a bag of bananas (around 12 or so) for 20p and 3 mangoes for 10p each.

[Josh]

Nice, thanks for the tips man you ever heard of adding your soil amendments to the worm bin and it makes super castings?

Basically just mix the castings with perlite and coco or peat moss and start growing
Very interested to know if this would work

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[The Aspie Toker]

Nice, thanks for the tips man you ever heard of adding your soil amendments to the worm bin and it makes super castings?

Basically just mix the castings with perlite and coco or peat moss and start growing
Very interested to know if this would work

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No problem.

I've also added horse manure to the bin. They love it, but it's best if you know horse owner. They'll be able to tell you if the horse was recently wormed.

I've not heard of super castings.

Do watch out for small white worms. These are pot worms and not young compost worms. They are a sign that the soil is too acidic and/or wet - both ideal conditions for them.

[The Aspie Toker]

Don't overfeed worms. It's easily done. The bin will start to smell, and not in a nice way. It's best to underfeed than overfeed. Temperature is important too. Too hot or too cold will slow down their eating.

What I sometimes do is to dry out the banana peels. Once they're defrosted, place them on a tray in an oven - set to a low setting for about 20 minutes - can take longer, so keep checking. Then I break them up into small pieces then blitz them in a grinder until they are dust. This will reduce smells in the bin as well as making it easier for them to be eaten by the bacteria.

I do the same to comfrey, rhubarb leaves, and stinging nettles.

Any questions, just ask away, mate.