Wormeries

[Danoutdoors]

Using worms more often so decided to invest a bit of time in a old one I started some time ago, was pleased to see that there were still worms living within it, I’ve stocked it with half a kilo of bought worms as well so hopefully that will kick it in to producing.

From watching YouTube vids I see that they will eat there own body weight in food each day and will double in size in about 40 days.

In a old iron bath I’ve got grass clippings horse s***e and all our household food waste bar citrus and onions going in often.

Anyone else bothered with one? Did you get good worm returns? Taa

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[Daniel]

Go very lightly with the grass cuttings, it generates a lot of heat as it rots.
I've got three wormeries on the go that produce about a kilo of dendras every six weeks or so.
I've also got one with tiger worms in it and another with redworms.

[Daniel]

Go very lightly with the grass cuttings and dung, it generates a lot of heat as it rots.
I've got three wormeries on the go that produce about a kilo of dendras every six weeks or so.
I've also got one with tiger worms in it and another with redworms.

[Danoutdoors]

Go very lightly with the grass cuttings and dung, it generates a lot of heat as it rots.
I've got three wormeries on the go that produce about a kilo of dendras every six weeks or so.
I've also got one with tiger worms in it and another with redworms.

Nice, how big is you unit that produces a kilo?

[spincityfan]

I was thinking of using our compost bin as a wormery as we dont get much compost out of it.
is it a case of just putting some compost and a bag of dendrobenas in?
I normally put the grass cuttings in the garden waste anyway so its only peelings that go in.

[Daniel]

Go very lightly with the grass cuttings and dung, it generates a lot of heat as it rots.
I've got three wormeries on the go that produce about a kilo of dendras every six weeks or so.
I've also got one with tiger worms in it and another with redworms.

Nice, how big is you unit that produces a kilo?

Its three individual storage boxes that are meant for under the bed storage, they're about 60x40x15cm, between them they produce a kilo or so every 6-7 weeks until winter, when it slows down and produces half as much at best.
Each box has a load of holes in the bottom to let the worm pee drain out or it'll become saturated and the worms die or escape.
A few layers of newspaper are added to the bottom, then a 2" layer of damp coco fibre and a couple of handfuls of topsoil are added followed by a good handful or two of worms and a load of ripped up newspaper that's been soaked in water and then rung out really well, they'll feed on this. They get veg peelings too, along with proper cardboard boxes parcels come in, again , it's torn up a bit and dampened.

Most wormeries fail because they get too wet, all you're after is slightly damp, too wet or dry and the worms die, escape or stay but stop breeding.

[Danoutdoors]

Go very lightly with the grass cuttings and dung, it generates a lot of heat as it rots.
I've got three wormeries on the go that produce about a kilo of dendras every six weeks or so.
I've also got one with tiger worms in it and another with redworms.

Nice, how big is you unit that produces a kilo?

Its three individual storage boxes that are meant for under the bed storage, they're about 60x40x15cm, between them they produce a kilo or so every 6-7 weeks until winter, when it slows down and produces half as much at best.
Each box has a load of holes in the bottom to let the worm pee drain out or it'll become saturated and the worms die or escape.
A few layers of newspaper are added to the bottom, then a 2" layer of damp coco fibre and a couple of handfuls of topsoil are added followed by a good handful or two of worms and a load of ripped up newspaper that's been soaked in water and then rung out really well, they'll feed on this. They get veg peelings too, along with proper cardboard boxes parcels come in, again , it's torn up a bit and dampened.

Most wormeries fail because they get too wet, all you're after is slightly damp, too wet or dry and the worms die, escape or stay but stop breeding.

Fair play, sounds like you know your stuff, will be interesting to see how I get on

[Mike J]

I have a wormery. Started in 2009 with 1/2kg through the post.
The worms are my pets according to my wife.
I take a box of them for a short holiday every time I go fishing, like I did two days ago when I used maggots.
The box gets opened and sometimes a worm goes for a swim, after which I always release it into the bankside habitat. The non swimming worms get returned to their friends when I get home.
My worms are fed on anything, cardboard, old bread, banana skins, out of date yoghurt, cream or milk, unused soup and sauces, they eat absolutely everything even dead rats and grass clippings except chillie sauce, orange peel and egg shells. No smells whatsoever.

My wormery is 1m square, made of decking boards, each board width making a seperate section that is added as the interior fills up and removed to empty. It stands on concrete slabs which allows it to drain freely. Yes worms to escape, the garden is full of those that the birds dont find.

A wormery is probably the finest refuse disposal unit ever invented by man.

.

[davyr]

I have stacks of worms in my compost bins (the sort of worm that smells of cabbage even though no cabbage ever goes into the bins). They're very soft-bodied and hard to keep on a hook and the only fish I've ever caught on them are bream. The best worms I've used are the small reddish-coloured one that live in the lawn, which will catch anything. There seems to be a lot of variation in the names for the different species. The compost bin ones are what always used to be known as brandlings or tiger worms (are these the same as dendras?), the small red ones found in manure heaps were called red worms (but you never see these for sale) and the big garden soil ones lobworms (which name still seems to apply). Lobworms, afaik, can't be bred "in captivity".

[BillCollins]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

[Danoutdoors]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

Nice one! Some good stuff I didn’t realise there thanks

[BillCollins]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

Nice one! Some good stuff I didn’t realise there thanks

Some years ago, I worked for a while with a company that produced worms commercially and also managed several municipal/ council pilot projects as part of an eco approach to waste management, so the object of the exercise was to keep the worms working at their optimum .

[Lee7499]

I have read somewhere that its a ball ache trying to breed lobworms in the UK on a small scale . Can anyone tell me if they have managed to breed lobworms successfully. My back garden is about half an acre but I would rather just have them to hand in a wormery if its feasible instead of wandering round the lawn at night with the old Petzl on .The neighbours think I'm nuts now never mind wandering round in the night looking for worms.

[Daniel]

I have read somewhere that its a ball ache trying to breed lobworms in the UK on a small scale . Can anyone tell me if they have managed to breed lobworms successfully. My back garden is about half an acre but I would rather just have them to hand in a wormery if its feasible instead of wandering round the lawn at night with the old Petzl on .The neighbours think I'm nuts now never mind wandering round in the night looking for worms.

They don't do well at all in a wormery in my experience.
They're deep burrowers compared to other worms which happily live within 2-3" of the surface.

[Mike J]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

Nice one! Some good stuff I didn’t realise there thanks

Some years ago, I worked for a while with a company that produced worms commercially and also managed several municipal/ council pilot projects as part of an eco approach to waste management, so the object of the exercise was to keep the worms working at their optimum .

Bill,
With your experience in this subject could you offer any advice on why my worms do not grow larger than 3"?
My wormery has zillions often in bunches as big as your (my) fist but in all the years its been running I have never got any big worms.
The original stocking were small dendros, bradlings and reds arrived from nowhere a few years ago, no only Enchycotriads either. i only empty it when its full every 2years or so, if any of that helps.

Thanks in advance.

.

[Daniel]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

Nice one! Some good stuff I didn’t realise there thanks

Some years ago, I worked for a while with a company that produced worms commercially and also managed several municipal/ council pilot projects as part of an eco approach to waste management, so the object of the exercise was to keep the worms working at their optimum .

Bill,
With your experience in this subject could you offer any advice on why my worms do not grow larger than 3"?
My wormery has zillions often in bunches as big as your (my) fist but in all the years its been running I have never got any big worms.
The original stocking were small dendros, bradlings and reds arrived from nowhere a few years ago, no only Enchycotriads either. i only empty it when its full every 2years or so, if any of that helps.

Thanks in advance.

.

I know you asked Bill, but for what it's worth, it's usually one of three things, or a combination of them.
Overcrowding, underfed or not enough moisture.

[Kev Berry]

Worms love fruit any fruit except citrus.
Tomatoes cucumber any green salad not onions
Love mashed spuds
Cracked wheat, porrridge
If you use horse muck make sure its well rotted...fresh is basically grass cuttings and gets warm....pig s**t is better.

Theres a you tube vid. Chap does his in small trays in a large shed.
So much food goes in and bedding then a couple of weeks later they harvested. I believe he buys in worm eggs.

If conditions arent right they sod off if they can get out or they die
Worm pee is actually one of the best fertilizers going...some folk make wormeries out of header tanks slotted into eachother the top one has holes in the base for the worm pee to drain through and collect in the bottom tank

Mike....freshen the bloodlines up...chuck a quarter kilo of big dendras in.

[BillCollins]

Try to avoid grass cuttings Dan. If you must add them, then also add plenty of dampened shredded cardboard regularly to maintain the correct carbon/nitrogen ratio. Along with citrus and onions, try not to give them any meat or fish scraps, they don't really eat it. PH is another thing to watch. Over time, there is a tendency for everything to become acidic which slows everything down, including breeding. Evidence of this is an increase in Enchycotriads, small white threadlike worms. To counteract this, add dried and ground eggshells when you have them, scattered on top, this will be enough to keep the ph in balance.
It's not really practical to keep redworms, dendros and lobs together. Lobs are burrowing soil worms, whereas the others are classed as surface dwellers, living in leaf mould and various other forms of organic waste.

Nice one! Some good stuff I didn’t realise there thanks

Some years ago, I worked for a while with a company that produced worms commercially and also managed several municipal/ council pilot projects as part of an eco approach to waste management, so the object of the exercise was to keep the worms working at their optimum .

Bill,
With your experience in this subject could you offer any advice on why my worms do not grow larger than 3"?
My wormery has zillions often in bunches as big as your (my) fist but in all the years its been running I have never got any big worms.
The original stocking were small dendros, bradlings and reds arrived from nowhere a few years ago, no only Enchycotriads either. i only empty it when its full every 2years or so, if any of that helps.

Thanks in advance.

.

I know you asked Bill, but for what it's worth, it's usually one of three things, or a combination of them.
Overcrowding, underfed or not enough moisture.

Mike/Dan,
As Dan says, there can be a combination of things. It's not hard to keep worms or get them to breed, but keeping them at their optimum requires a bit of fine tuning.
The natural diet of the dendro is wood based detritus, so the preferred diet in a wormery is actually cardboard. Most people don't add enough carbon source (cardboard), you can't have too much, just soak it, tear it up into chunks and chuck it in on top. It's possible to grow big fat dendros on wet cardboard and nothing else. Another thing is food scraps. Don't just scatter it on top or spread it around, bury the scraps in the compost in one spot. Bury the next feed of scraps in a different spot, develop a rotation around the container so that if there's something that should'nt have got in, they can move away from it. Hold the scraps in a container and feed them twice a week, no more. As already mentioned, keep an eye on the ph which is easily controlled anyway by adding the crushed eggshells on a regular basis. Just a few small points, but the difference between 3" dendros, and dendros like lobs.

[spincityfan]

Plenty of good advice on here

Will order 1/2kg of Dendro worms and chuck them in the compost bin

[Mike J]

Thank you Bill, also Dan, Kev and Spincity

Crazy
I have so much old cardboard Ive been layering it as a carpet on the garage floor because the dustmen wont take it away.

When the rain stops I will empty the whole thing and start again.

.

[BillCollins]

Each species of worm have their own food preferences. Dendros prefer dead leaves, cardboard and paper. Tigerworms (brandlings) do best with veg and fruit as will redworms, which also like manure. Set up your wormery to suit whichever worms you want, or for a mix of all 3. I don't bother with brandlings myself, as dendros have always seemed to be far more consistent catchers of bream. To that end, my own wormeries are simply a bedding of 8-9'' of organic compost with plenty of wet cardboard on top at all times, dendros don't really need food scraps. If you're setting up a wormery from scratch, remember that it's surface area and not depth which will determine how many worms it can support. A wider shallower container will support more than a narrower deep one, as long as it can hold about 9'' depth of compost, there's no need for any more, most of them will be living in the top 6''.

[Danoutdoors]

Yea brilliant replies, I’m thinking to start over again already, my bath is a right mixture of manure, old grass clippings, soil, food waste and cardboard, it’s also very full

I was thinking you can learn most things off YouTube these days but pleased to see there’s loads of stuff on this thread not covered on what I watched.

Nice one fellas

[Mike J]

Yea brilliant replies, I’m thinking to start over again already, my bath is a right mixture of manure, old grass clippings, soil, food waste and cardboard, it’s also very full

I was thinking you can learn most things off YouTube these days but pleased to see there’s loads of stuff on this thread not covered on what I watched.

Nice one fellas

+ 1

Bill is so right about depth, mine is now over 1m deep and the worms are always in the top layer.

Cardboard been soaking overnight for their first proper feed

.

[fishder]

Great information there well done.