Wormery / worm bin tips

[The Aspie Toker]

Lmaooo, my gf threw veggie scraps in the bin and 3 days later we have a field of squash and a rooted beet guess it's the perfect germination environment

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I had similar with a mango seed. I saw this stick-like thing poking out and snapped it off not knowing what it was.

[The Aspie Toker]

Don't give them more food, mate.

There's too much food in the first photo. I wouldn't give them that much in summer, let alone near winter.

Use shredded paper if you need to dry it out a bit, or leave off the lid during daylight hours. Dry coir is also good to use.

[Smokey]

So fellow wormers, It's chilly in the conservatory again 10-12*C and I've not really fed them any scraps for a good 4 weeks, they still had a bit of grub in there.

I've just given them some more bits and some worm food sticks that came with the kit, to dry the medium a little.



They like it in the bottom apparently.



Very slow progress for me, I'm wondering if I should give them loads more to eat? Or get more worms and give them more grub?

They're gonna get a shed load of sprouts over xmas, I always buy too many... I love the little green buggers. Especially finely sliced and fried in a little butter for a few seconds then steamed with a spoon of water in the frying pan... ON TOAST!

Well it started well this little update then somehow we landed at sautéed sprouts ON TOAST !!!!

[Smokey]

Sounds like a bush tucker trial

[The Aspie Toker]

Well it started well this little update then somehow we landed at sautéed sprouts ON TOAST !!!!

Dude, you gotta try them.

Raw sprouts are so sweet, we cook the lives out of them and then moan they taste all farty.

You may have missed my post a moment ago.

[Smokey]

Don't give them more food, mate.

There's too much food in the first photo. I wouldn't give them that much in summer, let alone near winter.

Use shredded paper if you need to dry it out a bit, or leave off the lid during daylight hours. Dry coir is also good to use.

Sound advice Asp

[The Aspie Toker]

Don't give them more food, mate.

There's too much food in the first photo. I wouldn't give them that much in summer, let alone near winter.

Use shredded paper if you need to dry it out a bit, or leave off the lid during daylight hours. Dry coir is also good to use.

Cheers Aspie,

It's only a thin layer covering the top. Literally a really small end of a carrot shredded and some coffee and tea grinds and 3 small lettuce leaves.

Oh and I popped a sprinkling of lime in there too, to keep the ph happy. A big bag of the stuff came with the kit and they suggest adding it monthly.

I was wondering if they needed more coir as bedding, the fine layer I put in has vanished.

I'mma pop the top off now and let them dry out a bit.

Cheers dude.

That's still a lot, and it looks raw rather than pre-cooked. Raw products will take longer as the cells are stronger. Banana skins for example are best used if you freeze them first. Once defrosted, they will break down quicker.

I like to cover my scraps first as the bacteria will "attack" the food from more angles. I also prefer to use powdered/crushed egg shells rather than lime for pH because the worms need the egg shells for their gizzards (as well as balancing the pH)

They will like sprouts, but boy it will stink for a while.

[The Aspie Toker]

They will like sprouts, but boy it will stink for a while.

A bit like my underpants then!

Yeah I use uncooked veg in there. I'll leave them be till xmas now then and see what's occuring.

I took the courgette end out, luckily the wife has the soupmaker on the go so I popped it in there for her. She'll thank me later!

Uncooked will take a lot longer to be eaten as the bacteria needs to break it down. I do have a tub where I put extra scraps into, and let it break down before adding. It's a good way of draining off excess liquid too as I dispose of that before adding what's left.

I have to go out again soon, so replies will be dealt with on my return.

[Marcus]

So my worm bin is now chock a block with a good damp (It's raining outside) 15-20kg of castings and worms.

My issue is... FUNGUS GNATS!!!

Has anyone cooked up castings in the oven to kill the gnats? I don't want to use any chemicals, so was thinking of cooking a bit of castings up to kill the b'stards larvae.

These worms must have been shagging like crazy too, as I've got thousands of little wrigglers now.

Any tips for teas and pest eradication out there?

Ta.

I have done with Verve before, but not with worm compost. Use a very low heat, you may need to slightly open the oven door.

As for teas, I use blackstrap molasses, water that has rested for 24 hours and an air pump. You can add alfalfa too, for nitrogen to also feed the bacteria.

[Marcus]

So my worm bin is now chock a block with a good damp (It's raining outside) 15-20kg of castings and worms.

My issue is... FUNGUS GNATS!!!

Has anyone cooked up castings in the oven to kill the gnats? I don't want to use any chemicals, so was thinking of cooking a bit of castings up to kill the b'stards larvae.

These worms must have been shagging like crazy too, as I've got thousands of little wrigglers now.

Any tips for teas and pest eradication out there?

Ta.

If you do heat up the worm castings, make sure there's no eggs in there.