How to Create a Worm Farm
If you want a natural and organic fertiliser or soil conditioner for you garden then you can’t beat worm castings. It’s the easiest way to have a successful organic garden. Worm castings are rich in soil nutrients. They significanctly improve the soil structure as well as increasing its water holding capacity. Regular use of worm castings in your garden will result in stronger, healthier, more drought resistant plants.
For best results, worm castings, or worm compost, should be placed around plants and then covered by mulch. Worm castings can also be mixed with water to produce a liquid fertiliser which works well when sprayed on flowers or vegetables during their growing season.
Vermicomposting is the perfect way to turn your household waste into something useful. Vegetable waste, animal droppings, and other organic waste can be turned into high quality soil. The great thing about vermicomposting or worm composting is that it’s really easy to set up, it’s low maintenance, and it doesn’t require a lot of space.
The easiest way to set up your own backyard worm farm is to buy a ready made plastic worm farm. These are available at most garden centres but can also be purchased at a subsidised rate from some local councils. You can make your own worm farm using broccoli boxes but these ready made ones are really convenient and enable you to get started quickly.
Place the worm farm in a cool area of your garden, out of direct sunlight. Place a few sheets of newspaper in the bottom of the worm farm and then half fill it with moist soil or compost. Add around a 1000 worms (depending on the size of your farm) and then add some vegetable scraps to get started. Always cover the organic matter you add with a couple of sheets of newspaper to create a balanced compost. If you don’t add newspaper your vegetables may rot and create a very strong odour. Something your neighbours are unlikely to appreciate.
As the worms munch through the food you give them, you will be able to remove the worm ‘juice’ and use it on your garden as with any liquid fertiliser. Once the worms have finished doing their thing in the lower bin, remove it and place the compost on your garden and then place the empty bin on top of the worm farm so you can start adding more food scraps.
The following items can be placed in a worm farm and converted into worm castings:
- fruit and vegetable scraps
- egg shells
- grass clippings
- leaves
- cut flowers
- coffee grounds
- shredded newspaper
- sawdust
- wood ash
Items to avoid:
- meat
- fish
- dairy
- oil
- bones
- animal droppings
A worm farm can provide you with a constant supply of free fertiliser. It will also reduce the amount of rubbish you throw out which would otherwise end up in landfill. It is an easy way to help the environment and your garden.
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Please can you help me. I have a plastic four tier worm farm and recently it has become infested with cockroaches. I have nice healthy worms but these cockroaches are everywhere. Can i use cockroach baits without killing my worms, can you please please help me John
There are a couple of things you could try to get rid of the cockroaches.
1. Make sure your worm farm has a lid on it or else cover it with a hessian bag.
2. When you put vegetables in the worm farm, cover them with a few sheets of newspaper and then put the lid on firmly.
3. You might have a lot of cockroaches as your compost is too acidic. Try adding water and lime and see how that goes.
4. Avoid putting meat and dairy products in for composting as they can attract pests.
To get rid of the cockroaches without using baits you could try a 1:1 mixture of baking soda and sugar. Spread it around the worm farm. You should see a reduction in cockroaches after a few days and hopefully they’ll be gone in a couple of weeks.
Hello:
Two questions. (1) What would be the minimum depth of material to place in the box? (2) Do worms go into somethink like hybernation during colder weather?
Thank you
Hi Larry,
I would think you’d want at least 10cm of material to start with but it’s not really important. Just put whatever food scraps you have into the worm farm and add to it every day or two. It’ll soon build up and your worms will be happy!
As for worms in cold weather… From what I’ve read, worms like their soil cool and moist so depending on where you are located they should be fine as the temperature drops. However, if it gets really cold you might want to move your worm farm to a warmer, protected area and cover it with carpet or something similar to retain warmth.
Continue to feed the worms during winter as this will encourage them to stay active.
Worms may go into a type of hybernation known as estivation but I don’t know too much about how that works.
Hi!
I have recently aquired a worm farm, it had a lot of water in the bottom part which I have drained through the tap into a bucket. Please tell me how to use the water as fertiliser…do I need to water it down?
Thanks
KJ
Kiren – you can use the ‘worm juice’ directly on most plants although you might want to water it down for use on seedlings.
If in doubt, just use a little at first and see how that goes.
hey- im about to start up a worm farm out of an empty foam fruit & Veg box.
do i just add soil from the garden?
can i just add short thick garden worm about 50 of them and let them breed?
wen i put the scraps in do i just lift up the hesain bagg and put them on and then put soil over the top then in a week do the same thing?
I WANT MY WORM FOR FISHING
Matthew – so you want to start a worm farm to breed worms for fishing, rather than to get the worm castings for your garden? I haven’t heard of someone doing that before!
To start with, I’d advise against using a foam box and instead recommend a purpose built worm farm. This will give you better control of the farm and the worms. This way you can remove the worm castings from the bottom and then put more scraps on the top.
If you have worms in your garden then, yes, you can use them.
I suggest putting the scraps on top of the worm farm, then a couple of sheets of moist newspaper and then put the hessian bag back on.
hey- thanks andrea for the info. we just decided to buy a worm farm box thingo so mum can have her fertilize stuff and i can hav worms for fishing.
Hi, concerning the “3 door composting famiily bins”, How does one collect the “juice”?
also could you give me some comparison benifits/negatives between the ‘Bins” and the ‘stacker stand type of Theworman.
I only have a small garden area and can’t decide which would be more suitible for me. .
Thankyou,
Nick
Hi Nick – some worm farms have a tray at the bottom which collects the worm juice. You can pour this into a watering can or others have a tap which you can turn on to get the juice. I prefer the kind with the tap.
If you have a small garden then go for something which won’t take up too much room and is reasonably priced. So long as your worms are well fed and taken care of, they’ll produce worm compost and you’ll have plenty of fertiliser for your garden.
Hi, is it okay to take out some worms from the worm farm, like if there’s too many, and put them in my garden?
Of course, that’s fine. You must have a pretty healthy worm farm if you have so many worms. Care to share your experience?
Hi,
I’ve had a worm farm for about 6 months but the worms are eating really slowly. I’m pretty careful to stick to the foods they eat. Also, I now have an iflux of soldier fly maggots so it’s become more like a maggot farm. I’ve tried putting lime on them but there’s always new maggots after a few days and I’m conscious of putting too much lime in the farm. It’s a can-o-worms farm so it has a lid. Do you have any suggestions of how to get rid of the maggots and help the worms to eat more efficiently?
Thanks
Naomi
Naomi – do you have any meat or dairy products in the worm farm as these can be a cause of maggots.
Try adding a few layers of moistened newspaper between layers of food and see if that helps.
As for the slow eating, you might just need more worms. Maybe buy a plastic bag full of worms and add them to the farm and see how that goes.
Let me know if you have some success.
Hi,
I also have a massive cockroach problem with my worm farm and it was suggested to use a mixture of 1:1 baking soda and sugar “around” the worm farm. Is this inside or outside the worm farm??
Thanks
Kim
Outside, around the base of the worm farm. Let me know if it works for you.
Hi All
I too have a worm farm / compost that has been invaded by Maggots and like many others of you I don’t put meat scraps in the bin. I haven’t tried to get rid of them yet as the lime doesn’t seem to work and I too am conscious of over doing it with the lime. The compost book I got with the work bin suggests loaves of bread soaked in milk placed on top of the food then when it is full of the maggots through this out after 2 to 3 days. Apparently the Maggots love the bread and all go into it instead of the other food in the bin. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks Bree
That sounds like an interesting solution. I’d love to know if it works or not.
Hi.
I found this website after trying to find problems with my worm bin. I do not use meat or dairy, but there are a few maggots in there. I have also noticed that there are less worms, but there is still plenty of food. Would maggots start killing the worm population even when there is plenty of food?
Plus, on another website, I read that the maggots will simply go away after a period of time. Is that true? If so, when would that be.
Thanks
I think it makes sense that the maggots will disappear over time. Give the worms a chance to do their job! If the worms are producing worm castings then everything is fine. Don’t worry about the maggots.
When you put food in the bin, cover it with a couple of sheets of damp newspaper and forget about it.
I’ve never noticed maggots in my worm farm but I’ve never really looked into the bin to see what is happening. I’m sure there are often maggots in there but seeing I always cover food scraps with a couple of sheets of newspaper, I probably just can’t see them.
I think everyone should forget about the maggots!
The point is to end up with some nutrient rich worm compost for your garden. If your worms are producing that (which takes time) then there is nothing to worry about.
Thanks for the heads up.
It’s hard to simply forget about the maggots, because they are quite disgusting.
What I am actually going to start doing is get a bigger bin and make holes that are covered with an old shirt. I think that will take care of the issue since the maggots are coming from the flies.
THanks
what kind of worms do i need to get started?
how many per square inch?
thanks for the help.
reading the other comments have already been really helpful. look forward to hearing fron you.
You need composting worms which are different from regular worms which you might find in your garden. There are 3 common types of composting worms. You can use Red Wrigglers, Tiger worms or Indian Blues. This may vary depending on your location.
You can get the worms from garden centres or worm farmers. You should be able to buy your worms online.
Start with a bag of worms as they breed fairly quickly. The number of worms should double in size within 3 months or so.
Don’t add too much food at the beginning as the excess food will just rot. You can add more food as the worms start to breed.
If you start to see pests such as flies, maggots, and slugs, sprinkle a little lime top of the worm farm but don’t worry too much about the pests.
I hope this helps.
Hi everyone,
An update on maggots – I have placed a piece of hessian over the scraps underneath the lid. Whilst there are still a few maggots and flies, it has significantly reduced the numbers in there!! It also seems with less maggots, more worms are coming to the surface to eat.
I’ve limited the amount of lime I’m putting in since too much lime can cause very basic conditions which could affect the fertiliser going onto plants.
Hope this helps people having similar problems!
It looks like covering the worm farm with a hessian bag or newspaper is the key to getting rid of or limiting the maggots.
Thanks for the update Naomi. It’s much appreciated.
Sounds like a great idea. I will try the hessian bag and lime and let you know how it goes.
Thanks
TIm
I’ve got a round plastic worm farm and it was doing really well but now there are heaps of spiders in there and the food doesn’t seem to be getting eaten. I don’t know if the spiders are eating the worms. Thanks,
I have had my wormfarm for about 10 years now. The pests come and go, slaters, small spiders (they breed very well in there and I just take the silky egg sacs out and throw them away, it keeps the population down), those tiny white worms (which incidently my fish love to eat), a few slugs and cockroaches and of course the ants will always try to populate any area where there is plenty of free food.
None of the pests bother me. I just pick a few out now and then. I get plenty of worm juice and the castings are great for the garden.
Hi
I live in Darwin in an apartment, we are starting to grow some herbs and veges on our veranda, and want to do something with our food wastes.
Would a warm garden be okay on a deck, what are the chances of all these potential insects crawling inside
from a kiwi who is only just realising how big insects can get
Tania
Hi,
I’ve had a worm farm for 5 years and it’s doing really well. In the last few months though it has become infested with red back spiders. I have tried removing them and the egg sacks, but they keep reappearing. Other spiders don’t worry me, but because they are dangerous I want to get rid of them. Does anyone have any ideas?!!
Thanks, Tahnee
Tania,
I think the best way to find out if you can have a worm farm on your deck is to try it and see how you go. I suspect it’s not a good idea but it won’t hurt to try.
Tahnee,
Red Back spiders love dark, warm, dry places to live so it’ll be difficult to get rid of them. I think the best option is to wear protective clothing and gloves when you use the worm farm.
Don’t worry too much, Red Back spider bites are rarely fatal
Good luck!
We have a worm farm with a tap at the bottom. The worm juice used to be clear and black and we’d get about 1 litre each week. Over the last few weeks, production has dropped off (500ml per week) and the tap seems to be blocked by little white bugs (?vinegar fly maggots) just about 2-3 mm long.
Are these vinegar fly maggots?
What do I do to clear this problem up?
Maybe it just needs a good clean to unblock it?
I seem to have lots of tiny white wrigglers – are they harmful? Also have got fruit fly when I tried to add the 2nd level and forgot to keep the hessian top matting damp. How can I get rid of the fruit fly?
hi, ibought a foam worm kit from bass pro shops with a pack of canadian nightcrawlers. it wasn’t soil it was some kind of mixture ofpaper or somthing. but i had enough moisture and everything it was plenty of food. but nats got in there and the worms dissappeared. oh , wat is worm casting
Hi, I have just started a worm farm and am too having problems with vinegar flies. Millions of vinegar flies are in and around the worm farm and there are so many maggots – mainly in the bottom bin where there should be worm wee. Should I dispose of the maggots? How? Also as I have given the farm leaves from my veggie garden which must have had cabbage moth eggs on them and so, there are now lovely green caterpillers living in the worm farm. What would you suggest I do? Do these need to go too? I am unsure of the lime you talk about – is that a powder you get from garden centre or is it the fruit?
Thanks
Well at least I feel better knowing I’m not alone with these issues. I also thought I had maggots, however, they never turned into flies they seem keep growing and are white up to 1.5cm L & a few mm width – what are these? Will lime do the trick? I have wet newspaper over the top layer & they seem quite comfortable in between the paper layers. They are always at the top.
Re: the lime question – yes go to a garden center & they will be able to help you (not the juice of the fruit).
I still feel that if your worms are eating and producing worm castings then you don’t need to worry about anything.
I keep finding my worms in the bottom, liquid collecting layer of my worm farm. I scoop them out and put them in the top, but they always end up back there. The farm is exposed a little bit to the rain, but I don’t think it’s enough to wash them down there. Any suggestions?
I have just started a worm farm. I have a tray to collect the liquid and then another tray on that which I lined with 3 sheets of newspaper and then a bunch of shreaded newspaper….all a little damp. Then I put the worms in and then some scraps ontop….then the lid.
Firstly, do I need to add soil as well or will the shreaded newspaper do?
Secondly the worms seem to either climb up to the lid or a load are in the bottom tray….am I doing something wrong? Some worms are in with the food but doesn’t look like they are eating much?
Any advise is greatly appreciated.
Hi Brett, glad to see another person setting up a worm farm.
I think what you need to do when starting out is:
* Place a few sheets of newspaper in the bottom of the worm farm.
* Half fill it with moist soil or compost.
* Add around a 1000 worms.
* Add some vegetable scraps to get started.
* Cover with damp newspaper.
I hope that helps.
Not sure if what I have is strictly a worm farm (more a compost bin) but I’ve seen questions similar to mine posted previously and I just wanted to see if the same suggestions apply…..I have one of those rectangular compost bins where the waste is in contact with the ground and there’s a lid that sits on it loosely and some side panels that open where we get our compost out of. We don’t really stir our compost – basically just add scraps and grass clippings to the top. We don’t use any hessian
Last night I went to the compost bin to dump our kitchen scraps and got totally freaked out by the top layer of the compost being entirely covered deeply by cockroaches. Here’s my questions:
- Is it possible I have a cockroach nest in the compost bin?
- With what I regard to be an extreme infestation of cockroaches – is adding lime into or around the compost really likely to get rid of them?
- Do I need to start again?
- Although we do get a yield of compost out of the bottom I’ve never actually observed worms – should I add some?
I’ve had a Can O Worms worm farm for about 2 months now mainly because I needed to dispose of my kitchen waste as I live rurally and don’t have a garbage collection service. I have had a soldier fly infestation and my worm population has dwindled dramatically. The maggots seem to be doing a more efficient job of reducing the waste though (they eat EVERYTHING) and I don’t care who’s eating the scraps as long as it doesn’t smell and the farm is still easy to maintain. Are there any reasons why I couldn’t just leave them to reproduce and have a maggot farm? (I know that sounds gross) Do they still produce something I can safely put on my garden? Do they have a limited/seasonal life span? What sort of impact will this have on the environment regarding the adult flies produced? Or should I remove them and start again?
Lori, a maggot farm? Hmm, I’m not sure that’s a great idea.
I don’t really know what to say but if you are willing to try it then why not and just see what happens. Record your results and let us know in a few months what the result is. Good luck
Hi
We have a worm farm but I want to know if it is ok to add kitty litter to it? We use the type that is pure lockyer Valley rolled pellets anyway – would be a great way to recycle cat waste!
Joanne
Sorry – that is rolled pellets of lucerne hay!
It’s not recommended to place animal droppings in a worm farm.
Andrea I never got a response from 7th Jan 08 entry?
I suggest you double check that you are adding the correct kinds of materials to your compost (see original article) and that you follow the standard method of covering your scraps with damp newspaper and hessian bags.
Also try adding a couple of handfuls of lime every now and then.
Plus as suggested previously: To get rid of the cockroaches without using baits you could try a 1:1 mixture of baking soda and sugar. Spread it around the worm farm.
Maybe stop adding food scraps for a while until you see a reduction in the number of cockroaches.
Hi RE: REDBACK SPIDERS ON WORMFARM, I recently read spiders in general hate lemon so i have made up a mix of rind/juice and water and sprayed it around the doorways and windows and outside toys and it seems to be working. maybe you could try that on the redbacks.
Hi,
A really good way to increase your worm population is to get a watermelon and put an entire slice whole in the top tray or the current feeding tray. The worms will love it and swarm to it, everytime they touch they procreate (make babies). I buy local watermelons for $4 and cut strips out of the middle for the worms. I started with 500 a year ago and now have well over 10,000 worms.
Redback spiders like a dark DRY spot, if you add wetter products it should disturb the redbacks, even pouring 1 litre of liquid into the kitchen scraps and adding to the worm farm should frustrate them enough to drive them out. The other benefit of this is you will get more worm wee for your plants.
Great tips Aaron!
So who’s going to try the watermelon thing and report back with their results?
I’ll try the watermelon and let you know.
Hi I’m in a community gardens. And we have a worm farm in a bath tub. I have recently check the worm farm and there is no worms. But lots of cockroaches and spiders. I just want to know. Can cockroaches and spiders eat the worms.
Hi,
I have read the above posts and am concerned about the small white jumping insects that have infested my worm farm. They are present in the worm ‘wee’ and previously when I have put this on plants believe that they may have killed the plant. There are thousands of them, and since they arrived the number of worms has reduced dramatically.
A friend suggested that they might be white fly – which I have heard is bad for plants, I am scared to use the worm wee in case it kills plants, and am trying to decide if I should start again.
Any suggestions if I should start again or try and get rid of them. I have tried lime in the past and am worried that I am using too much – as this also seemed to reduce the number of worms.
Suggestions welcome…
Thanks,
Carly
There is good news, the cockroaches are omnivores, they dont generally eat anything that can fight back. As in they will eat dead meat and vege scraps. John I am just wondering how much paper / cardboard you have in your wormfarm as this creates the ideal conditions for cockroaches. They like to hide whilst having something touch both their feet and backs, as in a crevice. You might want to just take all the coverings off the worm farm (depending on the tempature and weather in general in your area) for a week or so. The worms will dive down to the lower trays and the cockroaches and spiders should move on to another dark spot.
good luck
let us all know if it works as I have not had this issue (yet) and may need it myself one day.
Carly.
You could be talking about a sprintail, they are great to have in compost bins but not generally in worm farms as they will eat the same food source the worms do. However they like a wettish (is that a word?) environment. So you could do as I suggested for John and let the bin dry out a little, the springtail from my assumptions cannot dig and therefore would not survive on the dry surface. Give it a go, the worms will be in there somewhere and whilst it may take a little while to get the population back up it is still better than starting all over again.
Sorry Andrea, I feel like a tyrant…. taking over
)
however I love the worms and what they can do to help fix what us humans have done to the earth. (bet you cannot say that sentence five times
I’m more than happy for you to take over
I have never had most of the problems described here so I can only give limited advice.
Your help is much appreciated!
Aaron,
Do you have any advice about soldier flies?? I know they are also meant to be beneficial to the breakdown of waste but they have invaded my worm farm. The worms have moved deeper into the farm and do not come to the surface any more. When I put waste in there is an immediate influx of soldier fly larvae and it appears they are the only things eating the scraps. I don’t mind that so much but I wanted to use castings on my plants and the soldier fly larvae do not leave castings. Also, my worm farm has been invaded by ear wigs. I have tried leaving a container of vegetable oil to attract and trap them. It worked a little bit but not efficiently enough to erradicate the problem. Any suggestions are most welcome!!!
Thanks
Naomi
hi
i’m in NZ – and have a “can of worms” set up. I have lots of worms but they just don’t seem to want to move up the layers. The bottom layer looks like pure worm cast – dark brown and quite moist – but still lots of worms. ?any suggestions to get them to move up?- might try the watermelon trick. Am i over feeding? do i just need to pick them all out and put them in the next layer?
Naomi,
Nice can you send some my way. Soldier flies actually break down scraps quicker than worms, their deposits / castings are then eaten by the worms making vermicast. I have never had these however, thinking about it they would most likely speed up the breakdown process. Can you clarify this? Basically from what I have read they will just disappear in time so just leave them be if you can.
Earwigs,
Is the bin dry. Keeping a moist bin will reduce most bugs and critters from the bin.
The soil in the bin should be like a moist cake (apple and cinnamonbut without the icing as this will attract ants), this is the ideal environment for the worms and you will have very few “unwanted visitors”.
One thing I have not been doing is adding carbon to the bin, as in leaves and roughage for the worms. This will aid the bacteria which the worms feed on and love, it also helps reduce the unwanted critters. The other benifit is it allows you to bury the food scraps under a pile of leaves (dry leaves are better as they are carbon rich, where as green is nitrogen, think of the compost bin). This masks the smell of rotting scraps and reduces the attraction to / for fruit flies and the like.
Pumpkin is also very good for the bin, worms love it as much as watermelon.
Please let us know how you go Naomi.
Really interested in your observations of the soldier fly and how fast they break down the scraps.
They are ugly, they are creepy but they are good.
Angela,
Is the bin in the sun, mind you it is winter their now, was thinking it might be getting too hot for them and they are keeping in the depths out of the heat. Surprising enough this can happen in extreme cold as well. What are you putting in the bin?
They will move up in time, maybe the food scraps are not rotting down quick enough, add more roughage to help this and be patient, before long they will be swarming in the upper layers. How long have you had the bin for and what number of worms did you start with?
Angela,
Is the bin in the sun, mind you it is winter there now, was thinking it might be getting too hot for them and they are keeping in the depths out of the heat. Surprising enough this can happen in extreme cold as well. What are you putting in the bin?
They will move up in time, maybe the food scraps are not rotting down quick enough, add more roughage to help this and be patient, before long they will be swarming in the upper layers. How long have you had the bin for and what number of worms did you start with?
This format is great! I am starting a worm farm soon, here in Colorado. I am wondering about problems with flyies and spiders. How do they get in? The worm farm products I’ve looked at seem to have air tight drawers/lids. Thanks for all your help!
Hi Guys
I subscribe to this post and when Aaron mentioned feeding the worms watermelon to increase the worm population i thought i would test it.
I just wanted to report back to every one this really seams to work.
It took a few days for the worms to get started on it but they love the watermelon when I’m feeding it to the worms they seem to all congregate mate and eat i can pick them up by the hand fulls when they are eating the watermelon.
So i thought i would test other fruit as well, they seem to like all the fruit I tested with but nothing like the watermelon in fact seeing them eat it is so neat now i have to fight the temptation to put nothing but watermelon in there
Great tip Aaron every one else i suggest you head to your local markets and pick up watermelon cheap and watch them go.
Have Fun
Bree
That’s amazing that they like watermelon more than other fruit.
Thanks for reporting your results, I’m sure that will help a lot of readers.
I too have tried the watermelon and have had similar results. I was worried about my worms and thought I might have to purchase more, but since trying the watermelon – I have a large population!
Glad you tried the watermelon, if you get the seeded watermelon you will find that they will sprout and you can actually put in your garden to grow your own. Be mindful though, they can get a bit greedy and take over your garden.
Johny C.
Worms eat the bacteria that is aerobic (needs oxygen). Therefore worm farms need to have air vents and the more air the better. The problem with this is that to have air vents we must create holes which spiders and other insects can use to get in. If you put an apple or orange in it will attract fruit fly and other insects, if you put meat in it will attract fly’s and maggots. Be careful when buying a worm farm if they say it is airtight, as this is not the best environment for your worms and in fact the noxious gas given of from anaerobic bacteria will kill the worms. I bought a worm farm for $50 and it does okay I have about 500 worms in there. However I grabbed an old wardrobe and put it on its back and filled with horse manure and cow manure. I put about 100 worms in there and now would easily have 5000 worms, this works really well. I have mulch on top and other than that it is open to the elements. The other farm I built a couple of weekends ago was made out old picket fence (yes it is white), about 1 meter high (any height over this is fine) and 1m depth and 1m wide. This allows air in all sides and the top, fill with about 10kg um 20 pounds of horse or cow manure and pop your worms in with a nice thick layer of mulch (straw, hay, dried grass) on top. Will take a while initially to get started but when the straw starts to go start adding your scraps underneath, or you could put a hessian bag on top. You can put this in the garden where the worms can venture out and fix the soil for you. And don’t forget to add the watermelon to really start your population off.
Thanks for the info. A picket fence? I guess you can use anything! I saw some unusual ones on line… one guy had 3 tires stacked full of compost and worms! I just finished building my “starter” out of a large storage container. I drilled 1/8 inch holes all around the top sides and drilled four larger holes, about 4cm, and covered them with screen. My worms are arriving from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm today- unclejim.com. This web site was very educational for me. I teach 8 year olds and linked his site onto mine so my students can build farms as well. I will receive about 500 worms. My question: How long does it take to double my worms? I want to start a farm in my school yard and get community involved. Thanks for your help!
ha ha, the three tires was how I started out, but back then I thought the worm wee had great benefits and therefore thought I was missing out so invested in the worm bin.. Turns out the worm wee is not that potent or as good as people believe.
If you want to see something drastic try this little experiment. Mow your lawn without a catcher and see how fast the clippings are broken down and returned to the soil. Then make a worm tea (get some vermicast, a large handful in a hessian bag and put it in water, just like your grandpa did with the compost for compost tea), put a little amount of sugar and fish emulsion or other nitrogen rich liquid in and stir. Let is sit for a while out of sunlight and stirring once or twice a day, the good bacteria will multiply their numbers by millions. Then dilute this by 1 part to 5 (will not do much harm if undiluted but makes it go further to dilute) and pour (do not spray) on your lawn at night (UV can kill them before they hit the ground). Wait a month or two and then notice the affect when you next mow without the catcher. The good bacteria will encourage earth worms into the lawn and they will also consume the lawn clippings returning the nourishment back to the soil. Some people report that all lawn clippings disappear in a matter of weeks. Much more beneficial that worm wee.
The above was taken from a book written by David Murphy.
“Organic Growing with Worms
A Handbook for a Better Environment”
A very informative read. I have read it 5 – 10 times to the annoyance of my wife. She hears about worms non stop.
Johny C.
Very hard to tell, basically when two mature worms touch both wriggle away pregnant, this is where the watermelon comes in handy because you can double your numbers very very quickly. But it can depend on the temperature and so many other factors that is would be hard to give a specific time. But if you start with 500 then you will be off to a good start straight away. In David’s book he has plans for a worm breeder, I have not tried this yet though.
Our worm farm has become infested with red back spiders. I see someone has had this problem before but we have young children and a confined outdoor space. Do you have any suggestions other than protective gloves? I’d hate to get rid of the worms but I can’t have red backs around my kids.
Hi Sarah,
Sounds like you have a bin that is a bit too dry, give it a decent soaking ensuring the water can run through the bin without drowning the poor worms. Then get a nice bit of cardboard, leave the lid off and place the cardboard over the worms, creating a temporary seal, I have resorted to using an old towel that I just put on top, it keeps the bin a bit moist and protects the worms, works better than the cardboard but the wife keeps asking where her favorite towel went. kidding…
The redbacks will not like being exposed and will not like the water, they will move on rather quickly… Of course you could also try and find some daddy long legs and put them in the bin, they are the natural enemy of the redback and will attack them. Yes the daddy long leg…
Let us know how you go.
Thanks.
Aaron
I am most inspired… You worm farmers have me hooked… pun intended. Can’t wait to get started, thanks!
Scott
Hi all,
Been following this blog for ages and have got some great tips, Especially the watermelon aphrodisiac worked wonders. I noticed a problem this morning, whilst showing my old man the wonders of worms (and yes, he took some worm wee for the garden), when i looked in the water tray (Worm farm commercial product) 50% of my worms were swimming in there. Is this a good or bad thing and how do I stop this from happening if its not good..??? There were heaps of small whitish worms in there as well, I’m assuming they are newly born ones.
Any comments will be greatly appreciated.
IGGI
Sydney.
Hi Everyone,
I have been in & out of worms for the past 10-15years & its great to see so many enthusiasts about now.I have recently started up my domestic worm farm & made a crucial error,i put it in a spot that was to hot.We had 2 hot days one of 28c & next was 35c(i did not expect these hot days so early in the year),i checked on them the night of the 28c day & noticed them all on one side(i just thought the food was better)i should of realized they were not happy.I was busy on the day we had 35c & by the morning 3/4 of my population were in the bottom tray dead,as this was a brand new farm with minimum castings the worms had nowhere to go.I have moved the farm so this will not occur again.Let this be a warning to others that positioning of worm farms is crucial.
IGGY ive found as a rule of thumb if your worms are on the run(moving up or down out of there food layers) often there is some issue.As we have had a few hot days recently i would try moving it to a cooler location if possible,if its not possible covering with carpet as suggested in an earlier post may help.
I use hesian bags on top of all my worm farms & keep them moist,without this i think id of lost alot more worms.
Hope this helps a few not to make the mistake i made.
Geoff,
Those days of high temperature didn’t i don’t think effect my worms as the unit doesn’t get any sunlight. I also have 10 sheets of news paper damp on top of the food, with shredded paper to the lid which is dry.
Then only worms that died, were the baby worms, the rest were all alive. By the way, this was the first time ever in 3 months that i had actually looked in the drip tray.
I looked in there again this morning, and there were three Olympic worms doing the one meter backstroke.
Would it wrong to put some fly screen in the bottom of my next feeding tray to stop this from happening.??
IGGI
Geoff,
I built a wooden frame with 1in.x1in. trim that fits rather loosely in the bottom of my bin. I stapled window screen to it. Then I made two loops of wire on each end so that I can lift the entire contents by raising the frame. I can take it out and scoop up any strays and castings, return them to the pile, then return the whole lot back to the bin. My wife and I call the bottom the game room. Good luck.
Johnny,
Thanks for that tip, sound better than what I was suggesting.
Thanks
IGGI
Scott,
Be careful when selecting your worms if you are going to use them for bait. As the tiger (fairly certain it is the tiger) worm can let off a foul smell when injured or stressed and you will end up catching nothing.
Aaron
IGGY,
In that case my next theory would be over crowding,when you get a good population building often some will leave the flock in search of better pastures.In regards to putting fly screen in i would think that the main issue would be proper drainage.I think the smaller holes would clog up a bit to quikly for it to be benificial.
Johnny that sounds like a pretty good way to deal with the run aways,aswell as puts the worm juice back through adding to its potency.Ive heard of a few ways that people deal with this problem,plastic straws for the worms to climb up(just poked through the bottom layer touching the drain tray),shreded up newspaper placed in drain tray(which is then recycled back thru the worm farm),even brick or pavers & im sure theres many more suggestions.
There are many many ways to run your worm farms & judging by the posts ive read things are headed in the right direction.The more observant you are of the worms behaviour n patterns the easier it becomes to solve issues.
As ive just got back into it im still touching up my info.I found this site & blog just doing a bit of fact checking.
Hopefully i can add a few helpful hints along the way,remembering these are just my observations & experiences.With worms i think theres still a long way to go in regards to research & development so for me nothing is ever really in concrete.
To the site owners & running staff congrats on a great site.
Hope im not over stepping the line,just happy to give any info i can.
Cheers.
Geoff,
Everyone’s input is greatly appreciated. As you said, there is nothing really concrete when it comes to running a successful worm farm so the best we can do is try different things, try what has worked for others and see how it goes. The more information we can get the better.
I hope you’ll continue to comment here and share your worm farming experiences
Thanks,
Andrea
The white worms you are finding in the bins may be grindal worms. They are harmless and also contribute in their tiny way to the composting. They seem to be getting along fine with my earthworms.
Actually some fish enthusiasts cultivate Grindals. They are perfect size for many fry & juvies in that odd inbetween size (not quite big enough for the big kid food… too big for the brine shrimp/ microworm stage). I feed them to my bettas and killies.
They seem to be more sensitive to the soil becoming acidic… then again it could just be because I notice them more as I go bin diving for fish food pretty regularly.
Anne, you dont happen to delve into the aquaponics scene do you. I am thinking of setting this up at the moment. It is so interesting… the only catch is I am a bit worried I will rob my worm farm, to feed the fish and end up with no worms.
At present I have a bit of a compost tea happening, I made one up two weeks ago and then put a handfull of vermicast in the mix. The bacteria from the vermicast fed on the horse poo compost tea. I poured the mixture over my gardiniers (spelling..) that have not flowered in two years. Guess what is happening now, nope no joke they are starting to bud and looking so so healthy.
I would love to approach council or even state government with a proposal for setting up a septic / sewage plant with worms on a large scale. I know there are smaller systems but I am talking managing the waste from a small to medium sized town. It could also deal with green waste in a friendly non polluting manner as well. Has anybody had experience or know if something is already up and running.
Thanks.
Aaron
grindal worms..??
How did these get in my worm farm, I checked and there are millions of them all over the place, I now don’t see any tiger worms hatching. How can I tell if these are actually grindal worms.
thanks
IGGI
What i noticed with these white worm, they seem to burrow into the soil when light is introduced to the system, and some actually have the band around them, the larger ones anyway.
After taking johnny’s advise and building the fly screen trap, I have three Houdini/thorpedo worms that managed to get back into the drip tray to do their daily swimming routing. Now trying the straw/brick trick.
IGGI
Grindal worms (Enchytraeus buchholzi) are smaller at roughly 10mm than white worms (Enchytraeus albidus) which are closer to 40mm. They are closely related. If you started your culture with compost, it could very well be they hitched a ride in on that, or maybe with your starter culture is my guess anyways.
Only trick I can offer is what I do to harvest mine. I use the lid of a 2.5g aquarium lid which is basically a glass pane with a handle on top. Really you can just use a piece of glass and glue a marble on it so it is easier to pick up. I bait them with oatmeal baby food. (really you can grind up regular oatmeal very fine to turn it into a paste with water) or use stale bread crushed up. I make a very slight impression in the soil so the worms have room to collect… a bit of food on the soil and a bit on the glass. The whole point of that is to encourage the worms out of the soil to make round up easier. The lid makes the area enclosed and more comfortable for them to leave the soil to get at the food in the depression, and crawl on to the under side of the glass. You just leave it sit for a day or 2… you can see through the lid to know when to clean house.
UV rays are lethal to worms…. sunlight kills.
Hey Aaron… I could swear I saw something recently about vermiculture being used to handle food wastes for a city… I think it was San Francisco. They have seperate bins for restaurants and the like to toss food scraps in. It gets carted off, ground up and fed to earthworms. I only caught part of the program… but they had these massive rolls of the ultimate earthworm buffet… and I couldn’t help but daydream what it would be like to garden with my whole yard many feet deep of just castings!
If you are feeding worms to your fish… lol… you have to hand feed them or have no substrate in your tank. The worms will otherwise drop like an anchor to the bottom and burrow into the substrate where they later die… and just not a good thing happens.
Oh Iggy… if you identify what type of white worm you have and they are whites or grindals… if there is a local owned tropical fish store give them a yell as they may be interested in them. You may see it as a calamity with them romping about your bin… but if they are whites and or grindals… I know many fish geeks would love to have your troubles!
Hi Im in Wanganui ,NZ.
I have had a square black 3 tired worm bin for nearly 5 years Its easy to move as we have shifted often.
Ive got a huge slug prblem at the moment,so will try the lime idea.
Some thing new ive found is that seeds seem to grow really well inside the worm bin so Ive started putting worm soil into seed trays and the seeds the covering it all with light garden waste stuff its dark and warm and moste and im wondering it a gas is being given off to spere off growth.Have started tomatoes and potatoes and pumpkins and zuckinis it seems to make really strong resilent plants.just starting off kumera (sweet potatoes) has anyone else noticed this?
Wow, this site has been so interesting. I tried Aaron’s watermellon trick the other day and WOW! I threw in a triangle of rind with some fruit still attached and the worms flocked to it. Amazing! I was also having a problem with the soldier fly maggots. I found the they two were attracted to the watermelon. They don’t move as quickly as the worms and each afternoon I moved the watermelon and the worms would dive down leaving the maggots at the top. An old plastic spoon meant I could scope them into a container and feed them to the chooks. Works an absolute treat! I’m happy that there are less in the farm (love the worms hate the maggots yuck!)
I am still having a problem with white vinegar fly worms though. Millions of the stupid things. A handful of lime each week just doesn’t seem to help. I tried drying out out the farm a little, then making it a bit more damp, feeding less, not feeding for a few days, flooding to rinse them through. All sorts of things but they don’t work. Worms are happy and multiplying though so maybe I’ll just have to learn to live the icky white pests.
tbj,
What i found was, put a Chinese take away container (round), filled with a little bit of beer, and place it in your worm farm (under the lid). Vinegar files love beer, just like me..
IGGI
Hey Everyone,
Back again,Iggy after looking at grindal worms & white worms i think it will be not to hard to determine if they are,infact baby compost worms.From what ive read sofar grindals are tiny to a max of round 10mm as mentioned earlier & white worms upto 40mm.If your white coloured worms are around 10-15mm long & a bit thicker than a paint brush hair i would think definately just compost babies.
In regards to maggots,in my 1st stuffed up effort my 2nd error was putting the dead worms back through the worm farm(not an issue if its a couple here n there),so i now had more maggots than worms.I decided to abandon the 1st effort & tipped entire tray into a plastic tub with a few inches of cow n horse manure mix on the bottom(my mix of fresh manures not processed crap),put over the top a slightly moistened newspaper & tucked it tight around top to stop flies.As the container has started to dry out the maggots have started losing there vigour & numbers have dwindled,the worms still appear to be reasonably comfy in the moist manure(as im still working on it ill continue to post results).I have had trouble getting hessian bags lately so am using newspaper over the top & its working a treat keeping away the flies,as long as its kept moist & tuck it tight into the corners.
The new worm farms,the bath & the old laundry tub worm farms are now thriving,these i all started with fresh manure then the fruit & vege scraps.Cow manure is by far the best but can be hard to find & is expensive compared to horse,i generally wash out the horse poo for a few days before mixing in with the cow(i never use unsoaked horse poo i cant remember exactly why,i think it had something to do with urine content?).
Im trialing a few other things ive read on here the one about putting lawn clippings over fresh scraps so will report back on that.I think that the lawn clippings would serve 2 purposes stop flies & add to the nitrogen content of the worm wee & castings(any science buffs out there that could tell us?)
Take Care
Geoff
Back Again,
Just a little update,we had 2 pretty hot days up here & it now appears all maggots have died off as its dried out.The worms are still happy in the moist manure,have now added the contents of tub to 2nd side of laundry tub & re introduced water.
The lawn clippings over the top of the fresh scraps seems to have a few benifits.Firstly it has cut down the number of flies,second thing i noticed was it adds heat & in a concrete style tub this will come in very handy through winter.The black teir type worm farms may be a bit different through summer but will trial a few things & keep you posted.
Take Care
Geoff
all,
Just ran into an amazing scenario, as I have the issue of the Houdini/Olympic worms, when I drained my collection pot I used a new Cardon Aqua filter pad (used for my goldfish tank) cut to size . This managed to collect any stray worms and the little white ones. Then I placed that carbon filter back into the feeding tray..Well surprise surprise, the worms like the intricate weave of the filter (which is black) now started laying their eggs within the filter itself. I now have thousands of round capsules embedded in the filter. I can now move this filter to a new worms farm and once they mature, will populate that worm farm.
IGGI
IGGI,
That is a brilliant find, will be trying that one for sure. Just imagine the number of worms that could be bound to the filter, a very quick way to start a worm farm, never mind transporting worms.
Aaron
Just a heads up, My filter just had an explosion of more white little worms everywhere (all eggs actually hatched, didn’t have time to start the new farm. As its a hot day in Sydney 32 deg cel, all are under the lid anticipating the storm tonight.
IGGI
Hi Geoff
The reason for the washing of horse poo is to drain / dilute the worm vaccine’s / treatments out of the poo as these will yep you guessed it kill the worms.
I have a few cantelopes / Rockmelon’s growing in my large worm bed, 1 mtr high, 1 mtr wide and 2.5 mtrs long, they are seedlings at the moment but I am thinking about just letting them grow. There is room around the worm farm and it will provide a bit more shade for the worms. Has anybody got any bad experiences with this?
Aaron
Hi Geoff,
Okay worms eat bacteria, and they are made up of 1 part nitrogen and 5 parts carbon. From memory I think the worms are 5 parts nitrogen and 30 parts carbon springs to mind, will look it up again tonight. No the bacteria breakdown the scraps / grass and everything else and the worms eat the bacteria. That is why they say that you should puree the food scraps as this gives them more surface area and therefore more bacteria can consume the food. The worms eat the bacteria that is consuming the scraps, giving the impression that they are eating the scraps. Grass clippings have a ratio of 20 carbon units to one nitrogen unit, therefore can be a bit high in nitrogen depending on what else you have in the bathtub. But you can manage this by adding some shredded paper or torn up newspaper to add that little bit more carbon. Or you can devide the grass clippings in half and let them sit until brown, next time you mow the lawn add the green and the brown and you are on your way.
Hope this helps….
Funny, the wife is starting to call me Bacteria Man…
The sad thing is I take this as a complement.
Bacteria are the very first link in the food chain that we know of (okay that I know of, there could be things smaller). Using artificial fertilisers we have killed off a lot of the good bacteria meaning that bad bacteria takes over. Just like yukult replaces the good bacteria in your tummy, worms replace the good bacteria in the soil. With out the bacteria all our veges and crops do not have the same nutritional standard as they did. Plus we have more disease now, more people get sick even though they are eating “healthy food”.
So when Grandad tells you that apples do not taste the same as when he was a kid, he could very well be correct.
We on this forum are the instruments of change, we are breeding bacteria to make our gardens and our soil better, we are making our mother earth happy again!!
Bacteria Man
Hey Everyone,
Its been a pretty big few weeks & alot of things put on hold due to some low life scum kicking the crap out of our cat.Tore over 30cm of its stomach of its ribs,ripped its diaphram,collapsed its lung & its guts were in its chest so it has been very full on,especially after the 3rd day home he thought he was right to rusume normal duties.
Back to the worms,
Aaron as i said i wasnt quite sure the exact reasons for soaking,your reasoning sounds far better than urine content & great for the new worm farmers coming through to read.When the american worm contractors came out to australia to rip us off blind,part of there selling point was fruit n vege worm beds over best top soil grown.They basically had 2.4m beds made out of sleepers,they would use these beds as worm farms till soil level was near the top harvest the worms & sow the seeds.They would sow at the same time & the difference in all aspects of the plants were astounding.One thing is that once you start growing in the bed effectively its now a fruit n vege/garden bed not a worm farm,mainly due to the fact that the plants will strip the goodness out of the soil over time but hey you will have some damn fine fruit.
Bacteria Man oh where to start with you lol,i understand that its all run on bacteria but thats about as far as my knowledge goes.
The grass clippings were originally used to cut out midgey flies or fruit flies not sure exactly what fly but small & annoying.As i thought grass clippings were high in nitrogen i was curious if it could add to the worm juice.So far i have noticed more benefits than negatives to adding the green clippings,firstly through winter they will be great at raising heat in beds,it cuts the flies out conciderably & baby worms love it.
I have only been using enough clippings to cover the fresh fruit & veges & only re adding extra when the previous is all but gone.
I have newspaper over all my worm farms so hopefully that will offset the extra nitrogen & possibly be keeping the bacteria levels in harmony,all i know is there has been a massive improvement to there little ecosystem based on food consumption & worm numbers.
BM i agree 100% theres major issues with our fruit n vege of today but where to start with that can of worms lol.
Sorry i cant give you a bit better run down but i just havent had the time to monitor things as i would of liked.
Will pop back soon with some more bits n pieces.
Take care
Geoff
Hi all,
I’ve really enjoyed reading your posts and have found lots of helpful advice.
I’ve had a worm farm for a week and I’m acting like an over-anxious mother! It also doesn’t help being a bit squeamish about insects! I have the 3 tier Can O Worms farm, and I’ve put a cardboard base, the bedding, and the worms with the compost they came with in the bottom tray. I’ve been adding a few scraps (including watermelon – wow what a feeding frenzy!) to it, with some damp newspaper on the top. I’ve heard that the worms will still be eating the bedding and compost for the first few weeks so I haven’t yet added the second tray.
I have two questions:
1) When do I add the second tray? The first tray is 2/3 full already, and when I put the second tray on, it sits right on top of the food/worms/compost in the bottom tray – is this how it’s supposed to work? I don’t want to squash the wormies!!
2) Also I got some really foul-smelling worm tea from base today – should I be worried about this? I haven’t added any meat or dairy. A friend gave me some worm tea from his farm and it didn’t smell at all…
Thanks very much,
Catherine.
Hi Catherine,
.
Welcome to the wonderful world of worms.You have found the right place to find alot of good info regarding all things organic,especially worms.
To answer your 1st question,yes just pop it straight on top of the worms as the bottom layer continues to breakdown the worm farm will then sit on its little lugs/notches that are on the sides to stop the containers fully sliding together.Do be carefull not to have the layers to full as it can create an extra air gap & allow other pests into your farm.When you add the next layer always remove the paper on top to the next layer.
Your second question the worm juice is an unprocessed product & basically all the juices of worm excreations & the breakdown of fruits & veges.It will allways have a smell in its raw state.The worm tea from my understanding is a different product & process.It is obtained by straining the actual vermicast not the actual worm juice that is produced out of the worm farm.There is a very good description of how to make worm tea somewhere up above,not sure who it was that has written it but its definately there.
Ok now i have a question & possibly a few tips for you.
The cardboard base you have put in does it have holes in it to allow water to run through free & easy over the whole base?
If it doesnt there are a couple of issues that can arise,mainly to much moisture & from that you get other wet related insects like maggots.
There is of course a very easy solution to no holes in cardboard,grab a kebab skewer & poke away.
In regards to how much food is needed,that is determined more by worm numbers.Worms generally double in numbers every 60days from memory so as your worm farm gets more established you will need more food.Its allways handy to know how many worms went in & how long the worm farm has been running,this will give you a basic population number.As worms are prolific breeders reaching maturity at about 21days(roughly) it is very easy to get an overcrowded worm farm.When you have filled your last layer & are happy with the numbers in it i basically harvest the worms out of the finihed layers or use them as the 1st layer of new farms.
Any other questions feel free to post them here,if we create enough traffic we might be able to con Aaron into a worm forum
Take Care
Geoff
Mouldy bread?
Okay here is the deal, I put some mouldy bread in the compost bin and in the worm farm. Just a few slices in each, and it has pretty much turned into a fungal disease. What to do with mouldy bread, cannot feed to goats, cannot feed to chickens, and seems I cannot feed to my worms. Any ideas?
Geoff, I would love to create a forum. This is not my website so I will put a link back here, giving credit for all Andrea’s hard work at establishing this. Andrea, I would like your permission to do this however?
Keep in mind it may not be for a couple of weeks, as I am getting married in 9 days. And do you know how hard it is to get an Elvis suite that will fit a 74kg man. lol
Thanks Aaron
It’s interesting that you mentioned a forum because I’ve been working on just that over the last few weeks. I’d love for you guys to stick around here and I thought a forum would be a better way to discuss things than using this way too long blog post.
Aaron, have you already set up your forum? Obviously mine will discuss all things organic, not just gardening/worm farms. Hopefully our forums can co-exist without any problems
LMAO congrats aaron & have a great day.Hope you find the suit if not just cut a regular one in half
.
My appologies Andrea it must of been the other big A that thru me off,well thats my excuse & im sticking too it.
In regards to your mouldy bread have you tried drying it?If dried you might get woodroaches or some other insect to have a crack.
Take Care
Geoff
Hi, i have a worm farm in my basement for a science fair project. Recently i’ve been noticing nats flying around the bins. Are they laying eggs in the bins and reproducing ? and how do i get rid of them without killing the worms
We have procured an old 4 tray plastic worm farm. Lower tray with tap.
Which tray do we place soil and worms in, do we put food directly on top of worms and soil all in one tray and would that tray be the second tray from the top? Do the castings drop to the third tray? What then is the top tray for?
Travis,
From my understanding of nats they love moisture & will search out moist ares to lay there eggs,so the basement may not be the best place for a worm farm.The basement i would assume would have low airation & depending on your area quite moist,making it quite hard to stop nats.My suggestion would be move it out of the basement to where it can get good airflow around it & keep an eye on moisture levels in the farm.
Elsie,
The 4 tray systems are set up to collect the most out of worms,the one with the tap is the bottom used to collect the juices.To start a worm farm off i get a few sheets of newspaper & soak them,then lay them on the 1st tray with the holes in it.Grab a skewer or a screwdriver & poke holes through the paper to allow good drainage.I genarally start the worm farms off with about 2 inches-4inches off medium(either the castings they came in or soaked horse cow manure mix),the reason behind this is to give the worms somewhere to cool off on the hotter days(after your 1st layer is full this isnt as much of an issue).Once you have a good bedding you can add your fruit & vege scraps remember no meats.So now youve got the drain tray on bottom then the 1st tray with the paper on bottom,dirt,worms & veges in it soak another lot of newspaper to cover the top of your fruit & vege scraps & your on your way.You can either leave empty trays on top or have the lid on the 1st level either way is fine.Each time you add scraps make sure the paper on top stays on top & keeps moist,once your 1st tray is getting full take the paper out put another layer straight on the old scraps & worms then add fresh scraps into new layer & cover again with newspaper.You will get the odd bits of castings fall through to the drain tray but not enough to be a problem.
Just remember positioning of your worm farm is crucial especially the black tiers.
Take Care
Geoff
thank you for your help !! Do you know if there are any pesticides i can use to kill the nats and not harm the worms?
Hi!
Help!!!
I started my worm farm at Christmas time. Everything was going well – until today.
We just had a 41oC day in Adelaide. Unfortunately, despite being in the shade the worms look awful (shadiest spot in my pergola – which does not receive any direct sunlight, is adjacent to the house and the pergola extends for about 5m away from the house). They’re all bunched to the side furthest away from the heat, and a lot appear DEAD.
In addition today is the first day that ants have invaded the worm farm – prior to that I have not seen any ants).
I’ve watered the Can-O-Worms several times this evening to try and pep up the remaining worms.
Will I need to bring the worm farm in-doors whenever the temp is over 35 to prevent the worms from being cooked in Adelaide heat … ?
Woud it be better to have the worm farm in the garden under shrubs? The ambient air temp is still 39oC and it’s 745pm.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks
Do you have room in the garage for your worm farm? I can just squeeze mine in on a side wall and it is so much cooler…. even in the laundry?
Stand the legs in containers of water (deli salad cantainers are good, 2lt ice cream containers) this should prevent the ants from climbing up into the farm.
Unfortunately the garage doesn’t have much insulation – it was even hotter than outside (as the airconditioner unit blows towards it). I guess the laundry will have be used as an option.
There were quite a few dead worms the next morning, but a lot of the ‘bunched up worms’ had disappeared. I assume they survived.
Thanks for the suggestion for ants – the ants will drown before getting to the legs of the worm farm. I also read elsewhere that it indcates that the worm farm is too dry (which obviously occured due to the excessive heat).
Hi everyone –
I have a worm farm on my balcony – Do it!
I have wrapped my farm in two of those cheap silver insulating windscreen protectors from a $2 shop, keeps the farm cool
Good luck!
Tegan, that is a brilliant idea, what on earth made you think of that. Actually it is even better than you think, as in winter it would also keep them warm to a degree no pun intended.
The main issue with having them under your patio on concrete is that by the time the shade has hit the patio the concrete has already warmed up and will just add to the ambient temperature. So you basically have a heater going in summer, if on the other hand you have them under a large shade tree the soil will absorb the heat. So I would be trying the shrubs Chris, your worms will be happier and so will your shrubs, leave the tap open. I have my neverfill worm farm out in a paddock with no shade whatsoever. The one difference with this design is that it is deep enough for the worms to escape the heat and to regulate their own surroundings. With a bin you only have three layers of 15cm of soil / food at a guess, this will heat up and cool down very quickly resulting in unhappy and to extremes dead worms. Tegans idea will slow this transfer of heat.
Chris I am in Brisbane and get temperatures in excess of 40c. I have my worm bin under a large tree, it has grown even larger since having the worm farm under it and looks so healthy that I am thinking of putting one under my plum tree.
On another note..
My soil is on the mend, I let the chooks out and beautiful (Our hens name) scratched and pulled out a very large Earth Worm. It was huge, it was about as big as a biro pen. I was so proud that the soil was repairing after all these years but felt like wrestling the worm from her, but it was well and truly gone before I could make a move.
Andrea, no I have not setup a forum. And to be honest would have sort your permission first as feel it would be a bit rude. I look after large computer networks and have enough issues there, would not want to come home to a request from Geoff about wanting a picture of a true tiger worm driving a VW Combi Van as his avatar. It could tip me over the edge.. lol
The wedding was a great day, it was relaxed and exactly what we wanted.
Hope everybody is well.
BMan
Hey Aaron,
Of course you can start a forum if you want to. I don’t mind at all.
I’m actually having second thoughts about adding a forum here. Not sure I want the hassle of moderating it and keeping it up to date.
We’ll see…
What a wonderful forum. I had started to think I was quite mad, checking on my babies almost every day, checking their food and being quite amazed at what the “worm wee” does to my plants.
Today (very hot – Canberra), I noticed all the live worms had fled to the bottom where there was still liquid. Following your suggestions, I’ve covered with wet newspaper and tomorrow will wrap in windscreen insulation.
However, there are quite large grubs in my worm farm. They are white, about an inch long and 4-5mm wide. Definite head and tail, no legs. They dont look like white worm or grinder worm. Similar to witchetty grub. Any clues? I like the idea that as long as they are not killing the worms, let nature live together. But first I need to know that they are safe to play in the same worm farm.
Annette
Annette, glad to hear you’re having success with your worms!
As for the grub you mentioned, any chance of showing us a photo? That would really help us to identify what it is.
Hi,
I have had a worm farm for the past couple of months, I put some fly wire on the bottom of the tray above the collecting tray to try and stop the worms from drowning – I still get a few but not many.
Things have been going pretty well but in the last couple of weeks I have had some maggot like things appear but after reading Annette’s post from the 29th of Jan I am wondering if we have similar problems as the things I thought were maggots are a lot like she described. I, however, do not like them in my worm farm at all – you can actually hear them eating, it is gross and I haven’t seen any worms in ages either. I usually keep my farm fairly moist but I am in Perth where it is very hot and I am wondering if I need to try and find a cooler spot for my worms as they get the early morning sun. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have put heaps of lime on it this morning and will give the hessian a try. I will let you know how I go but if anyone has had experience with this problems I’d love to know how you solved it.
Cheers
Caroline
i have a question to any one that knows this answer ? will ants harm the worms when they are in the compost bins
I too have the grub things. Not good and not only have the worms seem to have disappeared, but these grub things are in plague proportions and devour all the food. They disappear very quickly, tunnelling into the compost when exposed to sunlight. Anyone have any ideas how to get rid of them without harming the worms? I am thinking I will have to start again….
Thanks.
Ed.
Well, the things I thought were grubs turned out to be really big maggots. What I did was emptied the top layer of my worm farm into a black garbage bag the morning of our bin day and sent them for a ride to our local tip. Unfortunately a few worms went too but that couldn’t be helped. I then put some bread on the bin and put milk on it to encourage any remaining maggots out after a couple of days I threw the bread out and then started feeding my worms again, I think there are less worms than what I had before but there were still worms hiding down the bottom of the worm farm.
I think I discovered where the maggots came from too, when we cook dinner we put an icecream carton on the bench and put the vege scraps in it, one night the scraps weren’t covered and the worms didn’t get them until the next day, as the weather is nice and hot at the moment it is ideal for flies to procreate and so they probably layed their eggs on the veges scraps and I transferred them to the worm farm and a little while later maggots were born.
Grub= scarab Bug
Hot temperature= spray cold water
Regulate temperature= have a 1 litter bottle of water freezed, hang at the top bin then cover with hay/burlap as covering
Hay/burlap (made of fibers)= very good material to keep temperature from fluctuating (i think), also breathes easy
Moisture control= wet burlap that act as cover….
flys (all type)= purchase sticky paper that trap flies, place them near the bin. Fly get stuck and population of fly go down and that incude flying bugs too.
temperature control= purchase a termometer and have in stick halfway down the bin to check its temperature periodically, too hot srap cold water. Too cold the worm eats more!
thats my 20 cent thoughts … hope it helps…
Chao arriverderaci!
ok 1 question. How many worms would fit in a 18 inch high, 12 inch wide, and a 1 inch deep worm farm?
Please reply SOON my deadline is Friday March 20th 2009
thanks that help alot
i have leaches breeding in bottom of worm farm. how and why? will they harm my worms?
Leeches are you serious?
First off apologies for being a grump,,, really bad day at work!
How wet is the bottom of your worm bin, be very careful when you leave the bin tap closed, as the worm juice if left for too long can be a toxic substance and create a very unhealthy environment for your worms. Basically if the worm juice stinks it is off, it should smell like lovely EARTH not a toxic pit. I put the worm bin under my favorite tree that creates shade for my chickens and leave the tap open constantly. The worms and the vermiculture are so much more beneficial than the juice. Of course the other thing to consider is to wash out the bottom tray as it will become muddy and stop the flow of the water, making a lovely little home for leeches and other critters. I wash mine every six to twelve months, but if you are keeping the tap closed then I would do it every three to six months.
If you have the right environment worms will practically look after themselves, in fact my bin is very healthy and I have only just put some scraps in there after 5 months (yes 5 months it was before Christmas). Now there is a reason for doing this, after 5 months I have no critters other than worms and microbes in the bin, it is clean and healthy. And the vermicast WOW you should see it, if I put some in my pocket and walk the property the trees almost following me around drooling.
Nature is a slow beast to work with.
1. The bin should be like a slightly moist cake.
2. Chop the scraps into small parts, put in and cover with straw / hay / grass clippings / cardboard / shredded paper… anything that flies / maggots and other critters will not go for.
3. Do not try and fill a bin with food, you are not feeding a dog. Worms have little mouths and don’t chew very fast. An apple sized portion would be adequate for a normal worm bin per week. Depending on your population.
4. Place under a tree out of direct sunlight with a slight breeze. They are like most animals, don’t like the extreme heat and don’t like the extreme cold.
5. Be patient, very patient.
Happy worming..
Aaron
Great tips Aaron. Thanks for sharing!
Hi all
I havent read the entire forum, so I apologise if this has been covered already. But, I noticed that at the top of the page it suggest that dog poo should not be used in worm farms. I have found that this cannot be further from the truth. We have 3 home style plastic farms, 1 for vegie and household scraps and 2 for dog poo. And this works a treat! A couple of things about it though.
1. Dog poo and dog poo only in your worm farm if you decide that your sick of other means of getting rid of the poo. (If you add vegie scraps its like adding sweet candy, and then they will take a couple of weeks to get back to eating the poo. Then you have a poo build up and things can the happen like maggots and nasties, have never had this happen to us though.)
2. Only use the castings and wee on plants and trees that you are not going to eat.
3. NO smell, whoppee!! Just dont over feed them and add a good handful of lime every so often.
Hope this is helpful to anyone thats sick of getting rid of poo in the wheelie bin.
Regards Hamish
I have read that lining the bottom tray with small pebbles can help with drainage. I have not tried this yet. Does anyone have any suggestions on homemade worm composts? Is the worm factory or can-o-worms worth the money?
I have read through everything, but did not see anything about slugs in your worm bin. Awhile ago I started to notice a few slugs, I took them out, then I started ignoring them. Not a good move. Now, they appear to be breeding and there are many. All sizes. Do slugs eat worms? Or do they just eat the compost along with the worms? Anyone have experience with slugs?
thankyou!
Hi,
Have really enjoyed reading all these postings and have learnt much. I never thought that I could be so interested in worms! I’m all for recycling and giving back to the earth and minimising waste.
Anyhow, not many people mentioned having a problem with fruit fly. I put some scraps in this morning and after taking the lid off was swarmed by them. I don’t want to cop that everytime I open the lid. We keep moist newspaper on top of the scraps. Any pointers? Or should I just put lots of sticky paper around the worm as was suggested by someone earlier?
Thanks,
Jo
Hamish,
Dog Poo, is it mixed with large amounts of carbon material or do you just put the dog poo in by itself?
lol but EEK and that may sound funny when you read what I write below.
AAA worm farms is actually an Australian septic system that uses worms to break down human solids and then uses a trench system for final disposal. A man in South Australia many moons ago created a home made one where the overflow went into his gold fish pond and then from the pond to his garden, imagine the nutrients in that!
Where I live we have a house two doors up that has one, and you should see their plants and garden. It is just a matter of getting over the cringe factor for most people. In fact if you look hard enough there is a book available on the web that tells you how to build a composting toilet and how to deal with the Human waste in a safe manner to reduce the pathogens.
Humans out of all animals eat the biggest variety of foods. In fact in Asia they still use dark soil as a fertiliser as they have for 1000′s of years… does anybody want to guess what dark soil is?
Mind you in Asia they also have compost competitions and take them very seriously. Yes as in who makes the best compost, can you imagine that. I mean in Australia in most social (work) circles we would lower our head and whisper about how good our compost is.
Every time I see the bin in the kitchen at work I think, how good would it be to get everybody’s lunch scraps and feed them to my worms.
Every time I go to the toilet at work, I look at all the paper in the waste bin and think, hey I could put that in my compost or give it to my worms, even at shopping centres I see all that paper waste, bins overflowing…
I mean if I could just sneak out of the shopping center with a couple of garbage bags of rubbish…
Do I need help… or are there like minded people?
Little tid bit…
In Asia they had bamboo pole floors, the houses were built on stilts. they would keep pigs under the house. After dinner they would sweep the floor and the scraps would fall to the pigs underneath.
Hi Aaron, No carbon materials required at all, straight poo is best. Some garden lime once a week helps, a good handful and the worms love it. Worms keep my backyard clear of two border collies worth of poo, i swear the collies are competing to see who can produce the most, lol.
Anyway hope that helps
Hamish
Hi, I have scanned this forum to try to find a solution to a white grub problem (the same as described by Annette Jan 29).
I am hoping someone has found the cure.
Oh and it isnt scarab grub as suggested.
I have read that white worms can be removed by placing a piece of bread soaked in milk for a couple of days. The whiteworms/maggots will be attracted to the milk soaked bread. Then take the piece of bread out and dispose in your garbage bin!
PS To prevent ants from entering your worm farm smear vaseline at the base of the feet.
I have done some more research and this grub would appear to be similar to an onion maggot (another name is the cornseed maggot)
I had a maggot problem a while back and I found bread and milk didn’t really work.
The best solution I found was to empty the whole top layer into a large garbage bag and put it in the bin. Any maggots that were in the next layer took out and killed. I did throw out a few worms but I found the majority of the worms were lower down and there were very few maggots in the lower layer. It solved the problem really quickly.
I found that making sure I have plenty of damp newspaper over the worms prevented the maggots. When the worms start eating the newspaper, I put the food on top of that and put another layer of newspaper.
Hope this helps.
Thanks Caroline, I’ll give it a go
Hi,
I’ve had my can-o-worms about 2 weeks now and all seems to being going fine. I keep the tap open with a watering can underneath and check for escapees every day.
I am going away for 4 months and my good old mum is going to worm-sit. But my only worry is that this means no-one will be checking for the escapees daily. Can I tape a piece of flywire or shadecloth over the end of the tap? Has anyone ever done this?
I think mum can cope with taking it off and rinsing every couple of days better than she will cope with any escapees!
Maree
Hi
I’m hoping someone can help me please. I have some white fuzzy fungus growing in patches on the top of my farm. I fed the worms quite a lot of food over summer and it was fine. I’ve reduced the amount over winter and chopped it up. I fed them last 4 days ago and most of that is gone. I’m not sure if I should just add food over the fungus and hope it doesn’t take over? I have never added lime and I have not been covering with newspaper since summer ended.
Thanks!
Hi
Just found you guys and have been reading everything I could about maggots in worm farms. I have some grubs (maggots) of some kind but I don’t really think they are maggots because they appear to be breeding which maggots don’t do. At least there are lots of little ones that keep appearing. I have had them in closed bins with about 1/8 inch air holes all around, have not put meat of any kind and haven’t seen any flies around other than the occasional fruit fly.
The whole thing stinks to high heaven and is staying really wet with no watering from me. Here are links to two pictures so you can get a look at the discusting things.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4448lTwffuzLw4bU1FDGeg?feat=directlink
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zT-RBqU5XhaRHoQT2ZhwtA?feat=directlink
My worms were flourishing and the population growing but seems to have stagnated since this invasion.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Hi Rusty,
They look a lot like the things I had problems with, mine got so bad I could actually hear them eating and I completely understand about the smell. I tried a few things to get rid of them, I have posted previously but will paste what I did below. While I too am not sure that they were maggots, I referred to them as maggots for other posts.
After the invasion I kept a close eye on my worms and it didn’t take them long to bounce back, there are loads of them now and I didn’t buy anymore.
What I did:
I had a maggot problem a while back and I found bread and milk didn’t really work.
The best solution I found was to empty the whole top layer into a large garbage bag and put it in the bin. Any maggots that were in the next layer took out and killed. I did throw out a few worms but I found the majority of the worms were lower down and there were very few maggots in the lower layer. It solved the problem really quickly.
I found that making sure I have plenty of damp newspaper over the worms prevented the maggots. When the worms start eating the newspaper, I put the food on top of that and put another layer of newspaper.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the input. I tried your advice and it seems to be working. I took all of the food out and for the last 2 days have put fresh food on the top layer. They seem to move to it very fast and the worms stay in the second layer except for a few. I then threw out the nasty buggers with the food and repeated. I’ve gotten them under control now but will keep repeating for a couple more days to be sure. Nasty guys that I don’t want a recurrence of. Thanks
Wonderful forum..I’m in the throes of deciding to buy or make a worm farm..Noticed a couple of posts re fruit fly..there is an organic pesticide available :http://www.organicsaustraliaonline.com.au/prod4103.htm
I haven’t used it but am growing “organically” and am ordering it for summer use.
It’s expensive..relatively..$57 a litre but if you live in Brisbane or the sub tropics generally you won’t get a tomato..a mango an anything that’s not full of maggots if you don’t control fruit fly.
Avid reader..
Gary
Fruit fly trap! Those little @#%&! Read on… I stopped putting bananas in my worm farms (I have one below ground in garden, one at school – I teach 8yr olds, and one in the basement. I was told that fruit flies may come from the egg or pupa that was living in the banana before the larvae turned into an adult. I had to remove my farm from school because I noticed the flies in the classroom. Very annoying. A student came up with an idea to “catch” the flies. We took the tub outside, removed all the food, and put a banana peel in an unzipped sandwich bag. The idea was to lure the flies into the bag and away from the worms and shredded paper, etc. To my surprise it worked.
Hi all, Thanks andrea for this thread, Aaron you mentioned Municipal waste and worms check this out…http://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cmst/lcc002/view_doc.asp?id=3191&cat=101
Glenn,
Thanks for that link!!… must say I did laugh, Lismore. It could only happen in Lismore. Huge green movement there, both good green and not so good.. But looks very impressive, will do some further reading for sure. Only 100 million worms?
It puts faith in the fact that some councils are looking at options not of the chemical nature.
Sorry for not being on for a while, work was a bit flat out. 14 – 16 hour days for the past 8 – 12 months, and we had a daughter. Gemma is now 4 and a half months old (always wondered why people do that instead of just 4.5 months.. anyhow).
So on a trip down to Melbourne we saw a few (2 to be exact) signs saying Tiger worms for sale.. I dropped in at one place, just for a chat and to see their operation. However it was a cold winters day and the person was not really interested.. Mind you they had a fantastic sign on their gate..
“Never mind the dog,
Beware of the Tiger
Worms”
Gary… Make it, for sure make it. Read my post about an eon ago about a white picket fence, make the spacing a little smaller and put a lid on it.. Get them settled and comfortable, then fill with manure and watermelons.. (dont take that literally, read the threads)..
Guys, it is a sad day… In two days time we are selling up and heading to Tasmania, from Queensland.. the issue is that I cannot take my worms. No soil products without some serious paperwork. So will be starting again in a cold climate.. But then again is it very exciting…
Hope everybody is well..
Aaron.
hey – well my worms survived my year away – the neighbours were feeding them – but 2 issues now they are being fed regularly again -they have lots of fungus! is this a problem?
and truckloads of worm wee – i’m not a great gardener but would love my garden to be better – how much can i pour on – any plants i should avoid it on – ? roses? citrus ? vege patch – am worried it might be too strong. thanks for any advice
Hi Angela,
Glad to see you have happy worms on your return. I can’t say I have had problems with fungus in my worm farm, if you are concerned just remove the affected areas, you may loose a few worms but I wouldn’t be too concerned.
In regards to the worm wee I use it on everything. All my plants are very happy with the worm wee. I have used it concentrated and it hasn’t done any harm but so I can spread it out amongst my plants I usually use it about the colour of a weak black tea. It was amazing to see the new growth that came on some of my Mam’s old straggly plants once I started using it.
Hope this helps.
Caroline
Worm Wee should be diluted to a weak tea consistency, this will prevent the possiblility of it ‘burning’ your plants, and make it go further.
Some people mentioned that their worm farms smell, worm farms should not smell, it’s probably caused by overfeeding and the vegie scraps are beginning to rot before the worms can eat them. Also, worms need a damp environment so please do not try and ‘dry out’ your worm farm unless it is very wet. Worms breathe through their skin and need to be kept moist or they will die.
Vinegar fly (commonly mistaken for fruit fly) are most likely attracted to citrus in your worm farm, don’t feed your worms citrus or any other acidic fruit as they don’t like it.
Hi,
Have had ok success with previous worm farms (few maggots, some cockroaches and interestingly a green frog that manages to get into the container despite lid being on! Having issue lately though with a huge amount of small bugs – some white, some brown, defininitely not maggots or slaters, slightly hard segmented back and around 1cm long. Over past 10 days my worms all seem to have disappeared and these bugs have taken over! They appear to be doing a remarkable job with the composting of food scraps, there is no smell noticeable and whilst I don’t actually mind them I miss my worms! I am at a pre school and the children are a little put off by the seething (literally they are noisy there are so many of them!) mass that is in their worm farm when we put our lunchscraps in. Any ideas would be most appreciated. Many thanks Lynette
Hi Lynette,
Sounds like mites.
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/arbra/bbb/id16.html
Have a look at the site above, with some pretty pics and identify the critter. Not too keen on the propane torch idea, especially with the kids.
Other than that it could be millepedes or centerpedes.
In which case stop feeding the bin for a little while.
I think it is fantastic you are doing this at a pre shcool.
Great work and please don’t give up.
Aaron
Hi Aaron,
Thanks for your reply – you are a gem with the website and handy “pics” – identified our critters as soldier fly larvae! Whilst stated as harmless to worms (and yes they are vocarious consumers of food scraps!!!) – I discovered all the worms had disappeared, not merely nestled down further as suggested. I carefully tipped out all the mass into the compost bin and nary a worm to be seen! Oh well – I shall not give up – have given everything a clean out and will prepare a new farm for next year when we return to school – least I know now what the creatures were – appreciate your help. Have a great Christmas and New Year Regards Lynette
Thanks for the link Aaron – I’d been wondering what the little brown eggs on the surface of the food and can-o-worms cover were!!
Hi all, I’ve just started my composter and noticed alot of mycelium taking root through the bin. Probably being the paranoid newbie here, but can fungi be a problem. Does this point toward any error on my part (not enough aeration, too much moisture, etc.) Thanks.
Okay so I am in Tasmania, Hobart. Got out my trusty worm bin and went and bought some worms…. Now I must say here, they are actually a little bit different to the ones I had in Qld. Some key differences.
1. The Tasmanian worms are more lively, they simply move quicker. I take the lid off and they sprint for shade. The Qld ones moved extremely slowly.
2. The Tasmanian worms are larger than the Qld ones I had. I am talking almost twice the size.
To sum up the differences, a donkey compared to Phar Lap.
As far as I am aware they were both of the redworm species, all markings are the same. The Qld ones I got from a farmers market, the Tasmanian ones are from a reputable grower. They did cost a bit of money, the worms from the farmers market cost me $10 for over 1000 worms. The one from Mitre 10 cost me over $60 dollars for what seemed like 100 worms. I actually thought twice about spending that much money. The numbers still have to build up but will keep you all posted.
Roy… I actually had to look up mycelium (mushroom fungi). You could be feeding them too much in the early stages and the food is going mouldy before being consumed, before the bacteria content in the bin is established. Other than that yes you hit the nail on the head, it could be too moist, if it is a commercial bin it should have enough aeration.
Aaron
Hi there, we’ve recently inherited a compost bin in our new house and all is going well apart from it has become a home to many reddish brown spiders with white spots on their backs. I’m not a big spider fan and there appears to be more and more each time I look. They appear to have taken care of the maggots at least that were in there. It is very damp inside the bin (so not redbacks I hope) so do you have an idea of what they are and if they are poisonous? I live up in the northern beaches of Sydney. Cheers.
Hi Tanya
Can you identify the spider from this website.
http://www.anoble.com.au/Spiders/SpiderID.htm
Yes it is a creepy website, I mean do they really have to make them wiggle.
Can you take the lid off and leave it for a while in the sun? This will force the worms down and the spiders should not like the sun much either and will move on. If you wanted to you could then just empty that top tray into the garden, as the worms should have moved down to the middle / bottom tray.
Just wondering if the spiders have been drawn there or if they were hatched in the bin.
Aaron
Cheers Aaron,
Have had a look at the spider website – thankfully nothing too freaky like on the site – these are quite a weird looking spider – start off quite red (thought they may have been spider mites or something) but now look very spidery and not so red in colour. I have left the lid off so hopefully that will send them away. It is quite moist in the bin so worms up around the lid so hopefully a day or so without the lid on will dry it out.
Hi Guys,
Well started off a great year with the worms again, complete with new spot in shade, hessian bags to help with heat issue and carefully monitoring of food scraps going in. However, seems we have been invaded yet AGAIN with these bl…… soldier worm larvae – fair go.. these blighters are impressive with the rate in which they multiply! Have tried to physically take a heap of them out and put them in compost bin but appears still the same amount next day! Am sure they are trying to move worms out…. thought perhaps too much bread (though sorting out dairy/meat from it as much as possible) as pre-schoolers tend to have more sandwiches than raw vege scraps! Plenty of banana/apple/pear scraps though too… any ideas gratefully received! Thanks Lynette
Hello,
I’m new here. I’ve had my worm farm for 5 months now. It took a while for the little fellas to get producing, but now they’re going great guns, both with castings and liquid. I started out just with the bottom tray (with tap) and one other tray on top, where I put the worms, and food, although the farm comes with another two trays. The bottom layer with the tap has a lot of castings and liquid in it, along with a fair few worms. My question is when (and how) should I start using the other tray/s? Do I simply plonk the other tray on top of the existing food & worm tray? Or should I put the other tray underneath the exising one? Any hints gratefully accepted, as I’m still learning about these fabulous worms. Many thanks in anticipation, From Donna
Hi, I discovered this site today and am grateful for the information provided and shared.
I have just started a worm farm about a month ago and am using an old bath. I filled it with straw and newspaper, moistened it and left it for a couple of weeks prior to introducing 1000 worms.
They are doing well so far and I have only put a small amount of food in as I was worried about over-doing it. I have four sacks covering the bath with shade cloth over that.
Many of the worms have started clumping under the sacks and some have gathered right on the edge of the bath. I am concerned that they will fall out and be eaten by birds and ants. Is this normal?
Because I am a novice, I chose the bath because I figured it was big enough to provide a stable environment. I gets stupidly hot here in Adelaide in Summer and I hoped that the bath would remain relatively cool in the shade of a tree.
I also hoped that the bath may be more forgiving if I make a mistake in terms of being too wet or too dry, because I have left some areas drier than others, thinking that if it is not tolerable in one place, the worms will have somewhere acceptable to retreat to.
There is a large writhing mass of worms, probably several hundred, eating a piece of bread which has kind of liquified and another lot eating a small clump of rotting grapes. There are many loners working through the straw.
On some sites, they warn about giving worms bread. What do people here think?
How long do you think it will take for the worms to reproduce?
Thanks for any comments. Rob
Hi Donna.
I am brand new to worm farming but I have read a great deal on advisory websites (this is the best so far) and in books. I don’t have a worm farm with trays but I think I am correct in saying that when you are satisfied that the worms have completely eaten the food and bedding in the working tray (i.e. stop putting new food in till they have cleaned it all up), you then put a tray with bedding and a little food underneath. You then take the lid off the (oldest) tray on top, and the little brutes try to run away from the light by going down to the bottom tray and setting up house there. You have to stir it gently I believe but watch out for the little eggs which look like tiny lemons and try to put them in the new tray also.
I think you can keep taking out the finished vermicast, checking it for worms and eggs until they have nowhere else to go but down into the new tray. I have read that they will migrate to the new food source by themselves if you give them time.
Mine are doing ok and I am getting more confident as I see how they are gathering around the food and not running away or dying en masse. Most gratifyingly, I am seeing worm eggs!
Like I said, I have done almost no worm farming but have read a great deal. I am coming to realise that a lot of sites are way too simplistic, in the sense that they give a false impression that it is so easy and nothing could go wrong.
I see this with books and websites about composting which I have been doing for about 30 years. I don’t know much about the biology and chemistry involved in composting but I know what works and what does not from experience. Reading a lot of books, magazine articles and websites could give the impression that you just chuck it all in a compost bin and Bob’s your uncle. I have found that success or failure depends so much on what ingredients you have to hand, combinations used, climate, whether you have a mulcher, whether you put it in a heap, wire cage, plastic bin and so forth.
A lot of touchy feely sources don’t explain or appear to understand the anearobic versus aerobic principles and they are presumptious in giving “universal” advice for all situations. Some sources are way too optimistic about the time taken for things to break down and I reckon they photograph commercially produced seed raising mix for their “finished compost” pictures. (Not a twig or fossilised corn cob to be seen). I suspect a lot of people become disheartened, thinking that they must be a complete failure because they got a slimy mess in a plastic bin, or turned a heap into a haven for rats when in fact success depends on experience which only comes with good advice or having a go enough times to get it right.
To finish my rant, my point is that a lot of worm farming sources fail to explain adequately how many worms will be required and how long it will take to increase the population to the point where they will consume the household scraps.
My impression is that they are going to eat a hell of a lot more bedding than food. I can only put perhaps a couple of egg cups full of food per day in the whole bath with 1000 worms. I now know that I should have got about 5000 worms for my family of four but I would not have been able to afford that. Hence I will let them multiply, but it takes time and thus I will keep having to compost 99% of the kitchen scraps.
Most sites however give the impression that you strut out to your worm farm and pour a bucket of kitchen waste in, pig trough style and I dread to think what sort of stinking disasters result.
This is by far the best worm farm forum I have found to date.
Lots of great ideas and helpful tips so I have bookmarked it to make sure I have the reference I need when I strike problems.
Thanks to you all for the fantastic information.
Happy Farming Everyone.
Hey.
This is probably a really dumb question, but why do you have to have damp newspaper/hessian over the scraps? I’ve had my worm farm for 6 months and have not been doing this. That said, the worms aren’t really faring as well as they probably could.
Any tips or info for me to help get the most out of my worms?
Ta.
Hi Tess.
The hessian or newspaper keeps sunlight off the worm farm. Worms do not like light or extreme heat. I suspect without a cover of some sort, your worms will be working at lower levels and not consuming nutrients on the surface.
My hessian does dry out but I find that a light sprinkle every few days allows moisture to seep through the farm slowly and you don’t have too much water rushing through and out the drain or saturating the farm.
If it ever rains here again, I suspect I will have to cover my bath with some old lino to keep the excess rain off. I plan to ensure that air circulates by placing some timber across the bath to keep the lino elevated and thus keep air flowing.
I don’t know if you need to rejuvenate your farm but if this helps, I bought a “worm bomb” from Kookaburra Worm farms today, off the net and it only cost twenty dollars. It apparently has one thousand egg capsules which may contain up to six or more wormlets each.
I have not received it yet but I hope to use this as a cheap method of increasing my population. I will have to wait a few weeks of course for them to hatch and mature.
I hope you have success as I am finding this worm caper to be a really satisfying thing to do. So many people at work are interested and starting to get involved themselves.
I really look forward to weekends so I can see how they are going. At the moment it is too dark when I get home from work. Can’t wait for Summer, except there will be no footy then.
Put a couple handfuls of wood ash over the food every couple of weeks, vinegar flys will disappear.
Wow. I received my “worm bomb” in the post today. I was expecting a few tiny worms and a lot of cocoons. I was amazed at how many large worms were there. I am annoyed that I did not buy all my worms this way because there were far more than when I bought a box of worms from Bunnings for fifty bucks.
If anyone wants to increase their worm population cheaply I would definitely recommend this method as it only cost twenty dollars. It goes to show that it pays to shop around.
They have some good information available at http://www.kookaburrawormfarms.com.au/
Rob
Guidelines for worm farming often suggest the inclusion of egg shells to help reduce acidity and to provide grit to assist digestion. I have discovered a method of crushing egg shells to make particles which are hopefully small enough that they can be ingested, or at the very least will have an increased surface area that they will biodegrade more quickly. I have noticed in my compost bins and even in the soil of my vegie garden that egg shell particles remain for a very long time.
I had found that smashing the shells in a bag with a hammer on a block was still not really effective, so I placed the egg shells in a vegemite jar with some coarse sand and pounded it with the sawn off handle from a broken spade. Any stick e.g. part of a broom stick would work. I found that the sand helps dry the goo on the egg shells and is abrasive. I stir the lot occasionally and resume pounding and twisting the stick to crush the shells.
I have been adding small amounts of sand and shell each week. Who knows, the sand may be effective by itself for digestion but it helps to reduce the particle size of the shells.
I have also discovered that my worms go berserk for watermelon, probably because it rots so quickly and becomes a slimy paste that they can easily digest. I can only guess that they like fructose like humans.
A charity that I am involved in recently did a Winter cannned food drive and we ended up with over 8000 cans. Most were excellent but a few were wildly out of date and got chucked. I rescued some peaches and cherries which I tried in my worm farm as an experiment.
No kidding, they were consumed without trace in about three days.
I am thinking that gathering fallen stone fruit, especially over-ripe stuff will be the way to go in Summer. I am also thinking that allowing potato and carrot peel to soften and ferment may be a good idea too as I see that they remain firm and preserved for a long time in the worm farm.
I hope this might give ideas to others and would appreciate any comments from others about favourite worm foods or those which ought to be avoided.
So kind of like a mortar and pestle for worm food
Thanks for sharing. I’m sure this is helpful for a lot of people.
we have a worm farm but seem to have alot of gnats in the bins and flying outside the bins how do we get rid of them
I have had a worm farm for over 20 years just sitting on the ground, 4 levels. Recently we have had rodents eating thru the plastic sides and even the bottom of a couple of trays. There is no aminal products in the farm. Any suggestions.
Hi Rina.
Thankfully I have not yet had the rat/mouse problem in my worm farm because it is a bath on the steel frame of an old desk and off the ground. I have had it in my compost bins however. I tried ratsak which worked well but then I got a dog and did not want to do that. The only thing that worked for me was to put mesh, 10 x 10 mm over the bottom of my compost bins.
Your problem is that they are eating through the plastic. I am guessing they want the high protein worms. I wonder could you make up a timber framed box with lid, put wire on the outside and keep the worm farm in the box.
That way you don’t have to use traps which don’t work all that well or poisons which are bad anyway.
If you go with the wire, I can recommend that you think about what you buy. There is some light gauge wire which is extremely cheap but this rusts away if in contact with the soil for a year or two. Alternatively, there is heavy gauge galvanised wire which is expensive but I can personally vouch will last in contact with the soil. Mine is over 10 years now and going strong. Cost is always a factor so if I had to do it, I would get the heavy gauge for the bottom and use the cheap stuff for the sides and top. If you can get it second hand from a garage sale or similar that would be great.
Don’t use bird wire unless the holes are extremely small as mouses and even rats can get through spaces you would not believe.
Good luck