Worm farm / compost bin???

[Sofoula88]

So Ive been wanting to get a compost bin for some time now,I finally decided I was tired of throwing away food scraps that are gonna end up in the landfill which could instead end up in my garden as nutrient for my plants.. So I did the research and I want to get a worm farm.. I've seen alot and there pretty expensive but seem very basic to make,a barrel with layers and a tap at the bottom for the worm Juice..or some plastic bins would suffice..so I've decided to make myown and then just buy the worms (which are still gonna cost me like $40).. Unless anyone knows where to get them cheaper... So anyway dunno if anyone has one although I think you should but just wanted to get some ideas if anyone has made their own worm farm.. Materials uses etc.. I know you can use polystyrene boxes which seem the easiest so I might do that..but any advice or tips would be appreciatedthanks =]

 

[Klaery]

Styro boxes work and you can even stack them so you can have a rotation system going I have one of the bought systems now as I wanted it to look a bit cleaner and to be able to collect the juice but this is what I have used in the past.

 

[waruikazi]

Do they smell?

 

[Jen]

No, they don;t smell. I have one of the bought ones, the tap broke (i can't turn it anymore easily as the 'wings' broke off) in the first few days, so I just leave it on with a bucket underneath. I love it, it turns out awesome worm castings for my garden and the 'worm wee' is great for the lawn. I pour a bucket of water through it every week or so.

 

[Australis]

I also have one of the bought worm farms. Besides the obvious benefit of the castings & liquid for the garden, i have been using the worms as bait for freshwater fishing. Ive used the same worms in the past for feeding to lizards and aquarium fishes.

Last time i bought worms (about 18 months ago) i went with the smallest amount available at bunnings around the $25-$30 mark.

 

[Sofoula88]

They sell worms at bunnings? Idnt think they sell them here or if they did don't anymore,I asked and all they had was a can o worms system which was like $80.. Altho I didn't ask about worms..maybe I should ask in the nursery/garden section.. Ok stupid question but at some point do u have to throw any of the compost matter out and replace it with new stuff or I've heard of turning it?basically will it all degrade and get consumed by worms or is there anything else I need to do..?.. And what's the deal with the carpet,hessian ,worm blanket stuff? I thought u were ment to keep it moist..I don't get it =/

 

[nagini-baby]

ok put the worms and the dirt they come in in the tub. pour water through so its moist cover with a newspaper put the lid on voila! to feed simply place food under the paper. but dont over feed them or they die! only cover about a half or third of te area on top with food or they cant break it all down unless you have gazillions of worms

 

[Australis]

You are constantly replacing it with new material in the way of food scraps etc
The worms will migrate to the richest area and if you have a layer/tray system the tray furthest from the new organic material will have very few if any worms so you can tip that onto you garden. Then you would put the empty tray on top and start adding new scraps to it.. and so the cycle goes. As far as hessian etc i just use a couple of bits of damp newpaper thrown on top.

Go back to bunning, im not sure if the worms have a long "shelf life" so to speak, so might be why they are always lightly stocked in store. They are not kept in the gardening section of my local store either. Also some basic instructions are on the box of worms.

 

[Sofoula88]

Thanks aus u were right they do sell em at bunnings ..there's 1000 for $55 and 500 top up for $25-28 ..I know it's gonna be more of a slow process but I'm gonna get 500.. I'm all for making things better but I'm not spending nearly $60 on worms lol.. plus this will be good coz I can work up my layers and build my bin up..I've already started making it =]..

 

[Bluetongue1]

Just a little bit of extra info…

Worms reproduce quite rapidly when kept at higherdensity. So if you know someone with aworm farm and can get a handful of worms to start with, by keeping them in asmaller container for a while you will get a greater rate of reproduction. Alternatively, you can section off part ofthe worm farm tray by using several thicknesses of cardboard from a browncardboard box. The worms will eventuallyeat their way through it and in the meantime will reproduce a bit faster.

Worms do not like onions or citrus fruit peels. A watering can with a fine spray nozzle isthe simplest way to wet them down.

Compost bins can be a real pain. You need to maintain high nitrogen levels ifyou are composting prunings and the like with lots of stems and paper i.e. needto add lots of greens as well. Must bekept constantly moist, which can be a problem if in the sun at all. They tend to dry out on top and around theside and contract towards the middle so that the water runs down the edges andout the bottom. Burying a few inches inthe ground helps overcome this. Periodiccompaction towards the sides is also a good idea, except if you have recentlyadded doggie do’s and forget ….eeewwww! Howto turn into a compulsive, obsessive hand washer for the next two days. Thank God for hot showers and scrubbingbrushes. So while the compost bin willtake everything organic, it is more effort than a worm farm ant the wormcasting are much more useable to enrich the soil.

Blue

 

[marcmarc]

No, they don;t smell. I have one of the bought ones, the tap broke (i can't turn it anymore easily as the 'wings' broke off) in the first few days, so I just leave it on with a bucket underneath. I love it, it turns out awesome worm castings for my garden and the 'worm wee' is great for the lawn. I pour a bucket of water through it every week or so.

I had the same thing happen with the tap, and I replaced it with something similar from Bunnings. Does yours unscrew?

 

[Australis]

@Blue
Very interesting, i have never heard of space making a difference to reproduction i will have to try it.

 

[waikare]

i have had my farm for about a year now and started off with a 1000 worms, as long as they are moist and not over fed they thrive very easily, the only buggers is when you put another tray on top to harvest all the castings from the first tray, you then have to pick all your worms out from the bottom tray and to my suprise there was a bloody few in fact 3 hrs of drinking and sorting them out lol

 

[Sofoula88]

@bluetongue thanks alot of useful info
... Question.. How do u guys keep the worms out of the bottom tray where the juice goes... I was thinking of putting mesh over it so the juice can fallthrough but the worms don't ..or is there an easier way
also .. I should throw a bucket or use a watering can and put water in so it goes through all of it, won't the worms drown?

 

[Jen]

marcmarc - i think so, i will have to have a look and see about a replacement tap, never thought of that.
Sofoula - i layered newspaper (wet) really really thickly on the bottom of the bottom layer to stop them going thru the mesh to the bottom water collection area - doesn't always work, i check there and rinse it out for the worms frequently. I pour a bucket through the top layer every week, it just filters down and the worms are fine. Diet wise - never use meat, onion or citrus, or dog poo from dogs that have been wormed. I put newspaper in every layer, they seem to love it, and also a coir brick (no fertiliser one). Sometimes I use a bag of corn cob mouse bedding as well, as they like that too. If you are getting one of the pre-made farms on legs, get some coke bottle and saw the top off, fill them with water and put each leg in one to stop ants getting into the farm as they will kill the worms, keeping the substrate very damp helps but won't always stop ants living in the farm.

Easiest way to 'harvest' your nice new worm castings is to take the tray into the sunlight and scrape of a thin layer of soil at a time, the worms will head down to the next layer to avoid the light. If you see any tiny golden seed looking things - they are worm eggs, keep them!

 

[maddog-1979]

could you use weed control matting or shadecloth on the bottom layer to stop worms going through? or can they still sqeeze through that aswell?

 

[PythonLegs]

compost worms, worm farm, delivered Australia wide

I have one of these, very good, cheap, and local too. Dick Smith reccomends them.


Possibly.

 

[Sock Puppet]

I use the can o worms system, it works very well. I also only use the damp newspaper on top as matting, as when I'm slack & forget to top up the food, the worms will continue eating the paper.

One thing to be careful of, always thoroughly wash any vegetable scraps you add to the worm farm to ensure there are no pesticides on the food you're putting in. I lost a healthy colony virtually overnight & this was all I could think that may have caused it.

 

[Sofoula88]

Thanks Jen..
So I really don't wanna spend $30 on 500 grams of worms.. I rang up bunnings again for the exact price and it's $28 for the 500 worms but there not even adult worms..and like srsly $30 for 500 grams of worms..I know I sound so cheap but I cnt believe ppl,Inc myself are gonna pay for fricken worms.. Then again in this hobby I've discovered alot of things that I never thought I'd be paying to purchase..yet I do.. But if anyone wants to send me some worms..that would really save me some money =] .. If not I guess I'll have to go to bunnings n fork out the $30 (sigh).. I wish I knew someone locally who also has a worm farm,but all my friends are non environmental caring losers.. Lol

Oops didn't see this page..thanks for the advice guys

@pythonlegs that site looks pretty good..I think I skimmed over it and thought it was good except delivery prices were too high,altho now I'm looking at it there dosent seem to be any..maybe I confused it with another site..well maybe I'll get em from there then..but I dunno if I wanna wait and get eggs or not.. I think a trip to bunnings is in order..see what kind of worms they have