[michellela]

Are they the same worms I find where I've put down a manure mulch?  When I'm digging up the forest of weeds on my new plot I'm finding a lot of worms but where the manure is I don't find the same long pale ones but instead there seems to be masses of small reddish coloured ones.

[8doubles]

Have just learned there are 25 native species of worm in the UK.
Are your worms shown here, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/other-invertebrates/earthworm-slideshow/index.html

[michellela]

Have just learned there are 25 native species of worm in the UK.
Are your worms shown here, http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/other-invertebrates/earthworm-slideshow/index.html

Good link, thanks.  I _think_ it's the brandling as it is the one whose colour looks most alike, also it says they live in manure heaps which would make sense as I'm finding them in the manure I get from the communal heap.  That said, I've never noticed them when loading my wheelbarrow although I'm usual huffing and puffing so much I can barely see straight.

[aelf]

Right, my two-penneth 

I have been using worms to make compost for years and I also promote it with schools. The worms (known as brandlings, Tigerworms and many other names) are small red and yellow striped worms, common everywhere that has moist, rotting vegetation (the latin name is eisena foetida) They are attracted by the smell of decaying vegetation.

Zippy - Your problem is not the worms, rather it's the plastic bin that you are keeping them in - I agree that they are hard work to maintain and the worms stop working in the cold. I'm also not convinced that the worm liquid does very much good. This is what I do:

My worm composter is a box (with no floor) made of thick scaffold planks. The greenery goes in, the worms eat it, breed in it and convert it to compost. As long as the contents of the box are kept moist the worms do their job. The thick wooden sides of the bin help keep the heat in and the cold out. Each spring, I skim the top 12" off and put to one side (the worms and undigested plants are in this) and empty the lovely rich muck onto my beds. The top 12" then goes back in the box and the worms do their stuff. The picture is of our industrial worm breeder at work 

[arugula]

Excellent and helpful post aelf! Thanks for that.

[aelf]

Excellent and helpful post aelf! Thanks for that.

My pleasure! Got to look out for those worms 

[Zippy]

Thanks aelf. I can see a mini-project coming my way; perpectual compost bins!

What’s the difference between skimming the first foot of my compost stored in wooden bins and using that as my worm compost and the bin you are using?

Is it because there are no slats in your model that makes it more worm-friendly;  in which case I could possibly line by wooden bins with corrugated cardboard each time?

What stops the heap from heating up beyond the worm tolerance or do they just migrate to the optimum areas in the bin?

[Spana]

Some of my 'pets' 

[arugula]

Eeew!  Glad I'm not eating! 

[aelf]

Hi Zippy

I would block up the slats so that there are no air gaps and keep a piece of plastic/tarp on top of the heap to contain the worms and stop birds/vermin helping themselves. The heap doesn't heat up too much because the bin is wide and not too deep and any greenery is spread thinly over the surface. The worms then eat it before it starts rotting properly. Also, the heap needs to be moist - you should be able to squeeze a few drop of water out of a handfull of the muck produced. It may need watering every so often, depending on what vegetation you are adding. That also stops heat building up.

If you have worms in your 'normal' compost then use them to start your wormary off. If you are going to set one up, I would wait til the spring now as that is when the worms go into overdrive mating and laying eggs. At this time of year, i pile grass clippings on the heap and cover it with a tarp to help insulate against the cold - the worms seem to like it and keep eating, although they don't breed so much.

[savbo]

Right, my two-penneth 

I have been using worms to make compost for years and I also promote it with schools. The worms (known as brandlings, Tigerworms and many other names) are small red and yellow striped worms, common everywhere that has moist, rotting vegetation (the latin name is eisena foetida) They are attracted by the smell of decaying vegetation.

aelf, are you George P?

M

[aelf]

Hi savbo

no, sorry, I', not George P.  Does he do worms as well?

[Thrift]

I have the standard compost bin standing in a sunny spot on a gritty base. I have always simply heaped in the compost and left it to it's own devices and last year when I emptied it out the 'working' part was full of those little red worms. 

I am now much better informed about the different worms but seem to have achieved the result without the 'pets'. 

[strangerachael]

I agree with you Zippy, I gave up my wormery after a year or so, I found the worms to be far too fussy and they kept diving down to the bottom and drowning in their own juice. They were  never happy and I found it depressing. For the  last three years or so I have been using bokashi bins instead,  they are much easier to deal with and you can put a much greater variety of stuff in them. Then the contents can be transferred to the normal compost bin.
The same worms appear in the normal compost bin and do the same job but because I haven't put them there I don't feel responsible for them!