[mkhenry]

At the lottie you have got your compost heap on the go,but at home you do not always produce enough green matter to make a compost heap worthwhile,so why not a wormery.

They do seem to charge the "earth" for them in the garden centres.
Heres one you can make in a couple of hours.

Take an old dustbin and burn or drill a row of holes 3" up from the bottom then another row 3" up from the first row.
turn it up the right way and fill the bottom 3" approx with gravel,the the next 3" approx with well rotted manure.

Then pour in water until it comes out of the holes.
Buy some Brandling Worms from a fishing tackle shop(about 100) and pop them in.
Top this all off with some compost from your own heap and put the lid back on to the bin.
After 2 weeks start putting your kitchen waste in the wormery. Once the worms start to do their job add some more until the bin is full,and you will have the best compost you can make.
It will be wet and sticky when you take it out but will very soon dry.

When you do tip it out save the top 2" carefully to re-use when you restart your bin again,thats where the worms will be.

If you want to save the "tea" that the worms make then make a grill to put in the bottom and screw a plastic tap in to the side at the botton about 2" up and every now and the tip the "tea" out.
Dilute before use about 20-1 and use it as a fillip and a great liquid feed.  

[richyrich7]

MKH your a star.

Great info as usual  

[WG.]

Lime !!!  If it is too acidic, they'll wander off.

And don't add too much veg waste.  Most failures in wormeries are due to addition of too much veggie material.  Brown corrugated cardboard is a great addition, as are egg shells.

Check this post too : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=37311#37311

[mkhenry]

Lime !!!  If it is too acidic, they'll wander off.

And don't add too much veg waste.  Most failures in wormeries are due to addition of too much veggie material.  Brown corrugated cardboard is a great addition, as are egg shells.

Check this post too : http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?p=37311#37311

If when you open the lid the worms are climbing up the sides its too wet.
Leave the lid off for a little while to make them go back down into the compost,then add lots of torn up newspaper.

Tear it into strips and lay it so that its loose and that will help dry it up.
Replace the lid once you have put the paper in and leave closed for at least 3 days.
In summer keep out of direct sunlight,in winter wrap the bin in bubble wrap.
It works better if you stand it on bricks to keep it off the frozen ground.  

[mkhenry]

MKH your a star.

Great info as usual  

Thank you Richy more to follow.

[WG.]

I must belabour the point on over-feeding since this is very common.  It is reckoned that worms can digest 50 to 100% of their own body weight per day.

If you've added 100 worms then don't add more than 50gm (less than 2 ounces) of waste food per day until they have had a chance to breed up their numbers.  And do add horticultural lime from time to time.

Overfeeding will result in an acidic, peutrified, anaerobic mess.  The worms will have packed their bags and moved out.

[mkhenry]

I must belabour the point on over-feeding since this is very common.  It is reckoned that worms can digest 50 to 100% of their own body weight per day.

If you've added 100 worms then don't add more than 50gm (less than 2 ounces) of waste food per day until they have had a chance to breed up their numbers.  And do add horticultural lime from time to time.

Overfeeding will result in an acidic, peutrified, anaerobic mess.  The worms will have packed their bags and moved out.

These worms if happy will reproduce at a good rate,the reason you do not add too many to begin with is that they need to settle down and sort themselves out,during this time if you had too many they would just fail. So 100 to start with is fine before long you will have many more indeed some of the first 100 will be ready to give birth almost immediately.  

[WG.]

indeed some of the first 100 will be ready to give birth almost immediately.

You must have very advanced worms then Henry.   :roll:  
Mine have only evolved to lay egg capsules which take an absolute minumum of 3 weeks to hatch.  They won't hatch at all if conditions are too acidic.

[gobs]

How much compost would you get out of a wormery made like that and how many worms can it accommodate?

[mkhenry]

indeed some of the first 100 will be ready to give birth almost immediately.

You must have very advanced worms then Henry.   :roll:  
Mine have only evolved to lay egg capsules which take an absolute minumum of 3 weeks to hatch.  They won't hatch at all if conditions are too acidic.

It is a lot colder in your area then down here and the worms do a lot better in the breeding dept.
However just for WG who does know what he is talking about bung more worms in.
I can only say that I have made loads of these wormeries over the last 5 years plus I have 2 factory made ones.(1 I use 1 I don't at the moment) and I have never had too much trouble making them work.
A lot my pals with gardens use them because I sold them on the idea and helped them make them,and we all started with around 100 worms.
The only difference is I do put in some grit but I forget the name of the stuff it helps soak up the damp and adjusts the acid,but lime will do.  

Gobs I get about one bin size amount of highly concentrated compost about every 18 months (2 peoples kitchen waste),but its not just the amount its the fact that you no longer have a smelly bin in the summer,plus you do get excellent worm tea that you can use all year round.  

In the summer if you add wet things like lettuce leaves put in shedded newspaper to help dry it up.

[mkhenry]

I have just checked with a pal who bought a factory made Wormery and they sent him about 100 worms to start his off,and his is working fine.
But just in case and to keep WG happy bung in a few more.    

[WG.]

Now now, Henry ... I have only made the case for less food, not for more worms.  

[mkhenry]

Now now, Henry ... I have only made the case for less food, not for more worms.  

Fair point WG but i did say you know what you are talking about.  

[gobs]

Thanks, always would have liked one, but the price of them! Hm.

[londongardener]

indeed some of the first 100 will be ready to give birth almost immediately.

You must have very advanced worms then Henry.   :roll:  
Mine have only evolved to lay egg capsules which take an absolute minumum of 3 weeks to hatch.  They won't hatch at all if conditions are too acidic.

It is a lot colder in your area then down here and the worms do a lot better in the breeding dept.
However just for WG who does know what he is talking about bung more worms in.
I can only say that I have made loads of these wormeries over the last 5 years plus I have 2 factory made ones.(1 I use 1 I don't at the moment) and I have never had too much trouble making them work.
A lot my pals with gardens use them because I sold them on the idea and helped them make them,and we all started with around 100 worms.
The only difference is I do put in some grit but I forget the name of the stuff it helps soak up the damp and adjusts the acid,but lime will do.  

Gobs I get about one bin size amount of highly concentrated compost about every 18 months (2 peoples kitchen waste),but its not just the amount its the fact that you no longer have a smelly bin in the summer,plus you do get excellent worm tea that you can use all year round.  

In the summer if you add wet things like lettuce leaves put in shedded newspaper to help dry it up.

I have a wormery for over year and we still do not get any worm tea.
I was going to add lime but I could not find it in my garden center although they do get egg shells.
Any ideas why no worm tea ?  They are alive and producing compost.