Wednesday 3 February 2010

Worm farming begins

My composting worm starter kit arrived today.


This consists of -

* coir block
* composting worms 250g
* worm meal

The first task was to soak the coir block for two hours.

The instructions said to add 7 litres of water so I did -- this made the coir far too wet so I drained the mix for some time before adding to my home-made wormery.
I made this from a £3.97 storage box, which my husband drilled for me. Holes in lid for aeration and to allow worms to move up if another layer is added.

Holes in the side for aeration, and holes in the base for drainage.

The next step is to add the composting worms.

Leave them to burrow down into the bedding, and then sprinkle of meal on the surface.
Before ordering the worms I did a bit of research online, and read that until they get settled into the new environment the worms might try to escape overnight! So the advice is to tie the whole thing in a bin bag at night to make sure you can rehome them. Don't forget to untie in the morning for air. (How do they know it's night?)

2 comments:

  1. How is your wormery going, I have always wanted one but could never afford it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Libby - just noticed your comment. The wormery is going well - if a bit slowly while they build up their numbers. I will try to take more pics at the weekend.

    My set up was quite cheap - £4 ish for the box and about £16 for the worms/feed/coir. However I think you could do it for even less if you had access to red composting worms from a compost bin and were prepared for them to build up numbers slowly...also using shredded newspaper & used compost for bedding.

    I'm reading Alys Fowler's Edible Garden just now and she talks about the worms...and their value for adding to beds when they bulk up....so I definitely want to learn more.

    ReplyDelete