worm farm

[okitoki]

Starting a new worm farm to try to recycle the vegies scraps we have now as we are starting to eat "healthier" by including more vegies in our diet...
Bought one of them Can-o-Worms worm farm, and a box of 1000 worms from Bunnings... unfortunately the worms were mostly dead in the box (from the heat I guess)

Now I probably have a lot less than 1000 in my bin... any one have suggestion how I should approach this new hobby of mine?

Laid out beddings of most coconut husk (comes in kit), news paper shreds, worms and soil they came in, fruits and veg, egg shells, sprinkle of worm powder, more news paper, carpet... and occasionally spay water over top news paper...

Had a look last night, and was disappointed to see only a worm or 2 from scrapping here and there... should wait or get more?

Any suggestion where to get them instead of Bunnings?

[Roger Explosion]

You already bought the farm?
Bugger.
You can make you own with as little as a plastic bin and a small tap for draining the good stuff. (less than 20 bucks all up).
As for where your worms are, wait a few days and you'll see an explosion of the buggers as eggs hatch/dead ones go all zombie.
Make sure you keep it in a place that's not going to get too hot. The juice that collects down the bottom is insanely good fertilizer. We've had the best tomato's ever since we started putting that muck on them.

[okitoki]

confused about the "juice" the comes out from the bottom... some people say use them, some say dont as they are "rotting" juice from vegies, so would be full of bad bacterias?

Yeah, was thinking about the DIY job, but my GF made me promise no wrigglies would escape, and she doesnt trust my skills ... so I had to buy a commercial one

I get the morning sun, but would be under a shade after mid morning

[Daleski]

I would have taken the box back to bunnings.
If your patient they will breed and you will find in a few months you will have 10,000 or so.
I started Mine about 9 months ago and only put 500 in there because I'm cheap. The worms took off, I have lost a fair few recently with this hot weather even though i was pouring cold water though weekly.
As for not seeing any worms, did you look in the bottom container (where the water sits)?

[Trashed]

I used to have a worm farm. My local council (Town of Vincent) was running an evening workshop all about them, so in a few hours you got all the instructions you needed, plus the worm farm. Maybe contact your local council to see if they run something similar. If not, I'd recommend you get them from a supplier (look in the yellow pages) because they will also give you advice about how to look after them.

First off, you need to get more worms, otherwise the scraps you're putting in will just rot - not good for the worms. You also get better results if you chop up or even blend the scraps. Never put seeds in (they won't eat them and then they just sprout). I put water on every day.

Rotate the trays every month or so and use manure to get them to move up into the top tray (they love poo). Make sure the farm is located in a shady spot. On very hot days put frozen bottles of water in to keep them cool, and lots of water. If you go away you'll have to get someone to come and look after them.

PM me if you want more info, but basically you need more worms now to get it established

[Daleski]

confused about the "juice" the comes out from the bottom... some people say use them, some say dont as they are "rotting" juice from vegies, so would be full of bad bacterias?

Nah It's really good for the garden, just don't drink it.
Water it down to a tea colour and poor away.
Don't put any pet fur in it as if your pets treatment (i.e. worm & flee treatment) it could kill all your worms in a day.

[okitoki]

I would have taken the box back to bunnings.
If your patient they will breed and you will find in a few months you will have 10,000 or so.
I started Mine about 9 months ago and only put 500 in there because I'm cheap. The worms took off, I have lost a fair few recently with this hot weather even though i was pouring cold water though weekly.
As for not seeing any worms, did you look in the bottom container (where the water sits)?

hmmm... havent checked the bottom yet... will do tonight...

[activeman]

there are oldies that will sell you 1000 worms for 10-15 bucks
google for more info.

[drsnow]

I've got a 2nd hand worm farm (without worms and i had to buy them from bunnings) and didnt look after it too well the 1st time around a few years ago. I have started it up again and bought the worms from bunnings (only 500 worms). I mixed in a peat block with some soil i got from the garden, and empty the box of 500 worms into it, and cover with wet newspaper at least 5pages thick (not dripping with water thou).

What i find really useful is to get a water mister and spray the inside every evening after a HOT day. It cools the farm down and keeps the newspaper moist.

If you find your veggies rotting, then u are feeding too much for the number of worms in there. It will take a few weeks at least for the numbers to increase. Then slowly with the increasing numbers, u should be able to feed it more each time. My worms are breeding heaps now as i see lots of little ones crawling around when i lift the newspaper up

Remember they dont like citrus, onions or any meat products!

[Sable]

try this guy he does the city of stirling worm farm talk, and sells worms too. I have got a bunch from him and they are pretty good, they are fresh out of his farm.

Worm Shed

[rebel250]

All good advice. I'm cheap too so i only started with a takeaway container with castings and a few worms. It took a while, but now my worm population is healthy. They self regulate, so although i wish i had more, i don't produce nearly enough scraps to sustain more

Only other thing I have to add to the other stuff mentioned. I notice you said you put in the starter kit's coconut husk coir and some vege scraps already... Often the worms will prefer the coconut coir bedding over the food scraps as they are establishing their new home. I'll hold off on adding more scraps until they've worked over the first batch of scraps you've laid. This could take from a couple of weeks to a month. Have patience.

If you do lack patience but not short on coin, for sure, you could always go get more worms... but i probably wouldn't add any more bedding...

[rebel250]

apologies for the thread hijack... but as i mentioned I only started with a tiny container of worms and casting. I think it's time and I also want to mix up the genetic gene pool in my farm. If anyone is near Dianella and can swap a takeaway container of worms and castings, i'ld be over the moon.

p.s. My worms are coffee addicts, I chucked used coffee grounds in there a few weeks back and the day after the worms were all over it! Could be a handy tip when you decide to harvest them...

[Sable]

Rebel250 i can possibly give you some, i'm close to Dianella, but I have to check how they are going.

[okitoki]

one of my goal is also to use the coffee grounds from work... as we have a couple of coffee addicted programmers working in the office, we do go through a bit of coffee each day... so good way of recycling them once my farm is running well

[okitoki]

Got in touch with a lady from gumtree. $25 for 1/4kg of worms or 1000. She is based at Ocean reef. Really nice lady. And turned out her husband worked with my GF when she was at TW ... Small world

Anywho. Got home and poured the bag into the farm. GF freaked out cause the middle of the bag opened up to a mass of wriggling worms looking like a can of spageti-o

Much better and healthier looking than the bunnings one

[drsnow]

anyone having problems with sprouts... chucked in some corn that i grew in my veggie patch that dried up during the really hot weather. Now damm corn is sprouting in the worm factory!

Regarding the worm tea you get at the bottom. How do u apply it to the veggie patch in the garden? undiluted or watered down?

[okitoki]

I just rip the leaves off from the carrot top... have a few of them setting out roots, so I just pull them out and chop it up a little with a hand spade
the worm tea I just pour into the bucket and mix it till it looks like a weak tea and pour it into my pot plants...
for the garden bed plants and lawn, i just pour it straight before sprinkler night... my lawn bald patch is slowly recovering now

[activeman]

anyone having problems with sprouts... chucked in some corn that i grew in my veggie patch that dried up during the really hot weather. Now damm corn is sprouting in the worm factory!

Regarding the worm tea you get at the bottom. How do u apply it to the veggie patch in the garden? undiluted or watered down?

I always dilute. About 10 H2O to 1 urine (worm tea).
Remember that urine contains urea and water and elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Too much nitrogen can lead to ammonia production

[rebel250]

I LOVE getting sprouts. If it's something i would be keen on growing, i transplant it out. If not, i figure if i leave it for long enough it'll die on it's own from a lack of sunlight and space.

[drsnow]

But the sprouts r all pale from lack of sun. Can't be too healthy to start of life? I try and rip as much as I can out and feed them to worms.

Another note. I used to have newspaper covering the scraps but have bought a commercial worm blanket from bunnings. I've been getting worm tea since I got it. But it keeps getting this white "fur" on it which I presume is some kind of mould. I've left it there cos I can't really get rid of it unless I dry the blanket out.