Comments on: Compost Worms

By: Digger

Digger — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:55:37 +0000

For the post “I have a worm bin that has recently been giving off a smell, but the smell is not an ammonia-like smell at all. In fact, it is almost sweet. Do you have any suggestions about what the cause might be?”: Worm bins should smell pleasant. This smell could be a too acid bedding, which will kill your worms. Avoid over-feeding and add crushed egg shells regularly to keep a neutral ph. If it’s very acid, you can also add calcium carbinate, but you need to toss the bed to release the carbon dioxide that can result. Check your bed with a ph meter. Acid conditions are deadly to worms, or will make them crawl.

By: CoirGreen

CoirGreen — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:20:37 +0000

Interesting to hear how you use coir in the process.
More information on coir can be obtained from http://coirgreen.blogspot.com/

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:45:33 +0000

I notice that you use a mix of 4:1 for your worm pee or leachate while others recommend 10:1 dilution. What plants do you use the higher concentration on?

By: Theresa

Theresa — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:19:28 +0000

Hello, I have a worm bin that has recently been giving off a smell, but the smell is not an ammonia-like smell at all. In fact, it is almost sweet. Do you have any suggestions about what the cause might be?

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:36:16 +0000

For setting up a commercial worm farm

1 x 400Kg potato or apple crate
3 bales of peas Straw
2 25kg bags of organic soil
100 shredded newspapers ( to shred =feed into a garden chipper)

Drill a hole in one of the planks near thye bottom of the bin and fit a tap to drain excess liquid. Line the bin base with black tough plastic, ensuring the tap outlet is above the plastic liner
Use Sacking on top of the bin to keep the contents damp and the worms in the box
KEEP THE BINS UNDER SHADE
Dampen daily in hot conditions with your shower unit

Connect a hose permanently to a garden tap and suspend it like a shower above the box. This is so that you can keep the material damp.

Prepare the box in the same manner as the RELN farm as the article on this page. Add to your box 4000 worms (about 1 KG)

This should produce you about 80,000 worms in about 6 months if you follow the rules of not feeding onion skins or citrus skins to the mix. Use spoiled vegetable matter. Avoid adding grass clippings as these generate heat and will kill your worms.

You can even collect green waste from your greengrocer to help feed your worm farm.

Prepare 3 xtra units after the first 6 months of production, Tip the contents of bin 1 out onto a large wet plastic sheet. Gradually reduce the heap of castings, forcing the worms to go to the bottom of ther pile when most of the castings have been removed and bagged, divide the remaining worms and add them to the newly prepared boxes. You should now have about 40,000 to each box. You can sell off the excess castings now in 2 -5Kg bags. You can keep cycling or adding bins to your farm as you want to expand your project

any questions? admin@nettiser.com.au

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:15:01 +0000

Shahriman

RED EARTHWORMS are high in protein, other than that fact they have not been accorded any medicinal miracles that I am aware of. Of course you could use them as bait to catch quality fish whgch are rich in essential oils that are good for the health.

By: dennis

dennis — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:11:51 +0000

Tom, cover your pots with wet sacking. The worms will be kept in the pots The worms will consume the sacking over time, but it isw easily replaced.

By: Tom Edelen

Tom Edelen — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:24:24 +0000

My worms crawl out of my Bins. My bins are 30 gallon tree pots. There is 7″ to 10″ to crawl up and a lid that does not fit tightly. I have screen in the bottom. Any suggestions.
Thanks,
Tom

By: Shahriman

Shahriman — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:32:00 +0000

I would like to know whether the Red Earthworms could be used for pharmaceutical and medicinal purposes. It is said the worms’ enzymes are suitable for that purpose. If it is true, could you please provide me the research materials on such claims.

Thanks.