slow worms

Foleyart

I got one of those wormerys about ten weeks ago and carefully followed all the instructions. Nothing seems to be happening however, and I dont want to disturb the wee worms unneccesarily. I dont even know if there are any left alive in there. Anyone know what normally happens or whether I should do a little dig for a look see? It stinks to high heaven whe opened.

The Sweeper

Foleyart,

Did you set up the wormery 10 weeks ago and ignore then ever since, or have you been feeding and watering them? You need to feed and water your worms!

Worms eat fruit and vegetable scraps, so once a week you should be adding scraps - just fruit and veg, and no citrus or pineapple or other acidic things. A worm farm that has a surface area of a square metre can eat 10kg of fruit and veg scraps each week! When you scatter the scraps across the surface, you can cover them with a little soil to keep flies away from them.

Watering - add some every few days or when necessary to prevent the worm farm from drying out. It should be moist, but not soggy.

If you've been feeding and watering, there should still be worms doing their worm thang. If the food is disappearing, your worms are thriving.

If you haven't been feeding or watering... Well, let's just say, start. Now.

Foleyart

Thanks for the reply. I have been feeding them but not watering them since, the stuff in there seems quite moist so far. I'll just keep monitoring it for another few months and see how it goes.

The Sweeper

Yeah there is moisture in the scraps so if you feel the soil is moist enough that's fine. Adult earthworms can stand some dryness, but the eggs won't hatch into worm babies unless there's moisture.

If you want to be sure there's activity, scatter some obvious scraps over the surface - carrot peelings, for instance, then check next week. If they're gone, you have succesfully reared some voracious wormies!

r3nu4l

This thread is not as exciting as I thought it was going to be

I thought you meant these guys.