Worm Farming

[Guest funky worm]

This topic starter has been converted into a FAQ.

You can find funky worm’s “Worm Farming FAQ in full here!”

Please continue discussing worm farming and asking questions about worms here in this topic.

Edited June 7, 2007 by oldtimer1

[Twilightblade]

Hi Funky Worm

thanks for the info

Note to any fisherfolk out there - fed up paying for worms at your local tackle shop.......see above.

Thanks Funky

[Guest funky worm]

Hiya Twilightblade! B)

Ask any further questions you may have on this thread.

Note to any fisherfolk out there - fed up paying for worms at your local tackle shop.......see above.

And whatabout paying for the overpriced nutes at the grow store! Haha, for free nutes from your kitchen waste - see above!

[ninorc]

Hi FW,

We've been discussing my wormery in this thread.

I bought it back in January to dispose of vegetable waste, especially pulp from the juicer. After a couple of months, I started siphoning off liquid plant feed and have been filling 33cl bottles, collecting up to half a litre a week. Is that a lot?

Overfeeding is basically the only thing that can kill off the worms (too high protein levels -> composting or 'sour bin disease')

It's been swampy in there in the past (I added shreddded newspaper, as per) and the heat recently has caused some fermentation at the top of the bin, with the fruit pulp I've been putting in there.

Is this normal, or should I worry about the health of my (tiger) worms?

Do you agree with OS, in the other thread, that I need to drain my bin and dry off my worms with newspaper?

[Twilightblade]

Quite right FW

Saving money all round AND good for the enviro

[Scrooge]

Excellent article FW.

I use 10-15% worm castings in the soil mix.

I gather them from the local park and sterilize

them in the oven. So, I suppose the mucus covering

will vanish along with the beneficial organisms.

I use them for nitrogen during veg, as well as to

give an earthy taste to the finished bud.

I wonder what the scrogging skunk will taste of, after

feeding on the nettle tea?

[stiffen]

As up to 59 per cent of your household waste or BDW passes through your worms’ guts, microbe numbers massively increase. And these microbes are of

paramount importance in the recycling of nutrients in the soil, such as nitrogen, sulphur, phosphorous and trace elements. It is only through the actions of soil

microbes that nutrients in organic matter are broken down and returned to the soil, liberated for plants and for use by other microbes. Life on earth depends on

this process, and a single gram of healthy fertile soil contains upwards of a million microbes. And it is these microbes massively increasing in the guts of your worms that speed the decomposition of your BDW, without which it takes a very long time. Quite simply: No BDW, no microbes – no microbes, no worms. None of either,

no living soil. In essence your worms, and the BDW you feed them, are performing a natural miracle – transforming expensive polluting waste into living soil... WOW!

Biodegradeable Waste (BDW),

[equilibrium]

Interesting thread.. Just a thought but can u introduce worms directly into ur growing pots (Indoor grows) veg through to flower.. Surely this can only benifit the plants.. Anyone ever tried it??

[ninorc]

A must read: 'Worms Eat My Garbage' by Mary Apelhof

[hairy face]

Interesting thread.. Just a thought but can u introduce worms directly into ur growing pots (Indoor grows) veg through to flower.. Surely this can only benifit the plants.. Anyone ever tried it??

Sorry, but it can't be done. The worms need a constant moist environment, which goes against the wet/dry watering cycle needed for growing in compost.

[PotBelly]

Hi

Just thought I'd mention you can get a wormery from most local authorities for £5 rather than the 80 or 90 they cost in the shops.

It's all part of them promoting recycling. All i had to do was to show them a utility bill to prove where i lived, give them a fiver, and they gave me a 'Can o Worms'.

PotBelly

[Keye]

Hello!

My 'Can-O-Worms' was delivered on Friday and i set it up on Sunday.

It's a 3-tier design so you keep putting a tray on top and removing the worm castings from the bottom one, in a cycle.

Apparently it takes about 9 months to get a complete cycle done - the worms are just eating the coir that comes with the kit at the mo'. I got some coffee grounds from Starbucks (is that irony...?) and obviously there's all our veg and plant matter that can go in.

I'm looking to go organic soon - ditching the NFT and having pots with mud in them and little plants sticking out the top. It would be great to make my own compost and use it to grow Cannabis, that'd give me a real warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Not a lot is happening in the bin right now. It's not a week old so it's going to take a while to get started. This nature stuff doesn't like to be rushed.

Keye

[Felix Dzerzhinsky]

Be nice to hear how you get on with the Can-O-Worms Keye because my Wormery from the council turned into a mushy execution ground for tiger worms and I didn't have the heart to round up any more 'volunteers' for another go.

Felix.

[pete3867]

yeah , I thought about it ,and thought ,and thought , sod it I cant be arsed

[Keye]

Well, I've been procrastinating about composting for a year, if not more. And i'm on a mission to Get Orf Moy Arse and do more stuff. So here we are. I think the key to avoiding swamp conditions is to let them go at the coir for a good month or two and slowly introduce materials. I'm going to be very patient!