Wormery Care ...
Wormeries are very easy to look after. Only requiring around 10 minutes maintenance a week. We will be more than happy to give further advice and suggestions to any problems that may appear, simply just give us a call or email us for a prompt reply.
However, you may find this page useful.
Placing your Wormery
Wormeries should always be sited in areas that do not get too much sun. South facing views will cause the wormery to overheat during long sunny spells. We suggest, placing the wormery near a wall as this protects from frost and if the wormery can be placed near access points, this will help you when you place waste material in. Under a tree or shaded area will ensure that your wormery never overheats. Placing your wormery in a shed or garage will protect from severe temperature changes and frost. Wormeries do work better indoors.
New wormery?
Very exciting times! To give your worms a really great start, lay a few slices of damp bread on the surface and discarded breakfast cereals. then start to lay your other kitchen waste on top. By the time the kitchen waste has rotted, the worms would have started converting this to compost.
Ideal Conditions
When the lid is lifted, there should be condensation under the lid. This means that the system is actively composting and making food available for your worms. If no condensation, add one pint of clean water evenly around the surface, it will seep through and drain off with no harm to your worms. Check your wormery more often during hot weather. Once a week, just open the tap to see if any fluid comes out. It will be clear at the early stages, but will soon develop to black tea colouring. This can be diluted to 1:10 water and safely stored in a cool dark place. Great plant and lawn feed!
Escaping Worms?
This tends to happen in very new wormeries and is quite normal behavior of worms. Worms are very nosey and all they are doing is checking out their new environment. They will soon settle back
Flies?
Certain decaying foods attracts flies. Fruitflies seem to be the most common visitor and they are able to climb under the seals as they are very small. If flies are noticeable, simply spray a short burst of fly killer during daylight hours and this will solve the problem. Never spray such chemicals directly on the worms or for long periods. Avoid spraying during darkness as worms will be near the surface feeding.
Other insects may be seen in the wormery and they pose little problem to the system. Most will be introduced when garden waste has been added into the wormery which contained eggs and larvae. Again, fly spray will deal with them, but, remember, one short burst no more than "one mississippi"
Wormery seems very soggy!
This does happen and is usually when watery waste food has been placed in the wormery. Your worms will not drown, but, will slow them down and bring the temperature down. Take shredding paper and egg cartons, and place them in the wormery. This will soak up excess water and the worms will feed on paper and cartons.
Feeding
Your worms will eat a very wide variety of waste - even pet poo! If feeding pet poo, do not feed worms after your pet has been wormed for at least a week. Do not place a lot of grass cuttings in the wormery as this will overheat the system and kill your worms. Simply chop waste food into small pieces and feed around the edges of the wormery, then later, feed in the middle of the wormery. This will encourage your worms to migrate to fresh food and convert waste more evenly. Raw meat will cause your wormery to smell unless you bury small pieces under the surface. Do not fill your wormery over a short space of time. little and often will save a multitude of problems ever occurring. Be confident what you throw in. Worms are very good at waste disposal.
Cleaning
All supplied wormeries are designed to be easily cleaned. A simple wipe down with clean water using a soft sponge or cloth will be sufficient. Do not use cleaning chemicals or hot water as this can harm your worms.
