4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[peanut12]

we currently have a bog-standard black compost bin and it's ok but we did have a problem with Mr rat trying to move in this winter.

 

I've been thinking about replacing it with a wormery and saw the wheelie bin ones which are obvioulsy very secure and moveable.

 

Does anyone have any experience of these?

[Couperman]

We have one of those sort (no wheels though). They work very well indeed almost like magic.

We have had ours for nearly two years and have only emptied it once! It is just about full again now though.

The only thing I don't like about them is they are a pain to empty.

 

I wouldn't recommend keeping them indoors either! The instructions say you can as they are sealed but ours always seems to get full of tiny fruit type flies in the summer.

 

The wormery doesn't usually smell at all though.

A lot of people use the can-o-worms ones from wiggly wrigglers, they look a bit easier to empty to me.

 

Kev.

[Guest]

I've had my wormery indoors all winter - must get round to putting it in the summerhouse. I worry that I'll forget about it outside!

[fluffymuppet]

I've got one of the wheelie bin wormeries and a Can-O-Worms. I like them both. I had the Can-O-Worms first, and don't have any complaints except that it's hard to separate the worms from the finished compost; although the instructions say that the worms move out of the compost into the fresh waste, they live throughout the wormery. Initially I tried to pick all of the worms out of the compost but I don't any more. I accept that some of the worms will be moved out into the garden, but there will be enough left in the wormery for it to work properly.

 

My Waste Juggler (wheelie bin type) wormery is newer, it was a gift. I have only emptied it once (you only have to empty them twice a year, at most) and it was easy - you take the top waste off and leave it to one side, and then just take the finished compost out and replace the unfinished waste to start again.

 

My personal experience is that it's impossible to empty a wormery without getting very messy! But otherwise I would recommend either type.

 

But a wormery isn't like a normal compost heap - you need to have a settling in period. Once the wormery is established, they're easy to take care of.

[Olly]

I don't have a wormery, but re fluffymuppet's comment about it being difficult to separate the worms - I did a composting course last year. The tutor said that you should put a plastic sheet on the lawn in the sun and empty the contents on to it and spread them out a bit leaving a clump in the middle.

 

The worms will instinctively head for cover (you need to make sure the plastic sheet is big enough so they don't head for the lawn!) and should all congregate in the heap you've left in the middle.

 

Haven't tried this myself of course, but I thought I'd pass it on!