Single hen

[Nicola H]

I just wondered how other peoples Can-o-Worms were getting along....................I noticed mine had slowed down and lots were dying in the sump so I have now moved it into the shed for the winter, they are going great guns again and I am having to feed them much more, I should have some really good compost for the spring........

[Austen & Suz]

Hi,

 

I hope you can help. I've had my worms since feb and all is going well except that when I leave my drain tap open I loose about 3 worms a day through it. Is this normal? Also my moisture mat has disintergrated, my worms seem to have chewed through it. Is this a problem? I hope you can help. Apart from that my can-o-worms is fab and I've just ordered a rain cap for it.

[Nicola H]

I had the same things happen and decided to clean out the sump where the water collects, it was very messy and bunged up with worms and casts I just moved the worms and casts up to the top level and rinsed out the bottom bit, it seems a lot better now it is clean, but I lost a few worms.

 

The worms will eat the mat and you need to replace it Wiggly Wigglers sell replacements............Good luck with your worms, mine are doing very well and the compost looks great.

[Austen & Suz]

Thanks for your help. things have sort of gone even worse.i hope someone can help me please i have a can o worms and had it since feb and all been ok. i few worms getting out of the tap but that about all but i went in and lifted the bottom pot nad loads of worms are dead in the bottom. HELP i am gutted i feel so bad and they was loads of dead baby worms. does anyoen knwo what i should do. i have cleaned it out and put it back togther. whats happening? are my worms unhappy? can anyone suggest how i stop this? is it the heavy rain? i am buying a rain cover now

 

Any ideas i would be so grateful

 

suzy & austen

[Nicola H]

I have replied in the other thread you started...........

[snowcloud]

... I had a similar problem with loosing my worms (so to speak), but I replaced them with ones I bought from eBay - just search for 'live worms'. I was dubious, but they arrived fine and did a good job!

[Looney]

I ordered a worm composter a week or so ago and am just awaiting delivery....can't wait!

 

Our council offers discounts on composters and delivery is free (although it can take up to 28 days to arrive - torture!). You can check if your council does the same offers on:

http://www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/in_your_area/in_your_area.html

[The Dogmother]

The rain can wash them through - I found the rain cap that comes with the can o worms to be useless, so have an old dustbin lid on top of mine - it works a treat. The moisture mat disintegrated, so I replaced it with a circle of old carpet, which they don't eat. My lot made it through the winter with the help of a bubble wrap coat (no wheer indoors to put them) and are thriving. I've had problems with fruit flies - Wigly Wigglers advised to use more brown waste (paper) to dry it out and to add lime to keep the acidity down.

[Couperwife]

we have had a wormery for a few years now, and we havent filled it up yet, no matter how much or how little stuff we put in it, it is always 3/4 full

 

we actually have half the street coming round for "worm wee" cos its brilliant "baby bio" substitute, you have to water it down though.

 

very useful cos im growing a million tomato plants this year (well, 10 anyway!)

[The Dogmother]

Glad I'm not the only one! I water my plants with 'worm wee' too.

 

I love my wormery, we've had it full and harvested some lovely compost from it, which we mixed with potting compost when we potted up our seedlings. We are now currently on level two and they are eating the waste at the same rate as I put it on. We don't have a lot of kitchen waste, and most of it gets eaten by either the chooks or the bunnies, both of whom produce their own compost.

[Egluntyne]

I prefer to think of it was "worm Juice"!

 

I've had very mixed results with my wormery and could do with some tips.

 

It's struggling at the moment to be honest.

 

It's a Can-O-Worms.

[The Dogmother]

same as mine then Egluntine - what's the problem with yours?

[Egluntyne]

Lethargic worms who take about a month to eat a small amount of food.

 

I've bought a rescue kit or whatever they call it and that did no good.

 

I've put more dry stuff in, less dry stuff, dried sea weed booster, new matting, bought a sort of shower cap for the top lid and it's still very poor.

 

I noticed a couple of days ago that here were ants scurrying about in it. I know that hey eat the worm eggs.....but with the lousy weather I haven't had chance to do anything.

 

I've a feeling I might have to s"Ooops, word censored!" the whole lot and start again.

[The Dogmother]

I'd be tempted to do that too Egluntine. Give the worms their P45s and get some new ones, start again. Stand the legs in small yoghurt pots full of water to deter the ants and cross your fingers.

 

The only other things that I can think of are 1. use a dustbin lid instead of the rain cap; I found the latter to be useless 2. is it situated in a cold place? That would make them sluggish.

 

I scrounged an old dustbin lid from the tip - put a stone underneath to hold it away from the top of the wormery to encourage airflow, then put a brick on top to stop it flying away. I found my owrmery slow at first, but it gained pace and now seems to have hit its stride.

[Egluntyne]

As it happens I've got a spare black plastic lid which blew in to the garden during a storm!

 

Mine blew onto next doors garage roof but I got it back.

 

Right...am off to place an order with Wiggly Wigglers and to fill in 500 P45's.

 

I may be gone for some time!

[The Dogmother]

 

Let me know how you fare with the replacement workforce Egluntine.

[Egluntyne]

Will do!!!

[jan_novice_chicken_keeper]

I have had a problem with ants in my wormery, and having picked out as many as I could and smeared the legs of the wormery with vaseline and stood them in water, added some lime and a little water (and then drained the sump well) I don't seem to have any now, after about 2 weeks). The worms were working more slowly than normal, but a good scattering of worm treat seems to have got them going again. I emptied the contents of my pickled bokashi bin in yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see today that they are beginning to get back to their previous levels of industry (maybe they have laid more eggs?) Hope you get yours sorted soon,

 

Jan

[The Dogmother]

My naughty wormies were getting jiggy on top of the moisture mat the other day! Hopefully the maternity unit will produce baby worms soon

[jan_novice_chicken_keeper]

I spoke to soon. My worms were all on top of the moisture mat this morning - dead. I don't quite know what happened, but I guess it must be connected with the Bokashi bucket contents. I'll get on to WW again and see if they have any advice.

 

This is the third time I have nanaged to kill them all, and I think I may just have to admit defeat.

 

 

I am a bit worried for the chooks now,

 

Jan

[The Dogmother]

Oh dear Jan... might have been that then although you can use Bokashi on the wormery, so it does puzzle me how it happened.

[jan_novice_chicken_keeper]

Thanks Clare, I know Bokashi should be fine - I guess I didn't do that right. Further investigation of my can o worms reveals some live worms still in the bottom level, although the smell of the dead ones in the top is foul. Hopefully a reply from WW might help.

 

The first time I killed the worms (not quite all of them) was when they got too cold and the second time (almost total wipeout this time) was over the winter when I was in and out of hospital for several months and they didn't get fed I can't bear the thought of killing them off again! I have managed to keep a husband alive for 7 years, children for 3y, 2y and 5 months respectively, and the chickens for 11 days so far, but worms and houseplants seem to be my nemesis. I hope chooks are hardy

 

Jan

[Looney]

Hello all,

 

My Can O Worms and worms finally arrived a couple of days ago - and for the time being I have the C.O.W sitting in my kitchen until I find somewhere more suitable to put it.

 

A lot of worms seem to like going down into the bottom (liquid collection) tray and I'm not sure why At the moment there is no liquid in there so they're not drowning but having read this thread from the beginning I see a few of you have had problems with drowned worms

 

I'm quite concerned about my new residents - can't believe I'm worrying so much about worms!

 

Anyway my question is: Do you think putting net curtain or something similar between the bottom tray and the first compost tray would solve the problem? Liquid could still drip through but hopefully not the worms...?

 

Thanks in advance you wise worm-keepers!

[Couperman]

We have a dustbin with a tap type wormery, got it from www.greengardener.co.uk

we have had it for a couple of years, I emptied it for the first time last weekend and not because it was full! we needed some super rich compost for veggies and toms. I must admit it wasn't a particularly pleasant digging through the rotting top layers to get to the good stuff!

 

Not so bad on a 'once every couple of years basis' though.

 

I have been guilty of Wormicide on a two occasions, the first time I forgot to drain the worm juice and they all drowned. The second time I sprayed the bin with flykiller (not particularly green I know) and that saw a few of them off too

 

I ordered some more worms and off they went again. I leave the tap open now with a bottle under it.

 

It amazes me where all that stuff we put in over two years has gone!!

 

Kev.