HI
I have had the 5 tray wormery for a couple of months now.
All the worms are in the bottom tray eating away and this looks fine. I have food waste in all the others. The food is going a bit mushy in all the other trays and smells a bit on the tops ones. The worms are not keen on going up. We had a lot of rain when we first installed it and as its not a water tight fit between the trays. water can get around the edges. Wondering what to do. Shall I add shredded paper to dry it up?
thanks
new bin and food a bit mushy - pls help
Re: new bin and food a bit mushy - pls help
Hi sorry to hear your news. I’m afraid you have been rushing things a bit and as resulted in all the trays apart from the bottom tray going anaerobic (not having oxygen).
With a new setup it would normally take two or three months to fill the first tray and one or two months to fill each subsequent tray.
You say the worms are in the bottom tray which is not too smelly. To rescue your system you will need to empty all trays apart from the bottom tray, the contents from these trays can go in the garden compost bin if you have one. Now “fluff-up” the bottom tray, that is forking over the contents to allow air in to the bedding. Don’t feed for a week during which time, add more bedding, corrugated cardboard by choice. Give another fluff-up or two. It may take two or three weeks for it to return to full health,
When all signs of food have gone you can start feeding again but only small amounts at a time. If you go to the search facility on this forum and put in “four corner feeding” you will find a technique which control the food you put in your bin and avoid this problem reoccurring.
Hope that helps
Willy
With a new setup it would normally take two or three months to fill the first tray and one or two months to fill each subsequent tray.
You say the worms are in the bottom tray which is not too smelly. To rescue your system you will need to empty all trays apart from the bottom tray, the contents from these trays can go in the garden compost bin if you have one. Now “fluff-up” the bottom tray, that is forking over the contents to allow air in to the bedding. Don’t feed for a week during which time, add more bedding, corrugated cardboard by choice. Give another fluff-up or two. It may take two or three weeks for it to return to full health,
When all signs of food have gone you can start feeding again but only small amounts at a time. If you go to the search facility on this forum and put in “four corner feeding” you will find a technique which control the food you put in your bin and avoid this problem reoccurring.
Hope that helps
Willy
Re: new bin and food a bit mushy - pls help
A simple plastic cover over the bin (ensure air can get in) will stop rain getting in plus you could leave the sump tap open to avoid the bottom tray getting flooding.
Willy
Willy