Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum but I've had wormeries for a couple of years now and love them. I originally tried Bokashi buckets but I wasn't keen on them because it meant that I had to buy bran for them and they also pen and ink a bit. I bought a bit of lime for my worm bins but at a much smaller price, plus I'm happy to grind egg shells for them. Everything else is free and they don't stink.
Anyway, my questions. I've been reading do's and don'ts about what can go in the wormeries and I've got a couple of questions. Firstly, I'm told not to put eggs in them. Often if I've got eggs that are out of date I'll crack them and put the whites and yolks into the tops of the bins with a bit of paper or other dry material and as far as I can gather I've had no problems with this. Is it really such a no no to put eggs in the wormeries like this?
My second question regards pet poop. I've known for a while that dog dirt can be put into a dedicated wormery but I'm sure I read somewhere that because of certain parasites that cats have, you can't put cat poop in them. Can you clarify this please. We have two cats which I'd love to be able to recycle the waste of rather than just getting the council to take it away in their bin lorries for landfill.
Thanks in advance.
Couple of questions
Re: Couple of questions
Eggs are one of those products that can be good or bad
The way you are doing it - adding paper so that it immediately sucks up the liquid should be fine as long as you don't add too many. Also add it to a corner so the worms can move away from it if they don't like it.
Please give us a progress report...
I think just to crack eggs into a wormery can cause it to go rancid.
RE cat poo. You can put this into a wormery.
Cats and dogs to carry parasites and diseases (toxoplasmosis) so we always suggest the following
1) Always use gloves when handling waste
2) Place the composted poo away from vegetable patches or where food will be grown
3) Wash hands
We believe that the baddies die off eventually, but as yet I've never seen confirmation of this.
Therefore it makes sense to keep the finished vermicompost away from the food chain and be cautious if handling (Don't if you are pregnant!)
Ronnie
The way you are doing it - adding paper so that it immediately sucks up the liquid should be fine as long as you don't add too many. Also add it to a corner so the worms can move away from it if they don't like it.
Please give us a progress report...
I think just to crack eggs into a wormery can cause it to go rancid.
RE cat poo. You can put this into a wormery.
Cats and dogs to carry parasites and diseases (toxoplasmosis) so we always suggest the following
1) Always use gloves when handling waste
2) Place the composted poo away from vegetable patches or where food will be grown
3) Wash hands
We believe that the baddies die off eventually, but as yet I've never seen confirmation of this.
Therefore it makes sense to keep the finished vermicompost away from the food chain and be cautious if handling (Don't if you are pregnant!)
Ronnie
Re: Couple of questions
Thanks for the reply Ronnie. Seeing as virtually all my gardening involves food produce I think I'd better give the cat poop experiment a miss.
Re: Couple of questions
The main risk with eggs in your worm bin is the risk of salmonella. You can remove this risk by hard boiling your eggs (6min) first, then chop-up the egg before feeding. To make egg shells safe bake them in the bottom of the oven or zap them in the microwave for a min.
Willy
Willy