Wormcity Forum

Hi.
I think I’m just hoping for a little reassurance. I’m 8 days into my wormery journey, acting like a new mum and have two questions I’m hoping to get answers for:

1. I’ve read that worms need air so it’s important to turn the compost once a week. Does that include after the first week of set up? I don’t want them to suffocate ( I’ve worried enough about that this past week when I’ve tied my plastic bag up every night) but I don’t want to disturb them if I shouldn’t.

2. Should I keep the bin bag until I start feeding them proper stuff in another few days or will the worm food I put in yesterday keep them in the wormery till next week?

Thank you.

Hi
if your wormery is smelling earthy and healthy then don't worry about turning the worms

This is needed if the wormery contents are compacted and starting to smell. Leave them alone - they will be fine

If there are no worms escaping at night (into the binbag) then you are safe to remove it

They do settle down quite quickly!!

Ronnie

Hi Jed. From your two posts it sounds like your doing a great job, well done. Sounds like your worms have started to relax and settle in to their new home.
Keep up the good work

Willy

Thank you for your reassuring replies.
It’s been three days now with no escaping worms, so I think I might be brave tonight and not tie the bag.
I also put a little chopped up food in the corner yesterday (leek, potato skins and teabags, covered with some newspaper). Not looked yet to see if it’s been touched, but will check tomorrow and add a little more if necessary.
It’s all very exciting.

Hi Jed, leek is a member of the onion family. Onions should be avoided in worm bins. The acid in onions can “burn” the skin of your worms. A worm breaths via its skin for this reason, high acid food stuff like onions, lemons, oranges, spices etc should be avoided. The fact that you put only a “little in one corner” should mean the worms come to little harm, if it it still there when you look you can remove it for safety sake.
Sorry but potato peeling take a long while to break down and in a new bin they can take for ever. Try things like banana peel, over rip fruit, lettuce, cabbage etc.
Don’t worry all will be well.
Willy

Hi.
I was just going to post with a panicky question - my worms haven’t eaten anything, even though I sprinkled a little worm food over the food to encourage them after a day. Just checked now and still nothing eaten but now that I’ve read your post, I’ll take out what I’ve put in and try something else.

Also, the damp paper I put over the coir bedding and worms seems to have dried out. Should I dampen it again?

Thanks for any input.

Hi Jed. The worms will avoid any area where there is onion or citrus therefore they will not eat your frist food offerings. Try to put the new food in a different area of the tray. Also do not expect them to eat a great deal to start with, feed a little and often when there is no food left from previous feeds.
Re the newspaper drying out. You should only need to re-wet it if it is totally dry, the food we feed our worms, on average, is 85% water and we need to put dry paper to mop up all that juice. If it really is too dry just mist it over with a spray bottle but don’t allow it to get too wet.

Hope that helps
Willy.

Hi.
I’ve removed the leek and potato peelings (luckily I had followed instructions and only used a very small amount) and replaced with banana skin and a little cabbage ( in a different area). I will check tomorrow to see how things are going.
The paper wasn’t dry as I thought so just leaving that.

Thanks again for the advice.

No problem. Everything will be fine. When worms are moved to a new home it takes a while for them to settle in and eat normally.

Have fun
Willy

Hi, me again.
Worms are starting to eat the scraps I’ve put out. My question now is, I’ve put the food under new damp newspaper as it says in the instructions, but wondered if I should put it under the newspaper I put in the wormery originally. Otherwise will I not get a mountain of newspaper if I put new every time?
Sorry to be a pest but I do want to get it right.

Thank you.