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Tips for a wormery newbie

Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2020 5:46 pm
by leowoodscott
Hi there

We got our wormery last week and I am worried about overfeeding the worms so I havent really given them very much food. When can I start feeding them a little more freely?

Also when exactly should you move on to the tray above? It's hard to know when a tray is technically full.

Should I stir round the waste mixture to oxygenate it? Or is that only if there is a problem with the worms and they seem unhappy?

Is a moisture mat a waste of money? Should I just always have damp newspaper on top? Im thinking a moisture mat might actually be quite a handy thing to save me the effort of all that.

In terms of the tap for the liquid, sorry if this is super dumb but which way is the tap open and which way is it shut? I assume it is open when it runs the same way as the spout?

Many thanks for any tips from the pros.

Leo

Re: Tips for a wormery newbie

Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 8:37 am
by WillyWorm
Good morning and welcome to the world of worms and this forum. Sorry there are no pros around but I will try to help.
To start worm keeping all sounds a bit complicated but worms are very adaptable and forgiving of us humans.
The safest way to feed without the risk of over or under feeding is to use the “four corners” method. Start in any corner of the tray scoop out some bedding and put in some food (a small amount to start) cover back up with the bedding and mark in some way. Next feed go to the next corner in a clockwise direction and do the same again. Continue in this way until you have done the four corners. When the next feed is due scoop out the first corner if there is a lot of food there don’t feed if there is no food there feed. Continue in this way, when it’s normal for there to be no food just increase the amount you feed.
Start feeding with food, worms like, such as banana peel, apple, used tea leaves etc avoid root veg which take an age to go.
You can add another tray when ever the one below is full. It should take about a month to fill a tray and three or four months for the worms to work their magic.
Worms are not keen on being distributed to much particularly while trying to settle in a new “home” so only dig around to feed or if there is a problem.
With an established bin I find I don’t need to cover the top and if I do I use cardboard, this ends up as part of the bedding.
Turn the tap anti-clockwise to close and clockwise to open, go so the extremely to fully open or close.

Hope that helps please keep us updated

Willy

Re: Tips for a wormery newbie

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 9:03 am
by leowoodscott
Many thanks for your comments WillyWorm.

Good to know that it takes about a month to fill up a tray, I wasn't sure!

Also good to know not to 'turn' the compost.

I wasn't completely clear on what you meant by the 4 corners method but Ill look that up. I assume that is for a new tray ie will be relevant to me once I start my second tray in a few weeks?

In terms of volume of food to feed the worms, is an indication of one food caddy a week a good one? Or would this be too much?

And for the feed every few days, should I always mix in cardboard and newspaper or is that a more occasional thing? So far Ive only done one batch of wet newspaper at the beginning as recommended, and a broken down egg box.

Best wishes,

Leo

Re: Tips for a wormery newbie

Posted: Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:34 pm
by WillyWorm
Hi,
I’ve always called it the four corners feeding method but others have called by different names in the past, a common one is “station feeding” if you look on YouTube or google. I have done a number of posts on it here in this forum (some may be clearer than others) you can check by using the search button at the top of the page, if I’m still unclear let me know and I’ll try again.
Volume of food. In a new bin I would feed half a mug of food per day. By using the four corners you can automatically adjust the volume up or down. I’m not sure what size your caddie is so one a week may or may not be fine.
I tend to place a lot of bedding in the bin in one go then not add anymore until it goes down. But many people add an equal amount of bedding to food at every feed. Both ways are fine and you can even use both methods in combination, which is no problem. Regardless of how I add bedding I always add it dry!!! Kitchen scraps are approximately 90% water and part of the job done by the bedding is absorbing the excess moisture, it can’t do that if it is already wet. Try to use a divers rang of things for bedding, paper products that you mentioned are good and really available, you could use crushed leaves, straw, hay, forest/woodland floor litter (that’s the stuff that’s under foot on a woodland walk) leaf mould, nearly finished garden compost, old spent potting compost, well rotted manure, etc. 50% of what our worms eat is what we call “bedding” so the more diverse it is the better for the worms.

Hope that helps a little please keep us updated
Willy