Wormcity Forum

Hi There,

I've been using the wormery for over a year now and all is going great. I've just invested in another couple of trays and will be adding them later this month....before I do though, I wonder if I have been over cautious with the usage of my older trays. In the early days I had barely been filling the trays to ensure a gap-free join and a stable connection to the tray below...essentially only filling the tray a third full...mainly because I was worried about the worms escaping or my tower becoming unsteady. Having re-read the instructions and guidance, it might seem as if I should be filling them much higher...have I been too cautious?

Cheers,
Anthony

I was like you at the beginning, but as i have got more confident i am filling my trays more. Given winter my feeding tray is almost full with bedding material for insulation, but i find that the tray below will quickly reduce down to a third in size as everything breaks down. Once i add a new feeding tray, I am bulking up the tray that has broken down from a third to a half with some spent compost which i have saved from last years pots/toms. I mix this in and leave it for another month or so before harvesting and the vermicompost in that tray looks great.

I fill my feeding tray to the top and keep it at this level until I add another tray. The “what was the feeding tray” reduces quickly to about a third it’s volume. Providing the bottom of the feeding new feeding is in contact with the tray below then there is no need to add more compost unless you want to maximise your castings.
The important thing is to ensure the new feeding tray is in contact with the one below or your worms won’t be able to migrate up to get food. Always remember worms can’t jump.

Willy

Thanks guys...so I really don't need to worry about the gaps and the worms running for the hills then?

No need to seal the gaps anyway. No self respecting worm want to go out in this weather.