have read heaps of threads on here about worm farms and have read all that I can find,but cant find any about starting one up, so if anyone has any advice about starting on please put your info here.I have been given one of the warehouse ones, it has a collection bin for worm wee and two working levels.worms will be arriving either tomorrow or the next day, but I have no idea what I need to do to have it ready for them, there were no instructions with it. All I have done so far is give it a good hose out with straight water and nothing else.
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:18am
AW, they're going to become your friends. To tuck them up after they arrive, they like it dark, they need quite a lot of food each day and moisture and to achieve this, put a few stones over the plug hole so that it doesn't get blocked up. Then put that stuff down that usually lines wire flower baskets. On top of this put your moist scraps and moist shredded newspaper, as much as you can. Tip in your worms. Give them a nice moist layer to hide under like a bit of old wool carpet cut to shape or a few layers ofcardboard from boxes (soaked first). Top them up with scraps every day, sprinkle a bit of lime in occasionally. If fruit flys get in, put dryer shredded newspaper around the edges of the lid. They don't like citrus or fat of any kind. They adore melon peel and corn cobs (they tunnel in to lay their eggs) but aren't really fussy. Too many eggs shells don't look the best, they can't do much with avocado pips.
max10,
Oct 18, 12:25am
there is no plug whole , but looking at other ones I think we could put one of those plastic taps in
max10,
Oct 18, 12:29am
right have the kids ripping up newspaper into a bucket, also have some cardboard from pizza boxes which fit the worm farm as if they were made for it, do I need to pop any dirt in or just the soaked news paper and cardboard!
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:30am
They like that cardboard with the corrugation sandwhich.
max10,
Oct 18, 12:36am
keept all the peelings from last nights veges and there will be more tonight so should be enough to start them out with tomorrow. we dont have alot of food waste as most cooked stuff goes in the dogs bowl for his tea at night. but read that they will eat the dust from your vacuum cleaner, drier lint and hair,dont use the drier much but do vacuum every day because of pets and Im a hair dresser so can give them lots of hair, when I add these things to the worm farm do need to soak them first or just pop them straight in, as for food scraps I can give them about 2 times 2 ltr icecream containers worth of food scraps a week.
max10,
Oct 18, 12:38am
thats the kind the pizza boxes are should I rip it up or place in hole or a mix of the two!
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:40am
Don't drown them like I did.
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:42am
You could use it as lid to keep the light out and pieces inside ripped up for them to lay their eggs in. As long as they have a home deep enough to hide from the light when you take off their lid to put in your scraps and they like air, so don't press it all down. I'm sure they are going to be very lucky little guests.
max10,
Oct 18, 12:43am
kids and I are quite excited, will be nice to not have to pay $9.40 so often for5 council rubbish bags.we make one rubbish bag to 2 weeks at the moment b4 we tie it up to put it out but it would be nice to make one last 3 or 4 weeks with less rubbish as we dont have anything in them that smells.and as for our recycling bin they are so small that buy the time I squash down 9,2 litre milk bottles for the week there is no room for anything else.I so wish they would bring in wheely bins here likechristchurch have, every time I visit my MUM I take a load of rubbish up to pop in her wheely bins as they are huge and she never fills them.
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:44am
Since you have a dog, they like dog faeces I believe.
jhan,
Oct 18, 12:48am
I remember those little recycling bins, now we have the big one and like your mother, hardly ever fill it to capacity and the other little weekly wheely bin the same.
max10,
Oct 18, 12:48am
we already have a dog toilet for dog waste, its pretty basic but does the job but if I end up with heaps of worms I may just throw some in the dog toilet to speed things up, or the compost bin but only is over time we end up with heaps of worms
max10,
Oct 18, 12:50am
I lucky as mum tells me to bring it to fill her bin, have to pop up soon to pick a fridge up off her so need to take the trailer so have been saving alot of recycable stuff on the trailer to take up .beats the days of flatting when you took your dirty washing home to mum LOL now is rubbish I take to her LOL
johnrg,
Oct 18, 6:31am
Just a question to add to this thread! I am worrying about where to put my worm farm. SUN or SHADE. Ive heard they like to be warm but dont want to cook them. Cheers
max10,
Oct 18, 9:33am
good question Johnrg I would like to know that one to
speeedy1,
Oct 18, 9:45am
Does anyone have cockroaches visiting their worm farm! I put in todays scraps and as I drew back the underfelt one little bugger scurried off for cover. Edit: I found that my farm is likely too acidic. So first thing tomorrow I'll mix up some lime solution and crush any of the little buggers i find (if I'm quick enough)
fisher,
Oct 18, 11:18am
In summer. south side of the house. in winter north side of the house.
fisher,
Oct 18, 11:19am
If using the worm pee for fertilizer on your garden , dont put doggy doo's in the worm farm.
shimmygirl,
Oct 18, 10:09pm
EEK! Not if you de-worm your dog.it will be in the poop and kill all the worms in in the worm bin.
shimmygirl,
Oct 18, 10:12pm
I've always kept mine on the east side so they get the rising sun to warm them up in the morning and get them active after the cooler temps at night (especially important in colder months/climates). The east side is also sheltered from afternoon sun.
pamellie,
Oct 19, 1:10am
I don't know if giving them a lot of hair is a good idea as so many people dye their hair these days and so won't it be full of nasty chemicals! I'm not sure on this but someone else may know.
max10,
Oct 19, 10:13pm
ok got a card in the mail box this morning say parcel to big to fit in mail box (we have a huge parcel tray) and I can collect from Nz mail tomorrow, this has to be the worms as Im not expecting any other parcels, will they be alright till tomorrow, they were posted on Tuesday,,,,bloody NZ post to lazy to deliver says on card that can be picked up next working day which is tomorrow.this is not the seller fault in any way just a case of nz post being lazy truth be known they didnt even have them with them to deliver as saw the postie go past and they didnt stop to fill in a card so must of pre written it at the depo
shimmygirl,
Oct 19, 10:17pm
Yes they will be fine. Stupid NZ post!
max10,
Oct 19, 10:29pm
thanks shimmygirl was getting concerned for the worms.will get their new home ready so I can op them straight in when I get them home
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