come gather round and speak to me about wormeries

[ReallyReally]

where do you get them from

what do you do with them

are they REALLY TRULY DISGUSTING or lots of work

can I put the dd's abandoned bloody dinners in

will it smell

etc etc etc

[midnightexpress]

I haven't got one (bear with me), but I just got two Bokashi bins for a tenner each in Tescos, and you can put all sorts in that - meat, fish, dairy, bread, cooked stuff. Yeay. I do get strangely excited about compost.

But I think you can get wormeries online and yes, I think you can put uneaten dinner in them, so long as they close v tightly. Alys Fowler's 'Thrifty Grardener' book tells you how to make one, if you are that way inclined, and I believe you can get the worms by mail order (eww). I dig worms.

[CMOTdibbler]

You can't put cooked food in wormeries, and they are fussy little beggars too.

On the other hand, bokashi composting is fab, deals with all kinds of food, doesn't smell and composts really well.

Theres really good advice at Bubble House worms

[wiggletastic]

I got my wormery from Wigglywigglers. It is really easy to use and doesn't smell. We keep it in the garden, outside in the summer and in the greenhouse in winter. You can't put in meat or fish but anything else is fine, cooked or not. Not too much citrus or onions. All my food waste goes in and the worms kind of regulate themselves to how much food there is i.e. breed more if there is more food.

Lots of info on the wigglywigglers website and there is also a good book you can get called 'Worms eat my Garbage'

[ReallyReally]

I didn't know you couldn't put cooked food in

I want something I can sling everything in - mouldy veg, abandoned sandwiches, abandoned muesli, abandoned main meals, abandoned fruit - can you see a pattern here

I haven't got a compost bin anymore - can you use the bokashi compost as compost, or do you need to do something else with it?

[wiggletastic]

Oh, and you get lovely compost from it for your garden and 'worm pee' is known by gardeners as liquid gold. You collect it in a tub at the bottom of the wormery then dilute it down to feed all your plants.

[ReallyReally]

oh cross posts

you can put cooked food in?

am confused now

[midnightexpress]

With bokashi, you add a special bran to it and it ferments. Then after a couple of weeks you can put it onto the compost heap or dig it directly into the garden. You also get liquid that gathers at the bottom which you can dilute as a liquid feed or put neat down drains and loos to keep them clean.

[midnightexpress]

I understood taht you can put cooked food in a wormery, but not meat and fish. Stuff like bread, cooked veg, dairy is OK I think.

[wiggletastic]

Wigglywigglers also sell bokashi bins and kits if you would prefer to go down that route. I think a wormery is more fun and is interesting for DCs.

[MaybeAfterBreakfast]

I've got a Wiggly Wigglers one too. Tis fab. I put vast quantities of stuff into it, and it turns to compost in no time. Doesn't smell. Put everything except meat, fish, and very acidic stuff into ours. Cooked food is fine.

It is a bit of a messy job to empty out the compost and sift out the worms to put back into the wormery, but fine so long as you have good gloves.

The liquid stuff that comes out is great too.

[iheartdusty]

we had a wormery.

I was evangelical about it.

but all the worms kept crawling down to the bottom where they drowned.

They evidently didn't read the handbook, which says they should be eating their way upwards. And my Dad made a special extra lid to keep the rain out. But still it filled with water at the bottom and they All Drowned, hence blocking the drainage tap and creating a rather repulsive mess.

now we have bokashi, and I only need to explain the procedure to DH about once a week or so .

[CMOTdibbler]

Bubble house do a teeny tiny wormery for children that is very cute.

The bokashi is so low maintenance, and takes everything that I think it's foolproof. And in this weather, being able to put meat, fish, dairy etc etc in it means the bins are clean and lovely

[VickyA]

How does Bubble House's small desktop one work - has anyone got one? It would be a fab present for DS' best friend (subject to his mother's approval!) but I can't work out what the "output" would be - liquid? Casts?

[iheartdusty]

how is it different from 3 flowerpots?

[CMOTdibbler]

You get casts in the top, and liquid at the bottom - I understand anyway. I've seen them on their stall at green fairs locally, but don't have one

[midnightexpress]

I like how the Bokashi instructions point out that you can't put tin cans in it . Just how dumb would you have to be?

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

I have a wiggly wigglers wormery. I have the one which looks like a dustbin and emptying it out is gross, as you have to dig out the half-composted stuff (which is still smelly) first before you get to the good stuff underneath. I'm trying to convince dh to take over this job as he's a foot taller than me and can reach better! Actually, I plan to trade up to the wormery which looks like a stack of sieves.

[wimp]

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Should say, though, that it doesn't smell when it's closed and the final product is fab.

[wiggletastic]

I have the one that stacks up so is much easier to use. You still have to separate the worms from the compost at the bottom every now and again but I find it quite fun. [weirdo emoticon]

[rubberdubber]

We have a wormcity executive wormery which we have had for a couple of years.
we keep it in the garage and its been trouble free (apart from the 1st month when i overfed the worms)
Lots of interesting information on their site as well.

actually had tomato plants growing from the seeds that the worms never eat !!

Jo x

[rubberdubber]

Forgot to mention, cooked food is fine, in fact its better than raw as it composts down quicker

Jo