What is a wormery?
How does the wormery work?
Will the wormery smell?
What can I put into my wormery?
What comes out of the wormery?
What is the best way to get started?
What do I do when the first tray is full?
Can the worms live outside in winter?
Where do I get my worms from?
How do I redeem my worm voucher?
What are Moisture Mats?
What is Lime pH balancer?
What is Worm Treat?
What is Coir Bedding?
What is a Worm Voucher?
What type of Worms will I get?
The Worms are Escaping…
Wormeries in Winter
Wormeries in Summer
My Worms are dead or dying
A wormery is an efficient and environmentally friendly way of naturally converting your kitchen waste into a nutrient rich compost and organic liquid plant feed through the natural action of worms.
It is a closed box system that can be kept indoors or outdoors and allows the worms the ideal environment to ably digest kitchen waste. Less to throw into your wheelie bins!
Once the wormery is assembled, following the provided instructions, it is time to begin adding your kitchen waste. Lift the lid and throw the waste into the tray. Replace the lid and the worms will begin to digest the waste turning it into compost over a period of time.
As the first tray fills with the composting waste you add the next tray and by adding waste to this tray will encourage the worms to move upwards to the second tray.
By the time you are onto your third tray the contents of the first tray should be fully composted and ready to remove from the tray and added to your garden.
This tray can then be added back to the top of the stacking system ready to start filling again.
No. Which makes it a great option for those with small or no gardens as it will fit in your kitchen or on a balcony.
The only time you may start to get a slight smell is if you overfeed them. Easily overcome with a few days of no rations for the worms and by using the supplied moisture mats it will prevent the tray contents from becoming too soggy.
All your kitchen scraps cooked and raw, and quite a bit more. Here are a few things worms love –
Some foods are not advised but we would be lying if we said we never put any of these items into our wormery (Oops I may have slipped a few curry leftovers in by accident) and we have a thriving population of worms.
Some foods may harm the worms; others just sit there undigested for a few months before one of us resigns ourselves to the fact that they just don’t like it, and throw it out of the wormery. Corn cob stalks being the latest discovery.
So a few foods to avoid are:
The good news is that it is estimated that you can redirect about 25% of your waste away from your wheelie bin into the wormery which can only be a good thing.
Should you accidently add too many onions or citrus the pH balance will be altered within the wormery. This means the worms will not work as efficiently so by adding regular handfuls of our pH balancing Lime mix you should be able to maintain the perfect conditions for your worms.
After the worms have done their job you get two bi-products. The liquid (leachate) can be drained off regularly from the tap at the bottom of the wormery. Dilute the concentrated liquid with water for a marvellous fertiliser for your plants and veggie patch.
The vermicompost (worm cast) can be used as any other compost and dug into your soil to enrich and break up the soil.
These are both excellent feeds for indoor and outdoor plants.
By buying The Worm Hut package you will have a perfect amount of good quality composting worms to begin your wormery. Too few worms and the digestion will be slow and you will not see any results. Too many and the worms are overcrowded and do not settle well into their new environment.
Do not overfeed them to start with and if you feel like it, whip on the marigolds and turn the compost and food over to allow a bit of air to circulate.
By using the Worm treat moisture mats and Lime mix you should have a healthy colony of composting worms.
As soon as the first tray is full of composted waste you add the next tray. Remove some of the content of the first into the second as this is the environment the worms are used to. Continue adding your kitchen waste and the worms will begin to move out of the first tray into the second looking for food.
Leave the first tray in place to continue composting and it should be ready for harvest by the time you are filling your third tray.
With the Bin style wormery the directions are slightly different. Once the bin is full, remove the top third which should contain the worms and place it on a bin liner or bucket.
Remove the vermicompost and simply put the top third and the worms that you removed earlier back into the wormery.
Do not worry that you will be throwing out all of your worms as they will have moved out of that tray long ago in search of new food to compost. The worms will reproduce and restock their own numbers.
Yes, but they will slow down and not digest as much food. So cut back the amounts of waste you give them. A good idea is to move them into your garage or shed or if you have room the wormery is fine to be kept inside your kitchen.
Ours have lived outside for years with no bedding etc to keep them warm and are doing just fine.
Will depend on the Wormery Offer you select but they will normally get delivered with a voucher or they can be purchased online
Will again depend on the Wormery Deal you have chosen
These mats are made from woven hemp and are used on the top layer of waste. They can be dampened in the summer and help to keep the top layer of waste dark and damp. This will encourage the worms to work in the freshest waste making composting more efficient.
The mats can also absorb excess water from the surface level of waste.
The mats will get eaten by the worms, but so does everything that goes into your wormery!
We have trialled wormeries using alternative materials on the surface such as damp newspaper but this just crumbles to bits very quickly and just does not do the job properly. Moisture mats can be purchased throughour Wormery Acccessories Page
Many foods are very slightly acidic and so small but regular amounts of lime need to be added to your wormery. Your wormery needs to remain at a neutral pH for the worms to work at their most effective. This can be done using lots of egg shells, baked in the oven and ground to a powder or by using our convenient lime pH balancer which requires no more effort than a little sprinkle in your wormery.
Our special food blend contains all the nutrients essential to help your worms grow and remain healthy. The bigger the worms, the more waste they can eat and so the quicker they will compost your waste.
The coir that we supply is compressed coconut fibre. When this is added to water it will swell up and provide the perfect home for your worms during their first weeks in your wormery.
Directions for using this are enclosed with every purchase of coir.
A worm voucher is a way of receiving your worms when you are ready for them to arrive.
A wormery can take up to 24 hours to prepare properly and we feel it is not in the best interest of the worms to spend any longer than necessary in their packaging, no matter how good it is!
The worm voucher gives you 6 months to choose when you would like your worms to be delivered. So the minute they arrive with you they can go straight into your wormery. But ultimatley it will depend on the supplier
The type of worm will depend on the supplier but Dendrobaena worms are one of the most popular as they have a voracious appetite!
There will be a mix of adults and babies to help grow your own happy, healthy colony of worms.
Or trying to at least! This can be quite common in the first few days as they are settling into their new environment. When we move into a new neighbourhood we go for a wonder and get our bearings and that is all they are doing!
This should settle down after a few nights, but if not then try leaving a light on if they are in a shed or garage as this will cause them to burrow down into the bedding away from the light.
The second most common reason for the worms wishing to vacate the wormery is that they are telling you they are unhappy with something in the wormery!
This may be that the wormery is too dry, they are underfed or that the wormery is getting too acidic to name but a few reasons!
Or trying to at least! This can be quite common in the first few days as they are settling into their new environment. When we move into a new neighbourhood we go for a wonder and get our bearings and that is all they are doing!
This should settle down after a few nights, but if not then try leaving a light on if they are in a shed or garage as this will cause them to burrow down into the bedding away from the light.
The second most common reason for the worms wishing to vacate the wormery is that they are telling you they are unhappy with something in the wormery!
This may be that the wormery is too dry, they are underfed or that the wormery is getting too acidic to name but a few reasons!
Or trying to at least! This can be quite common in the first few days as they are settling into their new environment. When we move into a new neighbourhood we go for a wonder and get our bearings and that is all they are doing!
This should settle down after a few nights, but if not then try leaving a light on if they are in a shed or garage as this will cause them to burrow down into the bedding away from the light.
The second most common reason for the worms wishing to vacate the wormery is that they are telling you they are unhappy with something in the wormery!
This may be that the wormery is too dry, they are underfed or that the wormery is getting too acidic to name but a few reasons!
Simply they will slow down. A lot.
A few things you can do for your wormery over Winter are:
This is a great time of year for activity in a wormery but a couple of key points to remember.
Your wormery can dry out very quickly in the summer. It is fine to add some water into your wormery. Remember that each tray should feel like a damp, wrung out sponge. Go steady with the water though or you may end up with a boggy mess!!!
Keep your wormery out of direct sunlight. The temperatures may get too high and cause your wormery to overheat.
This can happen. If they are still alive then please contact us and we will try to help resolve the situation. If it is too late then the possible causes are likely to be:
Too much/ too little food. We encourage little and often with feeding until you get more confident with your wormery. As long as you see the worms working on the top layer of food you are fine to add more food. If not then hold off for a couple more days.
Temperature….extremes of hot and cold can quickly kill your worms.
Anaerobic conditions….only adding food and no cardboard, paper or dried leaves can result in the wormery becoming ‘airless’. Worms need air to breathe and so will suffocate. If you prefer you can stick on some gloves and break up the contents of your wormery every 1-2 weeks to help generate some airflow.
