Burnsy wrote:
I suck with worms!!! My wormfarm just crashed again. It is a can-o-worms and is in shade, a week ago it was cranking and I dumped a whole cellery plant and a few apples in it and just checked today and it has gone all wet and stinky. Celery and apples were still pretty much whole so I pulled them out but my vermipost has gone all wet and smelly and I could only find half a dozen small worms instead of the thousands of big fat ones and little ones that were there last week. I mixed some pea straw through it to try and dry it out and aerate it a bit, maybe it is not to late for those still alive.
What am I doing wrong - what could have casued the crash? I have a layer of hession on top of the active layer with the lid on top of that.
Anyone know the details of the guy in Gosnells who sells buckets of worms for $15? I think I need some more again
Your worms might have migrated to a drier or more aerobic area of the box. If they're still there, it should be temporary. Remember, the worms are actually after the bacteria, and it takes a bit for the bacteria to start breaking down the waste and multiplying, especially if you add a lot at one time. I have three decent sized worm beds (old wood missile shipping boxes that I put hinges on). I usually add about two gallons worth of kitchen scrapes every 3-5 days, and I just bury it next to the previous pile. I always make sure it's well covered with bedding (usually shredded news paper) to avoid any stench. Some stuff will appear to "stay fresh" in the bin for quite awhile. I attribute this to the cool, moist nature of a worm bin. I pulled out some lettuce that was going to seed and buried it in one of my bins two weeks ago and it still looks almost as fresh as it was when I pulled it out of the garden. Chopping or shredding material before introducing it into the bin will hasten the decomposition. Like I said though, I have three good sized bins, so instead of shredding material, I just alternate which bins I feed when I need to dump the bucket of kitchen waste. Having a small bin will make it more sensitive to temperature and over feeding, but my bins have been pretty bomb proof and low maintenance. I just harvested about 11 cubic feet of worm castings out of my two smaller bins. It might not sound like a whole lot, but it goes pretty far.
Backyard Farming Forum
sorry Burnsy but I never tried the whole worm farm thing, am planning to "borrow" my brothers as it was a thing he had to have (so the olds got one for him) and he used it once then left it out in the sun and they all died.
but mixing some straw through has aerated it and removed the stink.
