I've got worms!

I'm new to all this, I set up my worm bin a couple of weeks ago and put bedding and ground up kitchen waste in the bin. I've stopped feeding the worms now because there is still bedding that hasn't been finished. I was going to wait for everything to be eaten then change the box. I dont know if i should continue feeding them food scraps! Any advice on this would be helpful.
The container is becoming very full now, i've been turning the contents in the box every day for the last 4 days because the box was starting to smell and it seems to have helped, also it was excessively moist so i've been adding new bedding to help soak it up. now i'll leave them to it.

 

Congratulations!!

I have no experience so I can't answer your query, but I'll be watching this thread with interest.

 

Okay i recieved a response on another forum. Just if anyone is interested, i was told that it takes a couple of weeks for the worms to settle in, then i can introduce kitchen scraps etc. Once the micro organisms make an appearance the worms will start devouring the food. It will take a couple of months for the contents of the bin to be broken down to vermicompost. By that time the worm population should have increased

 

Like @"M", I was (and am) watching this thread with interest, but with no experience in the matter I couldn't offer advice.

Thanks for sharing what you've learned.

 

Our member @Radiation91 has a worm bin and would probably swap notes with you John, but he isn't around very often I'm afraid.

 

I thought i would add this to the thread as i see many different suggestions for the use of leachate, that liquid found at the bottom of worm bins, that some people falsly label as worm tea. I'm sure that some will find it useful and i can store it on this post for future reference
This is a post by from a University affiliated researcher:

"Ok, hang on a minute, let's take a few steps back. Believe it or not, leachate and tea, based on peer reviewed RESEARCH, can and often do have essentially equal value to garden plants in terms of growth response. Shall I repeat that? Leachate and tea, according to research, can have an equally beneficial impact on plant growth.

Ok, I'll pause here to give you a moment to digest this, since I suspect I've just caused Chuckie's head to explode.....

Now to better explain:

The problem with leachate is not that it contains less nutrient (in fact, it often contains more soluble nutrients than does tea), the problem is that leachate can also contain alochol, phenols and terpenes (all naturally occuring by-products of anaerobic decomposition), and it is not always possible to tell when these compounds are present in sufficient concentration to cause damage. Smell is absolutely NOT a reliable indicator of the value of leachate! Let's repeat that as well! Smell is NOT a reliable indicator of the value of leachate. There is, in fact, research demonstrating that the stinkiest, most foul-smelling leachates imaginable can and sometimes do out-perform odorless leachate and yeasty-smelling tea in plant growth trials. Yes, stinky leachate almost always means anaerobic leachate, but this idea that anaerobic is ALWAYS bad is simply incorrect! It is definitely more risky due to the presence of alcohol, phenol and terpenes, but it is not always bad.

The problems with leachate come down to risk factors. Aside from the potential presence of phytotoxic (plant toxic) anaerobic by-products, leachate is liquid draining from an actively decomposing mass of OM, thus it has a greater chance of containing human pathogens like e-coli and salmonella than does a tea made from finished, stable material. When applied to food plants there is the danger of contamination when fruits and veggies that may have come into contact with the leachate are not adequately washed or cooked before being eaten (danger is from surface contamination, not from plants uptaking pathogens into their systems).

And while I was a bit cavalier above regarding anaerobic by-products, as many people have killed or damaged plants by applying leachate with concentrations of alcohol, phenols and terpenes that were not apparent as have found leachate to be beneficial. It is because of the potential for leachate to contain human pathogens and anaerobic by-products that its use is generally discouraged.

There are many folks out there who use and love the leachate generated from their worm bins. Some use it at full strength, some dilute with clean water before use, usually at a roughly 10:1 ratio. For what it's worth, it is not a practice that I would advocate, but this is a decision that should be made by each individual once they understand the potential risks."

 

I've found Radiation91's thread on the wormery for you John, I can't tell you how things have progressed though.

http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/my-first-garden.100622/page-15#post-970226

 

Thank you so much Sheal. It's very kind of you to find this and post it Never realised how incredible these little creatures are. Also they work hard and you don't have to pay them

 

You're welcome John.

 

@JohnD Glad to see somebody else has worms!

The whole Leachate thing... yehh. I also did reasearch and it's a minefield really. By following one person's advice, you're doing something wrong in somebody else's eyes. Just go with what feels right

I put the leachate onto the compost heap. If there is any truth behind "leachate helping with decomposition" then it will speed up my compost heap. If not, ah well! Any nutrients that are in the leachate then go into the compost heap. I will have better compost then.

As for your first post about feeding them, I find that placing some food (a handful) in a corner each week works well. By week 4 you should have 4 corners with food in it. If all goes to plan, the food in the 1st corner should be looking manky and getting eaten by the worms. Wait until it starts being eaten and then add more. If things are smelling then the worms aren't eating it while the food decomposes. Ease off on adding food and add some brown matter (carbon rich stuff like cardboard, paper etc) Air pockets are your best friend. You can add as much brown matter as you want really as well which is useful!

All the best!
R91