Cardboard and paper in compost.

Thanks for that,
I have now looked on the www and yes they are for sale

Next question
How many for a half full PART composted cubic metre compost bin would you suggest
They sell from 250 worms per pack up ?


Jack McH

 

250 should do fine Jack, they breed quite quickly. We started with much less and now we've got zillions :yess:
You'll need to keep them fed with regular additions of veg etc from the kitchen and garden. Some folk insulate their bins/heaps to keep the worms warm in winter, but we'd no probs last winter as the worms just seemed to burrow into the middle of the bins and came up to the surface again as soon as the top thawed.

 

I found as well with my last compost bin that it was overran with woodlice. I hardly added any woody material to the bin so assume they were eating the card and paper instead. Or they could have just been eating the compost bin itself.

 

You do not need to buy a wormery at all if you do not want to, just keep the heap sheltered from excessive rain but keep it moist and warm, if the worms are happy they will stay and breed. I find a little horse poo is like caviar to them and the end product of compost with the added manure is absolutle dynamite.

 

Bingo YES Christmas, Bonus etc Happy/Sad

Homebase, BNQ Etc horse manure 50lt bags 4 for £20

For years as a non gardener, I passed a sign on the road saying Horse Manure, Well today with Julie we passed it going shoping, so I said on the way back I am going in to enquire what it is all about and get a price to compare

So I did
An older lady and two young women, yes can we help you
Err how do you sell the HM is it bagged or is it delivered, do I have to bring my own bags and HOW MUCH
No it is not bagged but we have some old ones you can borrow and return and the girls will fill it for you or you can fill them yoursel, f mind it is very heavy

How much well DIY is a £1 or £2 if the girls fill it for you
Oh fine I will pay the £2 but I am not letting the girls do the work I will fill it
OK SHE Gave me a Fork and a Cubic litre sand bag (ex jewsons)

The stuff at the back is ten years old absolutely full of worms, and just like loam
the stuff nearer the front is three years old not as many worms but lots
down there, just take what type you want

Now returning from a shopping trip in new jeans, and decent shoes IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO FILL MANURE BAGS (I now realise)
As I got alongside the 12yearold pile I sunk in up to my knees, lost a shoe on pulling my leg out which I managed to retrieve with the Fork :-)

I put a good 50ltrs in the bag, and dragged it back up to the yard towards the car when the lady arrived with a quad bike with trailer
I showed her I had not robbed her only taking a fair 50lt bag full
She smiled and said No dear it is the full bag you need, but if you bring this bag back tomorrow I will have my girls fill up twenty smaller bags for you to take away ie 1 cubic litre of HM for a quid
There were more worms in one spade full than the £10 box off ebay

They put the bag in the boot, only on arriving home it had leaked (lucky I have a boot liner pvc)
On arrival home SWMBO would not let me on the carpets in my wet shoes socks or soggy new jeans, So it was a quick run to the door in my Kegs to shower and change into gardening clothes
The rest nothing to do with composting but I will finish off anyway
I dug the clay out of the side border, added, loam, compost and HM ready for my roses due sometime NOV, CLEANED the boot, washed the bag out and dried it ready with some old plastic sacks to go and collect the rest tomorrow

Tomorrow After getting my cubic metre of mature horse manure, I intend to empty my compost bin onto a taurpaline, and add it back, layerd with the HM
(The lady told me she has a couple of nice young men come each week and take away a bucket full of worms each for free)

Now DIM How do I set up an ebay worm selling store

Jack McHammocklashing

 

I am worried actually
I am 64 started gardening in Apr this year
Already, when out and at the bar, I am talking greenhouses and tomatoes, Horse manure etc
When prior to Apr it was women cars and cor look at that, stuff AND women

Jack McH

 

Worms ?
I now have a compost container full of Horse Manure, kitchen green waste and garden waste and thousnds of worms from the horse manure

Question there are worms clinging to the sides and to the lid of the compost bin climbing out
Is this normal or are they escaping a bad enviroment
(the worms came by the thousand in 10yr old Horse Manure hay based, not bought red or brandling worms, Are the worms in Horse Manure Earth worms ? thus will not process kitchen waste ? )

Sorry for all the questions, just I do not obviously have a clue

Jack McH

 

Keep it up Jack.
With all this wriggling, plodging and shovelling of HM (polite variation noted), I'm surprised SHMBO hasn't banned you to the shed with a hosepipe and jumbo bucket of room freshener.

 

Jack,when I open any of our bins there are often lots of worms on the sides and lids though the weather seems to determine this activity to some extent. Keeping the worms in the dark encourages them to chomp near the top of the bin (or heap).
Your worms could well be brandling or tiger worms as they were living on straw (rather than in the earth) in their previous home. If they are thin and stripey they are what you want. See the photo I posted those were brandling/tiger worms in my main compost heap just after I'd lifted off the plastic sacks I cover it with.

 

No problemo SWMBO has gone back to mother with the kids and left £100 pw for food and drink for me (joking)
SWMBO still herE MIL deed, (compost) Kids still come for money of which we have none :-)

Jack McH

 

Cheers Dave
My wrigleys look the same, and I noticed that other composters around have the worms coming out of the lid, I just have to relax now for a year :-)

Jack McH

 

I'm always quite lazy, just throw cardboard in whole and find it breaks down easily enough