Composting worms - Questions...

I am thinking about getting some composting worms and hopefully have quite a bit of compost by next spring, as well as new pets :p however, I have a few questions:

• -Is the liquid they produce really good or really bad for plants? I have heard both. Do you normally have holes at the bottom of the bin and collect the liquid in a tray? I have also heard it smells quite bad, how do you handle this?
• -I am not very willing to keep them in the house when the weather gets cold but I don't have a shed either. Will it be OK if I keep them in the greenhouse? I don't want them to die of cold!
• -Do you mix the worm compost straight into the soil or mix it with water and then water the plants? Do you have to wait before you can use it or is it ready the moment you take it from the bin?
• -Last but not least, is there a kind soul in London who has too many worms and would like to give me some to get me started?

Thanks and sorry about the long post

 

This should answer a few of your questions;



Try a fishing tackle shop for a worm supply!

 

I had a wormery for about a year and can tell you first off, you won't get "quite a bit" of compost. It will more likely be just enough to fill a small bag of compost.

Bad. People who think it's good often get confused with worm tea, which is when you seep the compost in say a pair of tights in a bucket of water for a few days or weeks. The lectrate (sp) is very bad for most plants and it should be poured down the drain as soon as you remove it. It does smell really foul too.

When you say holes at the bottom of the bin, do you mean each tray or for you to drain the liquid out more easily? A commercially produced wormery will have both and the tap will drain off the fluids quite easily.

The greenhouse is a bit of a grey area. Just to be sure that they are safe I would keep the bin well wrapped up. The worms will slow down digesting your waste as they are cold and so the productivity of the wormery will be reduced much further than it is say in the height of summer. If they were kept in the house then you will find that the breaking down of waste food will be a almost constant rate. I kept mine in the pantry in my kitchen but you could keep them under the stairs or somewhere else out of the way if need be.

Can't really answer this as I tended just to add all of mine to my bigger compost bin to add more nuritants to it. People say it is really fertile but never really got round to finding out.

There was a guy off of ebay who was skimming excess worms from his bin and selling them for next to nothing, but he doesn't seem to be on there anymore. The fact is you have to pay for the worms, you will find it very hard to get them for free. A fishing tackle shop will supply you with worms but not really enough to get a wormery going. It works out more cost effective to just buy them in bulk.

 

If they are the red brandling worms, these seem to turn up in the compost bins in summer all by themselves.