Making a wormery

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Apr 6, 2010

I've an old plastic bucket that holds about 6 gallon of liquid and I was thinking of tryinh to make a wormery - what will I need?

Will the bucket be the right size

What soil to fill it with?

how many worms to put in at first ?

How long will it take to establish?

what feed to give the worms

Stealph Viper · Apr 6, 2010

Is 6 gallons quite big?

I looked in to this once, and some people used wet news paper, some just used normal composting techniques.

Here is a site that encourages Kids on how to make a Wormery.
As it is for kids it is probably a little technical for adults but it might give you some ideas

Making a Wormery - The Kids Garden (UK)

---------- Post added at 19:41 ---------- Previous post was at 19:39 ----------

Just out of curiosity, why did you post it way down here in the Fishing Lakes section ?

Wobbly Face (As Per Ed) · Apr 6, 2010

I think you may need something aliitle bigger your Lordship.
A mate of mine started one, got info and wormery of his local council (about the only good they have ever done), all the kit he needed including some worms. You need something around the 40 gallon size with drainage at the bottom so you can get at any fluids which is good feed for your house plants. Some already composted soil helps, newspaer etc, old teabags and vegies. It does take some time to get all going and you will need the worms that you want. He got red worms.

Rodney Wrestt · Apr 6, 2010

Fill about 2/3 with compost, I mixed in used tea leaves, grated carrots and apple a couple of days before adding the worms (I found this tip out the hard way) then the amount of worms is down to your requirements, mine started with 2 small tubs of dendrobaena left after a session, they breed well and I never had to buy any since. I got the perfect sizes for canal fishing in a few weeks, I wasn't able to buy them in that size from my tackle shop but they breed so fast (the casts are like little gooseberries) and I just put the unused ones back after each session.

Rickrod · Apr 6, 2010

Just bury some dead person at the bottom of the garden .They'll be plenty of,ve people canvasing in the next few weeks .Just give one of them a quick dink with a shovel ,they wont be missed.And you'll have worms fit for any tench .

sagalout · Apr 7, 2010

If you take out a pair of canvassers, you could bury one for the worms and hang the other one over your favourite swim. As he decomposes the maggots dropping out will feed your swim.

Steve Ruff · Apr 7, 2010

DIY Wormery ....

This any help ? ......

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Made a similar sized bin to this a while ago but added a drain tap from a water butt at the bottom (quite a of liquid comes off the peelings etc which you can use on your plants apparently) / a round platform with small holes in it about 2 inches from the bottom (acts as a sump to separate the worms from the liquid) and also a small air vent at the top in the lid to allow airflow.
Some small holes at the bottom of the bucket would probably do the same sort of thing.

The lid of the bin is kept on with wire clips so the worms can't escape.

I think that the best worms to use are not big lobs but smaller worms called tiger worms but I guess the lobs would still be quite happy in the bin (think they may dig down a bit deep though).
More info here ...
Composting worm facts

Also helps if you cover the peelings etc up with an old bit of round carpet / something similar as it helps stop small flies getting into the peelings.

It doesn't take long for the worms to get established and they breed quite quickly so before you know it you will have loads of them.

Tee-Cee · Apr 7, 2010

I recall(many years ago)reading an article by Fred J Taylor on building a wormery.He was the ultimate user of lobworms for tench and used hundreds of them just to bait swims in his tench fishing days at Wooton Underwood with **** walker(I think).

From memory(and others might enlarge on this)he used large square timber boxes(1m sq?)made up at home with a lid both top and bottom.Again from memory,he used wet paper in layers which had to be kept moist and left the worms to breed.When he needed a supply he would turn the box over and the worms were easy to pick off.......

Steve Ruffs offering looks pretty good though and proven to work............

Anyway perhaps someone can enlarge on my offering as I'm thinking lobs are the best bet for me!!

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Apr 7, 2010

Thanks for the replies chaps - I'm going to give the 6l plastic bucket a go - drill a few small holes in the top and bottom and fill with soil and damp newspapers then add veg peelings and some grass - oh and a few worms - might buy some from the local tackle shop and any I find in the garden

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Apr 9, 2010

Well started the wormery last night - make some small holes in the bucket lid and base, half filled the bucket with soil and some newspaper, damped the lot and then sent my son to find some worm - he dug up 5 in the garden - so it's a poor start but on Saturday I'll be off to the local tackle shop for a couple of tubs of worms

Tee-Cee · Apr 9, 2010

Perhas you'd like to keep us informed on your progress in the coming weeks/months....providing you're not too busy catching 7lb chub on the results!!!

nicky · Apr 10, 2010

I started my 1st wormery last year and now its heaving with worms, got 1 of those large black composting bins from the council for a tenner, put a few sheets of polethene with holes in on the base added some pepples and sand, some compost from an old compost heap, worms from a local farmers muck heap, just dont add too much waste food in one go or it will overheat and possibly kill the worms.

John Wood 2 · Apr 20, 2010

home made Worm Composter

I made my own wormery (worm composter) out of 3 large plastic storage boxes. i add kitchen waste once a week and the worms convert it to compost whilst breeding at the same time. I bought the worms (dendrobenas) from ebay, £3.50 for about 500. I downloaded the instructions from the net and still have then somewhere. If anyone wants a copy then just send me a PM.

Grumpy Git @ · Apr 22, 2010

Try this for a cheap method of starting your wormery ............... Cheap Wormery

Making a wormery

Lord Paul of Sheffield

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Stealph Viper

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Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)

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Rodney Wrestt

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Rickrod

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sagalout

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Steve Ruff

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Tee-Cee

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Lord Paul of Sheffield

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Lord Paul of Sheffield

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Tee-Cee

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nicky

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