The Worm Tower Composting System - Introduction
Vložit
- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
- Seeing as everything is quiet now in the garden, I thought it would be a good time to look at the worm tower set up.
I plan on doing a small series on this one - similar to the small worm bin weekly series I ran for a year. The updates would be monthly, and the idea is to look more closely at how a stackable worm tower works, how effective it is, and any issues that rise from using it.
Simple solution...always keep a tray full of bedding, shredded cardboard only, on top of the sump. It will not only keep your tower from getting too wet but the tray of bedding is used as your next working(feeding) tray and will be full of microbial life and already decomposing by the time you need it. I leave mine for about 4 months.
Another tip....ALWAYS add shredded cardboard when you feed, roughly the same volume as the food. Not only will the worms eat it but it will soak up a lot of that moisture.
The secret to a healthy worm bin is lots of shredded cardboard, it will all become worm castings so don’t skimp on it.
I had this issue and noticed a lot of worms had died from water due to the design. The tap is too high up and too big as the worms would wash out. I drilled a 3mm hole level with bottom platform under the tap. Thin tubing 4mm OD 2mm ID and siliconed to bottom platform with about 2 to 3cm going in to bin and 10cm out and bin slightly tilted. Any liquid exits immediately into carboy. No flooding or dead worms. Just castings and worms have gone back up with few at sump. So far so good. Hope it helps.
I purchased this and I am very confused as to when to add the additional trays. It came with 4- I did learn that I need to drain water or place cardboard to absorb water in the sump and not drown the worms ! So Thank you
Add the next tray when the one your adding food too fills up.
@@BrandoGrow When you add the next tray do you add a layer of paper or cardboard to it?
@@clivegaster614 I hope you found out your answer already, but yes, worms need more bedding in the new tray
Had one of these for many years maybe about ten!
Love it. Got 5 trays. Chuck everything from the kitchen bucket as it comes....no point freezing, why squeeze out all that good moisture?, just chuck it in. Egg shells too. Cardboard, paper, toilet roll middles.....worms love to gather in these.
I have thousands of worms. I feed handfuls to my hens, who also love to pick out and eat the egg shells. I just tip the tray out and let them scratch it onto the planting area.
I do however add hands full of dry leaves from the leafmold container if it looks a bit wet.
Not seen any worms in the sump. I leave the tap open all the time....I also use citrus peel and onions which I’m told you shouldn’t....seems to be fine.
I’m going to try this. Thanks.
Just looking at this system for UK use.
1. Does this tower need to be in a certain position, location, in or out of sun, at a certain temperature? Can it be too cold in British winter or too hot, or too sunny?
2. Does it ever smell?
3. Any issues in going on vacation and leaving it for 2 or 3 weeks or more?
4. What other issues and problems with them? Pests, virus disease, other invasive worms, dead worms, etc? Other than mentioned, what’s the maintenance work with them?
5. Is it worth having? Is there a good yield of compost plus liquid feed for the effort and space taken?
6. Do the worms multiply enough to keep it going or do you need to add more worms later?
7. If they over multiply is it then necessary to remove some worms? Plus does this happen and how regularly?
8. Can and do the worms escape? If so how?
9. Which are the best worms to use?
Thanks!
Hi there! Thank you for this video. I got the same worm tower and experienced the same issues: very damp compost and worms drowning into the water collection tray.
Then I saw your videos and ai decided to make some changes to the tower. I decided to only use 2 trays. So I have the water collection tray at the bottom. I put an old t- shirt between this tray and the working tray above to prevent the warms to fall into it. On top of the water collection tray I have my working tray where I have my very happy worms and the kitchen scraps. On top of the working tray I have what I call a "ventilation tray" that I only use for ventilation where I drilled loads of holes to ventilate the tray underneath. I then cover the ventilation tray with the lead but I keep the lead slightly open and I put some tree branches to keep it in place and protect from the sun and other insect. The system works wander now. Once the compost is ready I will remove the worms from the working tray and transfer them into a new working tray with fresh food.
Thanks again for your ideas
Cecilia
Hello London Worms & Garden. I got one of these as a gift with no instructions, and I didn't know about the sequencing logic of the trays. Your video helped a lot in that regard and the comments were also quite helpful. Thank you very much all! (Edit: Watching your playlist on The Worm Tower now. :) )
After lots of research I’ve just ordered one, thanks for doing this video good points for me to look out for
tnnt05 hi I bought mine from www.wormcity.co.uk
I've been operating a wormery for a little while but wasn't too confident I was doing things correctly although I am drawing off about 500ml a week.
Your 'matter-of-fact', no-panic presentation has put my mind at rest so, thank you very much.
It's a pity the little critters don't speak back when I ask them if everything is OK. Anyway, we have a functioning system and after watching this I think all is good(ish).
Now I'm off to rescue any that have dropped into the sump.
Best wishes from the West Country.
Lovely to hear from you Glastonbury Ferryman. Sounds like you have everything working really well 👍 yes wouldn't it be great if our little friends could talk to us 😁 Hope all is well 😊👍
Your experience with this bin is very similar to mine. Even though the quality of the castings is good, the bottom tray stays too wet and a good amount of worms and castings end up in the sump. When you've got all 3 or 4 trays on, it's a real pain to access the sump, so I ended up just tipping the wormery until the leachate came out of the tap. What really helped to reduce the buildup of liquid was leaving the lid off 24/7 (it was an indoor wormery!). It would benefit from a screen that could stop worms (and castings) from getting in there in the first place. Now I've got a flow through bin, which I much prefer.
Hiya Simon - yeah it's an issue with these bins - although it seems to behaving itself so far. I'm got a home made flow through to make and upload in the next few months.
I swear by this type of system. I got one as soon as I moved into my house and use it for all kitchen waste. This has meant our bins have very little in them. Great info thanx for sharing.
Ah HAH! It's YOU lol - I couldn't remember at the time who it was that commented they loved this type of set up and had no issues with it. :-) I think that's part of my frustration with this set up - I have never ever ever been able to stop the worms heading for the sump - even with a ton of melon rind in the working tray lol :) I'm looking forward to your comments, observations and advice on the new series :-)
You know I'm in for a series from you!!😄 There's a lot that can be learned and I've seen a lot of worm towers but nobody goes into much detail so it will be great to go on another learning adventure :-) I love your new intro as well👍
Hiya P.C. Glad you like the new intro. I'm trying to up my game and be worth of the great subscribers I have :-) Hope all is well my friend :) Looking forward to your comments and observations in this upcoming series :)
This video was very helpful. I have got this worm tower and will put cardboard in the sump area 🪱🪱🪱
He should add a lot more brown material, like leaves, shredded paper, or cardboard. It also seems that he is putting too much food in the bin. That amount of food would only work if the bin is loaded up with worms. Also, you may want to place something on top of the sump bin with very small holes to keep the worms out of it. These should solve many of the problems with the worm bins. I agree that the spigot is way too high though. It is almost useless. For the liquid to even reach the tap means you already have a serious water problem.
I was given a used tower and was grateful for it. I cleaned it up and did a few minor repairs before placing a metal pan scrubber/scratcher directly over the spigot hole on the inside of the bin. Then I cut a piece of landscape material about 3" wider than the bottom square and squished it tightly in between the next bin to tight line it across the liquid catcher gully. I also placed the landscape material in the bottom "working" bin to keep the worms from leaving the tower. I don't use it conventionally. I have about 4 trays full of bedding and feed in the top tray so the worms will be encouraged to produce more cocoons. The worms love to move throughout the 4 bins and I've yet to have even one worm in the bottom area. I also tilt the tower quite a bit because I don't want stagnant stinky stuff sitting around. My worms are vivacious, full of color and reproducing swiftly. I dilute any liquid and water non-food trees, shrubs and lawn. Which is just as beautiful as the chem treated lawns but I don't have to mow as often as they do. Hope this helps those who have worm towers.
Renee this is brilliant. Sounds like you've really got your tower working at peak performance! Thanks for sharing. Hope you're keeping safe and well.
You could also put a plastic mesh, like plastic needlepoint canvas, in the bottom to raise any critters that fall through out of the water, at the same time avoiding putting potential food there.
Thank you for the shot of the egg cocoons. I didn't know there was a difference between how they would look at different times. Very interesting about where the worms were located in this system. I have often been tempted to buy one of the fancy systems. I think I will just stick with the bin that I am using. Thanks for the video. Happy Gardening! Catherine
I absolutely agree with you and recommend sticking with what works best for you. Fancier does not necessarily mean better as I've learned repeatedly over my life lol .... And not all bins would be suitable for all environs anyhow so it's brilliant you've for a set up sussed that's working for you. Cheers my friend :-)
Very nice & informative discussion. Thank you my friend.
Thanks GG
Nice run down of that system. I look forward to your new series:)
Looking forward to your comments and observations as well my friend. Hope all is good with you - I've a ton of videos to catch up on and I'm guessing from one of your thumbnails you weren't too well for a bit? Anyhow, I'll catch up soon - if that was the case I hope all is good now. :)
Just looking at this system for UK use.
1. Does this tower need to be in a certain position, location, in or out of sun, at a certain temperature? Can it be too cold in British winter or too hot, or too sunny?
2. Does it ever smell?
3. Any issues in going on vacation and leaving it for 2 or 3 weeks or more?
4. What other issues and problems with them? Pests, virus disease, other invasive worms, dead worms, etc? Other than mentioned, what’s the maintenance work with them?
5. Is it worth having? Is there a good yield of compost plus liquid feed for the effort and space taken?
6. Do the worms multiply enough to keep it going or do you need to add more worms later?
7. If they over multiply is it then necessary to remove some worms? Plus does this happen and how regularly?
8. Can and do the worms escape? If so how?
9. Which are the best worms to use?
Thanks!
Very useful information . It was clearand easy to understand. Thank you for sharing
Thanks Patrick - hope all is well with you :)
I have a Worm Factory 360. Very similar design. I always have worms in my sump level as well. Recently checked it and it was over an inch and a half of solid castings and loads of worms. My tower has 4 trays working right now... those worms should be quite a ways higher. They just seem to migrate down in the moisture so so much! Look forward to your series!
Cheers Emily :-) Looking forward to your input - together we're going to crack this mystery LOL :-)
Very informative mate. I shall enjoy watching the series. Take care. Nick
Hi I've been experimenting with worms for a couple of years now but only using a single container x2 but have
recently purchased a vertical tower from Original Organics. It has a fine mesh strainer above the sump to seemingly strain the liquid and not allow the worms to enter the sump. After watching your video I'm wondering
if the vermicomposters have this feature. You have enlightened me on quite a few things regarding the worms themselves and had always wondered if you can mix the different species. My new composter came with a bag of Tiger worms but I tend to put any type of worm in the new composter to help them. I started my old containers off with leaves containing lots of smaller red coloured worms which I think have a different name to what you described Box worms. Thanks for your video and hope your happier with your wormery now.
Hi, I've had a Worm Factory 360 for the last 2 years and I can honestly say that I don't have this problem. There's very little in my bottom sump and I don't put cardboard or paper in there.The only things I do differently is that I don't freeze my food and my tower is kept indoors (I live in Canada). Your trays look a lot wetter than mine. I do get a little liquid from my drain valve, usually when the food is wetter, I blend my food before adding it to the bin. Maybe you should try blending your frozen food with corn meal or wheat bran to make it less wet.
Yeah, putting material in the sump bin, seems like it would draw worms to that bin.
Old video, but want to put my 2 cents in... I have a system similar to this and use window screening at the bottom of the first layer. this way the moisture can drip through but the worms are too big. When I rotate the tiers I have to dump the new bottom one to put the screening under everything, but that happens rarely enough that it isn't a big deal. I use the plastic variety (I think it's made out of nylon) and haven't had issues with deterioration or anything.
Seem to be a great thing to do....Thank for sharing
Yay - hiya SoulQueen :-) Hope all is well with you my friend :) I've a ton of your videos to catch up on now we've got proper wifi back and up and running again :-)
Yep, the sump zone is also the most favorite one for my wormies !
It seems to be a common experience my friend - sometimes, there's just no figuring out worms lol
I thought it was standard practice to have some form of gauze on the bottom tray to the sump to stop worms and compost dropping through. That way only the juice is captured in the sump.
This is very helpful. I've been gifted a similar system to this but I'm confused about the bag of Compost that had come with it and 2 thin sheets of material which I presume are for filleting. Which layer do I put the cloth on and where do I put the Compost?
Many that's
I've got a worm tower aswell.
I put a frost cloth between the fist tray & sump to catch any worms that fall through.
I leave the tap open permanently & put a bottle under the tap to catch any leachate.
I've never had any problem with worms drowning.
Great upload! Happy New Year to you and your loved ones! 🥂🍾🎉
Hiya Delizioso :-) Wishing you a very Happy New Year and a year full of happiness health and great culinary adventures :-) Appreciate your support as always and looking forward to 2018 :)
I add carbonpieces with every feed. It absorbs the fluid. My bin is dryeer because of that.
Hey my friend. I bought a worm factory 360 and tried using it with 2 lbs of worms when I first got started. Sorry I ever purchased it and paid $125.00 bucks for it. I had worms running everywhere and in spite of the fact that I did not use any extra moisture it was always wet. I have six bins and 3 small buckets with cocoons and baby worms in them. Close to 60 k worms now. Was thinking about trying the factory but after watching this it's no,no,no. Lol
Hiya Catherine :) I hear ya :-) I think to be honest that's one of my biggest gripes - they're very expensive in my opinion for what they are. They look nice for sure, but to be honest, and I think this is your experience from what you've been saying, recycled and repurposed containers that cost nothing or next to nothing work just as well if not better. But we'll see how we go with this one starting from scratch :-)
I'm confused how it stacks together, I've had my tower for a year & the instructions say that when the first tray is nearly full, put another on top. The problem is that the new tray will then have a gap around the bottom edge, because the bottom is obviously narrower than the top & when it's dark you then get escapees, if you sink it to the level of the tabs on the side you only get about two inches of vermicompost per tray. Just wondered what you think.
Well Sir if you're not a fan of worm towers I'm not either. However I would enjoy a series on them. I'll still get some knowledge from it. Best wishes Bob.
Hiya Bob - looking forward to getting your input and observations my friend :)
Try tilting the bin a little bit towards the spigot maybe that would help
Hiya DailyOC - yes good idea and it would help for sure - there still be a puddle just underneath the opening but nothing to the extent it is when it's flat. I'll be looking at what modifications I can do.
I keep a few pebbles immediately below my spigot so if it gets too wet, the worms don't drown. It allows them to climb up out of the moisture. Just a thought.
Now that's a neat solution and a mod I'd like to look at close when I start this little series :-) Thanks for sharing :)
Hope this may help you!
Yukky but I learned something. Thanks
Lay down some fine mesh in the bottom tray.
Very interesting, Thank you for sharing..Big like!
Hiya Linda - Much appreciated my friend - I'll be over to your side to catch up on all I've missed shortly - in the mean time hope all is well with you and yours :)
I filled the first tray in a week from kitchen scraps. Do you really have to wait until the worms have finished until you add another tray? That could be months and the kitchen waste will go to waste on the meantime
Interesting and informative as usual. Will do an update on my small flow through bin, which had earthworms in it, soon. :-)
Hiya Kevin - Looking forward to the flow through update. Hope you're staying warm and tucked up over there :-)
superb video today !! very interesting and informative !! cheer..........simon
Can you put tower on a slope towards the drain , and catch the drain off outside the tower
I have what looks like the exact same system! I've resorted to filling in the bottom part of the sump with a spare load of cheap silicone sealant plus propping the back up a bit with some timber to make sure liquid drains forward out the tap, which I just leave open with a big jar under it. Because I have the 5 tray one it's far too much work to lift the trays just to keep an eye on the sump, so I only look about once a month when harvesting a tray. The muddy wormy goop that still collects is ok added back into to the top tray to help things along there with microbes and such - it would be a shame to chuck such nutrient and microbe-rich stuff away. I put a lot of dry shredded cardboard into the working tray on a regular basis to soak up excess water of course. Another modification I've started making is each time I harvest a tray I drill a few extra holes in that solid section in the centre of the tray, to stop it causing a stagnant wet oxygen-deprived zone just where air and drainage are most needed - I don't know if that solid bit is for more strength or just to suit the injection moulding process, but I don't like it. I have to hand sift for worms and cocoons before using the castings, getting them dry enough to sift through a mesh would be hard work. Sometimes I don't bother even sifting out worms and cocoons, they're quite happy living in my planters. Oh, and because it's now permanently moved out of the garden and into the cellar I've replaced the plastic lid with a sheet of cardboard and that's made a big difference in letting more air in and vapour out and kept my wormy pals a lot happier.
P.S. I'd be very grateful for a link to the series if you did it, as I've only just discovered your channel and am rubbish at finding things. I'm really pleased to find videos from a worm composter in the same country as me that might have climate-relevant advice :-).
Hiya Frank - I enjoyed reading your comment above. Really interesting the mods you've made. So far I've made none but they're on the way.
The link to the playlist is here:
czcams.com/play/PL0eHmLDoC1qDG1kxupSeCgeCAzXxgq36D.html
That's for the worm tower. I also ran a glass recycling bin as a worm bin for a year - that playlist is here:
czcams.com/play/PL0eHmLDoC1qBlh4wXibBF07ocHf6_HvK8.html
That bin had brilliant results and just goes to show if you make things the way worms like it, they'll stay, compost away, and you need spend next to no money lol.
Like yours my worm tower lives outside - it's been suffering a bit in this heat despite my best efforts. I'll have an update shortly. Great to hear from a fellow UK vermicomposter :-)
Ive got this bin and I occasionally get a bit too much liquid in the sump( not as much as yours though. I use egg boxes and then once every quarter( ?) i empty the wet cardboard and worms into the working tray.If you have too much liquid in the sump its usually a sign that your food is too wet ! too many potworms is also another indicator
adding food: i freeze to kill off any bug eggs which can infest the bin. then with an old blender i blend all the food with it liquid into a smoothies, mix this with dry food, coffee, eggshell powder, bread crumb etc to make a damp paste. this usually reduces the risk of too much liquid. add in shredded cardboard and they are fine.
lifting the trays you got to be careful with your back. 25 litres of worm casting can be heavy ! I use the upturned lid to stack trays into to prevent crushing the worms
when i harvest i do find that its a little too wet for my liking so i remove the tray contents into a plastic box to air dry and eventually remove worms as i go
my bin is a 5 tray system( food scrap from one person) and Ive only got to the stage of 3 trays at most( my worm population is approx 2kg I think).with more trays I find it easier to leave them longer to mature ( the final pieces that take longer to breakdown for the worms) and to allow cocoons to hatch for the worms to hopefully move up.
my thought on the tray system is that it can affect stocking density in that with multiple trays you decrease the density. if its too low the worms dont meet as often and reproduce slower( and in turn process less food). if too high then they will naturally self regulate population( which is fine for me).its not a bad bin and easy to assemble. when I first bought it, I had a boiler engineer doing a service in my home and he thought I had bought a bee hive..
Cheers for that....lots of really good information and tips in there. It does look a bit like a bee hive doesn't it 😁 Great to hear from you. Hope all is safe and well my friend 😊👍
I think wet cardboard might attract them into the sump zone. I wonder if something like expanded clay instead wouldn't be helpfull has it would have less food value for them to stay forever there. Didn't try out thought.
+jumatub Hiya jumatub - I think that's a really good point - it's kinda a catch22. I put the cardboard there because they absolutely will go into the sump and given sufficient leachate there's no doubt an amount will suffocate. But you're also right in that the cardboard is probably acting to attract some of them there. But would that be the case when they're two layers up in a tray of lovely scraps and there's a tray of finished vermicompost in between they have to get through? It seems it is the case!
It's intriguing for sure - maybe next year when we run a few experiments we might hit on something lol - I know others just don't have this priblem at all, well at least not in the numbers I seem to have. I'm going to save your comment for discussion in one of the up coming videos. 😊👍
Hello, I have just started my own wormary and I am totally lost. My wife brought me this very worm tower for Christmas and I set it all up as it said in the instructions, but all my worms seem to fall through into the sump or disappear and I am now on my second lot of worms that I brought 8 days ago. I check inside my tower every day but the worms seem to be in the sump. I move them back to the top tray every time. I have now put a piece of fleece in the tray above the sump in hope that the worms will stay out of the sump.
When I set mine up I used the core that came with the tower and put this in the top tray then under that tray I put an empty tray is this correct? Then under the empty tray is the sump.
I would love to see more videos as I am a total beginner on this. Thank you. Derek
Can’t you put a fine mesh on top so the water can get out but worms can’t ?
I put the coconut pad thing in the bottom worm tray. Gonna see if that will help prevent this issue.
It will either work or it won't lol 😂
Why not hot glue window screen in the first work bin so worms can't get to the sump but liquids can . Just an idea and i know its an older vidio
add some cloth to the lower layer to stop them from leaving tray 1 , and you will only see worm tea in there . also cardboard is food for them and you dont want food in the tea layer at all
Cheers ZT - appreciate the input my friends :)
Thanks for this informative video. There seem to be some possible inherent flaws with this design of wormery; are you aware of any better designed worm bins that you could direct me towards please?
I think almost any worm tower system would work as long as the spigot is very close to the bottom of the bin. I don't understand why this company would decide to place the tap so high up on the bin.
i use a plastic bin called can o worms been using it for years but yes you do get a lot of worms in the sump but it does work well
Hiya Chris - it definitely works for sure and it's a neat and tidy system - it just seems a waste of composting energy to have so many worms continuously in the sump and having to fish them out regularly - and I think that's what I find a little frustrating about this set up.
Hi I bought a worm tower from bidding on eBay, I had it about a year. So final set it up august 2020, and although it’s going well. I have tiny white insect in the sump part and don’t know how to get rib of them. Any help
Would a bit of mesh or very fine shade cloth or even an old towel, cut to size in the bottom keep your worms out of the sump?
I have the Vermihut and it looks similar to your tower but it comes with a cheesecloth like fabric that goes between the sump and the first tray to keep the worms from passing through and getting stuck in the water in the sump. It's almost time for me to add another tray. Check out my videos on my composting bin!
Will be checking out your videos. Thanks for sharing and commenting. Much appreciated my friend.
Thank you for your support also my friend and I will be adding my second tray soon this week and updating what my wigglers have been up to...
Thank you
Yay finally wormvideos again
Hiya Jamie - yeah, I know ... I've been remiss but we're back on track now :-)
Taking on board that you were not happy with this bin, could you recommend a bin you like as I will be buying one in the future .But what should I buy thank you.
I've used this system and never put cardboard or bedding in the sump and never had many worms in my sump. The odd 1 or 2, but not many
Yay for a new worm video. I have a couple of worm towers and looking forward to your series! Can you just put some drilled holes on opposite ends to encourage airflow? If the sump doesn't work well, what does work better for a wormery? Have you considered a fine mesh insert above the sump?
Hiya Misfit - some good ideas there but I can't reveal anything yet as the finished reels are locked in a safe in the production teams office - so there can be no spoilers before the new series begins ... in other words I haven't a clue what I'm going to do yet :-) But I was thinking along some of the modifications you've just suggested :-) Looking forward to your input my friend :-)
I gave up on mine and just throw everything on the compost heap now as it’s much less trouble and still heaving with worms. Do you also use normal composting and if so what’s the real benefit of worm castings in this form, compared to the worm castings that are mixed into my compost anyway? Also bearing in mind that the compost bin is 20 times the size of the worm bin and so has lots more worms in it is the worm bin only for small gardens?: all the best - Steve
Hiya Steve - yep, I've got a few big bins on the go - heaving with worms. This smaller set up would be more suitable to vermicomposting with limited space I think. It's advertised as being able to process the food waste of a family of four but I would be sceptical of that claim to be honest unless they're eating one banana each a week lol. If you're very limited for space it is a neat and tidy solution though. It wouldn't look out of place on a balcony of an apartment block for example. And you will get vermicompost from it :-) As for the end product - every batch will be different because no two bins will have the exact same type and quantity of food scraps or carbon bedding so the finished composition will differ but you'd only know by exactly what in a lab! For those of us just equipped with a spade and fork it'll be good stuff no matter what. What's in the bigger bins in the garden will almost always be vermicompost, that is, worm castings mixed with other composted materials - if you're aiming to produce pure worm casts this type of bin would get you a lot closer to that by virtue of the fact there's smaller quantities of food going in and you can more easily see (and wait!) for it all to be processed by the worms. Whereas when you dig out the bigger volumes in the bigger compost bin, there's bound to be material that hasn't passed through the worm yet.
Sorry mate, that went on for a bit - it's 1.30am and it's been a very long day lol - I hope that made sense?
yeah it did, thanks! So in summary the dedicated worm bins are great if you only want to process kitchen waste in a small area and/or you want 100% worm castings. In my case I'm happy for the worm castings to be mixed in with my main compost, so I'm sorted! : All the best - Steve
Wow maggots in the bottom sump what's going on ?
I crush eggs first I dry them out then put them in a jam jar and break them up with a rolling pin in the jam jar. Worms love cardboard especially brown cardboard some cardboard gets covered in plastic so no good. I shred cardboard up in a cross shredder as I also do with toilet roll cardboard
Sounds like a plan 😁 Yeah I made that mistake before with the very very thin plastic you sometimes get on cardboard. The thick stuff the worms just eat the cardboard and leave the thick layer of plastic but this thin stuff I left broke into a million tiny pieces and I was finding it for months. Never again! 😁
@@LondonWorms I have had off bit get it in too and glitter. I usually shred cardboard for them
Use cheese cloth or screen for that area of the sump that collects water
Good job on the video!
Thanks Tim, much appreciated my friend :)
Hi, If you put cardboard into the sump you are putting food for the worms into an area they should not be in. If you want to create an area that the worms can fall into then you might want to use small stones but make sure they cannot block the tap. I, because I am retired, drain the worm tea every day and some days I get a pint of water which is great for plants that are needing a feed. I am very happy with my Tower but I am more happy with my worms!
I have a tiger wormery which is similar but different. No isues. You get air holes in the lid and a cloth for the sump.Try some capillary matting in the sump so the worms can crawl back up.
That's an excellent idea! Cheers my friend :)
I like this sytern
Great video as usual! Have to admit, I'm not a fan of these towers but look forward to your new series. Would fortnightly updates be too much? I mean you're probably going to be checking it more regularly than that anyway. I'd also be interested in a single chamber flow through system - I'm thinking it's probably the least labour intensive method, chuck it in the top, harvest out the bottom. Best wishes, Poo
Hiya Poo - I kept missing the weekly deadline for the small worm bin series lol so I thought monthly ... but I think you're right - we could compromise and go for forthnightly :-) I love the flow through systems - the next project after this one is to make a flow through :)
Yay! Really looking forward to that!
it's the sump supposed to be empty? i thought it was only for liquid to drain off? my other thought is why couldn't you put a layer of window screen something that the worms wont eat but also can't fit through over the bottom of the lowest bin.
I tried the window screen, your right they can't eat it , but they CAN fit through it lol, i think there is more worms in the bottom than in the tray lol i don't keep the bin that wet anymore.. what I do now is , put a t-shirt, or pillow case between bottom and first tray , pull it snug when putting tray on , yes the worms are on it , but their not drowning at the bottom, if water is there . After trying so many things, the snug pillow case works for me ,
I have seen how expensive they are but still fascinating to watch the vid :)
Aye GG - they are pretty expensive I think for what they are. Hope all is well with you my friend :)
Excellent! I would love to see a worm tower series.
... it shall be done :-)
Hiya Phil -hope all is well my friend :)
Content little critters!
They're easy to please that's for sure but it doesn't seem to matter how nice a diet or home you give some - there's always those few that just want to hang out in the cellar lol. Cheers my friend - hope all is well :)
I forgot to mention that my lid comes with many holes around it for aeration.
I think that's one of the modifications I'll be making as this series runs on. The lid on the one I have is a solid one piece so no air holes, which isn't great.
Is the solution to have no sump? Just a container
Hiya DHC - it's definitely a possibility in my mind - just a pile of leaves under the base tray and any escapees would end up there - worms are very energy efficient, and don't like wasting energy moving about so when they find a dark damp spot with food they tend to stay there - and it would make rounding them up a lot easier. If you've seen any of the vids on the bigger bins, I show this - I've a pile of leaves and cardboard around their base so every few days I just round up the escapees and return them to the bins.
The bins are in good nick - but it doesn't matter what you so there will always be some worms that want to go exploring :-)
Look at all these comments. Well..... he's another one. Cheers Sir. =)
Ugh... I keep getting that stupid Chefs Plate commercial