Yes I have! Thousands of them. Worms can be a gardeners best friend. I actually shudder when I visit friends houses to see them throwing perfectly good worm food in the bin.
Here is our Worm Farm:-
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| Farm In a Shed |
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| The Working Worms |
Worm Farms should be placed in a cool shaded location. They need to be protected from frost too. We laid a slab of concrete, & built a basic box on top with old planks lying around. I cover the lot with old carpet to keep the sun out, which encourages the worms to come to the top to feed. If its too hot or cold, they will stay down deep. Carpet underlay or hession is also good. If its really hot, I place a wet old sleeping bag on top as well. The bag can also keep them warm in our extreme Winters too.
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| Red Compost Worms |
To start our worm farm, I placed shredded newspaper, aged horse poo & lawn clippings to form a nice yummy base. We bought our 1st 100 gms of compost worms & off we went. Easiest pets ever! I placed our farm in the old dog run, to stop my dogs digging in it, as they thought it was a good place to bury bones. I havent found a way to keep rats out, but its very seldom. I feed the worms every day, & have a very good rat catching dog, who waits patiently when I lift the carpet up. Usually a scream from me signals the chase. So we haven't had too many problems. We are in the bush, & these things happen. Commercial worm factories come with their own starter kit, & worms. I dont know about that - how long have the poor things been kept & in what conditions? The worms will take a bit to get used to their new habitat & food. They breed prolifically in the right conditions, so look out for baby worms & eggs (they look like yellow seeds).
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| Worm Eggs |
Worms WILL bolt if they don't like the conditions - either too acidy, or not enough moisture, too much moisture & especially thunderstorms. It is important to keep the farm out of the elements if you can. A friend of mine has a small Worm factory. In 2009, at the end of our long drought, & the year of Black Saturday, we had so many days over 40 degrees. We used to talk about how we were fairing, keeping the worms happy in such extreme heat , such as adding water to them, adding thick layers of newspaper to try to shield them from the searing heat. We tried it all. Fortunately, as my farm is a box on the ground, it enabled any excess water we added, to drain away. In the plastic Worm factory, my friend did not go so well. He went out in the afternoon to see his worms had been boiled. Yum, worm soup. Tragic but true. I gave him another container of worms to get him going again. They cant escape from the commercial factories if you keep the lid on.
Here is one type of commercial Worm Factory:-
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| Commercial Worm factory |
The benefits of the Worm Factories are their small size, sturdy structures, you can buy extra trays, you can access the worm wee (the excess water, very good fertiliser. So concentrated it needs to be watered down to a tea colour) I make my own worm wee by placing a small handfull of the worm castings in a bucket of water & swish. The Worm factory would not be big enough for my needs unless I had quite a few of them. They are also vermin proof. If ants are a problem, place the worm factory legs in bowls of water.
My Mum has made her own worm farm. She had an old plastic garbage bin, turned it upside down, & plonked it in a corner of her garden. She cut a hole in the top (once the bottom) so she can chuck the worm food in, & puts a brick over the hole to weigh it down & block the sun. It works a treat. Every now & again she cleans it out, & transfers as many worms as she can into a new lot of food, using the worm castings on her vegetables. The worms can escape but if the conditions are good, & theres good eatin', they will stay & breed.
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| Large Worm Farm |
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| Easy to Make Worm Farm |
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| Another Style |
Worm Menu:-
ANYTHING that was once living. - fruit, vegetables, vacuum bag contents, teabags, shredded paper & cardboard (soaked in water), lawn clippings, sawdust. They will tolerate a bit of citris but not meat products. Feed aged manure, not fresh, unless you know exactly when the animals have been wormed. I like to leave it for 6 weeks just in case. Watch the lawn clippings in hot weather too. Make sure you keep the moisture to it, or you will cook your worms. Moderation is the key. I prefer cow, sheep or horse manure (aged at least 6 weeks), as poultry poo is a bit acidic. Manure is good for keeping them warm in Winter, but again, too much in Summer may cook them.
The bigger the farm, the more food you will need. Become friendly with the local Fruit & Vegie shop and Bakery (not too much of the bread though). If you want to see a feeding frenzy of worms, give them watermelon (or bran & molasses) & check back in a few days. Its a brain of writhing, wriggling, feasting worms.
Fattening for Bait Worms:-
Hmm, maybe make some extra cash? Mix a feed of 50% chicken pellets, 10% wheat or corn flour, 10% milk powder, 20% bran or wheat milk, 10% dolomite. This will fatten & toughen up your bait worms. Though I get upset whenever my hubby pinches some worms for bait, they are my pets after all.
Uses of Worm Castings:-
Fertiliser :-spread worm castings around base of plants 2.5cm thick. Water in.
Seed Raising:- 3 parts aged compost, 1 part worm castings, 1/2 part Vermiculite (a mineral similar to mica)
Native Trees, Fruit Trees:- apply round base & water in well. Reapply regularly in Spring & Autumn.
Liquid Fertiliser:- Dilute with 50% water. (the colour of weak tea)
There are many books on Worm farming. The commercial Worm farms come with simple instructions. Make sure you read them, because there are some do's & dont's to be aware of.
Some helpful sites:-
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1620935.htm
http://www.livinggreener.gov.au/waste/kitchen-food-waste/start-worm-farm
There ARE clever Councils out there who do sell the Worm Factories at cost price to rate payers. Unfortunately my Council isn't so clever. But it may be worth ringing up your local Council to see if you are one of the lucky ones.
I highly recommend giving Worm farming a go. Its very satisfying, you don't need acreage, or a degree, it's great for the environment, gets rid of unnecessary waste and your garden will love you.
Happy Grubbing in your garden.
Tam.
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