Worm Farms

What is a wormery?

A wormery is a self contained composting system that retains most nutrients for reuse. The worm's digestive system imparts a stable crumb structure to the worm compost, which is a nutrient/rich humus material, consisting of partially decomposed organic waste, bedding material and worm castings (manure). If properly maintained, it is an odourless system.

Where do I start?

Anyone can start a worm bin. All you need are the right ingredients.

Ingredients:

Old carpet or sack
Old phone books
Corrugated iron –60 cm x 60cm
3-4 car tyres
Lid (use a piece of wood with a rock on it)
35 Saturday newspapers

Step One: First get your worms (worm farming in the yellow pages).

Step Two: Soak the newspapers in water and stuff the sides of the tyres.

Step Three: Raise the corrugated iron base on old phone books.

Step Four: Cut out carpet to the size of the base.

Step Five: Add bedding material and worms to the bottom tyre.

Step Six: Continue stacking stuffed tyres and bedding material.

Feed regularly with kitchen scraps and keep the mixture moist to touch.

What do worms eat?

Worms are voracious eaters. They don’t have teeth, so they like their food scraps small:

waste from vegetable juicers
soaked and ripped pizza boxes
paper
tissues
dirt
leaves
hair
cardboard fast food packaging
egg shells
potato peelings
apple cores
pea pods

How much do worms eat?

The worms in a small wormery should eat all the fruit and vegetable waste produced by a household of four. Wormeries are ideal for people living in flats or houses with small backyards.

What to do with worm poo?

Castings can go straight onto the garden or pot plants. You can also make liquid fertiliser by mixing castings with water until it looks like weak tea.

Waste