Soggy.

I gave the contents of the wormery a good mix today. There seems to be a lot fewer whiteflies than of late, although the compost is looking a bit soggy at the bottom where the worms accumulate. I've decided to add a few handfuls of paper from my shredder, along with a little more lime mix to dry things up and to regulate acidity. Still getting leachate!

Not A Lot Of People Know That...

Worms are able to eat up to half their own body weight in waste every day. The process of worm composting is known as vermiculture and the end result is vermicompost. Worms reproduce by secreting pale yellow cocoons containing several eggs. They are hermaphrodites, having both male and female reproductive organs.

Wormery worms are not your common or garden earth worms, they are native manure worms (often called tiger, red or brandling worms.) Don't be tempted to add some earth worms from your garden as they are adapted to living in soil, not the very high nutrient environment of the wormery - It will kill them. Manure worms may be bough from fishing shops as they are also used as bait by fishermen!

Worm Juice-a-flowing

This week I've drained-off about a litre of leachate and converted it to liquid feed for my tomato plants. The second batch of liquid smells of, well, liquid compost. It's not too bad but I wouldn't splash it behind my ears. Whitefly continue to be a problem. I noticed a few of them floating around in the liquid feed. I've tried leaving the lid off the wormey to let the little critters escape but this hasn't worked. Still open to suggestions, folks.....

Under Pressure

Over the last few days I've noticed a few worms coming to the surface of the Wormery. The weather's been unsettled in Bridlington lately and I've discovered that worms are very sensitive to atmospheric pressure. When the weather is stormy and the air pressure is low, the worms come to the surface in search of moisture. How good is that? Buy a Wormery, get a barometer for free!

Weeks Six, Seven and Eight.

I’m pleased to announce that, after eight weeks, we have worm juice!” I bet that nobody’s ever written that in a blog before. Anyway, there is quite a lot of leachate and it’s come just in time to feed the greedy tomato plants in my greenhouse. The coffee coloured liquid doesn’t smell of anything and needs to be diluted 10:1 before using as a liquid feed. Apparently, it’s high in potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen and also contains essential minerals and trace elements. Now that the wormery is producing leachate, it’s important not to let the sump liquid level rise too high. I’ll drain it off every week or so, otherwise the workers might drown.

This week I’ve added another handful of lime mix to regulate acidity. I’ve mixed up the composting material and there are plenty of worms visible. I’ve noticed a number of small white flies inside the lid; I’m no expert but they look like, well, whitefly. After a trawl through the Internet it seems that it’s a common problem, along with fruit fly infestation. Nobody seems to have a definitive answer so I’ll just have to live with it for now, unless anyone reading this can suggest a solution?