Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
Both sides previous revision Previous revision Next revision | Previous revision | ||
wormfarm [2012-11-05 19:00] – imogen | wormfarm [2012-11-05 20:48] (current) – imogen | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
- | First up, it's good to know that these are red wiggler | + | First up, it's good to know that these are compost |
- | You can buy a worm farm from your gardening store, however it is way more fun to make your own. Worm farms can be as simple as a single container in which you put your food scraps. They can exist vertically (stacked, so that worms move up and down from layer to layer), or they can also exist horizontally - ie you can create a long farm, often people use bath tubs. Drainage is very important as worms also create liquid (called worm tea). This should be drained out of the worm farm so that the worms don't drown in their own wee (yuk). This liquid is also great fertiliser, and should be added to plants watered down to the colour of weak tea. | + | You can buy a worm farm from your gardening store, however it is way more fun (and cheaper!) |
So! Your worm farm design is not only about aesthetics (what you want the worm farm to look like, maybe you want it to also function as a bench top for pot plants or a seat), but it's also about what materials you have at your disposal and how much you are willing to spend on buying bits and pieces. After chatting to FoAM, we had decided on a bath tub design, with a nice wooden lid (perhaps an old door) which could provide a flat surface for plants. | So! Your worm farm design is not only about aesthetics (what you want the worm farm to look like, maybe you want it to also function as a bench top for pot plants or a seat), but it's also about what materials you have at your disposal and how much you are willing to spend on buying bits and pieces. After chatting to FoAM, we had decided on a bath tub design, with a nice wooden lid (perhaps an old door) which could provide a flat surface for plants. | ||
Line 39: | Line 39: | ||
**Step 4** | **Step 4** | ||
- | Place the wooden blocks in 4 corners of the 2nd tub. These blocks create space between the food layer and the composting layer. Stack the tubs on top of one another. | + | Place the wooden blocks in 4 corners of the 2nd tub. These blocks create space between the top food layer and the second |
{{: | {{: | ||
Line 45: | Line 45: | ||
- | Out on the balcony, the old worm farm is full and overflowing. It was time to dig in, harvest out worm castings that were ready and put the rest of the compost in the new worm farm. | + | Out on the balcony, the old worm farm is full and overflowing. It was time to dig in, harvest out worm castings that were ready and put the rest of the compost in the new worm farm. The second level is in ' |
- | {{ : | + | See that I added some shredded wet newspaper to the existing compost. Worms love newspaper. I was told this via my permaculture teacher who spoke to a worm farming expert in Australia. Carbon (newspaper) helps balance out the rich nitrogen from the food scraps. It gives the worms a balanced diet and makes the compost stable (ie so it doesn' |
- | NOTE: If you were starting out a brand new worm farm, you would put food scraps on the top level, and once it was filling up and the food breaking down you would move that section to the lower level. This would allow the worms to finish composting the food scraps below, and allow you to start a new food layer on top which they will climb to when they are hungry. After a few weeks, the layer below is ready for harvest (more on harvesting soon). | + | {{:img_1261vert.jpg? |
+ | |||
+ | One final step before it's ready to go. These plastic tubs have been designed to fit snugly when stacked on top of each other. So by creating the space between the tops 2 layers with the wooden blocks, there is a small gap for worms to escape. A metre of mosquito netting, some elastic, a needle and thread... and it was time to make, the **Escapee Worm Preventer**... | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{: | ||
+ | |||
+ | I knew that my sewing classes in primary school would come in handy one day. | ||
+ | |||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | VOILA! | ||
+ | |||
+ | [[How the worm farm works]]\\ [[How to harvest castings]] | ||
- | But we were moving existing worms and food compost at various stages of decomposition. I placed the ready castings in a separate container, I moved the food at a latter stage of decomposition to the bottom layer and added some shredded wet newspaper (as carbon helps balance out the high nitrogen content of the food, and this farm was getting a bit smelly - a sign to add newspaper!), | ||