Dear Carl, Fab video! Love the worms acquired! You are doing great on getting all your systems up and running. Can wait for more! Best, Alex - NetZero Homestead
I have been worm farming ( In my 2 bedroom apartment. ) for over 2 years Now. In your cardboard covered space, If you had loosened up some of the soil first, and then put some cornmeal on top of it, I think you would have gotten a lot more worms. Actually, A few Pieces of Old watermelon would have drawn a lot of them to you also. You did a very nice job on the video.
love your updates! I'm at uni and living in a shared house right now. My first little courgette is poking through and my tomatoes are beginning to fruit! am very much gardening for fun right now - but aspire to be a homesteader in the future!
I setup a tiered wormery about 2 years ago in Feb. It is more work than i expected to keep them alive and healthy, especially during winter as you are mainly relying just on food scraps. I also brought the crates into the workshop to keep them warm and active enough to process the food during winter. The cocoon production is also slower during these months. The crates i use, don't have lids but i''ll explain later how i deal with that. A lot of YTer's that have created wormeries or promoted these types of wormeries, don't give updates or if they do, it is because the colony died. It is an isolated eco system, so you need to make sure that you keep that system in check, like a pet. I bought 3 black crates from B&Q about 45 x 35 cm for about £2.75 i think each. Drilled drainage holes in 2 both in the bottom and around the side about 2 inches down from the lip. I lined one of the crates with with holes, with torn up cardboard and some of our native doggy clay soil. Mixed in some small twigs and food scraps and lightly watered it all down. Start with this for the first "holed" crate. Our child and I found about 20-30 worms in the garden, mostly red wrigglers and tiger worms and a few earth/slow worms. It's better to find the red ones after it has rained. Our earth/ slow worms died because i found that they prefer to work 2ft below ground. Their guts are more robust and they create tunnels that aerate the soil in the deep dark and prefer a more carbon based diet. You will only see them if it has rained loads or they are not getting enough oxygen. Red wrigglers and Tiger worms like to live in the top 1 ft/ 30 cm deep region. They love the nitrogen rich offerings but also balance their diet with the carbon sources. I literally went through a whole rabbit hole of info about having a wormery. Our child was very fascinated about seeing the whole life cycle of our new pets and now they are bored. We now have a snail spa for the ones not added to the composter! Anyways, bottom crate without holes is the base for the excess nasty worm wee that isn't actually worm tea. I put in 5 flat stones about fist size. You will need to check this when you do your feeds to get rid of the excess water and rescue any worms on stone islands. I would say, start of with one crate with holes and fill as above as the 2nd is for rotation and a new layer when you have good casting levels. Finish the top layer with chopped cardboard and then i cover it from light with some whole newspapers and a cardboard sheet from a cereal or pizza box. Once it is outside and it is raining (like that is never happening in London this apparently!), just cover the top with something or else the escapee worms at the bottom will drown. We have about 300 + worms in our crate system atm now. When i wind down a crate, i will put a few handfuls of worms in the main composter. I know when it's ready as there is no more doggy clay soil and wind down the food and cardboard. That is when the second crate goes underneath with some more doggy clay soil, twigs (or thick tomato stemmed leaves) and broken cardboard and the process begins again. The only issues we had with this method was last year, with a weird black thin insect layered eggs, so we changed crates and not properly covering it when we actually had solid rain this year and i had 3 tiers so the bottom got drenched. We put our casting to dry in one of those suet bird ball large round containers from wilko. At least £30 worth of casting. My only issue with those bags it the the location and the amount of rain you get to hydrate it. With the crate system you have more control of the eco environment, without having to hose it down with water. I also bought the crates due the prices of the larger systems to see if i could keep up with the care of the worms. It's like a spa until i put them in the composter with the snails and slugs, not that we have had many this year! Aphids are the belly of the beast this year here in London! Nasturtiums are finally big enough as a trap crop! Also, now sporting my water, washing up liquid and veg oil spray! I think i just need to practise my fortnight dance! lol What part of the UK are you from if you don't mind me asking please?
Wow- thank you for such a considered comment! I am certainly grateful to you for taking the time to share that information! I am on the Dorset/Somerset border. I am aware that I will face challenges with managing the micro climate and will indeed be treating them like pets. I am also fully expecting to have some ups and downs as I get used to their preferences. I will take on board everything you said. Thanks again 😊
Really looking forward to seeing how the worm bin goes. We went with a hot bin for our kitchen waste and have had mixed results so far. Although it is going strong now the weather has warmed up we really struggled with it over winter.
Finding the right composting system to be effective in a small space can take some thinking about. I think it’s a really important puzzle piece though isn’t it. 😊
@@SelfSufficientHub definitely! Both because we don’t want to add food waste into commercial systems if we can help it and also because the cost of buying compost can escalate quickly if you aren’t careful!
Hey mate, I have a few questions about this. One that might make the others redundant is if I already have an absolute truck load of red wrigglers in my beds, pots, soil, compost, everywhere lol. would harvesting worm castings like this be unnecessary? I've just turned my compost and there's heaps of worms in there alone. so my thinking is to add another compost heap with the assumption being that the worm castings are already in there?
You’ve pretty much got it right. Except one thing. Firstly let me say I’m not an expert and still learning myself. As always. But basically by having a vermicomposting system I am hoping to produce an environment where the worms are turning my waste to castings in a matter of days. In a large heap you will have aerobic composting happening which produces heat that the worms will not cope with and the process takes longer but is no less productive overall. For me, this is specifically so I have a weapon to use against food waste that I don’t want to add to my regular compost due to a fear of attracting pests. I will be better placed to take a view in your question overall in a few months when I can really speak to the effectiveness or otherwise of what I’m doing. Make sense?
@@SelfSufficientHub that actually makes a lot of sense mate. And don't worry, I don't come to you for your expertise. I like to throw around ideas in a more logical way and test them out. I like this as I wasn't considering the heat as much. It makes sense - I'll let you know how I go too!
Hi Lewis, I’m not an expert by any means but am lead to believe that the ‘red wigglers’ that live in the uppermost section of the soil are perfect. I’d love it if you could share a link to alternative info 👍
Great update Carl - very excited to see how your worm bag goes. Not sure if we can get them here yet (will check it out for sure) but we really like the sound of it. We’re looking at all the options for transferring what we do and adapting to wherever our next adventure takes us. It’s about twelve months away but our waiting room is definitely our classroom for now. 😉👍 ps awesome that you were able wrangle some of your own worms too. 😜🪱
Dear Carl, Fab video! Love the worms acquired! You are doing great on getting all your systems up and running. Can wait for more!
Best, Alex - NetZero Homestead
Thanks Alex! 👍😊
I really enjoy following your adventures in this smaller space. It gives me ideas about what to do in a tiny garden space
That’s awesome to hear Anne! Truly! ❤️👍
Great job building the frame. 🙂
I have been worm farming ( In my 2 bedroom apartment. ) for over 2 years Now. In your cardboard covered space, If you had loosened up some of the soil first, and then put some cornmeal on top of it, I think you would have gotten a lot more worms. Actually, A few Pieces of Old watermelon would have drawn a lot of them to you also. You did a very nice job on the video.
Love how excited you were when you found the worms.😊
Lol yep- that pretty much sums me up 🤣👍
Love your grin for the worm bin 😄
I am truly excited about it! More than I thought I would be! 😊
@@SelfSufficientHub yeah I'm feeling pretty old by how excited I am about worms 😅
@@ssmith2608 🤣
love your updates! I'm at uni and living in a shared house right now. My first little courgette is poking through and my tomatoes are beginning to fruit! am very much gardening for fun right now - but aspire to be a homesteader in the future!
That’s awesome James! Great to hear! Thanks for sharing and let me know your updates in the future too! 😊👍
Beautiful smile.
Thanks 😊❤️
I setup a tiered wormery about 2 years ago in Feb. It is more work than i expected to keep them alive and healthy, especially during winter as you are mainly relying just on food scraps. I also brought the crates into the workshop to keep them warm and active enough to process the food during winter. The cocoon production is also slower during these months. The crates i use, don't have lids but i''ll explain later how i deal with that.
A lot of YTer's that have created wormeries or promoted these types of wormeries, don't give updates or if they do, it is because the colony died. It is an isolated eco system, so you need to make sure that you keep that system in check, like a pet.
I bought 3 black crates from B&Q about 45 x 35 cm for about £2.75 i think each. Drilled drainage holes in 2 both in the bottom and around the side about 2 inches down from the lip.
I lined one of the crates with with holes, with torn up cardboard and some of our native doggy clay soil. Mixed in some small twigs and food scraps and lightly watered it all down. Start with this for the first "holed" crate.
Our child and I found about 20-30 worms in the garden, mostly red wrigglers and tiger worms and a few earth/slow worms. It's better to find the red ones after it has rained.
Our earth/ slow worms died because i found that they prefer to work 2ft below ground. Their guts are more robust and they create tunnels that aerate the soil in the deep dark and prefer a more carbon based diet. You will only see them if it has rained loads or they are not getting enough oxygen.
Red wrigglers and Tiger worms like to live in the top 1 ft/ 30 cm deep region. They love the nitrogen rich offerings but also balance their diet with the carbon sources.
I literally went through a whole rabbit hole of info about having a wormery. Our child was very fascinated about seeing the whole life cycle of our new pets and now they are bored. We now have a snail spa for the ones not added to the composter!
Anyways, bottom crate without holes is the base for the excess nasty worm wee that isn't actually worm tea. I put in 5 flat stones about fist size. You will need to check this when you do your feeds to get rid of the excess water and rescue any worms on stone islands.
I would say, start of with one crate with holes and fill as above as the 2nd is for rotation and a new layer when you have good casting levels.
Finish the top layer with chopped cardboard and then i cover it from light with some whole newspapers and a cardboard sheet from a cereal or pizza box. Once it is outside and it is raining (like that is never happening in London this apparently!), just cover the top with something or else the escapee worms at the bottom will drown.
We have about 300 + worms in our crate system atm now. When i wind down a crate, i will put a few handfuls of worms in the main composter. I know when it's ready as there is no more doggy clay soil and wind down the food and cardboard. That is when the second crate goes underneath with some more doggy clay soil, twigs (or thick tomato stemmed leaves) and broken cardboard and the process begins again.
The only issues we had with this method was last year, with a weird black thin insect layered eggs, so we changed crates and not properly covering it when we actually had solid rain this year and i had 3 tiers so the bottom got drenched.
We put our casting to dry in one of those suet bird ball large round containers from wilko. At least £30 worth of casting.
My only issue with those bags it the the location and the amount of rain you get to hydrate it. With the crate system you have more control of the eco environment, without having to hose it down with water. I also bought the crates due the prices of the larger systems to see if i could keep up with the care of the worms. It's like a spa until i put them in the composter with the snails and slugs, not that we have had many this year!
Aphids are the belly of the beast this year here in London! Nasturtiums are finally big enough as a trap crop! Also, now sporting my water, washing up liquid and veg oil spray! I think i just need to practise my fortnight dance! lol
What part of the UK are you from if you don't mind me asking please?
Wow- thank you for such a considered comment! I am certainly grateful to you for taking the time to share that information!
I am on the Dorset/Somerset border.
I am aware that I will face challenges with managing the micro climate and will indeed be treating them like pets. I am also fully expecting to have some ups and downs as I get used to their preferences.
I will take on board everything you said.
Thanks again 😊
Really looking forward to seeing how the worm bin goes. We went with a hot bin for our kitchen waste and have had mixed results so far. Although it is going strong now the weather has warmed up we really struggled with it over winter.
Finding the right composting system to be effective in a small space can take some thinking about. I think it’s a really important puzzle piece though isn’t it. 😊
@@SelfSufficientHub definitely! Both because we don’t want to add food waste into commercial systems if we can help it and also because the cost of buying compost can escalate quickly if you aren’t careful!
@@OtterwoodCottage 💯 👍
Hey mate, I have a few questions about this. One that might make the others redundant is if I already have an absolute truck load of red wrigglers in my beds, pots, soil, compost, everywhere lol. would harvesting worm castings like this be unnecessary? I've just turned my compost and there's heaps of worms in there alone. so my thinking is to add another compost heap with the assumption being that the worm castings are already in there?
You’ve pretty much got it right. Except one thing.
Firstly let me say I’m not an expert and still learning myself. As always. But basically by having a vermicomposting system I am hoping to produce an environment where the worms are turning my waste to castings in a matter of days. In a large heap you will have aerobic composting happening which produces heat that the worms will not cope with and the process takes longer but is no less productive overall.
For me, this is specifically so I have a weapon to use against food waste that I don’t want to add to my regular compost due to a fear of attracting pests.
I will be better placed to take a view in your question overall in a few months when I can really speak to the effectiveness or otherwise of what I’m doing.
Make sense?
@@SelfSufficientHub that actually makes a lot of sense mate. And don't worry, I don't come to you for your expertise. I like to throw around ideas in a more logical way and test them out. I like this as I wasn't considering the heat as much. It makes sense - I'll let you know how I go too!
I don’t think those worms will work correctly, you need tiger worms
Hi Lewis, I’m not an expert by any means but am lead to believe that the ‘red wigglers’ that live in the uppermost section of the soil are perfect.
I’d love it if you could share a link to alternative info 👍
I have emailed you some info that you might find interesting
@@lewisgardner1660 thank you Lewis 👍
Lewis - I’ve been searching my emails and can’t find the one you sent anywhere, so sorry. Could you please resend?
I have resent it now
Great update Carl - very excited to see how your worm bag goes. Not sure if we can get them here yet (will check it out for sure) but we really like the sound of it. We’re looking at all the options for transferring what we do and adapting to wherever our next adventure takes us. It’s about twelve months away but our waiting room is definitely our classroom for now. 😉👍 ps awesome that you were able wrangle some of your own worms too. 😜🪱
That’s awesome! Are you excited or nervous?
@@SelfSufficientHub a bit of both! 😂 Mostly excited though. It feels like we’re coming full circle at last. 😉
@@geoffanddebshipton6797 ❤️