MARY HARDY
INTRODUCTION
Worms can work for you in a number of ways but the two that concern us most in this booklet are their ability to break down waste material into a rich compost-like material called castings and their tunnelling activity which saves you having to do the digging yourself.
There are several different types of worms and they don’t all do the same work. Rather than going into their Latin names, suffice to say you need ‘compost’ worms for your worm farm and ‘pasture’ worms for your garden. The conditions in your worm farm should not suit pasture worms and if you put compost worms in your garden they will probably disappear within a few hours.
Worms (pasture) in your garden are more efficient diggers than we can ever be so we need to encourage them by not using poisonous sprays and fertilisers. Adding copious amounts of organic fertilisers to your soil and using organic mulches will attract worms. If you are not sure whether there are any in your garden all you have to do is lay down a large piece of thick cardboard, wet it thoroughly, weigh it down with rocks or bricks then leave it for about a week. When you lift it up you should have worms!
CONTAINERS
There are a number of commercially-made worm farms on the market and they do the job extremely well.
Our most successful worm farm container: an old water tank
It is not necessary, however, to lay out a lot of money as there are cheap ways of getting into worms. Polystyrene fruit boxes from the greengrocer or supermarket, old wooden boxes, discarded cement laundry tubs and old baths have all been used successfully. Our best container was an old water tank into which we put divisions. Whatever you use, your container should have some drainage, a cover to protect your little treasures from the weather and it probably should be open in some way to the ground at the bottom.
The next step is to prepare the container for its new occupants. Now get worms!
MARY HARDY’S QUICK RECIPE
- Cover the bottom of your container with leaf litter, hay or straw.
- Place a layer of manure (preferably cow) on this.
- Put 2–3cm of soil on top of the manure.
- Sprinkle on sand and dolomite or lime.
- Place the worms on this. They will soon make their way into the mixture.
Feed the worms manure and food scraps by putting it into a hole made in the mixture. Keep the mixture moist but not wet and cover with newspapers and carpet to keep it moist, damp and cool.
FURTHER COMMENTS
Some people fork their bedding and worms over but I prefer no to.
Always make sure that the worms are damp and that they don’t overheat. Cow manure for instance is a cold manure and therefore very suitable for worms. Horse, chicken and pig manure tend to heat up so use them very carefully. It is better to allow these manure types to age for a while before use and never spread them over the whole area in one go. You can use fresh cow manure but the worms won’t touch it until its about three days old. Rabbit manure is the best you can get and sheep manure will break down beautifully into great castings. NB Ensure that the animals which supplied the manure have not been wormed during the previous fortnight as the medication will kill your worms.
I don’t put fresh vegetable scraps into my worms. I put them into a bucket or drum with the lid on for about three days first. I only rinse the bucket rather than washing it because it contains the bacteria to break down vegetable scraps.
If you pick up hard cow manure from the paddock don’t put it straight on the worms. Soak it overnight, strain off the liquid then put the manure into the worms who will go straight into it. The worms really like the big pats; the liquid you strained off is really good fertiliser for the garden.
Peak worm breeding times are between September and December then again in autumn. They are dormant for a month in the hot weather and in winter.
OBSERVATIONS AT TERALBA WORM FARM
The worm farm at Teralba is run by Lake Macquarie Council along the same lines as your backyard worm farm. Just much bigger!
Large bays have been built out of timber and placed directly on concrete floors. These bays are prepared by placing sheets of wet newspaper and cardboard directly on the concrete floors then shredded paper is placed on top and watered down. A quantity of grass clippings which has been kept in silage (non-aerated pile) is then added and mixed with the shredded paper. Manure is then added and, occasionally, vegetable scraps. This is kept watered and allowed to settle for week or so.
Worms are then added and covered with hessian bagging which is sprayed with a fine spray of water every morning; twice on a hot day. The hessian serves two purposes: to keep out the light and to catch the water which can then drip down through to the worms. The bay is forked over twice a week.
The worms are fed once weekly and sometimes more often if they have eaten everything. If they are hungry they will come to the top. The food is placed down the middle on the top so that the worms will stay in the centre to eat allowing the sides to be harvested for castings and eggs. Cow, pig and horse manure are used as well as food scraps. Worm castings—the finished product—take 3–4 months.
The worm farm breeds three varieties of worms: Lumbricus Rubellus (red wrigglers or blood), Eisenia Fetida (tigers, banded and yellow tail) and Perionyx Excavatus (oval and big blue) which are the best ones for fishing.
To get worms look for ads in gardening magazines, hardware stores, nurseries and anyone who already has a worm farm. Easy!