any experience with a compost bin or wormery?

M

michaelm

Guest
I know the many councils will supply a compost bin for around €40 and various places sell wormeries but I'm wondering if anyone reading this has either type and if has been a good or bad experience, require much maintenance and any other insights they may have before I decide what to get.
 
I have a homemade compost heap at home, considering getting a proper bin as its important to keep the inside warm and dark, which I have some difficulty doing with my home made contraption. Works well for veggie scraps, leaves, grass etc, it takes nearly a full year to breakdown and start re-using the garden, but my bin lighter as a result!
 
I have one of those conical bins which the local authorities sell at a discount and it works fine for composing all kitchen waste (other than meat/fish), garden waste/clippings and the odd bit of paper (shredded newspaper, egg boxes etc.). It's mounted on a bare patch of earth (to allow earthworms and other creepy crawlies in), ingredients are chopped up small and I give it a mix every few weeks to keep it aerated. Every few months I add a sprinkle of those powedered compost makers/accelerators to help with the composing process. My mother makes hers in a couple of old metal oven cavities at the end of her back garden! :)
 
Hi,

We have tried lots of stuff. What you really need are those ones that you can rotate. It makes the compost much more rapidly. I'm pretty sure they are the ones we got from our CoCo.
 
What you really need are those ones that you can rotate.

I disagree - they may compost faster but the conical ones work fine. Every time I open the Irish Times these days they seem to have an article about how difficult compost is to make and how you really need this or that fancy gadget/bin which must put people off trying. It's not! Just do it! :) If you know somebody who already composts ask them for a bucket full to help start your own bin off. But this is not absolutely necessary.
 
Re: any experience with .. wormery?

The missus bought a worm composter about a year ago and it's worked out OK so far.

She started off with 10,000 of them and, although we haven't done a 'head'count since, they seem to be multiplying.

They devour vegetable peelings and other uncooked food waste. They're particularly fond of the pulp left behind by the juicer.

The, ahem, fluid (worm pee ?) they leave behind is, by all accounts., the best fertiliser for the garden. I can't speak about that with authority; cutting the grass is the extent of my involvement in the garden.

If you're interested I can find out the name of the supplier and post it here for you ?
 
womery

please do tell us about the wormery. I have been composting for years and there is so much stuff that you can use. Did you know that human urine is a good activator for compost? Don't use it myself ( blushes) but seems whatever is in it speeds up the stuff composting? In the old days ye old gardener would do his wee on the compost and what lovely plants he grew!!
 
re.

There might be something in here for you - I've just started researching this myself. I should have known to start at AAM ! :)

[broken link removed]
 
Re: any experience with .. wormery?

www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/shop

This is where we got them from. And it was 1,000 worms to start with, not 10,000 as in my earlier post.

This site also has details on composting in general.
FWIW

HTH ?

Edited by ClubMan to fix link.
 
..

If you have the worms, how does one remove the compost without removing the worms as well?!!
 
Re: any experience with .. wormery?

Did you know that human urine is a good activator for compost?

Yes - I remember my mother saying that all right and seeing it mentioned in a few places that pissing on your compost heap (or pissing in a receptacle and then transporting it to the compost heap if you're shy :) ) does it the world of good. Nitrogen and all that...

If you have the worms, how does one remove the compost without removing the worms as well?!!

In my experience even a "normal" compost heap ends up being a bit of a wormery by default. Presumably in a wormery worms alone do more of the job that is shared between worms and other organisms in a "normal" compost heap? Either way, when I remove compost from my heap it usually contains clumps of worms which I distribute along with the compost. Sometimes lots of worms congregate at the top/lid of the heap and I scoop them up and put them back into the composting matter.
 
Re. wormery

If you have the worms, how does one remove the compost without removing the worms as well?!!
Click to expand...

Within the wormery there are 3 levels. As you put 'food' in the top, the worms move up leaving the compost, or worm casts, behind them. They can be collected from the lowest tier of the wormery. The 'fluid' can be collected via a small tap.
 
Re: any experience with .. wormery?

Did you know that human urine is a good activator for compost?

Seems to me then that the best composters are the biggest piss artists ! :D
 
Re: any experience with .. wormery?

Did you know that human urine is a good activator for compost?

I presume worms aren't averse to the odd golden shower either?
 
..

I can just imagine having a load of lads over on the piss telling them all to take a slash on my worms....You'd end up with a few thousand worms killed from alcohol poisoning....
 
Re: ..

Then their carcasses would decompose creating some more lovely compost. The worms' carcasses that is, not your mates' hopefully! :)
 
Re: ..

Just wondering, are there flies and smells associated with wormeries? We only have a small garden so this would be a problem if near the house. Thanks.
 
Re: ..

Not really. Some flies but nothing untoward. A lot of small ones from time to time when opening it up and throwing stuff in but they're gone (back inside) again once the lid is back on. All part and parcel of the compost bin ecosystem I suppose. We have a small garden with the compost bin at the house end and it doesn't cause any problems in terms of smells, flies etc. It's amazing the number of creepy crawlies that contribute to the composting process, never mind the microbes that can't be seen.
 
Re: ..

Thanks Clubman, do you think you have more insects around in general then? We're not fans of the creepies in our house!
 
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