Expert Advice

We recently had a question from Garry who had to move is worm farm and now has flies and ants, and it smells bad. Garry has plenty of worm action and lots of micro bugs etc. Can he rejuvenate his worm farm to its former glory?

Flies, ants and a bad smell indicate that your worms are overfed. The excess food has become anaerobic, which means there is not enough oxygen.

The good news is you can easily rejuvenate your worm farm to its ‘former glory’!

The ‘flies’ you mentioned are most likely ‘vinegar flies’. These small flies are attracted to gases given off by anaerobic microbes. To get rid of them, I suggest you:

• Use a small hand fork to dig and ‘fluff’ up – or aerate – the top feeding tray
• Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner on top of the food scraps
• Add a few handfuls of good soil on top of the food scraps every time you feed your worms
• Ensure you have a worm blanket on the surface of the feeding tray at all times
• Pour several litres of water through your worm farm every week – but before you do, install a bucket under the tap on the bottom tray. Open the tap and keep it open all the time to collect any worm ‘tea’ that drips out.

To encourage the ants to leave your worm farm, simply disturb the area they are in by digging it up, then sprinkle on some extra Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner

Worm Regards

Pete Rutherford

The short answer is Yes, but there are some issues to consider before you do!

Fresh, soft, green, leafy weeds (also called ‘wild herbs’) are higher in protein/nitrogen and are more like your kitchen scraps, so the worms will like these.

Make sure the VOLUME of weeds/wild herbs you put in is LESS than the volume of kitchen scraps you put in.

Still continue to add a few handfuls of nice soil on top of the kitchen scraps and also on top of the soft green weeds/wild herbs you put in. Worms need the soil ‘grit’ to put into their ‘Gizzard’ to grind their food. (Remember – Worms do not have teeth!)

Old dry, woody weeds with seeds on them are best NOT put into your worm farm. It is best to compost these or give them to your chooks, or if you cannot do that then put them into your local garden waste recycling system.

Add a little sprinkle (half teaspoon) of ‘Worm Farm and Compost Conditioner’, every week or two, to allow the worms to keep the pH in good balance.

Remember if you get any ANAEROBIC (bad smelling) gases coming from your worm farm then you are most likely OVERFEEDING your worms.  Stop feeding them for a week or so. Dig gently and mix up the top layer of the feeding tray. This will help with aeration.

Please let me know if you encounter any problems, with any particular types of ‘weeds/wild herbs’. We can then let other people know.

Thanks for taking good care of your worms and for caring for our earth! 

Eco Logos ( Ecology = I will take care of everywhere I go!)

Worm Regards

Pete Rutherford

We have recently received some good questions about the Bokashi Bucket scraps. I have trialled and managed a Bokashi Bucket, but we composted the contents in Tumbleweed 220L Compost Bin's. This went well, our compost bins do have a lot of worms in them so I am making an assumption that the Bokashi scraps will be fine in the worm farm. My main question to consider though, and I would like you feedback when you try this, is that the Bokashi pH is probably quite acidic, which worms don't like too much, so I would definitely be adding a good sprinkling of the Tumbleweed Worm Farm and Compost Conditioner,to the worm farm when you add the Bokashi scraps. We always add a regular small amount of 'Conditioner' into both our worm farms and compost bins at the Eco House and Garden Education Centre.

So my short answer is yes I think that the Bokashi scraps could be added into a working worm farm. Make sure you add a sprinkling of 'Worm Farm and Compost Conditioner' in with the Bokashi contents to help balance the pH.

The great news is that worms love spring – its not too cold or too hot – in fact it’s the perfect season!

As it gets warmer, the first thing they’re going to do is become more active. They’ll want to eat more which means they’ll produce more castings for your garden – and that’s just as well because rich worm tea is what your garden needs right now to get the fruit and veges flourishing!

To get the most from your composting worms, increase the amount and variety of scraps you add to your worm farm and add some extra Worm Conditioner to boost the nutritional value. Water the farm every week – that way you’ll produce the worm tea your garden needs!

If you’ve moved your worm farm to a sunny spot for the winter, now is the time to move it back into the shade – a worm farm will warm up quickly in the sun and your worms will suffer – they enjoy an environment that’s around 18-25 deg C.

Finally, check the condition of your worm blanket – with warm dry weather just around the corner, a good blanket will help keep the moisture in.