6 tips to starting a worm farm
By Lottie Dalziel
Having a worm farm is a great way to significantly reduce your household waste and carbon footprint. Worms eat food scraps and odd bits and pieces keeping them out of the landfill and help regenerate our soil. These hungry little beings can eat up to their body weight in food every day. Here are our top tips for having a successful worm farm.
What can worms eat?
These ravenous little fellas eat more than you would expect.
- Food scraps (small amounts of citrus and onion)
- Teabags
- Coffee grounds
- Newspaper and cardboard
What can't worms eat?
Generally speaking, your worms are not very fussy if you put something in your worm farm that they won't eat you will know about it!
- Meat, dairy and fish
- Chilli, lots of citrus and onion
- Dog and cat poo
- Cooked food that contains oil or seasoning
Where should you keep a worm farm?
If the worms in your farm are happy the farm itself won't actually smell, you can keep it on your balcony or in your garden, the farm is propped up on legs so doesn't need to be sitting over the earth. The most important thing is to keep the farm out of direct sunlight, if the farm gets too hot the worms won't eat as much food and in extreme cases, they will die.
Where do you get a worm farm from?
I often see worm farms listed for free on Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree as people move in and out of homes. Alternatively, you can use the Compost Revolution website to get a discount on your farm or head to your local hardware or Bunnings.
How do you set up a new worm farm?
Setting up your worm farm is easier than you think. Simply purchase your worms, the farm and I recommend a tumbleweed feeding block. Soak the feeding block in water and watch it expand, break it apart and place it and your worms in the middle level of the farm, cover with an old hessian sack or cotton t-shirt. Allow them to settle in for 3-5 days before feeding them 500g of food. Each week after that increase the amount of food you're feeding them by a handful or so.
Why does my worm warm smell bad?
A healthy and happy farm should smell earthy if it is stinky and pungent chances are you are feeding your worms too much and they aren't eating your scraps fast enough. To solve simply remove larger pieces of food that aren't breaking down and stop feeding them for a couple of days so that they can catch up.
Any other questions?
Let me know! Comment below, message me on Instagram or email me info@banish.com.au.
Download the Waste Less Workbook for more information on how to compost or start a worm farm.