[gravychic]

I got my worm farm (3 tier round one on legs, with a tap for juice removal) from bunnings and it works pretty good, i lived next door to a subway and red rooster with a maccas across the street for a couple years and there was ALWAYS roaches around (mmm fast food dumpsters) but i never noticed any in/on the worm farm; guess they couldn't get inside. I did however spray barrier spray on the legs of the farm cos i was paranoid, don't know if that helped either.

http://www.kookaburrawormfarms.com.au/index.aspx?page=14 was where i got my worms from, they came fresh fat and wriggling! Also have gotten the worm eggs from them as well and everything went great. I got my worms online cos the bunnings ones i got first time around seemed a little lackluster and sickly.

[Guest_CaptainOblivious_*]

We have one and it's pretty good. We have these big white maggot things in there though which makes my stomach churn. Apparently it's pretty common and they coexist with the worms, but they make it smelly.

We googled worm farm and the local area and got a bunch of suppliers near us. We were going to buy the bunnings worms but opened the box up and had a look. It was completely dry and we couldn't see any movement at all so we didn't buy them. From memory, they were about $30 from the worm guy and are kicking on well.

[mylittlemen]

Thanks everyone. My free worm farm is on it's way from our local council!! And they provide the worms too (they ask you to make sure you can set up the farm on the day you nominate for delivery so the worms don't have to wait too long so hopefully they are good ones or I'll look into some of the other suggestions).

I'm getting excited now.

[KristyMum-]

be great to hear how you go with your new 'pets'

They really are brilliant in what they take care of and what they produce.

[whathousework?]

Posting here to keep all the worm farm stuff together. Re, the maggots in the worm farm, I've had my farm for about 3 weeks now and noticed today there's a heap of maggots in there The manual that came with the farm says it's normal but that if you want to get rid of them to place a milk-soaked piece of bread in there on top as it will attract them. After a few days you apparently scoop it out (pass the shovel please!) and bury it. Has anyone done this and did it work? I don't want to go anywhere near the maggots any more than I have to. I guess I could always feed them to the fish, though?

[fionah]

We have the maggots. We just leave them in there, there is no smell.
I tried the bread thing and it didnt work.

I find this site perfect for worm farm info.


http://www.tumbleweed.com.au/

Goodluck.

Fi

[TwiceThe Woman]

We've had our worm farm for about 3 years - tried ++ before but they died. Went to a council worm farm seminar and never looked back. We've never had maggots or cockroaches in it but we don't put any animal stuff in there - only vegetable. We now keep ours in the shed for longevity and have managed 2 summers now without total loss. So far, so good.
Everything thrives with the worm juice - it's just amazing stuff. Our veggie garden yielded 2-3kg zucchinis!
Good luck with it all and have lots of fun with your garden.

[laridae]

I've not had maggots in my worm farm - are you making sure the lid is tightly closed so flies can't get in and if you store the food scraps before putting them in, make sure its a sealed container so flies can't get in & lay eggs.

Maggots turn into flies eventually, so you could just let them out once they do, then shut the lid.

[i-candi]

The only downside to the white maggots is that they are hungry and will eat more of your scraps. Great if you have too much scraps!!!

I don't think the maggots in the farm are like blow fly maggots though????


Those with problems with heat in long summers to help cool down your worm farm have a frozen block of ice (made in an icecream container). Pop on top of your worms (probably over the newspaper) and they will go towards the ice when it is hot or if it is cool they will go down the bottom.

It's best to have two ice cream containers in your freezer, on freezing then one in the farm!! Mum has no problems with her worm farm in the hot dry Perth summers.