Getting started
Set your worm farm up so it is in a frost free position shaded from the summer sun. Controlling the temperature to around 24°C will improve the overall performance of your system. In hot weather keep the worm farm regularly moistened.
If you are using a commercial worm farm kit fill the middle tray with the supplied worms and bedding mix or use soaked coir peat. Place the middle tray onto the collector tray and then add the top tray, which should be filled with new bedding. New bedding can be made up from materials like cow manure, a little soil, vegetable and food scraps, tea bags, coffee grounds, cardboard and paper strips, soaked coir, weeds and lawn cuttings. Don’t overdo it with lawn cuttings which can ‘sour’ the mix. Composting worms will eat almost anything that was once alive, and prefer a variety just like we do. Keep the system covered with the lid or something like carpet underfelt or hessian cloth. The worms will gradually move from the middle tray to the top (feeding) tray searching for food. The top tray should sit firmly on the surface of the bedding in the middle tray so the worms can move freely through the perforations into the new feeding tray above.
Commence feeding worms in a new system slowly for about a week, this gives the worms time to adapt to their new environment. Other foods worms like are crushed egg shells, avocado skin and poultry pellets. Avoid adding meat, fish or dairy products, garlic or citrus and onion peelings as these may produce offensive smells, attract pests and are not favoured by the worms.