Beehive Wormery. Made In The UK INFORMATION + INSTRUCTIONS

Beehive Wormery Made In The UK INFORMATION + INSTRUCTIONS

Beehive Wormery Congratulations on becoming the owner of the BEST ever wormery. This unique wormery, or to give it its proper name, vermicomposting unit, is the ultimate in kitchen and green waste disposal by worms that you will ever see. This specially designed unit is made to maximise both the life of the worms and their capabilities to devour kitchen and green waste. This unit has been made from wood that complies with FSC standards, with a little maintenance and care it should last you for many years. Please do treat the wood occasionally, every 1-2 years with a good wood preserver that does not have an acid base or become acidic when in contact with water. The unit itself is designed for ease of use as well as longevity. Worms need a well ventilated, secure, damp/moist and spacious environment to thrive and your Green by Nature Beehive wormery has been designed to maximise these specific requirements. The Green by Nature Beehive Wormery has been tried and tested to ensure that with proper feeding and management your worms will digest and convert your green waste and kitchen waste into highly nutritious garden vermicompost which has been shown to enhance the growth and flavour of many fruit and vegetables as well as being a fabulous feed for all your lawn and garden needs. 3

Beehive Wormery Unique Features: 1 Ventilation The Green by Nature Beehive Wormery is designed to allow ventilation without letting the worms escape. The effect of good ventilation is to allow the worms to breathe adequately and to allow excess moisture to evaporate. This reduces the overall internal weight and mass of the contents without harming your worms. 2 Drainage The Green by Nature Beehive Wormery has a specially designed drainage section at the base of the unit, the sump. This sump will collect the valuable liquid that may be produced from your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery. The mesh allows the liquid to drain through to the sump without allowing the vermicompost or worms through. The highly concentrated liquid feed which may collect in this drainage section is excellent for virtually all plants whether indoor, outdoor, greenhouse, grow bag or lawn. This is highly concentrated and for use on plants should be diluted 1 part Vermicast liquid to 10 parts water. 3 Capacity Deeper and wider than many units the Green by Nature Beehive Wormery allows a large surface area allowing maximised feeding space. This large feeding area ensures that the worms have space to feed and grow. The larger the surface area the greater the effectiveness of the wormery. 4 Stability This unit is designed for safety, durability and efficiency. Your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery has undergone rigorous tests to ensure that it is robust enough to withstand almost any amount of heavy handling. Only the best raw materials are used from known suppliers, the wood is from sustainable supplies. 5 Removal of Contents The Green by Nature Beehive Wormery allows both the easy removal of the entire contents should you need to empty the container as well as allowing air circulation. Each section can be easily lifted off and emptied as needed. 6 Manoeuvrability The Green by Nature Beehive Wormery has large, sturdy feet. It is easy to manoeuvre by lifting each section, moving to where you wish it to be and re-constructing the unit. Keep it by the kitchen door when using it for kitchen waste or maybe at the end of your garden for easy disposal of your garden waste. In the winter or very hot summers you may wish to move it into the garage or garden shed to keep your worms comfortable and at their maximum preferred temperature levels for survival and reproduction. 4 Tel: 01794 51 39 51 More products available at: www.earth-essentials.co.uk

The Kit includes: a) The Green by Nature 3 level Beehive Wormery Unit b) Tap c) Feed d) Coir Block e) This manual f) Live worms/voucher Once received, please immediately check that all the items listed above are included, should there be anything missing please contact your supplier immediately so that the omission can be sent to you. If you have a worm voucher, please send it to Green by Nature (address on voucher) when you are ready to receive your worms. Worms are dispatched on the same day as the voucher is received and sent by first class mail. Please ensure that there is someone available to receive the worms on the day of delivery. Assembly of Green by Nature Beehive Wormery Decide where you wish to place your Wormery and start with the base unit (the unit with the legs and tap). If necessary screw the tap into the hole provided. Place the 2 levels on top of the base unit. In the top level place the seperate fine mesh on top of the fixed mesh. Initially you will only add waste to the top level. Finally place the lid section on the top. Getting started It is important to settle your worms in quickly to their new environment. Green by Nature package and dispense the worms in as safe and as stress free method as possible, however they will have been disturbed from their usual environment and will need time to settle. You will see that the worms have been sent in the bedding that they have been used to and we have included a coir block to provide additional Place fine mesh on top of the fixed, wider mesh Screw in tap if neccessary bedding to aid the settling of the worms. Soak the coir block in about 3 litres of water for about 1 hour, break up the soaked coir squeezing out as much of the water as possible. Settling in your worms Place several sheets of dampened newspaper into the top level on top of the mesh, leaving a gap around the sides for drainage. This gives your worms a safe and secure bedding to start their new life, it may also make the removal of the castings easier when you do this in a few months time. Add the prepared coir onto the paper and place the worms onto the bedding, they will rapidly burrow into the bedding below to escape the light. Feed with a handful of the supplied feed sprinkled over the top of the bedding once all the worms have burrowed below. Place a few layers of damp newspaper on top of the bedding. This will keep the bedding moist, give the worms some food as they love damp newspaper and provide an ideal environment for them to settle. Close the lid and leave for 7-8 days. You may wish to check periodically that they are not trying to escape. LID TOP LEVEL BOTTOM LEVEL BASE 5

Beehive Wormery Making the most of your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery Feed little and often. Worms like a mixture of food stuff, you will find a list of their likes and dislikes on the attached sheet. Worms do not have teeth so food needs to have begun to decompose before they can ingest it. Also food that is in small pieces is easier to eat so it is advisable, but not essential to finely chop food waste prior to placing in the Beehive Wormery. You will only be using the top level to begin with. Feed a small amount every 3-4 days on alternate sides of the bin. If this is gone after a week you can be happy that you are feeding enough. If there is food left over stop feeding for a day or 2 until the food has been eaten. If there is still food stuff left it may be because what you have given is not suitable. However if you follow the recommended diet they should happily eat it all eventually. The worms may seem slow eaters at first and this is because they will need time to settle. They will happily eat the feed, paper and bedding that you provided on their first day. Once this has all gone and they are happily settled you will find that they adapt to their new environment well and will devour most if not all that you give them. It will take usually between 4-6 months at least for the top level to become full. Once full to the height of the sides, you can then bring the bottom level above the top level and start adding feed to the new top level. The worms will come up through the holes to the food source and will take it back down to the lower level. Once the top level is beginning to fill you will find that the worms will begin to stay close to the food source and will not keep going back down. Again this layer will take several months to fill. Once the top level is full to the brim most, if not all the worms, will have migrated upwards so you can now empty the bottom level. Once emptied, the bottom level can be placed on top of the other layer and start again. You can discard the very fine mesh as this is no longer needed and will prevent the worms getting to the food. Maintaining your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery Moisture levels. Worms thrive in damp, dark, moist conditions. They do not like getting water logged or too dry. The vermicompost should be quite damp to the touch and you should just be able to squeeze out a drop or two of liquid if squeezed hard. Feeding. Feed worms every 2-3 days. Only allow the food to become about 4-6 cm (2-3") deep at any time. Allow the food to be fully eaten occasionally before adding more. Temperature. Worms will survive in most temperatures but cannot survive in extremes. They will survive between 2 and 26 degrees. However at lower and higher temperatures than these the worms will become dormant and feed less, breeding will also stop and they may even die. The best temperature is between 15 and 22. In extreme conditions we advise that the wormery is brought inside a garage or shed or even indoors. 6

PH Levels. Worms require a neutral PH of around 7 to survive. It is imperative that the PH level is maintained within a region of 7-7.5. The high level of oxygen content in the Green by Nature Beehive Wormery will help keep the PH balance. None aerated composters and wormeries do not maintain the correct PH levels so are more susceptible to death of the worms. Aeration. It is important to keep the Green by Nature Beehive Wormery well aerated. Worms need air to survive. Once a week add shredded paper, card such as the centre of toilet roll and cardboard egg cartons roughly broken up. Wearing rubber gloves use a fork or your hands to reach in the top few inches and break up the soil mass and mix up with the shredded paper and card. Removing the Vermicast It will take several months to fill the unit with vermicompost. If happy the worms will live in the top 1-2" / 2-5 cm of bedding coming to the surface to eat. Once full you can remove the vermicast from the Green by Nature Beehive Wormery by lifting off the bottom level and emptying it around your garden wherever you wish, please do see the section below specifically on Vermicast, (castings). Useful tips for utilising the Vermicast in your garden. This is excellent for regenerating tired soil, for vegetable patches, house plants and pot plants in fact almost any soil areas and plant will benefit from having this highly nutritious plant feed. The micro organisms in the vermicast are active in maintaining the soil s natural structure. Other uses: Use around the plant base to give them added nutrition. Lay in the bottom of trenches when planting out seedlings, especially root vegetables. Use as a mixture with compost to add to the beds when forking over in spring and autumn. Use as a top soil dressing when your house plants absorb all the fertilisers in their potting compost. Just remove the top layer of soil in the pot and replace with the vermicast, the goodness will be drawn down to the roots when watering. Vermicast is an ideal organic soil improver, just dig straight into the bed that you are treating. The sump at the very bottom of the Beehive will collect the leachate or worm tea. This is a very strong plant food and needs to be diluted 1 part leachate to 10 parts of water. You can then use this for pot plants, house-plants or just generally around the garden. It can even be used on seedlings as it will not burn your plants. Amazing results can be achieved with vermicast! 7

Troubleshooting Too much water in the unit If the bed becomes too wet, drain off as much water as possible either by pouring off from the top or opening the tap and allowing the liquid to drain out at the bottom. Once drained mix some shredded dry newspaper to the compost, this will absorb excess moisture and the worms really love it! Wear a good pair of rubber gloves and mix the vermicompost up which will also aerate the unit Beehive Wormery is too dry Add some wet newspaper to the vermicompost, mix well with the top 2-5 cm (1-2") add extra water if necessary but if additional water is added, use a sprinkler nozzle on the watering can and lay moistened sheets of newspaper on the top. Worms do not like to be in too much water so avoid pooling. Food going rotten Worms need food that is moist and has partially decomposed as they do not have teeth to masticate (break down) the food. Check that your worms are alive and well in the top couple of inches of the unit, if so stop feeding for a few days until all the food has gone. Ensure that the foods given are on the list of suitable foods for the worms. The beehive wormery is full In correct conditions the worms will live in the top 2-5cm (1-2") of the level, this is where they get their feed from so prefer to live close to their food source. When you find that the level is getting too full all you need to do is to start feeding in the next layer upwards, the worms will migrate upwards into the new level where the food is. They will continue in an upwards direction following the food thus filling the next level above. Eventually most if not all the worms will have migrated to the next level therefore allowing the level beneath to be emptied. Do not worry about losing your worm stock, so long as you keep a good quantity of vermicompost soil at the top they will remain. You may lose a few but the remaining soil should contain eggs and enough remaining worms which will keep your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery active for years to come. Worms are escaping The main reason worms will try to escape is to get to a better environment. If you keep the wormery at the correct temperature, do not allow the soil to become acidic or become too wet or too dry, and feed as directed, the worms will most likely stay where you want them. If your worms are escaping, check where they might be escaping from and block their exit. Usually it will be from either the lid or the sides. In either case just seal up the area with several sheets of wet newspaper. Make sure that the conditions are optimum for your worms and they will happily stay where they are. Worms are not eating all the food given. First check that you do still have worms! I know this seems a basic thing to do but they can either escape or die! To check is not the nicest of jobs, you will need to put on a good pair of rubber gloves, then just dig your hands into the unit and lift the soil around. If happy and healthy they should be in the top few inches or about 10 cm's or so. If not try looking deeper especially in cold weather when they do tend to bury deeper to escape the cold. Assuming your worms are there and healthy there are several reasons that the food may remain uneaten: 8 They don't like it! Worms are not very fussy eaters but they do have preferences so try a different feed stuff for a while, avoid those on the "No" list and try using more on the preferred list.

There is too much food - cease feeding for about a week, or until all the food has gone, then start feeding again. There should only be about 2-5cm (1-2 ) of food on the top at any time. The food has not rotted down enough - worms cannot eat whole carrots and tree trunks, they need to be shredded and/or allowed to decompose so that they can ingest it. The worms have died Again there are many reasons for this, too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry or soil too acidic are the main ones. Refer to earlier section on how to manage your Green by Nature Beehive Wormery. Should all the worms die, please do contact us, we do supply worm only packages as well to re-start your Beehive Wormery. The worms need an aerobic condition, in other words, worms need air! If the soil becomes too wet or compact it will starve the worms of air. About once a week aerate the bed by either mixing the soil up with your hands or alternatively by using a fork to dig into the bed and break up the soil to allow air in. Check the PH balance in the soil, it should be 7. If 6 or lower the conditions become too acidic and your worms will die. If you do find that the soil is becoming acidic try adding Lime Mix which can be found at most good garden centres. There are flies maggots insects etc. in or around the bin. This is because the food you are giving the worms is not being eaten quickly enough. Feed sufficient for them to eat in a short period of time, so don't over feed. Stop feeding for a while until all the feed stuff has gone. The flies etc will go elsewhere and you can start feeding again, remember feeding smaller amounts and not overfilling with kitchen waste which they cannot eat quickly enough. The food fed to the worms does need to have begun the decomposing process for them to eat it, so do not feed fresh food as this also encourages the unwanted creatures. If you are feeding meat products then bury these under about 2cm of soil to prevent encouraging vermin and flies etc, the worms will still eat it. White worms and mites White worm. These are very small, fine thread like worms that are often found in vermicompost. They are harmless and will not affect your worms or the vermicomposting. If you have a great number and wish to get rid of some just stop feeding for a while until all the food is eaten and then feed a small amount. The white worms will swarm the food and you can easily shovel them out. Mites may be seen and look like dark grey dust on the top of the wormery. If you look very closely you may see them moving en-masse. The easiest way to rid the mites is by vacuuming the top occasionally. This will not eliminate them but will reduce their number. Like white worms, mites are harmless. Unit smells Take the same remedial actions as listed above. Place a couple of layers of moistened newspaper on the top and do not feed for a few days. When kept at optimum conditions you should find that the only smell from your unit will be a rich earthy one. Weeds are growing in the bin In the unlikely event of weeds growing just pick out the weeds as soon as they appear. Allow the weeds to die before throwing them back into the bin for the worms to eat. 9

F.A.Q s Q I am going away, can the Green by Nature Beehive Wormery be left? A. yes, the unit can be left alone for a week or two without any problem. If you think the weather will get too hot or too cold it is best to put the bin in a suitable area before you go, such as the garage or garden shed. Feed the worms a good portion of food before you leave, and check that they are not too wet or dry and they should be fine.? Q. How can I control the breeding to prevent overcrowding? A. you won't have to; the worms will breed to their capacity of environment and once "full" their breeding will reduce. Q. Can a Beehive Wormery be managed indoors? A. Yes, a smaller version can be used for indoor use for those who do not have a garden. Q. Is there any risk to humans from the compost? A. No, the worm casting is an organic matter which is excellent for the gardens. Obviously it must not be ingested by humans and we strongly recommend that anyone touching the Beehive Wormery and casting wash their hands thoroughly after use. If kitchen waste is disposed of in your Beehive Wormery you do need to ensure that the contents are disposed of in your own garden and not allowed to be emptied in council areas or any other public areas. 10

Suitable food for your Beehive Wormery Almost any dead or decaying organic matter, so long as it is small enough, ie peelings, scraps from plates etc. Tea bags (without string or metal) Egg shells - crushed Kitchen scraps (excluding those on the Unsuitable list) Cardboard - such as egg boxes, toilet roll centres - pizza boxes etc. Shredded paper - non glossy. Small pet cage waste such as rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters etc. Garden green waste in small quantities, unless you have a very large Beehive Wormery which has a very large quantity of worms. If the worms are not able to digest the contents quickly enough, especially large quantities of grass clippings, the green garden waste can begin to compost which may make the unit too hot inside for the worms to survive and prevent good aeration of the unit. Horse or cow manure, though this must be watered and allowed to rot down before being fed to the worms as fresh manure is very harmful and may well kill your worms. Household vacuum dust from a standard vacuum cleaner.

Worms do not like to eat:- Any inorganic material. Such as metal, plastic, glass etc. Glossy or shiny paper Onions and onion skin, leeks etc. Citric fruit such as lemons, limes, pineapple and oranges as these contain high levels of acid which are harmful to the worms and they won't eat them! Worms will eat dog and cat faeces but we strongly recommend that the Beehive Wormery is not used for this. A special Dog Poo Wormery designed for this purpose can be purchased from Green by Nature Large quantities of grass clippings. Fresh food: allow fresh food to decompose for about 2-3 days before feeding to worms.

WWW.EARTH-ESSENTIALS.CO.UK Enhance your green lifestyle today! More products are available from our retail website - www.earth-essentials.co.uk - where you can purchase great products including: Perfect for all breeds of dogs Dog Poo Wormery Replaces the poly bag pick-up method which contributes to landfill sites and environmental pollution. As a responsible dog owner, the dog poo wormery allows you a modern, efficient and environmentally cleaner way to dispose of dog waste. This system is sustainable, doesn't produce excess smells and produces a useful by-product. Boost all of your plants Black Gold Worm Castings Produce stronger plants that live longer! Black Gold worm castings or worm compost are an organic, vermicast fertiliser produced naturally by earthworms. This high quality plant food will boost all your plants and grass, PLUS, there is no need to use chemical fertilisers on your soil. NEW Range of Composts Our range of composts to suit all gardening needs including Multi-Compost, Vegetable, Soil Improver, Lawn Dressing, Sowing & Cutting and Tub & Basket. A clean, green, peat free compost that's easy to handle and work with. All contain Black Gold worm castings - A top quality organic, vermicast fertiliser produced naturally by earthworms Paper Briquette Maker This superb product allows you to turn old newspapers and general paper into solid briquettes that will burn on your fire. Desktop Wormery Massively popular with schools - Kids love the Desktop Wormery and it's the ultimate gift for the person who has everything. Simply remove the lid and add your own green waste - the worms will do the rest. Magnetic Dog Collars Vets and owners have reported amazing improvement and/or recovery from a wide range of ailments - Your Pet Could Benefit Find out more about these products and see many more at: www.earth-essentials.co.uk or telephone us on 01794 513951