zerowaste

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Discussing ways to reduce waste and build community!

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To worm farm or not to worm farm? (self.zerowaste)

submitted 1 year ago by punkfrog to c/zerowaste

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Hi Punks! I am wondering what would be the best option to do some eco waste recycling at home? I am living in a small flat and have a balcony where I am trying to grow some veggies and herbs. Lately I am getting targeted apps about worm farms that you can have either in your flat (because apparently they don't smell?) Or on a balcony. Does anyone have experience with this? Or does it make more sense to simply compost? I think you can use bokashi as well to compost that has some microorganisms? I am wondering what would be the best option smell wise and suitable for smaller amounts of waste and space. If anybody has some experience to share I'd be grateful :)

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[–] ebikefolder@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I used to have one in my flat. For about two years it worked perfectly, but somehow something went wrong and I noticed too late that something was off. The pH (acidity) was wrong for some reason, which resulted in the worms dying. I bought new ones and managed to get it up and running again, only to get a real bad infestation with fungus gnats after a while, which soon were all over the flat.

When they work, worm farms are a great source if absolutely fabulous compost (for which you have to find a use - it's way more than your balcony could handle). But you have to constantly monitor moisture, temperature, acidity, and look for any larvae of bugs you don't want. And read up on what to do to fix any problems as early as possible.

I decided to do without after the second failure because we have curbside collection of bio waste, and the worms were just an interesting experiment. It was fun, though.

[–] punkfrog 1 points 1 year ago

That was as very helpful thanks! That's exactly the kind of stuff I was worrying about. Maybe I should opt for compost rather then, I am scared of getting flies in the flat and also don't want to accidentally kill the worms.