Digester<Green Cone>/Wormery ?

[julfren]

Hi
I am seriously thinking of investing in a composter (of which I know very little) or a wormery (I shudder). If I could reduce the amount of food waste sitting for long periods in the bins it might aid in reducing my bluebottle population. As we don't have a bin collection in the area, we tend to wait maybe too long before bringing food waste to landfill.

I would appreciate it if anyone who is using a composter or wormery could give me your personal experience. Or if you know anyone who has one they don't use that I could experiment with for a while and then decide whether to invest or not. I'm sure the question of food waste(particularly meat and meat proucts waste) must be a problem for a lot of people. Because many are now recycling so much the food bins aren't being emptied as often as they used to be.

My local council say that there isn't enough research done into composters yet as to their efficiency. I know they can be expensive. They are sold here in Ireland as Green Cones I think.

Any experience/advice/ anyone?

Jul

[toddler]

Hi,
Well worth doing, Roscommon Council are selling compost bins at cost, maybe your council are as well, they also have a leaflet telling you what to put in, what to leave out and roughly how long it will take before you can use it. All very helpful.
Not had anything to do with wormeries since I was at school but if memory serves they wouldn't convert food as quickly as you might like them to.
Hope this helps.
Toddler

[el_loco_blanco]

All the county councils are selling them. My local recycling centre has them. It is definitely worth the investment as long as you have the space for it. A composter won't take cooked food or meat etc. Nothing annoys me more than those brown bins for organic waste. I went for a walk lastnight and the smell outside some of the houses was unhealthy.

[John Kieran]

I have both a compost bin and a wormery. You can buy a small unit for wormery over the internet, [no onions or citrus fruits can go in though] my one in shed and it's brilliant.....the problem with composting is that if fruit flies get into it then your swopping bluebottle problem for fruitfly problem....but this is easily overcome.

Go for both.....you get okay compost for garden, but with wormery you get the best compost, its like black gold!!!!

[julfren]

Hi again

Thanks for replies.

I should have said DIGESTER rather than composter.You see can details of digesters at greencone.ie I would like to get feedback if possible from someone who is using a digester before investing in one. I already have 3 compost bins and couldn't be without them. I am actually going to get another bin for acidic waste - such as citrus - orange, lemon, grapefruit waste - a very slow process but I'm patient and can wait! We have a good no of coniferous trees near the house and needles etc that fall from those would also go in that special bin.The resultant compost would be useful for plants etc that require lime-free soil - ericacious compost as they call it in the garden centres. I am certainly considering the wormery and I do realise that it has to be monitored carefully. If only I could conquer my unease about those good hard-working creatures! I'll have to psyche myself up! Maybe in the New Year ...

Jul

[TheBear]

Hi,
Well worth doing, Roscommon Council are selling compost bins at cost, maybe your council are as well, they also have a leaflet telling you what to put in, what to leave out and roughly how long it will take before you can use it. All very helpful.
Not had anything to do with wormeries since I was at school but if memory serves they wouldn't convert food as quickly as you might like them to.
Hope this helps.
Toddler
I thought that wormeries gave compost far quicker than compost bins/heaps, in as little as a month (compared with a year for the latter).

Our compost bin is indispensible by this stage, and we're planning on getting a wormery in to help it out.

[julfren]

Hi TheBear

The wormery will take raw meats and other foodstuffs whereas the compost bin will take organic waste only(veg peelings, eggshells,shredded or torn up newspaper, grass, hair,teabags, etc but no foods). The net result from both is compost that can be used in the garden. They are both slow enough but we have to get started some time.

Jul

[sparkwell]

I have been doing a bit of research into Greencones myself. They are very expensive in Ireland about €200.00 I think but you can get them in UK for £69.95 http://www.naturalcollection.com/natcolnew/searchresults.aspx?search=food+digester[/url]. I just have to find a relative coming home for Christmas! A friend of mine has recommended them for getting rid of cooked food waste including meat and chicken carcasses!!

[julfren]

Hi Sparkwell

Seems to me that our Co Councils should be subsidising the cost of wormeries and digesters to keep stuff out of landfills. If they are genuinely interested in care of the environmentthey should be doing more.They have made a start with the compost bins and water butts but they need to go further. I was at a landfill today with a load and much of what Iwas dumping could be composted by worms or by a Greencone. The smell of chemicals was overwhelming there. I don't know which is worse - the smell of dumped material or the chemical used to treat it!

Jul

[sparkwell]

Hi Julfren
I agree with you that wormeries and digesters should be subsidised, but I don't think that will be happening with the recession and money being tight! We are regular visitors to the landfill at Portlaoise and the recycling facilities are very good and free for recyclables. We also dump our own household rubbish that can't be composted so that is why I am thinking of getting a digester as it would get rid of most of the food waste that the dog won't eat that causes the smells. It would be a way of cutting down on trips.

Sparkwell

[Griffen]

If you are thinking of starting a wormery I would advise you not to buy a "ready made wormery" as they tend to be expensive & in many cases do not work very well if at all. They are also too small as a rule.

Here is how to do it:
1.Get a plastic dustbin or a plastic water tank. Drill drainage holes in the bottom & air holes around the rim. (if using a dustbin remember to drill the holes below where the rim of the lid fits)
Remember worms can drown & they need to beathe.

2.Sit your perforated worm tank on some bricks so that any liquid can drain away.

3.Start filling the tank by putting a 6 ins drainage layer of stones etc in the bottom.

3.Next a four inch layer of ripped up newspaper or cardboard.

4.Buy a bag of garden peat & moisten it well.

5.Get hold of a bag of old horse manure or old cow manure .(You do not want fresh stuff especially if the cows or horses have recently been wormed as traces of the wormer will kill your own worms.)

6.Mix the peat & manure in a 50/50 mix & add to the bin.

7.Get hold of approx 1kg of red worms. (these are the worms you find in old horse or cow manure).or you can buy them over the internet!

8.Tip worms onto the surface of your wormery & put a lid on the tank to stop them escaping.

9.Worms eat bacteria not the actual apple core ,vegetable peeling etc.
So ideally you also need a bucket with a lid so you can put all the stuff for the wormery in it & let it go all slimy & mouldy before just putting it into the wormery. Sounds gross but we just had a bucket by the back door & emptied onto the wormery when it was full.

10.Worms slow down when it is cold so good idea in the winter is to keep the tank in a shed or garage where it will be a little warmer.

11.Maintenance: Worms need a moist but not a wet environment. They also like one that is slightly alkaline so its a good idea to get some chalk & sprinkle a handful on every so often . (Tip.Buy a packet of chalks from a stationers & grind or smash them up to a dust.

12.Worms can escape so if you are using a tank just cover the top with a piece of plywood or a polystrene insulation slab weighted down.

We use the wormery for composting everything including dog poo!

[julfren]

Hi Griffen and Sparkwell

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions and instructions. The home-made wormery seems to be the way to go. I hope to tackle the food waste problem in this household in the New Year. Re the digester is there anybody out there who actually has experience of using a Green Cone, for example, over a period of time? I have been hearing varying reports on their effectiveness.

The Co Councils would actually be saving money if they could give some practical incentive to people to reduce the amount of food waste that is being taken to landfill. They would save on labour and machinery and chemical costs. Like all green ideas, there needs to be vision and patience and long-term goals at both local and national government level. Half-hearted token attempts will not do.
Jul

[KD7]

Hi,
I spotted this old thread while looking online for a Green Cone today and thought I'd update on the price in Ireland. The price was €145 but after I contacted them and asked about the Sterling rate, ecoshop.ie dropped the listed price to €95. So now's a good time to buy I think, it's seems like a good product if used correctly. The site greencone.ie is very expensive still however...(not affiliated with ecoshop.ie by the way!)
http://www.ecoshop.ie/

[VOL]

Hi,
I use a green cone along with a composter and it's saved me a fortune in refuse charges. You don't get anything out of the green cone, it seeps into the soil. I have it in a flowerbed and I could hardly get into it this summer with all the flowers so it's obviously doing some good! It's a little more trouble than a composter to set up as you have to dig a big hole but it's well worth the trouble.

[julfren]

Hi KD7
thanks for your info. It is certainly the time to buy the cone. At €95 it is a good bargain. I already have a composter which won't of course take meat and food. Has anybody any experience of a digester?
Regards
Jul

Hi,
I spotted this old thread while looking online for a Green Cone today and thought I'd update on the price in Ireland. The price was €145 but after I contacted them and asked about the Sterling rate, ecoshop.ie dropped the listed price to €95. So now's a good time to buy I think, it's seems like a good product if used correctly. The site greencone.ie is very expensive still however...(not affiliated with ecoshop.ie by the way!)
http://www.ecoshop.ie/

[julfren]

Hi Vol

Thanks for your reply. I am tossing up between Green Cone, Wormery and Digester.I have already got a Composter which is very good for fruit and veg peels, eggshells, torn paper (non glossy), ground coffee, teabags,grass clippings in small amounts,some weeds( not the broad leaved ones like dock),etc but the composter will not take food waste( bread, meat, cooked and raw, etc) I'm not too happy with the fact that you don't get compost from the Green Cone. Thanks Vol for that info. I didn't realise that. The wormery gives compost and liquid feed. The digester I'm not too sure about. Anyone have any experience of one? I know they are a bit pricey and the councils aren't apparently giving their seal of approval to them yet as there is some reservation re their effectiveness.At least that was the last I heard from KK Co Council some months ago. The wormery causes me some squeamishness! I shall continue my research and shall soon make some decision.

With regard to ashes from the fire: if there is coal being used you cannot put it in the compost bin as it is toxic but you can put in ashes from wood burning.

Jul




Hi,
I use a green cone along with a composter and it's saved me a fortune in refuse charges. You don't get anything out of the green cone, it seeps into the soil. I have it in a flowerbed and I could hardly get into it this summer with all the flowers so it's obviously doing some good! It's a little more trouble than a composter to set up as you have to dig a big hole but it's well worth the trouble.

[KD7]

The digester doesn't create compost like a regular composter, but does add nutrients to the surrounding soil, and every year or so it can be cleared out with that being a rich compost; the nutrient rich surrounding soil can also be moved around the garden as well.
Use a regular composter in tandem for composting raw veg waste from kitchen, garden trimmings etc.; makes sense if you have a small veg. patch I think as you'll have plenty to compost anyway.
A possible problem with wormieries is they slow down during winter, but your kitchen waste doesn't. Don't know if I'm 100% correct about this though...

[KD7]

Hi Vol

I know they are a bit pricey and the councils aren't apparently giving their seal of approval to them yet as there is some reservation re their effectiveness.At least that was the last I heard from KK Co Council some months ago.
Jul

I don't think that's why they won't fund it. Probably lack of vision, lack of forethought, lack of will, lack of funds, lack of imagination. They been used for a long time elsewhere, and local gov. funded as well. God love Irish local and national gov.; but you get what you vote for.

[Riona]

Griffen-I really like the idea of the DIY wormery-as there's 7 of us we'd need 2 of the commercial ones, but I have one question-how do you harvest the compost? Do you just start a new bin when the first one is finished, as transfer the worms across?