Hi,

I've had your Wormery for a few weeks now and the little wrigglers keep going through the layers of newspaper at the bottom, through the plastic tray with holes and find their way into the sump and drown!

How can I stop these little wrigglers from behaving so?

The level of the liquid is way below the drain, so unless I tip it nearly horizontal no liquid comes out.

Cheers for any advice!
Then I'm looking for some more worms!

I have exactly the same problem. Used the original wormery for six months and only the last 2 months getting a little bit of liquid in the bottom, but enough to drown some worms if I don't attend to it daily. I now lift out the whole tray, remove the worms from the bottom that are still alive and replace them in the compost. Then I drain off the little bit of liquid. However, I can't do this when away for a period. My compost is about 10 cm high, so when there is more it would be too heavy to lift out.
The liquid smells really foul and not sure if it is meant to be like this.
Perhaps Liam will have an answer! Good luck.

I have exactly the same problem! I have to tip the bin twice a day to empty the sump. Sometimes my worms come out the tap! I'm starting to believe that I got a batch of worms with suicidal tendencies.
The bin is starting to get a bit too heavy for tipping though. Should I put cloth over the sump lid?
I went away to a festival and had loads of drowned worms when I got back.
Any advise?

No it's not right, if any liquid produced in a wormery is foul smelling it is a certain indication that the "compost" in the wormery is anaerobic, that is without oxygen, the bugs, bacteria etc are a completely different type to the ones you would find in good worm compost, in this condition the "compost" should not be used, the liquid will also be anaerobic and will be positively harmful if used on your plants (see postings on this problem elsewhere on this forum) These anaerobic conditions will also drive out or kill off the worms, if you dig around in the bin I would be extremely surprised if you would find any live worms, particularly in any quantity. Any waste that is added will continue to decompose but in an anaerobic form (this system is often used in large scale enclosed vessel digesters) this can be misleading because as you keep adding waste it keeps on reducing often in the belief it is the worms doing the work! it's only when you dig around or empty the bin you realise there are no worms, in reality, this is how most of the cone type composters are also reducing the waste. The question has to be asked "why are these anaerobic conditions being produced?

Ok, so things started getting worse and there were more and more worms coming out the sump. So, last night I dumped out the contents of the bin and rescued my last remaining worms and put theminto some fresh bedding.
I had a good layer of worm compost and then a horrible sticky layer. The only conclusion is that there was something they didn't like and from the layer it looked like melon. I thought they'd love melon. I found loads more dead worms all clumped together in a corner of the bin and in the sump. Feel bad- poor little things.
Anyway, I'm starting again with my remaining worms and the horrible sticky mess has been dumped in the compost bin. Bugger is all that I can say! This worm thing is less productive and harder than I thought. I'm starting to think that the tiered system might be better- at least they can get away from contents they don't like and head up to the next level.

After much experimenting, have found that a single layer of weedcloth (available form your good ol DY store) keeps the little wriggers out of the sump.

We now have worms breeding in the bin, the contents are dry/moist (as I'm adding good quantities of paper/cardboard) - but half of the worms seem to prefer life outside of the compost. I regularly turn over the contents, and am hoping that I've got it sussed now...

Hi everyone
I had the same trouble with the first lot of worms.
I have now Taken every thing out of the wormery and put a single layer of weed barrier sheet.on top of the bottom tray and taped it under it to hold it on the sides. Then folded the corners under and held them with one flange of the leg this held it in place while I refitted it into the wormery. I Then put aprox 4 " of compost & sharp sand on top of that and then the worms & compost & food That I got out in the first place. The three worms I had left have suvived so I have got some more worms to try. ( I got a small amount from the internet.)
I Have also Used some silicone to block up the gapes & creveses in the foam fitted to the lid to stop escapeing worms