Question 1

What can be composted in Subpod?

Accepted Answer

You can compost a lot more in Subpod than in other worm farm systems. You can compost food scraps, including citrus, onions, and after four months of active use, even small quantities of meat, fish, dairy, and spicy foods.

Carbon items such as paper and cardboard, lawn and garden clippings, and a whole lot more can be composted in Subpod. You CANNOT compost non-organics such as plastic, tin cans, cigarettes, and such.

Question 2

How many Subpods do I need?

Accepted Answer

The average family generates 7kg (15lbs) of food waste a week, just for reference.

We have designed the Subpod to be used for a family of up to four people, processing around 15kg (33lbs) of organic waste per week.

It will take from six weeks to three months to get your Subpod working at this capacity, depending on the season and how much you feed it. The worms need to settle in and build up their numbers.

Subpod is modular, so If you have more than 30L/15kg of waste per week, you can choose to connect two or more Subpods and create a bench seat, or install in separate garden beds.

Question 3

What is a worm blanket? What is it used for?

Accepted Answer

Worm blankets are made of a water-absorbing, air-permeable and light blocking fabric.

Question 4

How do I keep ants out of the Subpod?

Accepted Answer

Ants are attracted to dry conditions, so this is usually an indicator that your Subpod is too dry.

Question 5

Do you have to reintroduce new worms after you empty the compost?

Accepted Answer

When you empty your castings and compost, the worms will not be with the castings, but where the food is, on the other side of the Subpod divider.

When the system is getting full, stop feeding one side. After two weeks, most of the worms will move to the other side where the food has been added. This allows for easy harvest of the castings from the unfed side.

Question 6

Does Subpod attract pests and rodents?

Accepted Answer

No it shouldn’t. Subpod’s built-in ventilation panels have small holes that keep out bugs, pests and rodents, whilst allowing air to flow in. Just make sure the ‘worm holes’ in the sides of the Subpod are covered with soil so nothing can sneak in.

Some pests are attracted to the smell of rotting food. By keeping a healthy Subpod, your food won't rot, it will instead be composted by your worms and microbes.

Keep your food scraps in a sealed container/caddy to make sure bugs don’t lay eggs in your waste before you transfer it to the Subpod.

Question 7

Can we leave the Subpod if we go away on holidays?

Accepted Answer

To keep the worms happy while you’re away, buy a pumpkin (or use one that is starting to rot), cut it in half and lay the open sides face down on the top of the bedding of the Subpod.

Then add a generous layer of dry carbon, either shredded newspaper, coir (coconut husk), wood shavings, crushed dried leaves or dried (brown) grass clippings on top of the pumpkin, and place the worm blankets over everything.

Question 8

My worm bin has fruit flies - what should I do?

Accepted Answer

Composting is indeed a complete ecosystem but flies don’t need to be tolerated.

The best product for dealing with them is our DE powder

or to sort it inhouse

Make your own fly trap. This can be as simple as setting a little jar containing a mixture of red wine vinegar and dish soap on your counter. Within a day or two, you will start to notice a collection of dead little flies floating on top. If you’d like to try other trap methods, consider making a paper funnel that will invite fruit flies down into the vinegar but make it nearly impossible to fly back out.

Question 9

My wormery is too wet - what can I do to help this?

Accepted Answer

Cardboard is great for your worm composter (as is a sprinkling of lime mix) A ratio of 25-30% volume of shredded cardboard or equivalent will ensure the compost doesn't get too wet and there is air circulating. Avoid the really shiny boxes like soap powder and go for newsprint, egg boxes etc.

Question 10

What should I do about mites in my worm bin?

Accepted Answer

There are a few types of mite that love a worm composting kit and this is all normal and part of the ecosystem. However, as with most things if they start to take over the kit this can become a problem. There are two main types – a reddish brown mite and a white shiny round mite. Both are tiny and if numbers become huge they eat the food and your worms will tend to burrow deeper into the kit and this in turn stops the worms from reproducing as effectively.

If you have a problem with a population of mites which seems to have gone mad the things to look at in your Urbalive or Worm Composter are:

Could it be too wet? Feeding lots of really watery waste (cucumbers melons etc) can cause this or is there a lot of water getting in (wormeries usually let some water in and this is fine but some shelter is very useful. The wormery needs to be damp but not soaking wet.

Leave the lid off on dry days or undercover and expose the kit to the sun where possible to help dry it up.

Once conditions are back to a good balance for your worms then of course they will be less favourable for the production of the mites so normal worm service will be resumed.