my Worms are coming!!!!

[badger]

I'm certainly not the best at this, but I guess I'm not doing that badly since I've had to give away a ton of worms twice from over population.

When I brought home the bin, there was some starter scraps, then on top was some torn/shredded newspaper mixed in with some hay and dirt. Sprinkle that with some water and leave it alone for a week (they stressed this quite strongly). What they taught me to do was to put the scrap in one corner, then the next week another corner, and so forth so you give the scraps some time to be broken down. Make sure to keep everything covered, though.

If you think it's too moist, try to get as much cardboard out, and maybe put some shredded newspaper in there. If it's too moist then they'll try to crawl on the sides to escape the moisture. Can't be too damp, and can't be too dry.

Try putting a potted plant on top of the compost bin's lid. It should absorb some of the heat.

[deeaimond]

oops... i think i put in too many scraps yesterday, and its only been 3 days. But the tomato was disappearing pretty quickly and the worms were on top of the tomato, eating i presume...

its not really moisture like - dripping liquid, but just very damp in a humid kind of way... ah well, i'm just gonna leave it outside where I'm less tempted to peer into it. It's in the shade of a two large trees and a banana plant... so I'm thinking it should be relatively cool. no potted plant on top, but plants all around.. does that help?

Maybe i need a bin with more surface area. I guess I'll do that when these worms multiply and I need to find a bigger place for them... My dad suggested I just take the top off to let the heat out. But i'm worried about flies.

I guess I'll check in on them and see what happens. I'm beginning to realise it will be months before I have anything able to cope with ALL the vegetable scraps we generate in my house though... (5 people, big veggie eaters)

Thanks badger!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Dee-
If you put too much grain stuff like bread or rice, it will start a hot compost reaction and your bin will start heating up- no good. Also, too much grain gives the worms 'protein poisoning' and they start to become deformed, like tied sausages (eew) and die.
Try to never put more than 1/4 or 1/4 of the food as grain-based scraps. They really love fruit and veggies scraps best, plus teabags and coffee grounds, and ground up eggshells. they also need the FIBER of shredded newspaper and cardboard- the fiber is good and also it keeps more air in the bedding. torn up cardboard egg cartons are a favorite, or brown cardboard box material.

It sounds like you are adding too much water to your bin. Leave the top off during the day. The daylight will keep the worms from trying to escape during the day, then put the lid on at night loosely. If your bin gets too sopping wet the worms will try to escape and the bin will smell bad. There is no way to 'seal' the worms in a bin when they don't like the conditions- and sealing up the lid and airholes just makes things wetter, stinkier, and worse.
Air circulation is your friend.

I drain the rotting scraps in the sink and squeeze the excess liquid out of it before adding to the bin.
If you bin gets too wet you can adding more dry shredded newspaper and mix it in a bit gently, and leave the lid vented open more.

[deeaimond]

Dee-
If you put too much grain stuff like bread or rice, it will start a hot compost reaction and your bin will start heating up- no good. Also, too much grain gives the worms 'protein poisoning' and they start to become deformed, like tied sausages (eew) and die.
Try to never put more than 1/4 or 1/4 of the food as grain-based scraps. They really love fruit and veggies scraps best, plus teabags and coffee grounds, and ground up eggshells. they also need the FIBER of shredded newspaper and cardboard- the fiber is good and also it keeps more air in the bedding. torn up cardboard egg cartons are a favorite, or brown cardboard box material.

It sounds like you are adding too much water to your bin. Leave the top off during the day. The daylight will keep the worms from trying to escape during the day, then put the lid on at night loosely. If your bin gets too sopping wet the worms will try to escape and the bin will smell bad. There is no way to 'seal' the worms in a bin when they don't like the conditions- and sealing up the lid and airholes just makes things wetter, stinkier, and worse.
Air circulation is your friend.

I drain the rotting scraps in the sink and squeeze the excess liquid out of it before adding to the bin.
If you bin gets too wet you can adding more dry shredded newspaper and mix it in a bit gently, and leave the lid vented open more.

Hi Lisa,

I've not added any liquid at all since day one, I think it was just too warm inside so the bin wasn't ventilating properly. There is no leachate (haha. I've been reading vermicomposting forums! linked from yr blog lisa )

i don't leave the bin open in the house, the tropical climate means that the fruit flies are fierce, the shredded newspaper a foot deep does not keep them away. Also I didn't want the dog to get inquisitive.

As I said yesterday I moved the whole bin outside. It rained today as well so when i came back, the lid was all wet. I checked inside and good news! the newspaper was damp and there are ants inside, but then the worms were all over the food and the bin was not sweaty anymore!! hooray!!.

I think I'll just leave it for a few days and see how long it takes for the worms to work through that quantity of food. I have frozen some lotus root and radish skins, and well as some mustard green ends, banana peel and teabags (I actually brought them home from work.. I'm going insane) So I think on Sunday I'll defrost that and feed them that after I squeeze off the water.

I didn't know about the grain and protein part. goodness I found out early. don't wanna kill my expensive worms.

Thanks Lisa

oh and by the way I love your garden. I'm green with envy can you see??

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Sounds like you are managing your bin well! After a while you start to sense what is going on in your bin.
I'm glad you are reading at the vermicomposting forum- that's where I learned much of what I know- a great worm compost knowledge source!

Thanks about my veggie garden- I am so excited this year about growing food!