If you are collecting a lot of "worm tea" your worm bin environment is likely too wet. You should add lots of dry, shredded paper, lifting it into your worm compost to bring additional oxygen into your system.
Lift up the dry shredded paper or bedding every few weeks and gently dig to the bottom of the tray, taking care not to disrupt the worms too much.
If the material at the bottom of your tray or bin looks wet and smells a little, these are signs that you need to add air to your system and improve the drainage, so excess fluid has a clear path out of your bin. Let your nose be your guide. Every time you feed your worms, lift the lid and take a big whiff. Maybe you added green waste that is producing the odor, or maybe your worm bin is becoming anaerobic.
Lift up the bedding and underlying material to bring air into the system. Keep your worm bin in an environment with a fairly constant temperature that is neither too hot nor too cold.
Never keep your worm bin in an area that receives direct sun exposure, or in an area that will become colder than 5 degrees Celcius. If you keep your worm bin outdoors, watch for worm predators. Moles, birds and even some dogs love the taste of worms! Keep your worm bin inside, preferably, if if that inside place is in your garage. As long as the environment is not too cold and not too warm.
Some worm composters add amendments to their bins, which contain lime, oyster shells, rock powder and egg shells. These amendments require additional knowledge and understanding of how additive ingredients mix into the worm bin environment; too much of one element can send your bin out of balance.
We are in the process of field-testing this new product to ensure it yields maximum results. Stay tuned, and visit us often to learn more about this exciting new product, which will greatly improve productivity in your worm bin. EMAIL: info allthingsorganic.
Read Blog. How To. Join our mailing list. Feeding Your Worms - worm composting Your worms will happily consume just about any decomposing food and other organic waste that you feed them.
DO feed your worms a rich assortment of the following fruit, vegetable, and organic waste, including: Fruit and vegetable peels, rinds and cores Egg shells Coffee grounds and filters Tea bags Aged manure from any vegetable-eating animal rabbits, horses, cows, llamas, etc.
NOTE: Make sure that you do not use manure that contains de-worming medication, which could kill your worms! When to Feed Your Worms Your worms and their ecosystem are healthiest when you feed them just enough food. Worm Bin Care and Maintenance So it's been a few weeks since you first got your bin, and you have fed your worms at least once.
Here's what to look for: The bed you set up before you added worms should be mixing and settling, establishing a homey environment for your worm community Your worms should start to visit the pocket of food waste you have placed in the bin. If you dig around gently in the area, lifting the food that you've placed, you should see worms congregating toward the food source. The Life of the Worm Bin Party As your new bin becomes established, the number and diversity of organisms living inside will increase.
Following are the organisms alive and thriving in your worm bin -- the more of them, the healthier your bin and more productive it will be in decomposing your green waste: Springtails Colembola family White, grey or brown in colour, springtails have six legs, three distinct body segments and two antennae.
Their most striking feature is a spring-like organ that they use to catapult them forward. There are two types of material that you will need in the bin for worm composting, bedding material and green ingredients.
The green ingredients are the organic household materials you will add to the bin. The bedding material can be dead plants, fall leaves, shredded newspaper, sawdust or straw.
Vary the material and use a few different materials. Fill the container about three quarters of the way with the bedding. You can dig in your garden to find earthworms for your bin or purchase them. The number of worms you need will depend on the size of the container and the amount of material you are composting.
Once you have filled the container with bedding material and added the worms, you can add the green ingredients. This can be fruit and vegetable peelings, crushed eggshells and other organic materials from your home or garden, such as grass clippings and leaves. Each time you add these materials, choose a different area of the bin.
After a few months, you will see no more bedding when you open the bin. The compost will be brown and full of worm castings. Push the finished compost to one side and add new bedding materials to the other half of the bin. The worms will naturally move out of the finished compost and into the new bedding. You can then use the finished compost as needed in your garden.
Composting has several benefits for your garden and the environment. Organic household waste is recycled in compost, which is environmentally friendly. This cuts down on the garbage in our landfills. Rather than decomposing in a landfill, the organic materials are returned to the soil to nourish your garden plants.
Compost is great fertilizer for indoor and outdoor plants. Acidic foods lower the pH of your worm bin. So do excessive amounts of grains such as wheat and cornmeal. To reduce acidity, start by removing the lid. This allows airflow. Crush clean eggshells and add them to the bedding. Gently turn the bedding. And pray. Your composting program might be in peril. Some amount of insect activity is normal in a worm bin. Composting is a natural process, and a few bugs will hang around the worm bin.
Most of them harmlessly help break down the food. However, too much food can attract a noticeable and irritating population of pests. Minimize this by burying the food and not feeding too much. If you have fruit flies indoors, see our Fruit Fly article. Many kitchen scraps are watery, such as melon, zucchini, etc. If you add too much food, excess moisture can collect in the bin.
The bedding should feel like a wrung-out sponge. If you can squeeze water out of a fistful of bedding, or if you see puddles, the bin is too wet. There are several possible reasons, but one reason is over-feeding. Blot any puddles with paper towels or clean, dry rags. Remove watery foods. Check the drainage holes to make sure they are open. Mix in some pure dry peat moss or shredded newspaper to soak up some of the moisture. You can try running a fan over the bedding surface, but this may have a limited effect.
Make sure rain cannot get in. See our article on Worm Blankets and Lids. Start by feeding in one corner of the bin. Wait a few days, then put the next feeding right beside it. Continue to work your way around the inner walls of the bin. By the time you get back to the starting point, the original feeding will be gone. This technique makes the food very easy for the worms to find, speeding the process. A healthy diet in the right quantity will keep your worms healthy and productive. Take care of your worms, and they will produce excellent organic fertilizer from kitchen scraps.
Please check out our website for live worms , indoor composters and composting supplies , plus finished compost. My worms were doing fine until the Summer heat hit North Carolina Charlotte area. I keep my bins 3 in the garage and they began to dwindle in the heat. We had a ton of 95 degree days here. They are starting to come back now that the weather is cooler. I now have gone to in ground composting. I cut the bottom out of a 5 gallon bucket, drill multiple holes in the side, bury it up to the rim, add veg scraps and put the lid on it with a stone on top.
When its full I pull the bucket up and dig another hole for the bucket and repeat the process. What a great idea Harvey Miles. Since I live in New York I will definitely try this method in the spring. Thank you for sharing your technic. I can not believe what we found in our worm bed!
A huge rat shredded our newspaper and had her little rats in bed! I was amazed! Well, needless to say we got rid of it. And I guarantee no other rats can come in!
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