Category: Crawl-off

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Troubleshooting Problems in Your Red Worm Composting Bed

Red Worms eating

Composting Worm Bed Troubleshooting

  • Common Worm Bin Problems and Solutions
Problem:
  • Worms crawling to the surface of the worm bed and dying.   This is called protein  poisoning by some.  This is really just putrification of the worm bedding.  This happens when there is too much water and too little air.  Remember that bedding should be moist but not wet.  The bin should smell Earthy and not like death.  You can save your worms if you just caught the problem now and some worms are still alive and healthy.
Solution:
  • Aerate the bedding immediately.  Add dry peat moss  or coir to the bedding and mix it in.  Add dry crumpled newspaper if you don’t have peat and coir. You can add newspaper even if you do have coir or peat.  Fluff the bedding and let the dry material act as airholes through out the worm bin or worm bed.
  • Remove and corn or bread products.  Worms can tolerate small amounts of bread and corn but too much will cause fermentation in the bedding. This will cause putrification.
  • Test for pH.  Anything above a 7 is too alkaline or below a 6 is too acidic.  Treat with powdered limestone.
Problem:
  • Worms are crawling off.
Solution:
  • If this is a new bin or bed of worms then they just might not be used to their home.  Red Worms and Euroworms will attempt to crawl off when they are first installed in their new home.  Especially after a long trip from our farm to yours.  The easiest cure is to put a light over the worm bin, worm bed or composting bin for a few days.  If the worms are well fed and the pH and conditions are right then the light will not be needed.  J
  • Just remember that worms will attempt to crawl if they are left in open worm bins outside in the rain.  If you can cover them they will not crawl off.  You can also put a two inch strip of wood around the top of the bin to as a crawl barrier.  The wooden slate would hang over the top of the worm bed with the lip hanging over on the inside of the bin.  The worms will crawl up and will not be able to go around the wood slat.  This is the best solution.
  • If the worms have been in the bed for a while you will want to check to make sure that your bedding is not acidic, that it is not anerobic or that the bedding is not used up.  If the bedding it powdery and there aren’t signs of food in the bed then it’s time to change the bedding and use the worm castings on your organic garden.  Worm castings are the best natural fertilzer known to mankind, wormkind and wormmankind. 🙂
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How Many Worms Do You Need for You Worm Composting Bin?

One of the main questions that we get all year long is “How many worms do I need for my vermicomposting bin?”.  Many people start their Red Worm composting bins using bins that they have in the house, or something that they bought inexpensively and they have no idea how many worms it takes to get their worm composter going.  I have probably answered that question a thousand times over the years.

Now the work is done for us thanks to a site called http://www.howmanywormsdoineed.com  .

The site allows you to choose 3 different types of worms and then input your worm bin demensions by inches.  The site then provides how many worms you will need for your worm bin or worm bed.

The cool thing is that it is simple and easy and accurate.  Check it out and let us know your thoughts.  We will be linking to it on our site too.  We have been give permission to link to the calculator below.  Try it out and then squirm on over and get some worms from Wormman.com.  🙂

 




Worm Bin / Worm Bed Calculator




Result

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5 Reasons Why Your Redworms, Like Your Spouse, Will Leave You if you Don’t Treat them Right

Sometimes we don’t realize that there is a problem in our relationship with our significant other until they just leave one day.  One day, you wake up, find a text from another person, a pair of foreign underwear under the car seat, lipstick on their collar or they just up and leave you and you are left befuddled and heartbroken, trying to figure out what happened and how you could have stopped it.

Well, I had that moment this morning and I can tell you that same goes for worm farmers and their worms.  Today, at 4 AM, I was awakened by the soft sound of light rain.  Farmers get up early.  I made a cup of coffee and decided to take a walk out to look at the 500,000 red worms we harvested yesterday, which were to be shipped today.  Nothing seemed out of place as I walked to our staging area, which is outside but is under canopies.   Then I noticed the lights were off.  We always keep low wattage lights over our new beds or newly harvested worms.  It stops even the worst offenders from crawling off from their new digs.

The lights were a clue but didn’t really register right away.  I was too busy thinking about how the got shut off.  Everyone knows better.  Maybe I didn’t turn them on?  Maybe I shut them off by accident?  I am getting up there.  I will be 50 in 6 months.  I may have had a pre-senior moment.

I flipped the lights on and saw the swarm.  Worms moving in masses in every direction.  I should have run back to grab my phone to tape the swarm but I was too busy, living in the moment, grabbing handfuls of worms and tossing them back into harvesting bins.   I scrambled on hands and knees scooping and pawing at the ground, trying to save the worms and my livelihood from slithering away.

I grabbed what I could, ran inside to get my son to help me and when I returned, the swarm was gone.  The light had forced them to march on.  The light caused them to scurry to darker pastures.

I estimate that we lost about 200,000 worms this morning out of the 500,000 that we harvested last night.  That hurts.  We will be fine, we will harvest more and we will be shipping on time this morning, but it really struck me about how much the relationship between a worm farmer and his worms is so much like any other relationships in this world.  If you don’t treat your worms right, they will leave you.

So, what made them crawl off?  Worms will leave you for 5 good reasons;

1.  The are too crowded.  Crowded worms will crawl off to be less crowded.  They will also stop breeding or will breed less in crowded conditions.

2.  The don’t like the food.  If you are not feeding you redworms enough, or if you are feeding them things that they do not like, they will leave you.

3.  Improper pH.  Worms need a good pH of around 7 to thrive.  If you do not test their bedding and adjust the pH, you will lose your worms.  They will either “fly” or they will die.  Get a good pH meter and test your worm bedding weekly.

 

4.  They will flee if their bedding becomes anaerobic.  You can tell an anaerobic worm bed by the smell.  It smells like rotting death and will usually have very wet bedding.  Worms cannot tolerate anaerobic conditions.  Keep the bed turned weekly to aerate, keep the bedding moist but not wet and make a habit of smelling the bedding.

5.  Worms will crawl off if it is raining and they are outside.  I don’t care how well you care for your worms, if it is raining, your worms will sometimes crawl off just for the sake of crawling off.  You can stop this by installing anti-crawl barriers, lids or lights over the beds during periods of prolonged rain.  Please don’t electrocute yourself.

Well, I made a short video of the aftermath of the crawl.  I am going to have a good cry now and then I will put on my big boy pants and get back to work because we have orders to fill today.

Have a great day.
Ken