Disappearing Worms

This question comes from Wendi, who is wondering where all her worms went.

Hi!
I’m really enjoying your website/blog and find it very informative.
I’ve looked for info on worms “leaving the bin/possibly dying” and am
having trouble finding a thorough answer. I have an outdoor bin that I
prepared last year with fresh damp bedding (newspaper strips
w/cardboard on top), added worms, and tried to follow feeding and
care recommendations, but my worms were gone within a few weeks. I
was adding kitchen scraps weekly, and figured out that the pieces
were probably too big since nothing was being eaten. There were no
signs of worms within a couple of weeks. What did I do wrong? Did I
starve them? Did they escape out the small drainage holes in the
bottom? How did they leave so fast and completely? I would really
appreciate the help – I love the idea of vermicomposting and want to
be successful at it!
Thanks,
Wendi

Hi Wendi!
Sorry to hear about your worms. That certainly doesn’t sound like the most enjoyable introduction to vermicomposting!
I think the very first question I would ask is, what type of worms were you using? Were they a species adapted for worm composting (such as ‘Red Worms’) or were they garden worms? I have a sneaking suspicion that they would have been the right kind of worms, given the fact that you’ve been reading up on vermicomposting, but you never know.
For the benefit of anyone new to worm composting, it is important to know that not just any worm will do well in a worm bin. The typical species of worms you find on your lawn (after rain) and in your garden are adapted for soil, not rich organic wastes – nor are they well adapted for crowded, warm conditions.

You also mentioned adding the worms to the moist bedding, THEN starting to add food scraps. If this is indeed the case, your worms likely ventured elsewhere in search for food. When setting up a new system, I recommend mixing a lot of food scraps in with your bedding then letting the system sit for 1-2 weeks before you even add any worms. This allows time for colonization of lots of microorganisms (the main source of nutrition for the worms), thus offering the worms a nice tasty buffet when they arrive. I think one of the most common problems with the usual recommend way of setting up a worm bin is that the worms end up introduced to a basically sterile environment – new bedding and fresh food scraps don’t really offer anything similar to the worms preferred habitat.

As for escaping out the drainage holes in the bottom, that seems quite likely. You’d be amazed how small a hole worms can squeeze through when they want to. When I’ve kept outdoor plastic bins (with drainage holes), I’ve always had worms sitting underneath the bin (if conditions are really favourable inside you won’t see too many bothering to venture out though).

One other possibility is that unfavourable conditions developed in the bin and the worms decided to head elsewhere. Perhaps you added too much food (less of an issue when you mix with bedding and let it sit for awhile) – although this seems very unlikely given the fact that you were only adding food weekly.

My recommendation would be to add a bunch more bedding and food waste this year then let your system sit for a good 2-3 weeks (make sure to add water if it seems like the system is drying out) before adding another batch of worms. Once they have been added, don’t add any more food for another 1-2 weeks, and even then start out slowly – only adding food as it disappears from the bin.

Hope this helps.
Good luck!

B.

Technorati Tags: worm bins, worm bin, worm composting, vermicomposting, composter, compost, red worms, red wigglers, compost worms, earthworms, earth worms

Written by Bentley on March 16th, 2008 with 5 comments.
Read more articles on Reader Questions.

Cocoons or Mites?

Hi everyone! I’m happy to report that I’m finally starting to get back into the swing of things here on the blog! I thought I might kick things off with one or two reader questions. Our first question come from Apple, who is wondering about some strange creatures found in her worm bin. Here is what she had to say:

i just subscribed to your site, and i’m having a great time reading
it. i just set up my first indoor worm bin, so it’s great have a
resource to find out about other compost bins.

so far my bin has been great, i’m trying to keep it moisture balanced
and not over-fed. i’ve only had it for one month. my question is
this – i was inspecting the walls below the bedding line around the
top of the food line and i’m noticing two different things happening.
1. i’m seeing itsy bitsy teeny tiny wiggling whiteish yellowy worms.
are these hatched babies? they are smaller than a few millimeters
long and thinner than a fingernail sliver. they appear to hang out
around soft foods, boiled artichoke leaves, for example.

after seeing your picture of mites, i’m not sure if what i’m seeing
are cocoons or mites. they are round, seedlike, and are mostly in
the bedding and on the food, but a few of them seem to move a bit.
i’m not sure if they’re just caught on some moisture and are sliding
around, or if they are mites crawling.

are the tiny wigglers normal? or might i be housing another organism
in the bin? do you think they’re safe for my worms if they’re not
their own babies?

thanks so much for reading, and any advice you’re able to offer.

Hi Apple, I’m glad to hear that you have found the site useful!
The tiny worms you have described sound like White Worms, also known as ‘Pot Worms’. These small worms are closely related to earthworms (including the ‘composting worms’) and tend to spring up, seemingly out of nowhere, when conditions get a little acidic in the bin. I’ve had huge population explosions of white worms when I’ve added too much starchy material (rice) and it has gone sour on me (anaerobic fermentation). The worms themselves are completely harmless but they MAY indicate that your bin has become somewhat acidic. You might want to mix in some more shredded cardboard (or whatever bedding you are using) along with some crushed egg shells (if you happen to have some).
Here is a great picture of some white worms (on Happy D Ranch Website) you can use for comparison.

As for your seed-like creatures, I suspect they are indeed mites. The round white mite pictured in my last post (and in various other posts written on the blog) can easily be mistaken for something inanimate since they move very little and look like little eggs. This species seems to appear when there is an abundance of water-rich food scraps in the worm bin – especially things like melons, cantaloupe, cucumbers etc (cucumber family in general).
Again, certainly nothing to worry about, although massive population explosions could be an indication of overfeeding (but it sounds as though you’ve been really careful with how much food you’ve added).

Hope this helps! Thanks for the questions.

B.

Written by Bentley on March 16th, 2008 with 5 comments.
Read more articles on Reader Questions.