Worm Bin Mites
Back in November I wrote a post all about mites (A Mite is a Mite is a Mite? Not Quite). I tried to provide a basic overview of the various types of mites that can be found commonly in your worm bin. I’m not going to add anything more to that discussion today, but DID want to share a cool photo I captured this morning.
I was digging through an older red wiggler bin (the one with the Natura Eco Cloth – which incidentally seems to have completely decomposed!), when I happened upon a old piece of broccoli stem that was totally covered in white mites (which by the way is simply a descriptive name based on their colour – I have no idea what the actual species is). This type of mite seems to gravitate towards moisture-rich foods like cucumber, melons and squash, and can be found to spring up – seemingly out of nowhere – in great abundance when decent amounts of these sorts of wastes are added to the bin.
They are a very slow moving mite and people can sometimes even mistake them for ‘worm eggs’, if they have never seen an actual worm cocoon before.
Anyway, just thought I’d share that. Perhaps some of you will recognize this type of mite from your own bin(s).
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Written by Bentley on February 21st, 2008 with
5 comments.
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Bentley
Debbie
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1937 lb of Organic Waste, and Counting!
#1. February 18th, 2009, at 8:17 AM.
I just noticed these mites in my worm bit today. Are they a bad thing? Do I need to monitor the moisture? The worms seem happy otherwise, but the presence of an unplanned resident makes me wonder if everything’s alright. LOVE your site, by the way. Thanks so much for sharing your experience and information so freely!