Euros vs Reds 2.0 – Update

I finally got around to checking on my new Euros vs Reds system today, naively assuming that I’d actually be able to add the worms. lol

The initial appearance wasn’t too bad – plenty of fungal growth as expected, but otherwise looking just fine.

It was the SMELL I had a problem with! There was a pretty powerful sour, rotten smell that came up as soon as I opened the bin. Digging down I quickly realized what the problem was. Most of the waste materials had basically liquified, and there just wasn’t enough absorbent bedding in there to soak everything up.

Of course, it then dawned on me that I had originally planned to check on the bin at least a couple of times during the aging period and to make adjustments as needed! Doh!
(Now you can see why it’s important for me to keep my experiments nice and SIMPLE! lol)

Anyway, no biggie in the grand scheme of things. Just means I get started a wee bit later than planned. I’ve now mixed in a LOT more dry bedding, along with some crushed up brown fall leaves, so it shouldn’t take too long for a decent worm habitat to develop.


If you happen to be fairly new to vermicomposting, the important take-aways here are:

  1. Make sure you check on your system at least once or twice during the aging period – if you see liquid pooling in the bottom and/or there is a really foul smell, make sure to mix in a lot more bedding (and also make sure the system has good air flow).
  2. Don’t EVER add worms to a brand new system that smells really bad – especially not if there is a big pool of foul smelling liquid down in the bottom! lol

If the bin really smells and you already have the worms (i.e. you need to put them some place!), you are probably better off just adding them to an open bin containing lots of moistened, shredded cardboard with a bright light shining over top (to keep them down).


I’ll likely provide another update sometime next week.
8)

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