Comments on: Getting Rid of Worm Bin Mites

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:56:54 +0000

I have purchased 750 worms from uncle jims worm farm.. they were crawling with mites just 5 hours after adding them to a moist bedding. 90% of the worms died within 18 hours of placing them.. got 750 new worms for free just today. Put them into brand new bedding(coco coir) and rain water to hydrate.. 5 hours now and loaded with mites. Red mites. Millions.. they told me its normal but not a single youtuber/ experienced worm farmer has them.. and if its so normal why do they advertise mites free ? I purchased 3000 worms from buckeye organics.. hasn’t arrived yet even though I had ordered 9 days ago. But if it doesn’t have mites ill be so happy.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 16:08:37 +0000

There is another common denominator with Uncle Jim’s orders from what I hear. 😉
As for mites – some form of mites are likely going to be a common denominator in all batches of composting worms since they are an extremely common member of the composting ecosystem, but certain varieties can end up being more annoying than others (and this will also depend on the type of system being used, feeding practices etc). If a bin is overrun with mites they can absolutely aggravate the worms – even just by crawling all over them. But I still think of them as more of an “indicator” organism than a direct threat in virtually all cases.

By: CT Garden Gal

CT Garden Gal — Thu, 05 Nov 2020 22:22:52 +0000

After reading all these posts one common denominator I see is that those that purchase from Uncle Jim’s have mite problems.
He has a disclaimer on his website saying his worms are *mite free,
Unfortunately that’s not the case. I started with a brand new out of the box worm factory 360. I used the startup shredded newspaper and coconut coir that came with it and added the worms from Uncle Jim’s. The bedding was not overly wet, Andrew I added just a very, very small amount of food since the worms were getting acclimated. Within a week I had two types of mites in mass quantities. They absolutely came from the Uncle Jim’s worms. I tried separating the worms from the bedding, washing the entire system down, and starting with all fresh bedding, but the mites are just so darn small I wasn’t able to get them all off the worms and the cleaned out bed now has mites as well. It’s very frustrating.
I’m not new to vermicomposting, I’ve been doing it for over 30 years. I’ve never had mites in my worm bins before, only after purchasing from Uncle Jim’s have I had this problem.
A lot of people are saying the mites don’t affect the worms, I disagree. The worms in my original bins that are still might free are far more active than the worms in my bins that have mites. They definitely hinder their activity

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 05:22:19 +0000

To the person who commented on hummus, i second your observation. I’ve been experimenting with micro-composting. I’m trying to see which small container is best to be able to see the compost progress. I tried to set up A small system inside an old hummus container, and figured I’d leave the hummus in as food. One week later I was initially very ecstatic bc I thought I had miraculously generated thousands of worm eggs In a week. Until I realized that the eggs were moving. And that these weren’t eggs….anyone know why hummus is so attractive to mites?

By: Ann

Ann — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:04:19 +0000

I also got my worms from Uncle jims and within two days saw mites, but didn’t really worry about it until a month went by. Then I noticed lots of mites and upon inspecting I noticed many nests of them between little clumps of newspaper and each clump had to have hundreds (if not thousands). They were crawling all over the bin. I decided the give the worms a bath/shower and start anew with fresh bedding. I took all the bedding and compost out of the bin and the worms clumped together.It took just a few minutes to separate the compost from the worms using light. Then I rinsed the worms of all dirt. This was just couple of days ago so I hoping it worked.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 02:48:47 +0000

Hi Lana – I honestly wouldn’t worry too much. Focus on taking care of the worms (feed in moderation early on) and you should be just fine. They could be a type of mite (likely) or some other composting critter.

By: Lana

Lana — Fri, 14 Dec 2018 02:40:48 +0000

So I ordered worms from uncle Jim’s and noticed the tiny tiny black dot moving around. I assume this is a mite? Now I see more in my bin. They are super tiny and it really looks like a black moving spec. Is it a mite?
They don’t appear to be around the food. Should I let my bin dry out a bit? I’ve had my bin for just over a week.

By: Bentley

Bentley — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 14:17:37 +0000

Hi Amy
My hunch is that those are some sort of beetle. I always recommend not jumping to conclusions about various bugs (etc) eating your worms, though. Worm numbers can drop for countless different reasons (especially outdoors) – and it is often the other critters that get the blame. lol
When there are a lot of beetles in a system there are usually also a lot of beetle larvae (more wormy in appearance but still with legs) so keep an eye out for these.

By: Amy Witherow

Amy Witherow — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 01:25:31 +0000

I have small round, black bugs the same shape as a lady bug, but about half the size. They stay down in the worm castings, and when I expose them (when I put food scraps in the middle of the bin) then dig down and hide. They must get be eating the worms; there seem to be fewer of them.
My “bin” is a canvas bag that lets liquid run out. It has a netting on top.
Any ideas about what to do about these bugs?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 09 Aug 2017 03:36:24 +0000

I have white and brown or red mites as well. Since people seem to be interested on trapping the mites, I have noticed that they tend to congregate on matted down wet cardboard or pieces of paper bag. When I first started my bin I added hummus that was sitting in my fridge for little while and within days the hummus was covered in mites. Also I had spilled a significant amount of coconut milk and naturally put the paper towel I used to clean the mess in the worm bin. The mites seemed to love the coconut milk soaked paper towel as much as the worms. I have had an issue with mites literally since day 3 of my worm farm. Got my worms from Uncle Jims. I have an indoor worm bin. I find it highly unlikely that these mites somehow came from outside into my house and into my worm bin. Anyway, I am a noob at this and am experimenting with the amount of food water and types of food to give my worms. Hopefully with due diligence I can limit the environment with mites. I have read that NEEM SEED cake is scientifically proven to benefit worms. Link here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14766163. I have some left over neem seed meal I will add to the bin and hopefully will prevent kill and deter the mites. Assuming that mites are sensitive to neem like most other insects.