It all was going fine, until I decided to throw in some stale tortillas a while ago. Well the worms seemed to really like it, but I had put waay to much in there. The worms couldn't eat them fast enough and they got moldy. Ick ick ick. Horrifying visual below:
Then as I was examining, I started noticing some other creature action going on around the bin. I freaked and took it all outside. I took out the moldy bits and stuck them in my much larger outdoor bin under a thick layer of hay. If I don't see it, it's not a problem right?
Anyway, I put in a little more clean hay for bedding and then placed the worm bin in it's new outdoor spot. I think it will be okay, it's in the shade and I think the coldest part of the winter is behind us (I hope).
I suspect I was just overdoing it with the food, especially since I started with so few worms. I'm just going to ignore them for a while so that they have a little privacy and can get to work reproducing (baow chicka wow wow). Then maybe later I can up the food quantity.
Ugh. Compost issues. The smelliest of all issues.
-J
It's usually not a good idea to feed new worms any sort of bread products including tortillas. They say you can feed worms some bread products but you really have to be careful with the quantity partly because of any oils that are used to make the products. I generally don't feed my worms any breads at all. Also, don't ever feed your worms any pineapples. The enzymes in the pineapples will dissolve your worms from the inside out. It also helps to add some dry material with your feed. The bins tend to get pretty wet from the worms doing their thing and being in an enclosed container. I know the worm tea is pretty fantastic for your plants, but I find it pretty gross to have a lot liquid draining out of the bins and I find that my worms tend to be unhappy when it gets too wet. I usually add some dry newspaper with my feed. It also prevents other critters from visiting!! :-P
ReplyDeleteOmg, Yoonjo, you're my worm guru.
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely not going to put any more bread in there. That's a great tip about adding dry bedding. I wasn't getting any worm tea out the bottom so I had thought the moisture was okay. But I guess it was still a bit much, because all of a sudden, everything seemed slightly slimy.
That's a bummer about the breads. I think I'm going to steer clear of it altogether now. Especially since the bin is outside now, I don't want to attract rodents.
Oh, and that's really horrifying about pineapples!
I'm glad I don't eat pineapples on a regular basis! I probably would've dumped them into the bins in the beginning if I hadn't had that fungus gnat infestation and looked up troubleshooting tips online. Stay clear of any citrus fruits or really acidic foods as well. They don't kill the worms like pineapples, but a highly acidic environment can make the worms sick and also cause a mite infestation. Most worms will have mites already since they tend to piggy-back on the worms and compete for the food, but there are these bright red mites that are parasitic to the worms and will eat them. I haven't seen any red mites yet but I have had the benign kind; I think they're just called brown mites. They tend to like wet, acidic environments so adding newspaper (the B&W kind only) and crushed eggshells once in awhile will help. You can't avoid the mites and you may get pot worms now that your bin is outdoors but you can reduce their population so they don't overrun your bin by controlling the environment. :-)
ReplyDeleteI definitely had mites in there, but I'm not sure what kind they were. They looked brownish-red. I'll keep citrus out of there too. I think I'm just going to stick to lettuce and cabbage to be safe.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know what pot worms were but I looked it up and I totally recognize them from digging around the garden. I'll keep an eye out for those.
I think so far the worms are okay. They seemed big and fat and hadn't been trying to escape. Maybe if I'm lucky and fix the environment, I'll have some outdoor worms trying to sneak into the bin!
Maybe when I get better at this I'll try bringing the bin back into the house. But for this learning phase, I think it will be better I do this outside.
Thanks again!!! You must have the happiest worms...
The little brownish-red ones are the "brown" mites. They are perfectly harmless to the worms. Red worms are pretty hardy. You'll be surprised how tough they actually are! Stick to the safe veggies and fruits for now and experiment with different foods. I found out last year that my worms don't like potatoes. Why? I have no idea!! They'll eat it, but it's always the last to go. They LOVE avocados, bananas and broccoli, though. The broccoli is always the first thing they seem to eat especially when it's nice and semi-rotting. Oh and they also like their coffee grounds!
ReplyDeleteMy worms better be pretty happy considering how much I cater to them. I'm not as obsessive now but I still chop up their food and try to balance their diet as much as possible. I think they've definitely gotten used to the feeding schedule and the cast harvesting routine. This time most of the worms moved over to the clean side almost immediately. Worms are amazing creatures! I hope you'll find them pretty amazing too!
Whew, well I'm glad I don't have the bad mites. I love that your worms get such pampering! I think that I'm definitely starting to appreciate them more and more. I remember I used to be kind of squeamish about picking them up, but I seem to be getting over that pretty quickly. All the poking around in the bin has helped me get used to them a lot!
ReplyDeleteI think you'll start loving them even more once they start multiplying. It's just a fascinating ecosystem, especially once you see babies in the bins. When those worms are happy, you'll know! You'll see an explosion of worms and it'll happen relatively quickly! It's definitely an adventure!
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited! It's like animal husbandry, but on a tiny scale. Ha!
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