After worms are added, bedding should be kept moist but not soggy and the top 6 to 8 inches turned every 7 to 10 days to keep it loose. About every 6 to 9 months the old bedding should be replaced with properly prepared new bedding. To change bedding, remove the top 5 or 6 inches (where most of the worms are).
Perfect for circular composters like the Tumbleweed Can O Worms. Your compost blanket should last 3-6 months before needing replacement.
1. You may be adding new food before the worms can eat through existing supplies. Stop feeding the worms for at least a week and once they've eaten the existing food add a new tray. Your worms will move up to eat from the surface as this is their natural pattern of behaviour.
Once the environment is set and you've added your worms, it's important to never let them completely run out of food to eat. Remember, their food needs to grow plenty of microorganisms before they will eat it, so you will want to cycle in new food waste every two or three days. Check the compost bin every other day.
The molds that form on most vegetables are usually OK, but the molds on some fruit and bread can be problematic. If you're in doubt, try a small amount first and see if the worms are bothered by it. If not, then it's probably OK to use it, otherwise, you should put them into your backyard bin instead.
Over feeding is one of the most common causes of worm farm problems. We understand that you might be eager to get your worm farm churning through as much of your waste as possible, but too much waste can cause the environment to become too acidic, damp and anaerobic – all things worms don't enjoy!
You'll need to change the bedding and harvest the larger worms after about 2 months and every month or so thereafter. To harvest the worms, you can dump them and the compost onto a piece of plywood in a cone-shaped pile. In a few minutes, the worms will move into the pile to escape light and exposure.
So in order to keep a compost bin healthy, you need to mix and turn your compost to aerate it and allow oxygen to reach down the deep unreachable places. The aeration not only provides oxygen for the good bacteria, but it also kills off the anaerobic bacteria since they can't survive with oxygen.
There are flies or maggots in the farm!
Tiny little vinegar flies are occasionally present in worm farms (and compost bins) and are absolutely nothing to worry about. If larger flies or maggots are present, it is generally a sign that food (especially meat) is rotting rather than being eaten by your worms.
After about three to six months of being fed, compost worms will have created enough compost to harvest. In this two bin system, when your bin is getting full you are ready to add the next layer of bin, nesting it on top. This works because you will stop feeding in the lower bin, and add food to the top bin.
Unlike other pets, you can leave worm farms unattended for weeks at a time. Worms will happily eat wet shredded paper for up to 6 weeks!
Rotting food scraps not only smell, but also interfere with the lifecycle of the worms and the operation of the bin. Rotting food is anaerobic – or oxygen deprived. Because worms breathe through their skin, anaerobic conditions prevent the worms from breathing properly, and may cause them to die.
Change bed linen, towels and underwear daily for several days after treatment. Bedlinen and clothing should be machine-washed in hot water to ensure that all the eggs are killed. Vacuum and dust the house, paying particular attention to the bedrooms on a regular basis.
Worm blankets need to be watered whenever you feed the worms. So long as the bedding has the consistency of a wrung-out sponge, you are doing it right.
Want to give your worms a treat? Add ice. Place plain ice on top of the bedding or buried in the center of the bin. You can cool and feed the worms all at once by freezing scraps and water together.
If an annelid is cut in two, they can regenerate to some degree, and in some species you can even end up with two worms. The common earthworm, however, will only regenerate from the tail end; the head end always dies.
Ô Always completely bury food under the bedding material. Burying fruit waste will prevent fruit flies from being attracted to the worm bin.
A healthy worm bin smells earthy like soil, has food scraps/bedding disappearing over time, and is damp but not soggy (worms have glistening skin from sufficient moisture). Also, a healthy bin should have small quantities of other decomposer organisms, such as mites or little white worms.
Banana peels are an excellent worm food.
Buy dechlorinated water, or dechlorinate tap water by boiling or letting it sit out for 24 hours to allow chlorine evaporation. Space. Worms like a nice full bin of bedding and food scraps, but even they can feel crowded. Make sure your bin isn't overly full of food, bedding, or even worms.
The rolled oats, cornmeal, and alfalfa work together to plump up your worms quickly. The finer this mix is powdered, the quicker your worms will eat it up and fatten up. Moisten your worm bedding and then sprinkle it over the bedding surface.
The container or bag should then be kept at a cool temperature, around 10degC is ideal, a cool shed or garage is fine, we do not recommend putting them in a refrigerator but if this works for you, don't change. Dendrobaena, like all worms will continually feed and the bedding should be topped up as necessary.
Worms cannot withstand the extreme temperature of a composter placed outside during a heat wave. Worms cannot survive at temperatures above 35°C / 95°F.