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Goodbugs red worms Worm Farm
Babysitting Earthworming
Worm Factory Escaping Worms Oxygen
Babysitting Earthworming
Worm Factory Escaping Worms Oxygen
Babysitting Earthworming
(Worms escaping from the bottom of the worm farm container?)
Ever heard of anybody babysitting for our little red earthworms? Well, I had the privilege
of caring for a friend's earthworm farm (The Worm Factory) for a couple of months.
I would like to share a few of my experiences on the Worm Factory during this period.
When the Worm Factory was delivered and my friend told me that the worms keep moving
downwards into the bottom tray, instead of moving upwards to the new food in the top tray,
I immediately saw what I thought could have been the problem. There were thousands of red
mites in the food. I tried everything to get them out.
(Worms escaping from the bottom of the worm farm container?)
Ever heard of anybody babysitting for our little red earthworms? Well, I had the privilege
of caring for a friend's earthworm farm (The Worm Factory) for a couple of months.
I would like to share a few of my experiences on the Worm Factory during this period.
When the Worm Factory was delivered and my friend told me that the worms keep moving
downwards into the bottom tray, instead of moving upwards to the new food in the top tray,
I immediately saw what I thought could have been the problem. There were thousands of red
mites in the food. I tried everything to get them out.
But, guess what, the worms still moved downwards, even though I added their favourite food:
watermelon.
During the past couple of months, I tried everything.
Even putting an empty tray between the two full trays and re-arranging them every couple of days, but still the worms kept moving downwards.
I decided to write down my experience after receiving the Worm Farming Secrets Newsletter, Vol. 4, Issue 8, dated Wednesday 7 April 2010, where they answered the following question of a reader:
"We have a couple of tubs where a few worms are escaping out of the bottom holes. We have never had that problem before and wonder if it's too cold or warm, wet or what might be the problem?"
They answered as follows:
"Worms are great natural explorers, and do like to migrate and move especially when in search for new food or to find a better environment if the current one is unfavourable [which could have been the case with the mytes in my friend's Worm Factory]. But don't worry, as long as there isn't a mass exodus of worms, having a few worms coming through the holes or appearing underside of the lids does not mean your worm bin environment is unfavorable.
"Worms don't mind moving to new places and are adaptable, so even when conditions are right, a few worms may go out and 'explore'.
During the past couple of months, I tried everything.
Even putting an empty tray between the two full trays and re-arranging them every couple of days, but still the worms kept moving downwards.
I decided to write down my experience after receiving the Worm Farming Secrets Newsletter, Vol. 4, Issue 8, dated Wednesday 7 April 2010, where they answered the following question of a reader:
"We have a couple of tubs where a few worms are escaping out of the bottom holes. We have never had that problem before and wonder if it's too cold or warm, wet or what might be the problem?"
They answered as follows:
"Worms are great natural explorers, and do like to migrate and move especially when in search for new food or to find a better environment if the current one is unfavourable [which could have been the case with the mytes in my friend's Worm Factory]. But don't worry, as long as there isn't a mass exodus of worms, having a few worms coming through the holes or appearing underside of the lids does not mean your worm bin environment is unfavorable.
"Worms don't mind moving to new places and are adaptable, so even when conditions are right, a few worms may go out and 'explore'.
"Too be honest, worms coming through the holes is a very common thing when you have a stackable wormery. However a big
possibility why you are seeing this happen more frequently can be due to the cold weather (although it is spring, some places are still
very cold!)."
For more information visit http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com
Here I seem to disagree with them. Here with us in South Africa it has been a very hot summer and the worms are kept in the shade, so the heat could not have been the problem as it doesn't happen in my home-made containers.
So what can then be the problem?
The Worm Farming Secrets Newsletter answer is to check the conditions
of the system:
"If the situation is not rectified immediately then very soon you will see no worms
at all within the wormery system. The conditions you will need to check here will be:
" pH levels (Is it too acidic or alkali for the worms to live in?).
" Oxygen levels (Sometimes they might just need some fluffing of the bedding by
hand).
" Moisture (Too wet will cause anaerobic conditions/low oxygen. Drain the liquid and
add more absorbing materials such as paper).
" Dryness (Worms needs to be moist to breathe! Keep the bin moist but not waterlogged!)"
Well, I've checked all these. It is not a pH problem or dryness. The bedding is very moist because the specific Worm Factory does not have a proper lid that keeps our rain. So I regularly add some dry newspaper. There was, however, never enough moisture in the bottom tray to get anything out of the tap!
So what was left is the oxygen level. There are more than enough holes for the worms to move downwards, but nowhere are there any holes for oxygen!
My suggestion for worm farmers who use these kind of wormeries, is that they should definitely drill a few small holes round the top sides of the trays so that the worms can get some extra oxygen. However, taking the Worm Factory apart and fluffing the bedding almost daily to make sure that they get more oxygen, still did not rectify the problem.
I do not have any problem like these in my worm containers or tyre system.
Any other suggestions will be much appreciated! Please email.
For more information visit http://www.wormfarmingsecrets.com
Here I seem to disagree with them. Here with us in South Africa it has been a very hot summer and the worms are kept in the shade, so the heat could not have been the problem as it doesn't happen in my home-made containers.
So what can then be the problem?
The Worm Farming Secrets Newsletter answer is to check the conditions
of the system:
"If the situation is not rectified immediately then very soon you will see no worms
at all within the wormery system. The conditions you will need to check here will be:
" pH levels (Is it too acidic or alkali for the worms to live in?).
" Oxygen levels (Sometimes they might just need some fluffing of the bedding by
hand).
" Moisture (Too wet will cause anaerobic conditions/low oxygen. Drain the liquid and
add more absorbing materials such as paper).
" Dryness (Worms needs to be moist to breathe! Keep the bin moist but not waterlogged!)"
Well, I've checked all these. It is not a pH problem or dryness. The bedding is very moist because the specific Worm Factory does not have a proper lid that keeps our rain. So I regularly add some dry newspaper. There was, however, never enough moisture in the bottom tray to get anything out of the tap!
So what was left is the oxygen level. There are more than enough holes for the worms to move downwards, but nowhere are there any holes for oxygen!
My suggestion for worm farmers who use these kind of wormeries, is that they should definitely drill a few small holes round the top sides of the trays so that the worms can get some extra oxygen. However, taking the Worm Factory apart and fluffing the bedding almost daily to make sure that they get more oxygen, still did not rectify the problem.
I do not have any problem like these in my worm containers or tyre system.
Any other suggestions will be much appreciated! Please email.
The Worm Factory
1. Putting watermelon in the bedding
2. Soaking milk in bread in the food
to attract the mites.
to attract the mites.
3. This helped, but the worms were
still moving down to the bottom tray.
4. I then cleaned out
everything and started afresh.
Here you can see the worms going
downward through the bottom into
the empty tray.
Home-made plastic worm farms
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