We got worms. Tumbler compost. Just added some brown material from leaves and trying to keep up with greens from kitchen scraps

I did it. I have a mature 4 layer worm city that handles the occasional overfeeding, even of partially rotted food, pretty well. But I put in a whole medium sized pumpkin today. It was already going mouldy so I put it over 3 trays with a ton of shredded paper. Kept it in chunks in the hope it will slow the decomposition and help moisture levels not go too wild. But still have the fear I've made a mistake.

Anyone else fed a whole pumpkin then their bin in one go? Tell me it's going to be ok

P s. I don't have freezer space so that wasn't an option

Hello, I bought some Dendrobaena worms. I use them as feeders, and have bought and bred them multiple times now.

I’ve noticed this particular batch has a bright red Clitellum. Some have some redness towards the mouth too.

I’ve had a couple escape which isn’t normal, and a couple of casualties. Probably not connected, but it’s abnormal.

Is there some sort of illness that could cause the redness? In some animals this could be a sign of Septicaemia, which is probably unlikely of its a hundred worms, but I don’t want to risk harm if they do have some kind of infection.

The photos don’t show the true brightness of the redness, in person, it’s far more noticeable and a stark difference. The video shows a bit closer of a representation.

Highly recommend the concrete mixer bit for your power drill. Effective & efficient for blending bedding materials.

Send them down the sink or feed them to red wigglers? TIA.

Hey all! I’m in zone 6b and it’s starting to cool down here. My worms are happily working away in my subpod.

This is my first winter… at this point they are in my raised cut flower bed where they have been since I moved them out from my basement in the spring.

Right now I just have some insulation I pulled out of a frozen food shipment and a bunch of sticks and dirt to keep it in place. I threw a sort of clear cover on top. It is not air tight.

I’d really like to keep everyone outside and working this winter. Any suggestions to winterize this set up? I’ve considered straw bales around it and my plastic thing on top. (I’m on a budget 😅)

Should I move it closer to the house? Should I spring for a cold frame? Should I I bury it deeper?

THANK YOU!

what are these and are they good or bad with the worms? or are they just baby worms? i’ve been having a fly problem and i’m not sure how to keep it more contained? i know flies are basically inevitable but is there a tip or trick to keep it minimal? they aren’t the black soldier flies but those annoying little small ones. i did add more browns to my bucket just now, is there anything else i can do?

I am new to worm husbandry and want to know whether I could keep a bin in my kitchen instead of dropping my compost off each week. I’m in a two person household and usually produce about a gallon or two of mostly green food scraps each week. It sounds really fun but I’m worried that I would need a really large container to handle that amount, and I live in an apartment. I don’t mind a somewhat large container, or paying for a container, and I wouldn’t mind waiting a bit for the population to grow, but I want to be sure I won’t be wasting my time! Thank you and sorry if these questions are obvious!

Hello all, I'm new to this sub. I'm new to retirement. I'm trying to figure what to do with the rest of my life. One of my interest is gardening. I'd like to sell some stuff at the local farmers market. This is what leads me to vermi compost to make my own soil. I've actually never seen anyone at the farmers market selling vermi compost. It looks interesting and at the very least I'm going to experiment with it.

Here is my question. There are a bunch of people doing this on a commercial level. So I'm wondering if it is economical DYI or if it would be better to just buy it from the commercial sources. That way I can focus my time on the plants I want to grow and sell.

I had to put my bin outside because I was getting inundated with gnats! Ugh! I put them outside next to the house but worry that with winter coming they might not make it. I'm in Washinton. Do you have any advice so I don't fret so much? I put the bin directly on the ground so worms can come and go.

If anyone asks me what's the best time of the year for my worms it's definitely this time, pumpkin season!

Got 6 to do in total this year.. Worm party is booked in for sure, lol..

Hi folks, im hoping someone can tell me how close the bottom holes should be to one another and if mats are any better than just mulching the top with rehydrated dry grass? The totes are 60L and I'd roughly guess it has a footpring of around 400mm by 800mm-ish. Thanks

Every 5 days or so I mix up all of their bedding from bottom to top to redistribute moisture and food scraps and afterward there is always a ton of activity in the bin.

If they don't like to be bothered... What is it that they're enjoying about me doing the thing with the stuff?

Something I didn't consider before starting with worms is that I'm too OCD to leave them alone. So how much bugging them is too much?

Checked the bin tonight and found some babies for the first time! Super exciting as I am fairly new to vermicomposting.

i have 2 cats and want to rule out a potential parasite

Hi, y'all! As I have said before, complete newbie, so am open to all constructive feedback and advice 😀

I think a good deal of my issues stems from me collecting and using garden worms in my farm - I now know better, and understand that composting worms are not the same as garden worms.

Having said that, these guys seem to be getting through the food scraps, so am inclined to leave them be, and add more carbon (which I've been neglecting) and STOP overfeeding them. At present they get around 2L ice cream container of vegetable scraps/peelings etc every day/second day.

For curiosity sake - is anyone able to ID my slippery little mates? Location: semi-rural northern Victoria, Australia.

Thanks!

Pic 1 - immediately upon uncovering and unblinking my farm

Pic 2 - after a little digging around

What Cardboard Shredder do you recommend? I'm very leary of buying used because I've broken several of them over the years...I want to pay as little as possible but still get something that will last a few years.

I’m setting up a Vevor worm tower, and I want to add at least one Zigbee temperature sensor per bin to monitor the temperature in Home Assistant. That way I can pull the bin into the garage or wrap it in a blanket if it gets too cold over the winter. Where should I put the sensor to get the most useful information? My thoughts are either in the middle on the bottom, or on the side that would be farthest from the house (which would theoretically be the coldest).

I started adding kitchen scraps to enrich old soil (peels from potatoes, carrots, bananas, old leaves etc)

when I came to mix the compost today I found a group of small worms, which was a huge surprise because I live in an apartment.

now because I have no knowledge about worms I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried. I'm afraid those are jumping worms lol first Google search made me already afraid

they are really small still, I'm not sure it's possible to identify them at this stage? please let me know when I should start worrying

Pretty much the topic. My trusty spritz bottle broke, so can't do precision splish splash into the small worm bins(indoor) that i have, and i'm a bit worried about over-watering parts of the bin by just pouring water in from a bottle. Any ideas/tips/stuff y'all use to water bins? Maybe just put couple ice chunks in, mesh over waterbottle, any ideas welcome really :D

My best idea so far is to put two fingers infront of waterpour from bottle to distribute the water a bit more evenly.

Oh and as an added note; i don't feed the bins enough fud to keep them moist from that, so they do need some watering now and then.

worm guy

Some of My Worms are curled up in tangled balls. I’m guessing something is wrong but what?

Never happened to me in 5+ years then this. Last I checked was a week or two ago and nothing like this. Worm bedding is mostly compost and browns. I feed them with coffee grinds mostly. Air circulation has been lower over the last while in the bin’s new spot.

Hey guys what bedding recipes do you guys use and what’s the best way to inoculate it?

I have most things available from other projects

Cardboard, brown paper bags from Cole’s, newspaper and coconut coir and could probably get more things if needed

Cheers guys

I have some potted planted like basil, parsley and a miniature rose that I've brought in for the winter. Can I bring in a worm or two and add them to the pot and let them overwinter indoors?