Prison Break - Worm style

[Blunter]

I've got about a 15 gal. worm bin. They've got plenty of good food, water draining holes in the bottom, and a light proof bin.

My problem is that the little buggers keep escaping. They climb up the sides of the bin and somehow (the lid makes a couple nice snapping sounds when I shut it) they get between the bin and the lid. They make a short run for it (less than a metre) then shrivel up and die.

There's plenty of worms in there, so I'm not worrying about losing a few, but having dead worms stuck to your kitchen floor is a bit unsightly.

Does anyone know if I'm missing something that would make them want to escape? Or is this just normal "worm behaviour?"

[guest]

Hey,

I bet your bin is too wet or the food stuff is bad or the bin is too hot (possibly from bad food stuffs with too much inherent sugars). What food stuffs are you giving them? What bedding are they on? What species of worm?

"Plenty of food in there". How much food is that? They only need a little every few days, start slow and then add more. Too much food is bad and can cause all kinds of issues like heat, molds, competition files, etc.

If they are climbing the walls then it prolly means you bin is too moist, a common problem. This makes humidity in the bin which covers the walls and allows the worms to escape. You should drill holes into your lid or the top of the sides of your bin if there is not holes yet. Air movement is important.

Worms don't like light so the fact they are moving to it means something isn't right in your bin. How do the worms look in the bin? Are they grouping to on side or all along the sides but not in the middle?

[Blunter]

Hey Gojo,
I think you're probably right about the mositure. At the begining I hadn't drilled holes in the bottom, and was having the same problems. I added some drier soil and the problem stopped for a couple months.

I think I am feeding them a bit too much as well. When I bought them, the ad said that 1/2 pound of worms could handle the scraps of a household, so I figured living by myself they'd have no problem keeping up. I've scaled back their meals quite a bit lately although I am still having issues with a bit of mold.

I've been feeding them kitchen scraps. Mostly vegetables, fruit, and eggshells. I've stayed away from actual pieces of onion, but have given them the skins - not sure if that's the best move. I've also stayed away from meats and dairies.

The worms seem to be well distributed below the surface. They seem to conglomerate around chunks of burried scraps, but the scraps are all around, so so are the worms.

I have been tempted to drill holes in the top of the bin for a while (to reduce the moisture like you said) but have hesitated because it would introduce light. I think I'll probably give it a shot though (they should be underground working anyways, not chilling on the surface)

Any more suggestions would be welcome.

[Blunter]

Oh yeah, they're red wrigglers.

[malocup]

The beason they only go a meter=?in. Is because when they squeezed under the lid It squashed the SHIT:toilet: Out of them.LOL! I know a guy who raised Red Worms. in the bsmt.2' x4' x18"H.he ran news paper in an old washer. Look up >raising them< I cut 2" holes &staple wndo-scrn over holes.feed em corn meal. good dirt,loamy.Not clay.layer of Maple leafs,top/w/ news paper.They Breed like crazy,so need to be divided every while.:tup:

[Tad12]

1/2 lb. is not that many worms, I would cut way back on your foods for starters and make the other corrections to moisture. Once you've bred more worms you can slowly increase their food intake, but personally I think the companies that sell these always exaggerate the abilities of the worms to process the material. I think it takes more worms in general to work through that much material.

[guest]

Hey Gojo,
I think you're probably right about the mositure. At the begining I hadn't drilled holes in the bottom, and was having the same problems. I added some drier soil and the problem stopped for a couple months.

Soil? Is that what your using as a bedding?

What does you bin look like right now? How deep is the bedding? Where are the worms collecting in the bedding?

Do you have a catch bin for the run off? There will be a bit of liquid and dead worms, etc that collect in the bottom 'catch' bin/level/plate/etc, you want that stuff to be able to drain away.


I think I am feeding them a bit too much as well. When I bought them, the ad said that 1/2 pound of worms could handle the scraps of a household, so I figured living by myself they'd have no problem keeping up. I've scaled back their meals quite a bit lately although I am still having issues with a bit of mold.

The mold is probably coming from too much food which they aren't consuming and the mold can grow on. Use less food.

A few things. Worms are kind of finicky eaters. It's important to remember that the worms are 'eating' the food stuffs so they can digest the microbes on the food stuffs. Smaller is better, you shouldn't add full sized food stuffs like chunks of potato, whole leafs of lettuce, etc. Though some people add un-food processed food stuffs, as do many farms do but it slows growth, breeding and consumption considerably.

I find a great method for feeding to increase consumption and breeding is to feed them partially decomposed food stuffs, that's what they really love. You should invest in a food processor so you can reduce the size of the food stuffs.

Here's what I often do when not feeding pickled stage bokashi compost:
Take carrot pulp from juicer (or any chopped up moist food stuff like lettuce) and put in a plastic bag with other food processed food stuff like potato, greens, apples, etc. Then put it in the fridge for a week to three weeks to start decomposing. The cold air prevents it from going rancid and bad. The period in the fridge allows the food stuffs to start decomposing and to be inhabited by microbes from the fridge which the worms will eventually ingest, along with all the other microbes in and on the food stuffs NOT from the fridge. Then I put that food stuff in the bins and they jump all over it! Orange worm castings are a funny sight!


I've been feeding them kitchen scraps. Mostly vegetables, fruit, and eggshells. I've stayed away from actual pieces of onion, but have given them the skins - not sure if that's the best move. I've also stayed away from meats and dairies.

Read my paragraph above about food stuffs. But I'd stay away from egg shells. I know everyone says you can use them, but I've tested them with a food processor and mortar and pestle and the worms always left them alone. I can't imagine them eating the shells unless they were moist and decomposing. I think the shells naturally decompose in the bed of castings in major worm farms which makes them think the worms are eating the shells...though I could be wrong....

I find it's best to limit their diet to the same 5-10 types of food stuffs. You want variety for good castings but I find they develop a preference to food stuffs and then take a while to adjust to new types of food stuffs.


The worms seem to be well distributed below the surface. They seem to conglomerate around chunks of burried scraps, but the scraps are all around, so so are the worms.

"burried scraps"? How do you feed? Heres a good method:
You should have the top of the worm bed covered with torn up newspaper or cardboard, about 1-2" deep. Then you slide the bedding cover to one side, lay to food stuffs on top of the bedding and then replace the bedding cover. That's it. No burying, etc.

You want a layer of paper product (cheap and effective) covering your bedding to hold in moisture to the bedding layer which increases the breeding of the worms and their food stuff consumption. This also allows you to keep the overall bin a little bit less humid to help with the moisture problem.

Red worms lay around 5-10 eggs a week and each egg holds around 1-3 worms. So, by that math you should have A LOT of worms by now. Do you see many eggs in your bedding?

Oh yea, how deep is your bedding? Worms generally stay within the top 3" of soil. If your bedding is deep and not draining well that might also be why they are trying to escape.

I have been tempted to drill holes in the top of the bin for a while (to reduce the moisture like you said) but have hesitated because it would introduce light. I think I'll probably give it a shot though (they should be underground working anyways, not chilling on the surface)

See my info about a bedding cover layer. You should have worms on the surface and eggs too, in Nature they generally stay in the top 3" inches of soil. As you lay food stuffs on the surface of the bedding they will move to it and eat it. They will also eat the bedding cover so every few weeks you need to add more, keep it about 1-2 inches.


Any more suggestions would be welcome.


Start again. Seriously I think it would be of great help to you to see a properly functioning worm bin. The people that sold you the bin didn't tell you enough, I doubt they knew. There is a good bit of misinformation around, especially in marketing.

But this time make your own worm bin ala "Can-O-Worms". This is a tiered system to make harvesting of castings super easy and really allows you to see them in action to get a good understanding. Cost = $20-30

Eventfully you could make big outdoor bins but you could make a few indoor bins and make more then enough for yourself IMO. I have like 5-10 bins going at different times and produce more than I could use alone.

GOod luck! :)


Get four tuppaware containers like 5-8 inches high each, all the same kind so the can fit inside each other.


Drill 1/16"-1/8" holes into the bottom of 3 of the containers.


Drill 1/16" holes along the top of all four walls on 3 of the containers.


The container without holes is your 'catch bin' for runoff, dead worms, little bugs, etc.


Get 1 pound of worms (red's, blues, tigers, etc). They should come packed in worm castings, their own castings.


If they are not packed in their own castings then get a bag of castings from the store, or use torn up newspaper.


Add enough bedding (i.e. castings or torn up newspaper) to cover the bottom completely or very close to it.


Pour the worms into the container with the bedding in it. If the worms came with castings (as they should) and if there's enough of it then just use that as bedding.


Cover the worms with a 1-2" layer of torn up newspaper or cardboard.


Put in a spot without drafts and leave for a few days. Make sure to put a light on the bin, or keep the room lit. This keeps them from esacping when first placed in bin before they are used to it.


Then add a SMALL bit of food, say a 1/2 cup to 1 cup, to the bin. Slide back the bedding cover and lay the food on the surface. Make sure to keep the food stuff in one general place while still spreading it out. This is wise because if the worms like the food they will move to it within a few hours. You can check back to see how well they are destroying it :)


Once the fist container is filled with castings upto about 3-4" place the next container on top of it. Make sure you are in contact with the castings in the bottom container.


Take some castings from the bottom container and add it as a bottom layer to the middle container.


Then add food stuffs to the middle container and cover with torn newspaper. Replace container lid, continue feeding as before.


When the middle tray is full at 3-4" of castings then place the 3rd and final container on top of the middle container. Fill the top one as you did the middle one.


Once the top bin is full or halfway full you remove the bottom bin. There should be very few worms (if any) left in the bottom bin, they should have all migrated upward to the new bins.


At this point the middle bin is now the bottom bin and the top bin is now the middle bin. And the process continues...

[guest]

Hey malocup,

not really sure what you said there.

[guest]

Hey all,

I just added these last steps to using a DIY Can-O-Worms. I forgot to post these very important last steps.


Once the fist container is filled with castings upto about 3-4" place the next container on top of it. Make sure you are in contact with the castings in the bottom container.


Take some castings from the bottom container and add it as a bottom layer to the middle container.


Then add food stuffs to the middle container and cover with torn newspaper. Replace container lid.


The worms will migrate into the middle container and consume the food stuffs. Then continue feeding as before.


When the middle tray is full at 3-4" of castings then place the 3rd and final container on top of the middle container. Fill the top one as you did the middle one.


Treat the top bin as you did the middle, alowing time for the worms to migrate upward before feeding again.


Once the top bin is full or halfway full you remove the bottom bin. There should be very few worms (if any) left in the bottom bin, they should have all migrated upward to the new bins.


At this point the middle bin is now the bottom bin and the top bin is now the middle bin. And the process continues...

[guest]

1/2 lb. is not that many worms,

I agree. That's only like 400-600 worms in general. I like to start with a pound at least as thats around 600-1000 worms. But in larger orders you get more eggs :)


I would cut way back on your foods for starters and make the other corrections to moisture. Once you've bred more worms you can slowly increase their food intake, but personally I think the companies that sell these always exaggerate the abilities of the worms to process the material. I think it takes more worms in general to work through that much material.

I totally agree.


Later bro :)

[otto]

I know this is an old thread but............I have grown with worms in the containers....and noticed worms will make a run for it and die on the floor in search of moisture......they always start escaping and making a break for it when the containers dry up.....

[c-ray]

also with bins that are too wet