Why Hello! I hope you are doing well. I have thought long and hard about what i am going to write today. To be honest, I didn't feel like writing at all. I just found out yesterday that I have shingles, so I'm not feeling the best. But you know, just gotta keep on truckin! So I thought I would just write about one of my favourite topics. Worms. I had several attempts at worm farming before I finally got it right. Now my worms are breeding like crazy and I am excitedly expanding their home for my growing worm
family.
So, I thought, why not share the most common problems? Problems that I, and probably most other worm farmers have had. Of course I will also tell you how to resolve these problems.
1. You have swarms of fruit flies in your worm bin.
This is a very common problem, and can put people off worm farming for good. Fruit flies love over ripe or decomposing fruit. If you suspect the fruit flies may be getting into your fruit before it gets to your worm bin, you need to either microwave or freeze your scraps before they go into your bin to kill the fruit flies. If they are getting into your worm bin after you have added the scraps, you could be over feeding them, or you are feeding them food scraps that are already rotting. Do not do either of these things if you don't want fruit flies. Worms will eat their body weight in food each day, so don't feed them more than that. It also helps them to eat it faster if you chop the food scraps up before you add them to the worm bin. Finally, put a piece of cardboard on top of the food scraps. I use a pizza box. This can prevent the fruit flies from getting to the scraps, although they are rather sneaky.
2. Your Worm Farm Smells Bad
A worm farm should never have a bad smell. If it smells bad, you are most likely over feeding your worms and the food is going rotten. Make sure you don't feed the worms more than their body weight in food each day.
3. Your Worms Have Died or Disappeared
The conditions of your worm farm need to be just right for your worms to live there. If it is too dry, or too wet they will die, if they haven't already evacuated. If you are regularly feeding your worms food scraps, it is unlikely it will get too dry, but if it does you can spray a little water over your worms to add a little moisture. If it is too wet, either too much rain water is getting in, you haven't emptied your tray at the bottom frequently enough, (if your bin has a tray) or you are over feeding your worms. If it is too wet in there, you can add some torn up paper or cardboard and mix it through gently. How wet should my worm farm be? Your worm bedding, or the contents of your bin should be wet to touch, but liquid should not come out if you squeeze it. (Please make sure you do not squeeze any worms though!)
Anything I missed? Worm farming is so much fun when you get it right. I would be more than happy to help you if you have any questions about your worm farm. Just write in the comments or send me a message.
Maria