A little while ago one of our readers, Mario, sent me an email asking how he could get some Red Worm cocoons to hatch. I suggested adding them to some moistened bedding (shredded cardboard, newsprint etc), and then adding a small amount of food waste (I suggested an apple core, I believe). Well, as it turns out, Mario did indeed follow my advice and – long story short – ended up with lots of little wigglers in his mini bin.

This got me thinking…(uh oh! haha)

I’ve always been curious about the factors leading to the hatching of worm cocoons – specifically those of composting species, so the results of Mario’s little experiment have provided me with more than enough inspiration to finally start testing things out for myself (thanks, Mario!).

One thing I’ve noticed in my own systems is that periods of cold, and then warming seems to really increase hatching rates – a prime example of course would be in the spring time, when loads of baby worms start appearing in outdoor beds. I have also noticed this when bringing materials inside late in the fall (there seems to be an abundance of tiny worms in the material not too long after it warms up).

All of this kind of makes sense when you think about it. Red Worms tend to breed a lot as temperatures drop, so presumably the number of cocoons would be increasing at this time. In unprotected habitats, a fair number (if not all) of adults would likely die during the winter, so all these cocoons would be important in terms of the overall survival of the population.

Apart from temperature, I am also curious about moisture content and food/habitat. Will the worms hatch out more readily in cardboard or a mix of cardboard and food waste? If the results of my “50 Cocoon Challenge” (link will take you to listing of related posts) experiments are any indication, I have a sneaking suspicion that I know the answer to that one.

Thankfully, I happen to have access to loads of Red Worm cocoons at the moment, so I should be able to test out a LOT of different scenarios. If you have any ideas/suggestions, be sure to add a comment!

I will of course write about this again once I have my first test(s) up and running.
Stay tuned!
8)

I received an intriguing email recently from Janet Walker, who is a member of the Earthworm Interest Group of Southern Africa (a group I am now actually an ‘international member’ of), and a vermicomposting professional in South Africa. I asked if I could share what she wrote, and she happily obliged.

One of my worm clients recently came to see me at our Organic Market to tell me that she had gone on holiday having fed her worms well to make sure they did not starve. She was away for ten days, and on her return she did not find any worms in her system. On asking what she had fed to her worms, we have now discovered that leaving a WHOLE pineapple, cut in half, is a worm digester. I did not know that pineapple contains one of nature’s best digestive enzymes, as does papaya and the poor worms got completely digested.

This is really interesting, and not something I was familiar with. I know that pineapple is extremely acidic and have always basically considered it in the same category as citrus as far as adding it to worm bins goes (ie only in moderation). I have never heard of it completely wiping out a population of worms however, nor was I aware of the fact that it contains digestive enzymes. I have heard that Papaya can be good to eat with meats for this reason, but again haven’t really thought too much about the potential dangers of adding it to your worm bin – it definitely does make sense though!

Anyway, I will be curious to see if anyone else has experience with these two potentially-dangerous worm foods.

Thanks again to Janet for sharing this info with us!
8)

This post was inspired by a question from a reader, but I’m including it in the “General Questions’ section since I’m not going to post the question. Truth be told I am partially trying to get in touch with the person who wrote in – unfortunately I received an email bounce when I tried to reply (this is definitely one of my pet peeves, since I hate to have people thinking I can’t be bothered replying!).

OK – so Diana, if you are out there…please contact me again with a different email address!
🙂

What Diana was basically wondering about was whether or not I was familiar with any cases of a small cafe or coffee shop that had incorporated vermicomposting into their business.

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with anyone doing this (or at least, I can’t remember – haha), but I’m hopeful that by posting it here, one of our readers WILL know of an example of this being done and be able to chime in.

Of course, I do think this is a great idea! In all honesty, I think every restaurant and cafe should have their own vermicomposting system (ok, so perhaps I am a tad biased here – haha).

As many of you may remember, last summer I attempted to process (via vermicomposting) the compostable waste from a popular local restaurant (see Restaurant Food Waste Vermicomposting), but had to end the partnership after a few months since there was simply too much waste to deal with. So I am at least somewhat familiar with this sort of project – but not from perspective of an actual business owner. There are definitely advantages to being someone trying to incorporate this into your own business – you will have intimate knowledge re: the amount of waste you produce, the general logistics of your operation, what exactly you are trying to accomplish, and much time/money you are willing to spend.

When simply collecting wastes from another business, it is really important to make sure that you and the business owner are on the same page with the game plan. I made the mistake of getting caught up in their enthusiasm and biting off more than I could chew.

Speaking of which, regardless of what side of the equation you happen to be on, I would definitely recommend starting off slowly. It will be important to determine how readily composting worms will consume the wastes you are producing/collecting, how quickly they are going to consume them, and how best to handle these materials before feeding them. Start with a small ‘pilot project’ – maybe even only with 1 or 2 regular worm bins. You can always expand from there. Cutting back once totally committed on the other hand, can be a bit more of a challenge (and can be a potentially costly mistake if you are the business owner).

I think cafes and coffee shops in some ways are better suited for this sort of project than larger restaurants, since coffee grounds and tea bags (your main waste materials I would imagine) are a lot easier to deal with than rotting food waste. They can be used in a wide variety of ways (mulches etc) since they look and smell nice – so having too much for your system(s) shouldn’t pose nearly as much of a problem as I encountered.

As I’ve discovered recently, coffee grounds can however be a bit of a challenge in a vermicomposting system. They can cause a system to heat up quite quickly if a fair amount is added at once. They also seem to be difficult to keep moist in a system that receives good air flow. As I wrote in another blog post, they are not all created equal either – some of the specialty blends or more finely ground…uhhh…grounds (haha) might not be as appealing for the worms.

Anyway, bottom-line I think there is a lot of potential here. Aside from reducing wastes (and perhaps disposal costs) this is a great way to promote the business. ‘Green’ is the new trendy thing, so marketing your ‘Green Cafe’ should be quite easy to do (local papers would likely want to write articles about you, vermicomposting bloggers might want to write blog posts about you – wink wink!)

Hope this helps, Diana – and perhaps more importantly, I hope it reaches you!
8)

This is probably just about the MOST common vermicomposting question out there! I’ve had quite a few people inquiring about this just in the past week alone – so it’s definitely time I dedicated a post to the topic!

Let’s first talk about the word “escape”, since it is a crucial factor when it comes to evaluating the situation. If your worms are indeed trying to literally escape from your worm bins – especially when doing so en masse – you definitely have a serious problem that needs to be addressed right away.

If on the other hand you have a handful of worms crawling up the sides and lid of the bin, with perhaps a few dummies ending up dried up on your floor – you are probably ok! Especially if your system is brand new.

I would wager to say that when worms are added to a brand new vermicomposting system – especially after being shipped – they are far more likely to wander a little, than to completely settle in right away! Consider the fact that they are 1) being introduced to a completely new environment, and 2) have been in motion for at least a couple of days prior to being added to the bin/bed.

Worms raised by worm farmers on a large-scale basis will typically be kept in giant, open beds, and will commonly be fed some sort of manure. They are NOT kept in a million Rubbermaid tubs and fed food scraps – I can tell you that much for sure!
😆

SO…

When they are introduced to this totally new environment (the enclosed plastic bin), it’s not too surprising that they are a little restless for the first little while! How you set up your system can have a major impact on the situation as well. I recommend setting the bin up at least week before the worms arrive, so they are at least have a microbially active habitat. You can take this a step further by actually adding some compost inoculum (compost from another worm system would work well), or aged manure if you happen to have either of these. Even some leaf litter (decomposing leaves, found at the bottom of an outdoor leaf heap or on a forest floor) could help a lot.

Aside from preparing the best habitat possible, you can also take some steps to help keep your worms down in the bedding once they’ve been introduced to the sytem. If it is possible for you to shine a light over top of the bin for a few days straight that would be great (use a fluorescent or LED light to save power usage). Something that has also worked for me is adding a LOT of dry, absorbent bedding at the top of the system (generally more applicable for enclosed, plastic systems) – this helps to keep the sides and underside of the lid really dry, thus discouraging the worms from roaming up there.

I can remember back to when I received my very first European Nightcrawler shipment. They were very restless for the first little while, and I actually lost some due to them crawling out and falling onto the floor. When I added a bunch of dry bedding to the top of the bin, it worked very well! The worms stayed down where it was moist, and I didn’t lose any more.

Generally, after a few days (probably no longer than a week at the most) the worms should be quite used to their new home. If you are using the light technique I’d recommend turning the light off for short periods of time to see what happens – start with 10, 15, 20 minutes and go from there if they seem to be staying down.

How do I know if there is indeed a serious problem?

Trust me – you WILL KNOW!
🙂

If the worms are all balled up together in various spots in the bin, or in the handles (in the case of Rubbermaid-type bins), or they are escaping via every possible route you’ve made available (even the smallest air holes), then it is likely more than just being unsettled and needing time to get used to their habitat. Almost certainly, something you have added in the bin is causing them harm.

If you are using potting soil (something I definitely don’t recommend) for example – this can sometimes contain inorganic fertilizer salts which can really harm your worms. Even though these mixes typically contain a lot of peat moss (a good worm bedding), I prefer to steer clear of them altogether. Other types of bedding might cause issues as well – for example, some white office paper can contain irritating or harmful compounds (bleach etc). I recall back when I was still pretty new to vermicomposting, I set up a big bin using only white shredded paper as bedding, and the worms were NOT impressed. This paper can be used in moderation (and some paper is totally fine), but it’s better to err on the side of caution in my opinion.

Of course, the ‘food’ material in the system is very often going to be the culprit – if there is a LOT of waste materials, and not enough oxygen this can lead to serious issues, as can having too much N-rich waste (eg. grass clippings).

If your worms seem to be extremely stressed out, I would recommend a major overhaul of your system. Set up another bin using lots of moistened bedding (shredded cardboard) and any good rotting material you can get your hands on (leaves, compost etc), and transfer as many worms over as you can. You may not need to chuck out the contents of the first system (assuming the issue isn’t a nasty chemical of some sort), since these things tend to work themselves out over time.

Anyway, hopefully this post will help to put some minds at ease! In my experience, most of the time there is nothing to worry about when worms are crawling up the sides etc. As I like to tell people – it’s like ‘survival of the fittest’. All the ‘dummies’ and ‘weaklings’ manage to kill themselves off early, so your population then consists of the most tolerant, healthy worms. Any worms hatched into the new system will be even MORE tolerant and adapted to live in that environment!
8)

I have decided to add a new category to the blog – “general questions”. Unlike our “reader questions”, these are not exact questions I find in my inbox (and quote directly on the blog) – but they will cover topics that people just generally seem to be curious about.

Today’s topic is a prime example of one that seems to come up a lot (especially lately, for some reason) – mold growth in worm bins. i.e. ‘Should I be concerned?’; ‘How much is too much?’ etc

As many people have discovered, setting up a worm bin in the manner I typically recommend – that is, mixing bedding with food waste then letting it sit for a week or so before adding worms – can (and in fact, likely will) lead to some obvious fungal growth. This is to be expected, and is definitely nothing to worry about. Excess mold growth in a bin containing worms on the other hand may be an indication of something potentially more serious.

Let’s deal with each of these scenarios separately. First we have the case of various fungal species taking hold in the moist, warm (usually), nutrient-rich environment of a bin that’s just been set up. This should really come as no surprise – you’ve basically created the ultimate, low competition microbial buffet (and habitat) – kinda like a five star resort for microbes.
🙂

Add to that the fact that fungi tend to thrive in somewhat acidic conditions (typical of rotting food wastes), and it should almost be surprising if they DIDN’T appear!

As mentioned above, this situation is generally not something you need to worry about. What I would recommend you do when you see this growth is simply mix up the contents of the bin (again, we are talking here about a situation where there are no worms). Mixing the contents of your new bin once or twice before adding the worms is actually a really good idea in general. If, aside from the mold growth, things seem a little too wet, you may want to add some new dry bedding as well. Similarly, if after mixing, there still seems to be a lot of dry bedding you may also want to spray everything with some water.

This mixing will break up the fungal mycelia (the hair-like growth typically associated with fungi), thus impeding further growth. Once the worms (and associated ecosystem) are added, the fungi should be kept in check via the movement, and direct grazing of the worms (and other critters).

This is why excess fungal growth when worms are present in the bin can be an indication of a problem – typically one of two things (often closely related to one another). The most common issue will likely be overfeeding. Plain and simple – if you add a lot more waste materials than the worms can consume, or if you add it in a form that is not particularly worm-friendly (i.e. you don’t do anything to assist the process), other organisms are going to take advantage of these food resources, often including various types of fungi.

Overfeeding can also be closely linked to the other main cause of fungal growth – the dreaded ‘sour bin’! This basically occurs when excess acidity builds up in a worm bin, most often as a result of too much food being added, or simply too much of a particular type of food being added. As some of you may recall, this is exactly what happened to me when I added too much food waste from one of my bokashi buckets to my European Nightcrawler bin (see “Symptoms of a ‘Sour’ Worm Bin“).

As I mentioned above, acidic conditions tend to favor the growth of fungi. Composting worms are actually quite tolerant of acidic conditions, so some drop in pH generally won’t be an issue, but obviously there is a limit to their tolerance.

Rather than waiting for the appearance of ‘mold’ in your system to let you know your bin is going sour, I would recommend being proactive in your efforts to keep things balanced. Slow-release pH buffers like crushed egg shells can help to prevent these conditions from developing in the first place.