Best Ways to Dry Out a Wet Worm Bin - Uncle Jim's Worm Farm

Best Ways to Dry Out a Wet Worm Bin

Compost, Indoor Composters, Vermicomposting

worm bin moistureWhen your worm bin is too wet, what are the best way to dry it out? At Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm, we have heard this question many times. The vermicomposting bin’s moisture level is crucial to worm health. We have been raising worms on our farm in rural Pennsylvania for more than 40 years. In that time, we’ve developed a simple protocol for drying out a wet worm bin. Let’s start with the primary question: is the worm bin too wet?

A wet worm bin starts to smell awful! The acid balance in the bin can get thrown off. The worms can get sick and die. They breathe through their skins, so they can drown in a too-wet bin. The worms might try to escape in large numbers.

Composting Bin Moisture

When you keep Red Worms or European Night Crawlers to eat your organic trash, you take them on almost as pets. The worms will work hard to turn kitchen scraps and yard trimmings into fertilizer. You also have a responsibility to provide a suitable home. In the worm bin, the worms are dependent on you. They need a dark home with sufficient drainage, bedding, and food. Worms thrive in a slightly moist environment. Therefore, you need to check the bedding’s moisture content regularly.

Professional worm growers and serious hobbyists use a hydrometer to measure moisture. Gently stick the device into a part of the bedding where there a few worms. When the measurement is complete, you should see a number in the “moist” range (approximately between 4 and 8).

However, there is no need to run out and buy a hydrometer. Simply pick up a small handful of bedding and squeeze. The bedding should have the consistency of a wrung-out sponge. If water leaks out between your fingers, it is too moist. If it feels flaky or crumbly,  the worm bin is too dry.

Reasons Why It’s Too Wet

A bin gets too wet usually because something is out of balance. The food scraps you add are moist; the worms are eating away in there, and the drainage and air holes are supposed to compensate. However, you might have fed the worms too many high-moisture foods. Perhaps the drainage holes are blocked. Look carefully at the drainage holes and clear them if they are blocked. Bins designed for vermicomposting have enough drainage holes — and they may have a spigot for releasing accumulated water.  If you have a home-made bin, see if you need to drill or punch more holes.

Some of the moisture evaporates and escapes through air holes. If you made the bin yourself, you might need more air holes. Purchased bins should already have enough ventilation — either holes or a loose-fitting lid.

Leaving your worm bin out in the open exposes it to rainwater. Rain can come in loose-fitting lids. Water might even splash through the air holes! Worm bins should be kept under shelter, such as an awning, a covered patio, a shed, or a garage. Worms can drown if the bin floods.

Placing a worm bin blanket on top of the bedding helps regulate moisture.

Dry Out the Worm Bin

Here are the best ways to dry out a vermicomposting bin in three easy steps:

  1. If there are puddles on top, sop them up with paper, paper towels, or clean rags.
  2. Stop adding very moist scraps until the problem is under control. Avoid fruits, especially melon flesh. If the worm bin has a spigot, open it until the problem is solved.
  3. Add more bedding. For example, use coconut coir, pure peat moss, or shredded black-ink newspaper (see other bedding ideas). Gently sprinkle a few handfuls of dry bedding on top. Stir very gently so you do not hurt the worms. Bedding should be an even level of moisture, with no dry or wet clumps. Break up wet clumps. You can stir it again the next day if there are still clumps of dry bedding.

We have heard of removing the lid and blowing a fan directly into the bin. You may need to shine a light on the top of the bin to keep the worms in. This may have limited effectiveness, but you can try it for a few hours and see if it helps. This will probably only address moisture near the top of the bin.

Still Having Problems?

If you dry out the bin but still have an odor or dying worms, see our Worm Bin Troubleshooting Guide.

 

 

 

21 thoughts on “Best Ways to Dry Out a Wet Worm Bin

  1. I use emptied coffee cans. If you don’t have any ask around to friends and/or coworkers, I’m sure you’ll find some

  2. I removed the lid from our indoor worm bin and rotated the contents hourly for 4 hours, it really helped to dry it out and the worms aren’t trying to escape any more. Also, I just placed some melon rinds in the bin to attract mites for removal, worked like a charm!

  3. How do you check on the moisture level in a narrow, deep worm bin such as the compost tower in a Garden Tower 2? I’m more worried about too dry (Phoenix, AZ) than too wet, but until the tower gets filled most of the way, I have no way of using a hydrometer or feeling the bedding.

    1. Hello Robyn;

      Worms will travel up and down and sometimes, if they are seeking moisture, they will go down to the bottom of the bin where the moisture settles. Mix up your bedding by gently turning it and make sure it is evenly moist. The worms should be coming to the top to eat as well. If they are not coming to the top at all, it may be the moisture at the top of the bin, or lack of.

  4. Got my replacement worms ! They arrived alive and wiggling. In their new home and seem ok. I’m watching to check the moisture level. Seems ok, wrung out sponge method. Wanted to say thanks for your prompt and friendly custom service. I’ll be back for more worms as soon as I know I won’t kill them thanks again!!

  5. My worms got drenched with rain. The soil is like mud now. I have a light and fan on it. Top off. Will this help dry out the soil?

  6. To address the roach problem in one of my worm towers in the garden, I sprinkled food grade Diatomaceous Earth on top of a layer of dry bedding ( I used shredded cardboard). Use the Diatomaceous Earth lightly. Then I put my lid back on a few days later no roaches. It won’t hurt your worms, but it will get rid of bugs. It also worked to rid my indoor worm factory of gnats. With the worm factory I use a worm blanket ( which is a food grade burlap sack) so I sprinkled the Diatomaceous Earth on top of the blanket, which solved the gnat problem.

  7. To address the roach problem in one of my worm towers in the garden, I sprinkled food grade Diatomaceous Earth on top of a layer of dry bedding ( I used shredded cardboard). Use the Diatomaceous Earth lightly. Then I put my lid back on a few days later no roaches. It won’t hurt your worms, but it will get rid of bugs. It also worked to rid my indoor worm factory of gnats. With the worm factory I use a worm blanket ( which is a food grade burlap sack) so I sprinkled the Diatomaceous Earth on top of the blanket, which solved the gnat problem.

    1. Hello Billy;

      To keep maggots from invading a worm bed, do not overfeed the worms or leave too much exposed food in the bin. Fly’s will lay larvae/maggots quickly and they will take over the bin. With Vermicomposting, you add only enough food that the worms can eat in 4-5 days and when it is gone you add more. It is not like a compost pile where you continue to dump it on. The bin should not smell or look grossly gooey or slimy. It should look earthy and smell earthy.

      Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm

  8. Hi. I bought a tumbler composter and have been putting scraps from the food being prepped and very particular with what is put in it. Periodically I put green grass clippings in it. I tumble it after putting the scraps in. I have what appears to be clumped balls in it. It appears to be wet but not drowned. I’m interested in worming it, will it be ok to add worms with the descriptions I gave. I install mostly garden scraps, veggie scraps, etc.

    1. Hi Bobby,

      Thank you for reaching out. The tumbler composters break down waste by producing heat when turned. We do not recommend adding worms to these if you are going to be tumbling it. You can add worms to this type of bin, but just be sure to not tumble it as the heat produced will likely kill off the worms.

      Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm

  9. Hola! I’ve been following your website for a long
    time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and
    give you a shout out from Lubbock Tx! Just
    wanted to mention keep up the good job!

  10. Im in the uk, and my bin is homemade, two 20l flip top bins, the inner one with holes punched into the bottom. Ive just put an entire shredded shoe box in to try to dry it out, would that work? Also, how do i stop the tiny white baby worms from trying to escape, and dying? (im assuming its worms, they are too thin to be fruit fly larvae)

  11. I unwittingly set two boxes on top of my worm cafe for several days, and the moisture got trapped. Worms were trying to escape and it was a mess. Finally got it sorted out. DO NOT block those air hole!

  12. Take corrugated cardboard and place in wet bin like a filing cabernet change every few days as the cardboard get wet replace but be careful not to dry the casting to much the worms will die You might want to remove the worms first by the light method. Another way is to place a couple sheets of dry newspaper under the plastic but again be careful not to dry too much. Good luck

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