When the smell coming from your vermicomposting bin is horrible, you know that something is wrong. With dread, your worst fears are realized when you look inside: the bin is wet. That does not bode well. Moisture levels are critical for your composting worms’ health. If it’s too wet inside, your worms can get sick. They can even drown. What should you do? Assess the Situation As a vermicomposting enthusiast, you are responsible for your worms’ well-being and their environment. You need to check their bedding’s moisture content regularly.
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How to Keep Your Composting Worms Cool in the Hot Summer
In the hot summer weather, your composting worms are at risk of getting overheated and dried out. They may even die. That’s because worms are unable to sweat. Outdoors in nature, worms beat the heat by burrowing deep into the soil. But your composting worms don’t have that option. They live in an artificial environment, the composting bin. As a master of their universe, you must ensure they stay healthy. This article is a guide as to how to prevent your worms from suffering in the summer heat.
Read MoreWhy Tray-Based Composters are Best for Worm Castings
Why do people use specialized tray-based composters for composting with worms? Why not just use a regular, deep composting bin from the hardware store? Many vermicomposting projects are for small-scale households. They want to turn their kitchen scraps into free fertilizer: worm castings, also called “black gold.” Black gold that nourishes plants, flowers, shrubs, trees, and lawns. Composting scraps reduces waste volume and odors in the household. A busy household looks for convenience and cleanliness. Tray-based composting bins foot the bill!
Read MoreSpringtime and Vermicomposting
Spring is the perfect time to prepare your vermicomposting worms for the upcoming warmer weather. You need to make sure the worms are breaking down accumulated scraps. When do you need to add fresh adult worms to speed things along? When should you harvest the worm castings, and how? How do you use organic compost? Do you need a different compost bin? Should you add bedding, and how? Find out the answers to these questions and more below. What is the First Step? Once it gets warmer with no chance of frost, check out your composting bin. It’s the best way to plan for the revival of your mostly dormant composting worms. You need to take stock of your worm inventory.
Read MoreDo Not Feed This To Your Composting Worms
What should you NOT feed your composting worms? At Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm, we supply our customers with the finest composting worms. We recommend our quality Red Worms or European Night Crawlers for vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is a great way to get rid of organic waste. It’s good for the environment and produces valuable compost for plants. We want to make sure that not only are our customers happy, but also our worms. Healthy worms make for the most effective composting.
Read MoreWhy Fruit Flies Invade Composting Pails and What to Do About It
Whether you are composting indoors or out, irritating little fruit flies sometimes invade your house. Exposing organic matter to the air attracts drosophila melanogaster. Even fresh fruit on the countertop or in a fruit bowl brings them on. How do fruit flies get into the house? How can you prevent them? What can you do to get rid of them? Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm has been dealing with this question for over 40 years. Types of Composting Most households choose to compost kitchen scraps outdoors. They collect wasted organic material a pail or container with a lid. After some scraps have accumulated, they dump the scraps into a larger outdoor composter. This could be a pile, a rough structure made from scrap materials, a tote, a composter purchased from a store, or a composter bought online.
Read MoreHow Do Composting Worms Survive the Cold Winter?
Composting worms help break down food scraps, but how do they survive the cold winter? Any vermicomposting bin set up in a northern state is likely to freeze. Will all the worms die? Should you try to save them? If the worms die, will there still be worm castings for fertilizer in the Spring? Should you bring them indoors?
Read MoreBest Ways to Protect Composting Worms in the Winter
Are sub-freezing temperatures on their way? Composting with worms does not have to stop in the winter! If you live in a cold climate, your composting worms can continue working when winter approaches. You need to make some decisions. Here are your choices: Do nothing. Insulate. Move the worms to a sheltered location. Move the worms to a heated location (such as in the house, heated outbuilding or basement). Wild worms fend for themselves during freezing temperatures.
Read MoreKeeping Worm Composting Bins Cool in the Summer
If you are feeling hot in the summer, so are your composting worms! Unless they are snuggled indoors in air conditioning, your wiggly composting helpers need help staying cool. A few precautions will keep your worms operational. What natural cooling techniques do worms have? Where should your worm bin go? When should you intervene? What’s the worst that can happen? Natural Worm Cooling Worm in the wild knows what to do when they feel too hot. They dig down deeper in the earth or bedding
Read MoreMaking Compost: Differences Between Vermicomposting, Anaerobic and Aerobic Composting
Did you know that there are different types of composting? Aerobic composting and vermicomposting require ventilation. Anaerobic composting works without oxygen. How do you make compost? Which type is best for households, farms, businesses, institutions, and schools? How Composting Works Composting takes advantage of the natural process of decomposition. When leaves drop on the ground in the fall, Mother Nature breaks them down. Ants and other insects, bacteria, and fungi do their work. Soon, nothing remains except brown matter, which becomes part of the topsoil. This rich organic matter nourishes plants, helps regulate water saturation, and creates air pockets.
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