I am worried about my worms. Last night, after a dig through their plastic bin, I found startlingly few redworms. After a few minutes spent with Worms Eat My Garbage, I more thoroughly explored the bin by hand.
Findings:
1. There are a lot of other creatures living inside. Mites and fruit flies being most obvious. However, the mites don't look prevalent enough to be a problem.
2. Moisture level seems okay being consistently moist throughout the bin with no pooling at the bottom. I am leaving the top off for a day or two to see if that helps a bit.
3. Smell is also okay. There are no strong, icky odors that may augur a bacterial problem. The bin smells earthy and rich but not repulsive.
4. There seems to be food available. I feed them about 3 pounds of scraps a week, and I feed a mixture of tea leaves and other tasty edibles, limiting the amount of onion peel and citrus that I throw in to help maintain a healthy pH.
5. A fuzzy white mold does like to grow on top. At least, I believe it's a mold. It appears rather web-like and fairly transparent, and it spreads across the top of the bedding. I usually brush it away whenever I check on the worms, and it only covered less than 1/4 of the bedding.
6. I am storing them in the basement, so temperature should not be a problem.
I'm going to the nursery where I bought them on Sunday for a bee keeping class, so I will talk to the experts there. In the meanwhile, I believe I am going to replace half of their bedding and drill more air holes into their home. Perhaps this will help alleviate the problem and improve the population. I found one and two helpful sites.
er.................
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