Can you tell us how hot it gets in your garage in the summer?

I had a tiny little spousal problem the first time I had fruit flies hatch in my indoor bin. Now that I've figured out how to prevent that, it does quite nicely under a parlor table. It sure is nice to have it just a few steps from the kitchen counter.

The worms like the temps you do. If you are comfortable in the garage, they will be. I move mine from the garage to a shady little shed I have in the backyard when the temps get over 80 in the garage.

They will SURVIVE up to >90 degrees. They thrive at 75.

Google it,

Chuckiebtoo

It's way too hot in my garage for worms and it is much cooler here in Seattle than in Charlotte. I had a tragic worm holocost when they got too hot once ... even now I feel awful about it, but I learned to keep them in the coolest shade of my yard.

I'm in Raleigh and I had mine in the garage last year. They really didn't seem to like it that well. They really slowed down composting all the scraps.

I had a bin on the back porch, and another in the garage last summer. Both did just fine, and it does get quite hot here in Oklahoma.

Just keep checking on them, and change the location if you feel it is nessecary.

Moni

There are alot of ways to insulate your bin both against cold and heat ... the great thing is insulating them covers both ways.

The number one best option is to use a large bin. An old freezer or fridge with the air lock removed works great. You want it large so that there are alot of areas for the worms to go to when temps get out of their desired range. Deeper bins tend to be cooler towards the middle and bottom.

You can also insulate it with wet carpet, wet burlap, putting it between the crossflow of 2 windows, you can even toss ice on it during the summer as long as you have good drainage. Burying it in the dirt is also a real good option, soil is a pretty good insulator.

Even my smaller bins are quite heavy when full, so moving is not a really great option. Best to set up the place in a good location.

Since ive never been to charlotte im assuming it has high humidity, so you would probably want to keep an outside bin a bit on the dry side, high temps in water usually result in low o2 exchange (which is why fish tanks are usually kept in 76-80 range). Keeping a wet covering such as the carpet or burlap listed above will allow the bin to aspirate helping to keep temps lower.

Bryan

Actually, warm, dry conditions are lethal to eathworms. When the temperature rises it is important to keep the bin damp to ensure evaporation can cool the system while sufficient moisture remains behind to enable the worm life processes.

Many worm growers and vermicomposters in the southwest mange their bins by placing drip irrigation systems over the bedding, thus ensuring sufficient moisture and evaporative cooling. Bryan's suggestion of burying ice in the bin is also a good one for creating cool zones that release water slowly. Many vermicomposters freeze water in one litre pop bottles, then set the open bottles upside down on the bedding where they slowly melt and trickle cold water into the system for several hours. All are clever ideas.

The take home message in all of this is to keep the bin nicely damp when it gets hot; doing so ensures a healthy system during the doggest of summer's dog days!

Kelly s

Kelly, wouldnt high humidity areas put excess moisture into a bin rather than wick it away? Saturated bedding at high temps (90-100) wouldnt be as lethal as dried out bedding, but would surely force the worms to rise to the top or try to escape.

This is mostly just based on theory and my messed up logic as i live in mostly desert country or high altitude (which is basically the same).

Bryan

Surprisingly, there is a good deal of evaporation, even at extremely high humidity levels, though, after having spent several years south of the Mason Dixon line, it seems to rarely FEEL that way to we humans! ::grin:: Further, water gains heat much more slowly than the surrounding air, thus water tends to be cooler than the ambient temps, aiding in reducing bin temperature in this way as well as through evaporative cooling.

Worms in humid environments are no more proned to suface behaviors or crawling than are those common or adapted to arid climates. The only exception to this being that hot, humid conditions often lead to quick "hit and run" thunderstorms with which sudden, rapid changes in barometric pressure are associated. These rapid pressure changes can lead to worm crawl or worms moving up the bin walls.

I rather like your "messed up" logic, Bryan. Your posts tend to stimulate good conversation and show a refreshing level of common sense. Arguably the most important thing to remember in vermicomposting is that there are no hard and fast rules, thus "going with your gut" and trusting your own observation is, in my experience, the wisest thing to do. I once allowed myself to believe I was the expert to which I was routinely referenced, but discovered that there is way too much variability in a biological community as rich and diverse as a worm bin to ever say I reliably had all "the answers". Wisdom, a sense of wonder and a keen eye for observation are what makes a good vermicomposter, composter and gardener!

Kelly S

What I've found about moisture is the use of plastic bins greatly reduces the loss of it. My bins rarely need any other moisture than what is given them with the foodstock. When necessary, I sprinkle the bedding (newspaper) with a little H2O...but hardly ever does moisture leak from the bottom of my bins.

Am I not doing this right? Could I be producing more worms with moister conditions? I had 1 anearobic, wet, and smelly bin condition last winter. I do not want a repeat!!

Chuckiebtoo