Outdoor bin has a variety of bugs. Is it harmful?

18 years ago

I have an outdoor bin that I started with a Lb. of redworms. I was moving the completed stuff to one side to add fresh food/bedding. There are tons of insects in the mix. Small black beetles, peelbugs, ants, etc. The worms seem fine. However my question is: Are these other insects bad for the bin? Do they take away from the worms, or are they a benefit? I know they all are insects that eat and break down matter. So maybe they help with the large scraps? is their waste bad for the completed compost? I want to side on the thought that nature knows best, but I am not sure.

Please advise if anyone has a clue. I find no info on this.

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

Bdadawg
18 years ago
Going from memory the only real things to watch out for in a worm bin are ants, centipedes, and wasps. They will prey on worms. I think there are also some third level beetles but small black really doesnt thrust a picture to mind.

Insects like sowbugs (pillbugs, rollie pollies) and soldier fly larvae will help with decomposition. The worms will eat the sowbug waste. Soldier fly larvae tend to make the bin overly wet though.

This is going off of late night memory so some of it might be wrong.

Bryan
lucky22
Original Author
18 years ago
hey thanks for ur follow up bryan! i cant help the ants, but what i do know, is that i can put anything in my bin, and it will be gone in days. i put a half a watermelon rind in there, one week ago, and its paper now! i just set it on top. and the worms come up and eat it. so i dont have to mix stuff in and all that. i just put it in there and they all seem to thrive on it. i have it in the shade, and a dark cover, so the worms can come up top. and they do.

i think that the extra insects really just take over on what the worms dont do. its amazing, if u just put things in nature, they tend to work it all out just fine ay? amazing. but im facinated by this worm composting, as well as regular composting.

thanks for the reply!
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@sbryce: I'm really not sure how my worms are doing. There are definitely less of them, and they aren't reproducing (not as many eggs) as they were in the early summer. And the neglect caused the mites (?) to show up.... which is usually not the case. Why did all these additional bugs show up when I left the bin without food (scraps of human food) for a couple months. I'm not sure that I have enough in the bedding to begin with. And one thing I started to do was add shredded paper that was left to soak in water for days/weeks. (I would just leave some water in the bin of my shredder.) Is that a problem at all? Maybe the paper soaked too long and caused some chemical reaction? The only thing I noticed about the excessively soaked paper was that it was filmy and clumpy. I made sure I squeezed it good though before I broke it up and put it in the bin. @otis11 - Thanks. I think I'll try that. I'm still not exactly sure what these tiny bugs are... if they are mites (b/c I've had those in small quantities in my bin before). I'll try and take a picture and post it.
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vstech
18 years ago
ants also remove the scraps from the bin and take it back to their nest for feeding young. sometimes they make a nest in the bin and then they can eat the worms as well...
Kelly_Slocum
18 years ago
Ok, hang on, folks! Ants are NOT generally predators of earthworms! If we're talking about fire ants then there is sometimes concern, but other than fire ants we do not have a problem with ants preying on earthworms in North America. And while it is technically true that ants can remove raw organic materials from a worm bin, the loss of nutrients from the system is highly unlikley to have any measurable impact on system activity.

Bryan is right that centipedes can prey on earthworms, but 1) earthworms are not their primary food source and 2) it is unusual for centipede numbers in a bin to be sufficient that they have any measurable impact on worm population.

There are no beetles that are common to worm bins or compost piles that will feed on or harm the worms in the system.

The bottom line on all the critters commonly running about worm bins and compost piles is that they are beneficial to the process and will not harm the worms, the humans associated with the system, our pets or our plants if the critters remain in the finished material when it is used in the garden. A healthy worm bin SHOULD have a huge variety of invertebrates present. The only significant caveat is fire ants, which should be eliminated from the bin due, primarily, to their danger to humans interacting with the bin, but also because they will SOMETIMES kill the worms.

Critters in the system are a vital part of a healthy bin's ability to maximize OM processing. Love your critters, my friends! They are on our side!

Kelly S

Outdoor bin has a variety of bugs. Is it harmful?

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Bdadawg

lucky22
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Outdoor bin has a variety of bugs. Is it harmful?

Comments (4)

Bdadawg

lucky22Original Author

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vstech

Kelly_Slocum

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lucky22
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