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Vermicomposting

bins are heating up, worms escaping

16 years ago

We have been vermicomposting for years, and never had this happen before. We have a commericial multiple bin system. We recently added a lot of pear peels and new vegetable scaps (with paper)to two empty trays. Those two trays are heating up and the worms are trying to escape them.(Big globs of worms crawling over the sides.) There are tons of worms in the two almost finished trays above them that seem very happy. How do we cool off the two hot trays? I tried adding paper and leaves, but I think it made it hotter. Also, the pears smell slightly like they are fermenting. Has anyone had this problem?

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Comments (7)

tclynx
16 years ago
I have had portions of my bin heat up after adding a large amount of fruit. My bin is very large though and the worms can move off to a cooler part of the bin when this happens. It is a good idea to always have a "safe area" of the bin that never gets food scraps so that it won't tend to heat up and that way there is always somewhere they can go instead of escaping. Once the break down is well underway, the worms will venture back and eat. Hopefully you haven't lost too many to escape attempts before then.
marshall2000
16 years ago
It's probably the "lot of pear peels and vegetable scraps" making it heat up. Try removing it.
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You do need to be patient with the worms early on. They seem to take a couple of months to ramp up to proper feeding (the bin needs to mature enough to transform the food waste into what the worms actually eat.) See the worms don't actually eat your food scraps, they eat the microbes that are decomposing the food scraps. Paper bedding does have the tendency to become matted. That is one reason I like shredded or ripped up corrugated cardboard as bedding, it tends not to matt or ball up the same way. Fluffing the bedding up occasionally is fine. Make sure bedding is only as moist as a wrung out sponge. It is ok if the top layer of shredded paper drys out a bit so long as the bedding under stays moist. A large chunk of cardboard, newspaper, or paper bag layed over the top of the bedding is often done. good luck and be patient. Here is a link that might be useful: My bins
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When heating occurs in a home bin you can just about count on the fact that it is pocket fed. Heat requires mass and some insulation, both of which are better supplied by massing food in one spot down in the bedding than when food is spread in a thin layer over the surface of the bin contents then covered with an equally thin layer of new bedding, as is done in top-feeding. If heating is a regular problem for you then consider the top-feeding method. As for cocoons, these little structures and the developing young inside are barely impacted by the heating in a large backyard compost pile, let alone the lower heat achieved in a low-mass worm bin. Cocoons can survive drying; heating (to temps in excess of 115 degrees F); long-term submergence (more than two years); freezing for extended periods; and ingestion by animals, even ruminant animals, like cows and goats (provided they make it past the teeth). In response to stressful conditions outside the young within the cocoon slow development, completing developmnent when exposed to conditions more favorable to worm activity. You can feel confidently that the heat in your bins has had no measurable impact on your cocoons. Kelly S
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My bins are doing the same thing! After temps in the 40s last week, it's suddenly 96 today! Yesterday, when it started heating up, I brought my bins inside and put them under the kitchen sink. Today, they're really warm inside and creating a lot of condensation...I can't seen any worms because it's really dark in the cupboard, but I tried shoving ice cubes down into the bedding, evenly spaced to cool it off. I'll try leaving the lid off to let it air out and maybe more ice cubes...I don't have any frozen water bottles handy, but I'll get some started for tomorrow. I've only had worms for a few weeks! I don't want to lose them! There were a lot of great suggestions in this topic, so thanks!
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kasia07
16 years ago
This same happend to me this morning!
I have had bin for 4 weeks and even yesterday I was telling my friend how great the worm has been doing :just "earthy" almost no smell,few fruit flies. And today at 6.30 am before going to work LOTS of worms outside the bin.It had to be hundred or more!!!
I had to clean it up before my daughter would see it. I have no clue what had made them to crawl out. I opened the bin,added some fresh paper,and hope it will never happen again. The food I have been putting is almost the same: some fruit, some vegetable scraps. I has been hot last weeks and could it be temp.related escape???

kasia
marshall2000
16 years ago
The food heats up while it is breaking down. It is a good idea to feed in one spot leaving other, cooler areas to where the worms can escape. If you feed the whole area then they will try to escape and end up outside the bin as you have seen. Remove some of the heated food and let things cool down. Try adding less food with each feeding.

Marshall
goldenpond
16 years ago
I actually visited a worm farm where I gotmy worms and bins. They said if it gets too hot to take a bottle of FROZEN WATER and wrap in a newspaper and place in the bin.If the worms need to cool off they can come closer to it.I keep mine in the garage as it is too hot in Florida in my opinion.Also do you take a tool and sort of aerate it on occasion?
tclynx
16 years ago
It is a good idea to fluff up the bedding on occasion. I've usually just done it with my hands, if this is too gross for you perhaps wear rubber gloves. The bottom layers of most bedding can become quite compacted and it is a good idea to see how the lower areas of your bin are fairing on moisture, worm population etc.

We do the frozen water bottles for our worms as we are in hot FL too. We haven't even bee bothering to wrap them in paper or anything. We just bury them in the middle of the bin so when things are too hot they can cool off. This might not be strictly necessary as the moist bin is much cooler than the air and the worms did survive us going on vacation so we were not here to bring them ice every other day. However, the cooler temperatures will probably make conditions much better for breeding.
reversemidas
16 years ago
With my small bin when it gets too hot for them during the summer, I give them the melon peel scraps or watermelon scrap frozen.

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