New vermicompost turned wet

10 years ago

I have a fairly new "Worm Factory 360" that I'm running in my kitchen. I have 2 issues:

1) It recently turned pretty wet
2) My family creates too much waste!

I got it at the beginning of August, set it up according to instructions and added about a pound of red wigglers. I was going on vacation for 2 weeks right after that, so I added a couple pounds of watermelon rind and some eggshells and coffee grounds.

I came back in 2 weeks to find the watermelon rind completely processed and the worms very actively moving around. My family eats lots of watermelon, so I keep having a lot of it to feed the worms. I also read that its one of their favorite foods. So feeling I may have underfed them a bit (and having lots of watermelon rind around) I proceeded to feed them about an inch layer of watermelon rind across the top of the bin. I also added some torn up paper towels, more coffee grounds and some various other scraps. After about a week I could see they were making progress on the watermelon - but now the bottom of the bin has gotten pretty wet. The worm factory has a drain - it started draining about 1/3 to 1/2 cup a day of dark brown liquid.

The worms don't seem to mind it though. If you dig up the bedding it does feel a bit too wet but they are still down there in large numbers.

So I read up and over the last few days I added a lot of shredded newspaper. I think I've got it under control though haven't reversed it yet, and the amount draining is going down.

Just today I fed again, this time adding (again) lots of watermelon rind, some limp lettuce, a few overripe nectarines, some corn cob peels, egshells and a bunch of coffee grounds. I feel I have overfed again, but we just create too much food. In fact I've got a big bag of corn peels that I didn't use, and more watermelon in the fridge waiting to be eaten! Freezing the scraps won't help because it will just accumulate quicker than I can use it!

Would it help to add more worms? Or should I get another bin? Or both? If the wetness didn't seem to be bothering the worms, do you think I caught this in time? I've also been told to use coffee grounds in moderation, but I'm not sure what is moderation. I go through about a pound a week of dark roast coffee beans, which I ground fine for espresso. Is that too much to feed one worm factory?

Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated!

Oh ps: we have definitely had a big increase in fruit flies due to the bins, and overfeeding probably makes that worse. But that isn't a big deal. I haven't notice any other pest problems yet.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

SBinFF
10 years ago
You might be adding too much "food" for them. I found when I started with worms, they tended to eat less than the seller said they would. In those words, less is more. Lots of brown stuff, paper, dried leaves, cardboard, so on. Less of the green stuff, fruits and veggies with lots of moisture.

Is there a funky smell? How many trays are you using in the 360?
gvozdika
10 years ago
Too much food is too much food. You need to decide how to process the excess food. There are several options: start another worm bin, use bokashi/traditional composting, etc.
Related Discussions
My new FT Vermicomposter
Q
Comments (15)
Since I have created a flow through bin with a similar design, I think I will jump in and answer a couple of questions. First, pictures. My bin has a harvesting system similar to Worms4Tracy's. Since I was concerned about the weight of the VC sitting on the harvesting rods, I decided to start with a PVC frame. I did not think that the bin walls would be strong enough to hold up what I estimate to be about 100 lbs of vermicompost. In these first two pics you can get an idea of the approximate size of the bin. The bin walls are made from HDPE corrugated plastic (old campaign signs). One thing I learned while making this bin is the there is no adhesive that will hold HDPE. I tried silicone caulking with only slightly successful results. The screws holding the frame in place and the wood frame around the top opening are probably doing more to hold this together than the silicone caulking. The walls are double thickness corrugated plastic with the seams in each layer as far as possible from the seams in the other. So far this has held up, though it does bulge a bit. Looking down into the finished bin, you can see the harvesting rods in place. I have screws, like Worms4Tracy, but I also screwed in fins of the corrugated plastic. I don't know whether they were necessary. They have held up through a harvesting. One thing I did notice is that they do not allow as much air flow as I think a good flow through should have. I lined up the pvc Ts with the fins so that I could tell which way the fins were turned inside the bin. Here the fins are turned up. OK, observations: This bin took a long time to fill up. I would have to do a little digging to determine just how long, but more than a year. Someone feeding a little more aggressively could have filled it up faster. The first harvesting worked, but it was hard to turn the rods. Now to answer the two questions I want to address: > my main question for this type of design... what prevents > the entire contents of the can from spilling out the > bottom once you turn the pipes (with screws). Simply this: The VC packs down pretty tightly in the bin. When you turn the rods, you are literally scraping the bottom layer off of the VC. Everything above that is packed in tight enough that it just won't fall. > You could make a box frame to support the bottom. Yes, you could, as you can see. I harvested for the first time several days ago, and the VC still has not settled enough to allow a second harvesting. I have even poked at the VC from underneath with my fingers and a letter opener. I cannot loosen up the VC enough to get it to settle. I have tried leaving the fins open for a couple of days to see if the VC would dry out enough to get it to fall. So far, no. My guess is that it is the frame that is preventing the VC from settling. Since the VC is a compressed mass, it wants to slide down an unobstructed bin in one big mass. I believe that the frame is preventing that from happening. I was hoping that harvesting would remove most of the VC from the center of the mass, and the rest would collapse under the weight of the VC on top of it. So far, that has not happened.
...See More
New to Vermicomposting...
Q
Comments (4)
You have created a hostile environment for the worms. Please don't add more worms until you fix the problems. The first thing you need to understand is the difference between what we call 'bedding' and what we call 'food.' Bedding is anything that is high in carbon: paper, cardboard, coir, dry leaves, etc. Food is anything that is high in nitrogen: kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, etc. Mixing coffee grounds with shredded paper does not produce bedding. It adds food to bedding. You are grossly overfeeding. I would put enough bedding in the bin to absorb the excess water, and offset all the coffee grounds. Then stop feeding for a few weeks. Putting dirt in the bin was a mistake. Too late now. Add lots of bedding, and you should be OK. Stop adding Tums. Instead add more bedding. I like what you are doing with the coffee grounds. My worms seemed to ignore them until they started to form the white fungus layer on them. The only other thing I would do is add more bedding to offset the nitrogen in them. It is probably the nitrogen, and not the pH, that is causing your problems. Adding another tray will only help if you create a better environment at the same time. Your half-finished compost makes excellent bedding. Since it is already C:N balanced, you really don't need additional food. The worms will increase to fill whatever space they have, assuming a healthy environment. Mix your compost with shredded paper or cardboard, add enough water to make it moist, but not wet, and you will have great bedding. You have already seen that adding food also adds moisture, so you need to be careful not to let things get too wet. So: 1) more bedding, 2) less moisture, 3) no more dirt, 4) slow down on the feeding. Worms are pretty forgiving. I think this is a mess that can be fixed over time.
...See More
New to Vermicomposting: Need Assistance.
Q
Comments (8)
As mentioned making a worm bin is not hard nor expensive. As in gardening - start small. Until you learn to not make the worm bin too wet/moist you will certainly need small 1/8" holes. If you have holes you will need something under the bin to collect the leachate. You can use many things for this drip pan, ie. cookie sheet, etc. I think the cookies sheets are a bit harder to handle. I use a 2nd same size bin - I put somethings inside the 2nd bin so your worm bin doesn't create a vacuum and the two bins are easier to separate. I use empty pill bottles (or soda bottles) for this. Get creative. Pickup a spray bottle to mist the bedding for first use. Avoid using a watering can which will make the bedding too wet and cause the worms to escape (crawl out) the bin. I prefer using rainwater but that is another topic completely. Just keep in mind that chlorine kills bacteria and what you will be breeding in this bin is bacteria. You can tear up newspapers into strips or use shredded paper. I like the cross-cut shredders. This is normally the initial bedding used for worms. You can shred most junk mail just avoid anything that will not decompose, like the cellophane tape or windows in envelopes. So beware if you are using office shredded papers. IF you add anything from outdoors (including the kitchen scraps) either freeze or heat up the stuff first. The reason is to kill any insect eggs before you start breeding them. Much easier to prevent than to get rid of infestations. Apparently, fruit flies have already laid eggs on the fruits & vegetable you buy so this freezing (or cooking) is a must before placing in your bin. Obviously, you then need to let those items reach room temp before placing in the bin. Don't believe me - don't do it and see. To heat up (or cook) you can use a microwave or even a propane gas grill outside. I have re-purposed a grill a neighbor was tossing out for just this purpose. Esp. handy IF you are going to add compost (or soil, or leaves) from outside you will be surprised again just how many critters are in this stuff - So Be Warned. Oh and always, always bury the food (scraps) you add to the worm bin. You can find how to do almost anything on YouTube so here goes... There are many more but this one shows the 2nd bin like I was talking about. Me thinks the reason his worms were wandering is the bedding was to wet. He even mentions it is too wet but thinks they are looking for food? I also prefer using Eisenia Fetida (red wiggler) worms. I found mine under a compost pile outside but had their species confirmed at a seminar I went to. Hope this helps... HTH Good Luck
...See More
New vermicomposter question
Q
Comments (15)
Once you feel like everything is going well , worms are happy your food is disappearing and your herd is growing you may want to consider giving your worms a power snack which may help to vitalize and fatten your worms. Go with 1 part corn meal, 2 parts oats. I usually grind up my oats into a flour mix with the corn meal. I use a cheap coffee grinder I got at walmart for this. You can also add powdered egg shells done the same way. I put the mix in an old parmesan cheese shaker which already has holes in it, works well to sprinkle the mx across the top of your bin. Then water it down with spray bottle
...See More
armoured
10 years ago
For me, too wet means too much food and not enough bedding. More bedding especially. A thick layer of bedding on top will also help deal with fruit fly issues. Best solution is to add a second bin if you have space.
As for coffee grounds, my own view is that even a pound a week (assuming no filters) could just be sprinkled in any yard. Composting is nice but coffee grounds if spread out won't cause any issues and they'll compost fine on the ground anyway, and won't really smell or cause other issues. From my own experience espresso coffee grounds are not even noticeable after a short while, certainly after the first rain - they just become part of the soil. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Depends on why you're doing composting: if you're doing it to reduce waste, prioritize composting the waste that is bulky, smelly and causes an issue. Some people look for coffee grounds to feed the worms or for even more compost or whatever. If you have too much food for them, do the opposite - there are lots of ways to dispose of part of the food, some might just dig a hole or trench and bury any excess, or compost outside, or one of many other options.

This post was edited by armoured on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 6:47
iLoveLawn
10 years ago
There's no doubt, worms LOVE melon, especially watermelon. However watermelon drenches my bins if I feed it back-to-back, which I started to do this summer but stopped once I noticed the same problem you're encountering.

Just back off the watermelon and feed something less moist until the moisture level returns to normal.

Adding another bin would be a good idea. However, I don't know if you're willing to buy another 360. Maybe use this opportunity to start a new, cheaper, homemade, different kind of bin and start experimenting with different bedding, feedings, etc.
MegA82
10 years ago
I read (and I don't know how much truth it holds) that worms will eat their weight daily. So, 1 pound of worms = 1 pound of waste per day. It's WAY easier than you think to get 1 pound of watermelon rinds!

That being said, the worms reproduce over time, 1 pound turns into more, etc. and I'm not sure what the reproduction rate is to factor that in. I'm having some pretty substantial worm bin issues myself right now so I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination! Good luck!
mendopete
10 years ago
It is said that worms eat their own weight per day under "ideal" conditions. I believe that they may eat half their weight daily in an established and well managed home bin. They seem to eat really slow the first month or so in a new bin.

I would suggest starting another bin. Maybe try a simple DIY plastic tote bin. Also, add a layer of bedding over the food after each feeding. I prefer cardboard, and so do my worms!

Good luck, Pete
PRO
equinoxequinox
10 years ago
If you give a worm a watermellon...

I find it hard to believe the 360 worm bin is the most well engineered bin around if the instructions that come with it appear to be written by somebody who has never even seen a worm, never mind ever vermicomposted. At least it appears that way.

I do not have one nor do I understand how they work. However let us not let that stop me from providing the instructions this product should have included with every $ale. If it were not for other posters letting 360 worm bin owners know how to use the product there would surely be so many negative writeups about the product all over the web nobody would purchase them.

This websites readers and answerers eyes nodoubt glaze over when yet another worm bin 360 owner writes a nearly identical wet drainage post.

The bottom tier and possibly the bottom of the bin should contain dry bedding. This will serve many purposes. First it will collect and make good use of any drainage. Second it will prewet and preinnoculate the bedding with weebeaties. Third it will stop worms from the help I am drowning and can't get up situation. I do not think that actually is what happens but it seems that way. 4th it gives damp material for worms to hang out in for the worms that like that sort of thing. 5th as the bedding gets wet put it into your working bin. 6th the new empty bottom tier and lower area are now free for addition of new bedding. This process encourages vermicomposters to add bedding and not skip this step thus encouraging bad things to happen.

The trays can be set a bit off from each other to get some air into the bin. How does air get into the bin? The cover can be left off and the drain left open.

For some reason owners of worm bin 360s instructuions seem to not provide the information that bedding is not just a one time thing. Or just a tiny bit thing. Bedding should be the framework upon which the work of vermicompost happens. It is the surface area the bacteria which feed the worms live on. It provides structure which in turn provides tunnels for air to get into the center of the working surfaces.

The guy who invented the worm bin 360 should get a tattoo that says as much.

This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 19:21

New vermicompost turned wet

Comments (7)

SBinFF

gvozdika

Related Discussions

armoured

iLoveLawn

MegA82

mendopete

equinoxequinox

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US