Death rate of new vermicompost bin???

8 years ago

I put together my very first worm bin on October 14th. Its from a 2 gallon grass seed bin and has 1000 worm in it. The bin has been fed 3 times since Oct. 14th. Each feeding was enough to lightly cover the bedding leaving some bare spots. To date I have only found 22 dead worms, 12 were inside the bin and the other 10 were outside the bin, not all at once. Is this a normal death rate? I would like it to be 0 but its mother nature and things happen. The worms have not been deformed just gooey since they're decomposing so I don't think its protein poisoning. Other then those deaths the worms seem really happy and I rarely see any on the sides of the bin. Its hard but I try not to disturb the bin.

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Comments (14)

harry757
8 years ago
Nick,

Sounds like things should be ok so don't know why you would have any worms dying. Here are a few questions you might want to ask yourself:

-have you got the right type of worms? - regular garden worms might not work

-what kind of feed stock are you using?

-are you using enough and /or the correct type of bedding?

-is the bin heating up too much after adding high nitrogen materials?

-is there too much or little moisture? - don't want liquids to be pooling

-assuming your bin has a lid, does it have sufficient air holes to allow good circulation?

Hope this helps,

Harry
Nick Rose
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
-I have red wigglers.

-The food I have given so far has been lettuce, bananas, strawberries, broccoli, some tomato, and a few days ago I added 8-10 egg shells.

-The bedding is a mixture of what they came with, which was peat moss, and then I have also added newspaper.

-The bin is not heating up. I add the food on top of the bedding I don't bury it.

- Only 1 or 2 drops come out when I pitch some bedding. No water is coming out the bottom of the bin.

-I have plenty of holes but even with that I have decided to keep the lid some what open to let even more air in/out. I fill confident in leaving the lid open since there has not been any mass escapes by the worms.
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hummersteve
8 years ago
Sounds like all the same food I have given my worms. But the two gal bin does sound quite small for 1000 worms or more, still I wouldnt know why you have dieing worms.
Nick Rose
Original Author
8 years ago
I just found one tonight while giving some food. It looks like protein poisoning but like I said I have not over fed. I did find a new baby red wiggler. So from that I assume the condition in the bin is right for eggs to hatch, meaning its healthy possibly.
worldcomposting
8 years ago
I'm going to say the 2 Gallon bin might be a bit small for that many worms. I typically use 10 Gallon totes at a minimum and find most worms stay in the first 1-2 inches of material. I have found that I cannot overfeed my bin as the populations will typically catch up to the food as long as the bin does not become anaerobic.

Maybe try grinding up the food some more which will allow it to break down faster in the bin while also adding more bedding. I've never used peat moss before in my bins and as it has a PH of around 4.5 that could be causing some of the issues.
gumby_ct
8 years ago
I am certainly not a worm expert but I seem to recall there is more than one type of red worm and often mistaken for the Eisenia Fetida (red wiggler) even by sellers.

See if this video helps...

I do know IF worms are happy they will not try to escape - so something must not be to their liking if you see them climbing out. I do know mine seem to like it quite moist - more so than other worms.

Red worms are content to remain working for you in conditions are to their liking.
Provide them food, moisture, and suitable bedding material and they will happily stay in their bins or outdoor
colonies. However if their bedding gets dry or too acidic they will try to escape. If you don't feed them they will
go looking for food.

Snipped from here http://www.wormfarmfacts.com/Red-Worms.html

Maybe they don't like the peat moss as mentioned earlier. Then again it could be something else even moisture or temperature. I know I out mine out in the garage last nite and it got down to 52 deg - when I opened the bin I did have a few trying to climb out. Put them back in the cellar and they seem happy again.

HTH
Nick Rose
Original Author
8 years ago
These are red wigglers for sure. I'm probably wrong on the peat moss, its probably coco core or what ever is used by these worm companies. I got the worms from The Worm Dude(Jerry Gach). It seems like they're a lot happier now. The only thing I have changed which I mentioned already is that the lid is open and no worms have tried to escape for the past week plus I have added egg shells to the top. I last fed them a few days a go and yesterday I went to check on them and I could here them going crazy when I lifted the newspaper off of them. The bin is in the garage which stays around 70F. Also I have went from checking on them once or twice a day to now only once or twice a week.
gumby_ct
8 years ago
Just found this from Cornell...

Worm Death

If you notice the worm population dwindling, or worms crawling
all over the bin trying to escape, check for the following:

1. Bin is too wet and worms are drowning.

2. Bin is too dry and worms dry out.

3. Bin does not get enough air and worms suffocate.

4. Worms do not get enough food. Once the worms devour all
of their food and newspaper bedding, they will start to eat their
own castings which are poisonous to them. TIME TO HARVEST

5. The bin is exposed to extreme temperatures. The worms thrive
in temperatures from 55 to 77 degrees F.

NOTE: Dead worms decompose rather quickly. If you do not monitor
the above conditions you can have a dead box of worms before you
even realize it.
http://compost.css.cornell.edu/worms/troubleshoot.html
Nick Rose
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
None of that seems to pertain to me.

1. Bin is not too wet or dry.

2. They have enough air. There is holes drilled all over the bin and the lid is open.

3. They have enough food.

4. The bin is in the garage which stays around 70F.

I just dug into the bedding and the worms seem really happy. It even looks like the population has grown, but that can't happen with in 34 days or can it.

Also after I take the food out from the freezer to dethaw should I add some soil to it and leave it for a few days before adding it to the bin. I know there is a lot of microbes in the bin but I was just thinking that the freezing process kills microbes on the food so if I add some soil it would inoculate the food with microbes. I'm over thinking this. It probably takes the microbes in the bin seconds or minutes to attach to the food.
harry757
8 years ago
Sounds to me like everything is fine. Maybe the dead or dying worms you found were the result of the home they had before you "adopted" them. After all, you just got them back in Oct. right? I'd be willing to bet that just given a little more time things will settle down and all will be fine. And yes, Im sure you could see an increase in population in only a month. That alone should indicate that bin conditions are OK. But like someone above suggested I think you might want to increase your bin size a bit or split into another similar size bin.

Harry
worldcomposting
8 years ago
I'm guessing the worms were shipped with coconut coir which is fine for the worms. This might just be an issue of worms adjusting to a new environment and food source. When worms are stressed they start placing cocoons for future generations and when those hatch the new generation will acclimate to what you are providing for bedding and food.

A few of the worm producers I know use composted horse manure to raise worms which is a perfect food source. Once the worms are shipped they are getting food they are not used to and do not do as well which can lead to them wondering.

Either way glad they are doing better!
hummersteve
8 years ago
Its definitely not the peat moss as that is part of my new bedding each time. But a deep bin is not needed for red wigglers as they tend to stay in the top 3" of bedding. My homemade plastic bins are 9gal and only 7" deep . Aeration and moisture are two prime keys for survival along with the right amount of feeding. If you have a way of breaking down your food first like a juicer etc. will help the speed of which the bacteria will break it down so the worms can use it.
Nick Rose
Original Author
8 years ago
It seems like the deaths have almost ended at least from what I can see. Since November 30th there has only been one death.
harry757
8 years ago
Nick, did you ever figure out why they were initially dying out? If you did, please share it with us so the same problem doesn't catch someone else by surprise.

Death rate of new vermicompost bin???

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