Below are some of the items I use for vermicomposting & my channel's videos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you use these links. Thank you for supporting this channel! Worm Bins I use: Vermihut 5-Tray Worm Compost Bin amzn.to/3Xs1eGe Urban Worm Bag V2 amzn.to/3XE9QsT 20 Gallon Fabric Grow Pots amzn.to/3EBYhdr 3 gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck tote amzn.to/3eKDLhO Other Worm Bins: Worm Factory 360 3-Tray Version amzn.to/3AHnjqK Worm Factory 360 5-Tray Version amzn.to/3tYfWY4 Bus bins amzn.to/3fd8AvP Equipment I use: 12 Sheet Cross Cut Micro Shredder (I use it to shred cardboard) amzn.to/3xYZKYu Magic Bullet Small Blender (to pulverize egg shells) amzn.to/3gwEzb4 Indoor Outdoor Wireless Thermometer for worm bin amzn.to/3wIdXbO Additional thermometer sensors 433 MHz amzn.to/41juD7v Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Additional thermometer sensors 915MHz amzn.to/3WTFgua Please make sure Thermometer & sensor are the same MHz Kitchen scale to weigh worms & food: amzn.to/3HnOQjg Blue gloves amzn.to/3XsBg5n Digital handheld Thermometer amzn.to/3EWfC2j Compost Tea Bags amzn.to/3fCb5o1 Solar powered light amzn.to/3nOucAq Reusable Keurig Coffee K-cups amzn.to/3FNXvt6 Other useful equipment for worm farming: 5 stackable sifter with different sized mesh: amzn.to/3S2k184 Cameras & camera equipment I use: GoPro HERO11 amzn.to/3jkRpLa Flexible Tripod amzn.to/3CGTjcF Insta360 GO 2 camera amzn.to/3oxCc80 Insta360 One X2 camera amzn.to/3nqV6hp iPhone 13 Max Pro amzn.to/3nq52aU Canon EOS Rebel T8i amzn.to/3HcBuX6 4 Ocean bracelets I wear Multiple colors to chose from bracelets amzn.to/3HMbHEx Books on worms & worm farming Worms Eat My Garbage amzn.to/3L4FXN2 Where to buy worms: www.TheGardenAndWormLady.com
If someone would have told me 15 years ago that I would have a worm farm and that I’m loving it…I would have shut them down. But it’s so interesting to watch the progression of happy worms making excellent compost for me to grow our food! Win/win!! Thank you for posting such good information. It is much appreciated!
😀 It is amazing how many people (my wife included) who would have nothing to do with worms, come around once I show them my worm bins. Even my mom and dad ask me how the worms are doing when I talk to them🤣😂 I'm so happy you are enjoying my videos and that your worm bin is bringing you such joy!! Thanks for all of your support!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks to you and your great videos, I am finally growing my worms and pulling the trigger on a 30 gallon worm bin! I finally feel like I know enough to not screw up horribly.
Thanks so much, that is awesome news!! I like big worm bins because if you overfeed, get it too moist or let it heat up they have plenty of room to find a space that suits them! Definitely let us know how it goes when you are up and running!! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch my videos!! I'm glad they've been helpful for you!!🪱🪱🪱
I’m wondering if toilet tissue rolls buried half way into the soil would wick up and allow for evaporation of excess moisture? Then having less moisture would help with the might population?
Now that is a great idea to try!! I may do that now before the next video!! Less moisture will definitely help the mite issues I'm having with this tiny bin!! Thanks for stopping by Joe!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick, I spent 3 days slowly cleaning out the Can-O-Worms. I have been washing out the lid every morning for a few weeks because I'm seeing mites. So I harvested 2 trays and washed out the bottom well. I only had the top tray with food from the past month. I sprayed the outside with Neem Oil. I know I took down the mites, but I'd like to get rid of them completely. Good video, My Dear 💓🪱💓
Thank you!! I was wondering how the Ole Can O' Worms has been doing!! I have some neem oil and a few people who have suggested it, so I just might try it since I all ready have it on hand!! For some reason this tiny bin is the only bin I get big mite blooms in. Thanks so much for watching Peggy!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks for the shout out Patrick! Had a new channel come over and they said they heard about me from you. I’m trying to think of a way to dry my castings out a bit. Thinking about removing the lid from the bin. Can’t wait to see how many worms are in the bin. 😁🪱💩
My pleasure, love your channel!! I think removing your lid would work well, maybe also leave the light on for a couple days, but without the moisture along the sides from the lid, you won't have any wanderers trying to check things out on the outside😀 I'm hoping for 800-1000 worms when I harvest but I'm keeping my expectations around 600...which I think is the carrying capacity. Thanks so much for stopping by Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi,Patrick. I have DE and recently bought some neem cake meal at a hydro store. I think I have mites in all of my bins but one in particular has lots of mites. I added the neem meal last week so I’m actually checking on it today. Whether or not the mites are still there I’m going to do a section with neem, one with DE, and one with a combination of the two and see which is more effective to reduce the mite population. Thanks for the update.
Oh wow, that is great!! Please update us when you get the results! I actually have DE powder for my pool's filter and neem oil for my garden (do you think I could use that?) so if I don't get control of the mites I may use those based on your results! This tiny bin is the only bin I get big mite blooms in for some reason...probably because of too much moisture. Thanks so much for watching and letting us know about your experiment!! Looking forward to the results!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost I’ve heard the DE has to be food grade. The type used in pools can apparently kill off your worms. I’m in south Florida so very humid and yes the bin that I’m working on now is a small three tiered bin that I recently fed less than a week ago and for sure the mites have multiplied tremendously. I know that they like moisture and are attracted to the same foods that worms like so I guess we’re kind of inviting them to the feast. I left the top off and then it did rain this evening. I saw some of the mites in small clumps around the rim and applied some neem seed meal directly onto them but they didn’t budge one bit. I’ll check in the morning to see if they’re still there. When I check on their food remnants next week if it’s depleted enough I’ll add only worm chow to the top bin and add green waste/food scraps to the second bin. I’ll still let you know how the other experiment goes. Until next time.
Darn!! I was hoping to be able to use it if I needed to!! I'm definitely looking forward to the results of your experiment! Good to hear from someone in the same climate as me...our bins run so differently than the folks up north!!
@@Vermicompost yeah, the challenges of growing in Florida are many. Someone offered me a bag of DE (pool use) a few months back and I was so disappointed when I researched and found it couldn’t be used in the garden. Oh well.
I don't see a ton of mites in my systems. If you look at the back log of food was there something different? I have tried many things for my springtails. None were reliable. You are right on track.
I think it was the mac n cheese pasta and then the dates the following feeding that caused the mite bloom. I also had a pretty big mite bloom on the last round of this bin so I may have had some hitchhikers get a foot hold. It doesn't help that I let the bin get a little too moist as well. I'm gonna do my best to bait them out and give the worms a bath before the next restart to try to go in with a clean slate! This tiny bin is my challenge bin...keeps me on my toes!! Thanks so much for stopping by Ann!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick I divided my bin today, I put lots more cardboard and leaves in. Hopefully they will be easier to turn now and check on food levels. Not sure how even they are in worm population but I can add more to the new bin if I need to. 👍
Excellent!! I think you are gonna be in great shape with both bins!! I love how you can just go to the compost pile to recruit new worms if needed!! I'll be very interested to see the progress in both bins over time!!🪱🪱🪱
I haven't had big mite problems, my little helper found one pot worm, but not a tonne so no big issues here. (other than the wet bins). Great update, and good strategy. Have a good day.
Thanks!! Mites have only been a problem in this particular bin and only on the last two rounds of it...I probably restarted it with some mites so they had a foothold in waiting for me to overfeed and have too much moisture!! Thanks so much for watching!! Looking forward seeing another video with your big little helper!!🪱🪱🪱
The cardboard may carry mites into the worm bin, I normally will expose the cardboard in the sunlight for a few days before adding. Thanks for your great videos.
Oh wow, I didn't even think of the cardboard bringing them in!!! Thanks for the tip!! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch my videos & comment!!🪱🪱🪱
Hello my friend. This is more than just a video, you put love and passion into it. Great job! Thanks for sharing this video! Always believe in yourself and keep doing what you love, good luck!👍💎
I totally agree with your strategy of doing a harvest soon, Patrick. I would have been a little bit more ruthless, I’m afraid, and not fed the bin at all. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing with Florida because Peggy is reporting mites as well. ~ Sandra
I think there maybe something to the seasonality. We both have our bin indoors (her Can O' Worms is indoors at least) with the air conditioners ripping the moisture out of the bins so we probably both keep them a little more moist than in other seasons. They really like this tiny bin!! I don't have any problems with mite blooms in my other bins! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch Sandra!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey man good video. We have done hundreds of similar bins. A bit of advice. Harvest soon as you say. As well, melon rinds attract the red mites and you can then wash them off in a bowl of water. Watermelon is the favorite for mites fruit side down and clean every 12 hours for a couple of days. Good luck. Mites are usually a sign of an overly moist environment with possibly too much alkalinity.
Thank you!! I appreciate you passing on your tips from lots of experience!! I think you are right, the moisture (and alkalinity) got the best of this bin with regards to the mites. I'll have to see if I still have watermelon rind left over in my freezer if I get mites again in this bin! I'm hoping the restart will give me a fresh bin with little to no mites and I'll be able to control the moisture better in the later stages. Thanks so much for your advice, and of course thanks for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I do the water bowl mite trick also, except that I rinse a few times, then just squeeze out the excess water from the sediment and put it into some aged bedding. You could add it to your outside bin (then likely harvest it the next time). It seems like the tiny-worm-bin starts off with low moisture-holding abilities and then eventually gets overly wet? How about getting some fiberglass screen mesh material, pour the entire contents onto it, fill the bottom of the bin with lots of fresh cardboard and maybe some coco coir, then put the “bag” of worms/castings on top, put a few sheets of cardboard on top, then something heavy on top of that. I do this when I want to harvest wet castings quickly. The dry cardboard will start really absorbing the moisture, many worms will move into the new material (yes, many worms will still squeeze through the screen), the weight really activates the worm activity, lol! I find when I do this trick in a new bus bin, not only do I dry the castings and increase hatching, the moisture with microbes inoculates the new material and the bin gets into good condition quickly. Then i can separate the worms from castings pretty quickly after a few weeks, with many worms already in the new bedding. With your great system outside, you could just put it in there on top of new bedding and harvest during your regular harvest method. I think it would be a good way to decrease the volume of worms in the tiny bin too. For
Great tips in this comment Marlene!! After the video I rinsed out the mites a few times to make sure I didn't miss any worms. That is a good idea to put it in the outdoor worm bin since they both are pure red wigglers. I had to read the second part of the comment a couple time until I realized the mechanics of it seems like what happens in the VermiHut which is probably why the castings are always so perfect straight out of the bin when I harvest!! That is a really cool system you have worked out for wet castings!! I'll be counting out the worms individually again in the tiny worm bin this round...it takes me about 5 months to recover from the last time I counted😂Thanks so much for passing on your tips and for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
Thank you!! This bin is a 3 gallon tote which has probably about 1 to 1.5 gallons of material in it. My VermiHut worm tower is probably about 9-10 gallons of material and my outdoor worm bin is made up of a 20 gallon fabric pot about a third to a half of the way full so about 7-9 gallons of material. Fast food is really good in the beginning when you are trying to determine if and how fast the worms are eating. You want to give them food that they can consume right away. As you get going after a couple weeks you can start introducing slow food to help bridge the gap between feedings and to allow for a constant supply of food for them to consume with out over feeding. Eventually the goal is to be able to feed them all your plant based food scraps no matter if they are slow or fast food. But in the beginning and toward the end when you want to harvest I find it best to use fast to eat food. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching and for your support!!🪱🪱🪱
I don't recall you speculating on what you think the cause of the mite population bloom is/was. Seems like you ruled out any kind of major worm die-off, thank goodness. A glut of food didn't seem like it could be the cause either. Are you leaning towards the cause being, perhaps, excess moisture??..
I think you are right...the combination of excessive moisture with a pasta feeding (mac n cheese) and then an overfeeding of dates led to the mite bloom. This tiny bin is much more difficult to manage as the parameters (moisture level, feedings, bedding) seem to act like a sine wave, passing through "just right" briefly on the way to the other extreme😂 I also ended last round of this bin with a mite bloom so I'm sure the worms themselves brought more mites than a typical new bin has. But I love the challenge so next round will be better...more moisture earlier and less moisture later...or so I hope😀Thanks for stopping by AV!!
How deep do you think that bedding is at this point? Thank you for covering the mite problem. I noticed one of my Towers is quite damp and there are what I think is too many mites. I might stick a piece of bread in there. How long should I leave it?
Right now the depth is about 3 inches on average...it is pilled up a little on one side right now. If there a lot of mites, after about 3 hours the bread will be full underneath and on the underside of the bread (use a small piece maybe 1/4 of a piece of bread at most). If there are just a few hundred after 3 hours then you probably don't have much of a mite problem...but if you want to keep baiting them out you can leave it over night and check on it. When I started my VermiHut I would leave the lid off for a couple hours periodically to help dry it out when it was still mostly the coco coir that came with it. I hope this helps!! Thanks Cookie for all your support!!!🪱🪱🪱
Obviously, having come to this from running huge manure heaps, I knew mite were just part of the process. However, I have to admit to being just a little surprised at how quickly they got in my tower, since it is in my out building, where I've never had them before. It was literally a few days of starting to feed the worms. I had given my new worms bananas as their first feed, after giving them the chow they came with when I first got them. The peels were still left, with a lot of the mites on them, so I removed those, and since my son eats bananas regularly, I asked him to save me the peels, put them on top, just as you do the bread, since I'm strict keto, so we don't have bread, and used those as a trap instead. I sometimes still see the odd mild bloom, depending on what I feed, but I don't keep the main tray very wet, also in an effort to minimise them. I keep an empty tray on top of the main one, with the lid on that, and my adult worms move into that tray, because condensation forms there, they create castings, and then mate there. It's actually turned into an ideal system for me, and in part, this is now due to adopting your idea of the seeding tray below the feeding one. Because previously, they were doing this in the sump, which if there was ever to be a moisture issue in the tower, was not going to be ideal at all!
Sometimes I think the mites get carried over from the worms and that is how they colonize our bins. I'm so glad the inoculating tray on the bottom helps keep your sump dry as well!! I was really glad to see that with mine after someone suggested in the comments a while ago! Your idea of putting an empty tray then the lid on top sounds like a good idea!! The banana peel trick is a good one and melon works well to bait the mites out as well. Thanks so much for letting us know about your mite issues and how you keep on top of them!! And of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
The look mostly brown to me. They do not appear to be parasitic and don't appear to be attacking the worms...just trying to share the tiny space & food in this bin!! Thanks so much for stopping by to watch Whytedavy!!🪱🪱🪱
Great question!! I don't know for sure, but my father once tossed one of my worms in my fish tank...I took it out a week later as they were very small fish that could not eat it...and it was fully alive and still squirming about so I put it back in my bin. Now, the tank had an air bubbler, and the water was very oxygenated...so long story short, I wouldn't keep them in the water any longer than it takes to do a few rinses and pour outs, but taking your time won't harm them....they're probably more harmed by the light you need to see what you are doing than the water!! Hope that helps!! Thanks so much for watching the video and asking a great question!!🪱🪱🪱
That is a fantastic idea to get rid of mites! Plus you can just keep reusing the same banana peel. Thanks for stopping by to watch & leave your tip!!🪱🪱🪱
🤣😂🤣 The mites were distracting me, I usually get a little more excited than that when I see a tight worm ball like that!! I love that they were hiding in the toilet paper roll!! It should be fun (and a little bit tedious) to count these worms when I harvest the castings!! Thanks so much for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
I have some DE for my pool filter and I have seen people use it to deter and kill insects so it should work for the mites. I will give it a try if I get another mite bloom when I restart the bin. As for grit, that is a good question...it should work as grit since they are essentially little mineralized fossils, right??!? Thanks for the suggestion and of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hellooooo wormie friend!! 🪱🪱🪱 ohhhh no! Oh gosh there’s SO MANY MITES!! Yikes they’re really going for it 😬 I’m so sorry your having to deal with this Patrick…. ☹️ oh competition for food can be so hard in any situation, let alone a worm bin. Interesting that they’re so close to harvesting too. Will that impact the harvesting at all? And how long do you leave the mite bread traps for before you remove it ? Ohhhh check out all those worms in the toilet roll 😂 awesome!!! Now that is some good worm chow! I think they’ll enjoy that, and I sure hope it all goes well for the wormies my friend!! 🪱🌻🙌🏼💓💐
Hellooooo Anita, my awesome flower farm friend!! Those pesky mites always get the best of me in this bin towards the end when it gets a bit too moist. I also overfed it some sugary food & pasta at the wrong time😜 I typically leave the bread in for about 3 hours, then throw it away and replace it. Sometimes I go longer as the mite population decreases and they take longer to find it. When I harvest the worms, I'm gonna give them a nice bath to try to rinse as many mites off of them as possible. This should help out on the next round of this bin! I think my new worm chow is a hit!! Hopefully the mites don't like it as much as the worms!! Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to watch and leave fun, wonderful comments!! Have a great end of your weekend!! I can't wait to see what your flower farm does as you all roll into spring!!🪱🪱🪱
A lot of the mites will be gone as I bait them out this week, but I will also separate the worms out individually from the castings as I like to count them in this bin. I will also rinse the worms in water to try to get any mites trying to hitch a ride off. This is the only bin I get big mite blooms in it...mostly due to how small it is and how moist it tends to get in the later stages of the bin. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
@@usnamom78 Here is a video where I show you how I bathe the worms ruclips.net/video/iv3bsxiatYk/видео.html it is towards the end, near the 12 minute mark I believe. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Me again, different video. Have you ever tried to introduce other critters to the worm bin? As I'm at home in the hobby of terrarium pet keeping, I'm immediately thinking of springtails (Collembola group) and isopods of some kind, for example the tiny Cuban variety Trichorhina tomentosa. Springtails love eating things like mold and other stuff you don't want in your bin, while isopods are detrivores just like the worms, yet more interested in woody things. Both don't produce castings of course, but might have beneficial synergies as well as being a competition for mites. As Isopods are "shrimp" that use basically gills to breathe, most species require quite a bit of moisture. Springtails need even more moisture, colonies are usually started with water and big charcoal pieces as bedding. Both don't go after living organisms and will survive with minimal protein intake, so extra food isn't needed. They rely on calcium and a less acidic environment, but worms do the same. They're also steadily and cheaply available in stores for terrariums, palidariums and the like. Usually as a helper for a bioactive setup that will get rid of waste products by itself. I'm gonna try it with my new bin, probably next week. Little interesting fact: All the known T. tomentosa are female. They reproduce by parthenogenesis and are exact copies of their mothers. Males likely checked out after they found out that they're marrying their in-laws.
Great question! I have had springtails in decent amounts in my VenriHut worm tower, but the populations died back to a dull roar. I will see them occasionally. I'm very surprised I don't have isopods in my OutDoor Worm Bin. I occasionally add a few hand fulls of regular compost to increase and diversify the microbial life and I thought for sure I'd get some that way. When I was a kid growing up we used to find them and "play" with them watching them roll up...we called them Rolley Polley's...not sure if you all call them that as well. They are a great addition to a worm bin and as I understand it help shred up the food for the worms. That is hilarious...The males checked out after they found out they were marrying their in-laws!!😂 Thanks so much for watching and sharing all your knowledge!! It is absolutely fascinating what these tiny creatures do on this end of the food chain for us!!🪱🪱🪱
🤣😂🤣 So I should show the mites The Executive Producer! She's the boss in these parts!! I need some clean mite free bins like yours!! Thanks for stopping by AJ!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost you do many more food experiments. Thank you for helping me keep my bins mite free. I have my worms on a basic food diet. Have a great weekend. 😎
Hello, I'm having issues with too moisture. Worms are lethargic and some have "string of pearl". I had mould, tons of white mites and pot worms. I took out all the food. Aired out the bin by removing lid temporarily, added more bedding. Used bread and physically removed a ton of mites. My ph is around 7. My moisture looks better. Not that its been a few weeks my worms are still lethargic and and some dying.. any suggestions?!
I'm so sorry your worm bin ran into some problems! As you have indicated the most likely issue was too much love in the form of overfeeding. I had a bin crash just like what you are experiencing. Unfortunately once you see string of pearls in a worm, it will eventually die, so any worms you see like that just take out of you bin and give them back to the earth outside. As you have probably read, this is from food fermenting within their bodies so you did a good job of taking all the food out of the bin. The other thing that can happen with over feeding, besides fermenting, is ammonification. You'll know if this is happening in your bin if you put your nose close up and smell a putred ammonia smell. This will cause the worms to flee if they don't die before that. if this is the case then my suggestion is you do an "emergency" bath 😀 Just pour some room temperature water in a bowl and put any remaining worms in it to rinse of debris and chemicals on them. They don't have to be clean, just a quick soaking and mixing around. Then put them in a new bin (the same one is fine just completely cleaned and rinsed out) with damp betting (I find shredded cardboard to be the best) and one strawberry top and/or one small piece of lettuce. Check back in 5 days to see if they ate anything. Check this video out to see how to restart a worm bin and what it should look like 5-6 days later: ruclips.net/video/1IRP-Nu6_90/видео.html I think your worms will recover just feed them less than you think and add damp bedding with each feeding...which should be no sooner than every 7-10 days. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost wow thank you for your detailed response, it can be quite disheartening to see this happen. I really appreciate your advice!! Fingers crossed I can get them going on the right track again!
Really interesting mite growth. Will you be counting each worm when you harvest this time? BTW, I restarted my Vermihut. Just 104 red wiggler only worms to start but will add more. Taking it slow. I have enough in my other tiny bins to transfer, I should not need to purchase more, I think. That will make my mail service happy to not have any escaping worms crawling in the mail room 😂.
Yes I will be counting...each...and every worm I find!! It is tedious work but I'm always happy when I know exactly how many are in this tiny worm bin!! That is so great you restarted the VermiHut!! Are you leaving the lid off for a couple days with a light on to keep the worms down in the bedding? Yes, I think you have enough other red wigglers to add as you get comfortable with how things are going!! So happy for you!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost Yes, I kept lid off and they seem very settled. Red wigglers seem to settle in easily compared to the blue worms. So far all my tiny bins seem very settled. Looking forward to your worm count video! My guess is you might have a thousand!
lay a banana peel in there, come back after a few hours and remove it placing it into a bag, and place a new peel down. repeat until you find almost no mites on the newest peel after 6+ hours.
UPDATE: Gotta give you a huge thank you for this idea!! Been using it in my Urban Worm Bag for the last couple of months and it works so well & it's so convenient & easy. I just chuck the peels in my regular compost barrel!! Thanks again!!🪱🪱🪱
Great question! I have heard that DE can be used to help get rid of mites...and I have some that is used in my pool filter, but I have heard conflicting information on whether the DE has to be food grade or not. As for being grit, I would think it could be since it is mineralized fossilized organisms! I'm just trying things that I can do without having to purchase anything. Since this video, I have harvested the worms, counted them, bathed them to get rid of the mites and restarted the bin!! Here is the video: ruclips.net/video/iv3bsxiatYk/видео.html Thanks so much for watching and for the great question!!🪱🪱🪱
I'm thinking about my shoebox size tower worm bin that I keep in my kitchen next to my cutting board and I'm wondering how that would work out if you bought another bin just like your tiny bin, and maybe even another one, and put them together like a tower by making holes in the bottom of a couple of them and then keeping the bottom one solid. I think that might be an answer for the fact that the little bin is a little harder to control in the moisture area. What size has that bin? I'm thinking 10 by 12, or 12 by 14? When I thought of that, while I was watching this video, I just smiled because it would be so cute! As always, I appreciate your videos and I love watching them. I've gotten a little bored with some other people who don't seem to have your imagination. But I still watch them........ some of the time. ; l
😀That is a great idea for moisture control to make this type of bin into a little worm tower...in fact this is my only bin that does not drain. I got this bin (13' by 9' three gallons) from taking a vermicomposting workshop at my county extension office where they had us make the bin, set up the bedding and they gave us about 50-100 red wiggler worms. Sooooo I'm just keeping this as an experimental, non draining bin so I can see the trials and tribulations of having a bin that doesn't drain!! I prefer draining bins for sure!! Thanks for the suggestion and for the kind words about my vidoes!!!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost I can certainly see that you would like to experiment with a non-draining bin. I did actually go back to also having a bus box for a bin. It's the bigger one though. It is a different type of thing. Easier in a way, and not in another way. My bus bin has no top, so I put those white mailing envelopes with the blue printing on them on top... and that keeps it very nicely. Would you believe I started with one bus bin 7 months ago, and now I still have a bus bin.... Plus two green Towers and a shoebox size Tower bin in my kitchen! I think that's called going whole hog!? It's how I roll though. Lol!
After 4-5 hours you should see the little piece of bread covered in mites if they over populated in your bin! If you don't see that much on the bread wait a little bit longer...if it still doesn't have much then your mite population may not be as bad as you thought! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I think I let the bin get too moist and then I over fed it some really sugary food...some mac n cheese, and some dates. It is just this tiny bin that tends to get mite blooms. My 20 gallon outdoor bin and VermiHut worm tower have very small almost unnoticeable populations in them. It's just a little harder to maintain the right parameters in such a small bin. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch!! I love your videos!!🪱🪱🪱
No I haven't...but if worm bin mites carried a virus that killed worms I'd give it a try!! It's crazy how the population of bees reduced so dramatically in the last decade! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch another video!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost yea it's true buddy I resorted to something I used to use in a nebuliser to get rid of covid when I was teaching there and it worked. So I tried it on 2 hives that had verora and it worked and my bees liked it too. It was like they knew it was ok for them and was licking it
Oh wow! Yep, mites come in lots of shades from white to brown to red. Usually we'll see a population spike when we over love our worms (also known as overfeeding!). If you want to reduce them long term, feed less, add more bedding and use the trick I showed in this video to help reduce the population in the short run. Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I definitely overfed them... just a few days ago I had to remove a bunch of food and bedding to keep the bin from turning into a hot compost pile! To make matters worse, I live somewhere really dry so to keep them from getting crispy I give them some ice cubes every day... I may be overdoing it with the water as well, having watched some more of your videos. Great information and experience to be imparted to us newbies! Thanks!
Sounds like you're taking great corrective measures! I'm so glad our videos have helped!! I have to use frozen water bottles on top of my Urban Worm Bag sometimes to keep it cool. I just keep refreezing and reusing them so I don't over water the bins...but I also use ice cubes sometimes as well if I need to add some slow release moisture in addition to the cooling effect.🪱🪱🪱
I was going to start a worm bin til i saw mites....i can handle worms but not mites that i dont know if they are spreading in my plants inside my house...pass
Mites can seem kinda scary at first, but there are thousands upon thousands of different kinds of mites....These are not the kind that affect growing plants. Just like compost worms, they don't "attack" anything living. They just eat dead and decaying material, so if you spread vermicompost with mites in it on your garden or plants, they would go under ground and try to find some dead plant material to eat. In fact these kind of mites are so sensitive to moisture that they would probably die within a few minutes of being placed on a leaf! Of course I totally understand not wanting to even think about mites on your house plants...there is a certain insect that rhymes with "coach" and I know some people have "hissing" ones of these as pets...I think I'd rather die🤣😂🤣 Thanks for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
New record, it took 7 hours after upload for me to watch, I got a good reason;) Hey, this is the only bin you get mites in. You know my next question... I wonder if you put a perferated "false floor" would that keep it dryer? 4:38 - right side of bin. Those guys are strong 🤣 Looking forward to the harvest !! Let's go!! Well check out Bar-chuckin, thanks !! Cheers Guys !! Jason and Colleen 🌱🪱🌱
You had a great reason! Oh my goodness, those kids were adorable with all their worm questions!! I just told the Executive Producer to remind me to do a feature about it in our next video!! This tiny bin tends to slide back and forth from one extreme to the next because it is so tiny and unforgiving compared to my big 20 gallon outdoor bin and the VermiHut worm tower. A false floor or even a bin within a bin quasi tower would be ideal for this tiny bin but then it would take away the challenge...and I'm determined to try another round it get it right this time without the excess moisture and mites😂🤣😂 These worms in here are fierce!! I'm hopeful they have busted through 800-1000 number!! Thanks for all your support!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost oh awesome brother !! We think it would be super cool to more kids involved. Vermicompost has the perfect combination of mystery, terror, grossed, amazement and holds their attention cause so many things are going on in a small space, perfect for kids!! I'm definitely doing an "Inception Bin", instead of a dream within a dream, it'll be a worm bin inside a worm bin 🤣🤣🤣 That's a crazy population in such a small bin, should've known you welcome the challenge!! Let's frickin go !!🪱🪱🪱
Below are some of the items I use for vermicomposting & my channel's videos. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you if you use these links. Thank you for supporting this channel!
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Where to buy worms: www.TheGardenAndWormLady.com
If someone would have told me 15 years ago that I would have a worm farm and that I’m loving it…I would have shut them down. But it’s so interesting to watch the progression of happy worms making excellent compost for me to grow our food! Win/win!!
Thank you for posting such good information. It is much appreciated!
😀 It is amazing how many people (my wife included) who would have nothing to do with worms, come around once I show them my worm bins. Even my mom and dad ask me how the worms are doing when I talk to them🤣😂 I'm so happy you are enjoying my videos and that your worm bin is bringing you such joy!! Thanks for all of your support!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks to you and your great videos, I am finally growing my worms and pulling the trigger on a 30 gallon worm bin! I finally feel like I know enough to not screw up horribly.
Thanks so much, that is awesome news!! I like big worm bins because if you overfeed, get it too moist or let it heat up they have plenty of room to find a space that suits them! Definitely let us know how it goes when you are up and running!! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch my videos!! I'm glad they've been helpful for you!!🪱🪱🪱
I’m wondering if toilet tissue rolls buried half way into the soil would wick up and allow for evaporation of excess moisture? Then having less moisture would help with the might population?
Now that is a great idea to try!! I may do that now before the next video!! Less moisture will definitely help the mite issues I'm having with this tiny bin!! Thanks for stopping by Joe!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick, I spent 3 days slowly cleaning out the Can-O-Worms. I have been washing out the lid every morning for a few weeks because I'm seeing mites. So I harvested 2 trays and washed out the bottom well. I only had the top tray with food from the past month. I sprayed the outside with Neem Oil. I know I took down the mites, but I'd like to get rid of them completely.
Good video, My Dear 💓🪱💓
Thank you!! I was wondering how the Ole Can O' Worms has been doing!! I have some neem oil and a few people who have suggested it, so I just might try it since I all ready have it on hand!! For some reason this tiny bin is the only bin I get big mite blooms in. Thanks so much for watching Peggy!!🪱🪱🪱
Thanks for the shout out Patrick! Had a new channel come over and they said they heard about me from you. I’m trying to think of a way to dry my castings out a bit. Thinking about removing the lid from the bin. Can’t wait to see how many worms are in the bin. 😁🪱💩
My pleasure, love your channel!! I think removing your lid would work well, maybe also leave the light on for a couple days, but without the moisture along the sides from the lid, you won't have any wanderers trying to check things out on the outside😀 I'm hoping for 800-1000 worms when I harvest but I'm keeping my expectations around 600...which I think is the carrying capacity. Thanks so much for stopping by Rick!!🪱🪱🪱
I can see the surface is looking dry....but it should be well moisturized..I don't know much but I follow your videos and could know the basic things
Thank you so much!! I really appreciate our long friendship and learning from each others videos!! Thank you for taking the time to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi,Patrick. I have DE and recently bought some neem cake meal at a hydro store. I think I have mites in all of my bins but one in particular has lots of mites.
I added the neem meal last week so I’m actually checking on it today. Whether or not the mites are still there I’m going to do a section with neem, one with DE, and one with a combination of the two and see which is more effective to reduce the mite population.
Thanks for the update.
Oh wow, that is great!! Please update us when you get the results! I actually have DE powder for my pool's filter and neem oil for my garden (do you think I could use that?) so if I don't get control of the mites I may use those based on your results! This tiny bin is the only bin I get big mite blooms in for some reason...probably because of too much moisture. Thanks so much for watching and letting us know about your experiment!! Looking forward to the results!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost I’ve heard the DE has to be food grade. The type used in pools can apparently kill off your worms. I’m in south Florida so very humid and yes the bin that I’m working on now is a small three tiered bin that I recently fed less than a week ago and for sure the mites have multiplied tremendously. I know that they like moisture and are attracted to the same foods that worms like so I guess we’re kind of inviting them to the feast. I left the top off and then it did rain this evening. I saw some of the mites in small clumps around the rim and applied some neem seed meal directly onto them but they didn’t budge one bit. I’ll check in the morning to see if they’re still there.
When I check on their food remnants next week if it’s depleted enough I’ll add only worm chow to the top bin and add green waste/food scraps to the second bin. I’ll still let you know how the other experiment goes.
Until next time.
Darn!! I was hoping to be able to use it if I needed to!! I'm definitely looking forward to the results of your experiment! Good to hear from someone in the same climate as me...our bins run so differently than the folks up north!!
@@Vermicompost yeah, the challenges of growing in Florida are many. Someone offered me a bag of DE (pool use) a few months back and I was so disappointed when I researched and found it couldn’t be used in the garden. Oh well.
I don't see a ton of mites in my systems. If you look at the back log of food was there something different? I have tried many things for my springtails. None were reliable. You are right on track.
I think it was the mac n cheese pasta and then the dates the following feeding that caused the mite bloom. I also had a pretty big mite bloom on the last round of this bin so I may have had some hitchhikers get a foot hold. It doesn't help that I let the bin get a little too moist as well. I'm gonna do my best to bait them out and give the worms a bath before the next restart to try to go in with a clean slate! This tiny bin is my challenge bin...keeps me on my toes!! Thanks so much for stopping by Ann!!🪱🪱🪱
Hi Patrick I divided my bin today, I put lots more cardboard and leaves in. Hopefully they will be easier to turn now and check on food levels. Not sure how even they are in worm population but I can add more to the new bin if I need to. 👍
Excellent!! I think you are gonna be in great shape with both bins!! I love how you can just go to the compost pile to recruit new worms if needed!! I'll be very interested to see the progress in both bins over time!!🪱🪱🪱
I haven't had big mite problems, my little helper found one pot worm, but not a tonne so no big issues here. (other than the wet bins). Great update, and good strategy. Have a good day.
Thanks!! Mites have only been a problem in this particular bin and only on the last two rounds of it...I probably restarted it with some mites so they had a foothold in waiting for me to overfeed and have too much moisture!! Thanks so much for watching!! Looking forward seeing another video with your big little helper!!🪱🪱🪱
The cardboard may carry mites into the worm bin, I normally will expose the cardboard in the sunlight for a few days before adding.
Thanks for your great videos.
Oh wow, I didn't even think of the cardboard bringing them in!!! Thanks for the tip!! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch my videos & comment!!🪱🪱🪱
Naw bro, Its the yeast in the bread.
Nice video worth watching. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you!! I appreciate you stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
Hello my friend. This is more than just a video, you put love and passion into it. Great job! Thanks for sharing this video! Always believe in yourself and keep doing what you love, good luck!👍💎
Thank you very much! I appreciate you stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
I totally agree with your strategy of doing a harvest soon, Patrick. I would have been a little bit more ruthless, I’m afraid, and not fed the bin at all. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing with Florida because Peggy is reporting mites as well.
~ Sandra
I think there maybe something to the seasonality. We both have our bin indoors (her Can O' Worms is indoors at least) with the air conditioners ripping the moisture out of the bins so we probably both keep them a little more moist than in other seasons. They really like this tiny bin!! I don't have any problems with mite blooms in my other bins! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch Sandra!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey man good video. We have done hundreds of similar bins. A bit of advice. Harvest soon as you say. As well, melon rinds attract the red mites and you can then wash them off in a bowl of water. Watermelon is the favorite for mites fruit side down and clean every 12 hours for a couple of days. Good luck. Mites are usually a sign of an overly moist environment with possibly too much alkalinity.
Thank you!! I appreciate you passing on your tips from lots of experience!! I think you are right, the moisture (and alkalinity) got the best of this bin with regards to the mites. I'll have to see if I still have watermelon rind left over in my freezer if I get mites again in this bin! I'm hoping the restart will give me a fresh bin with little to no mites and I'll be able to control the moisture better in the later stages. Thanks so much for your advice, and of course thanks for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Great information
Thank you!! We appreciate all your support in watching our videos!!🪱🪱🪱
I do the water bowl mite trick also, except that I rinse a few times, then just squeeze out the excess water from the sediment and put it into some aged bedding. You could add it to your outside bin (then likely harvest it the next time).
It seems like the tiny-worm-bin starts off with low moisture-holding abilities and then eventually gets overly wet? How about getting some fiberglass screen mesh material, pour the entire contents onto it, fill the bottom of the bin with lots of fresh cardboard and maybe some coco coir, then put the “bag” of worms/castings on top, put a few sheets of cardboard on top, then something heavy on top of that. I do this when I want to harvest wet castings quickly. The dry cardboard will start really absorbing the moisture, many worms will move into the new material (yes, many worms will still squeeze through the screen), the weight really activates the worm activity, lol! I find when I do this trick in a new bus bin, not only do I dry the castings and increase hatching, the moisture with microbes inoculates the new material and the bin gets into good condition quickly. Then i can separate the worms from castings pretty quickly after a few weeks, with many worms already in the new bedding. With your great system outside, you could just put it in there on top of new bedding and harvest during your regular harvest method. I think it would be a good way to decrease the volume of worms in the tiny bin too.
For
Great tips in this comment Marlene!! After the video I rinsed out the mites a few times to make sure I didn't miss any worms. That is a good idea to put it in the outdoor worm bin since they both are pure red wigglers.
I had to read the second part of the comment a couple time until I realized the mechanics of it seems like what happens in the VermiHut which is probably why the castings are always so perfect straight out of the bin when I harvest!! That is a really cool system you have worked out for wet castings!! I'll be counting out the worms individually again in the tiny worm bin this round...it takes me about 5 months to recover from the last time I counted😂Thanks so much for passing on your tips and for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
Hey what are the sizes of your worm bins?
What’s the benefit of using fast breakdown food vs slow breakdown food?
I love watching your videos btw!
Thank you!! This bin is a 3 gallon tote which has probably about 1 to 1.5 gallons of material in it. My VermiHut worm tower is probably about 9-10 gallons of material and my outdoor worm bin is made up of a 20 gallon fabric pot about a third to a half of the way full so about 7-9 gallons of material. Fast food is really good in the beginning when you are trying to determine if and how fast the worms are eating. You want to give them food that they can consume right away. As you get going after a couple weeks you can start introducing slow food to help bridge the gap between feedings and to allow for a constant supply of food for them to consume with out over feeding. Eventually the goal is to be able to feed them all your plant based food scraps no matter if they are slow or fast food. But in the beginning and toward the end when you want to harvest I find it best to use fast to eat food. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching and for your support!!🪱🪱🪱
I don't recall you speculating on what you think the cause of the mite population bloom is/was. Seems like you ruled out any kind of major worm die-off, thank goodness. A glut of food didn't seem like it could be the cause either. Are you leaning towards the cause being, perhaps, excess moisture??..
I think you are right...the combination of excessive moisture with a pasta feeding (mac n cheese) and then an overfeeding of dates led to the mite bloom. This tiny bin is much more difficult to manage as the parameters (moisture level, feedings, bedding) seem to act like a sine wave, passing through "just right" briefly on the way to the other extreme😂 I also ended last round of this bin with a mite bloom so I'm sure the worms themselves brought more mites than a typical new bin has. But I love the challenge so next round will be better...more moisture earlier and less moisture later...or so I hope😀Thanks for stopping by AV!!
You predicted a harvest during the following check-in. I guess we'll have to wait n' see if that's possible - keepin' my fingers crossed... :)
How deep do you think that bedding is at this point? Thank you for covering the mite problem. I noticed one of my Towers is quite damp and there are what I think is too many mites. I might stick a piece of bread in there. How long should I leave it?
Right now the depth is about 3 inches on average...it is pilled up a little on one side right now. If there a lot of mites, after about 3 hours the bread will be full underneath and on the underside of the bread (use a small piece maybe 1/4 of a piece of bread at most). If there are just a few hundred after 3 hours then you probably don't have much of a mite problem...but if you want to keep baiting them out you can leave it over night and check on it. When I started my VermiHut I would leave the lid off for a couple hours periodically to help dry it out when it was still mostly the coco coir that came with it. I hope this helps!! Thanks Cookie for all your support!!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost As usual....THANKS!
Obviously, having come to this from running huge manure heaps, I knew mite were just part of the process. However, I have to admit to being just a little surprised at how quickly they got in my tower, since it is in my out building, where I've never had them before. It was literally a few days of starting to feed the worms. I had given my new worms bananas as their first feed, after giving them the chow they came with when I first got them. The peels were still left, with a lot of the mites on them, so I removed those, and since my son eats bananas regularly, I asked him to save me the peels, put them on top, just as you do the bread, since I'm strict keto, so we don't have bread, and used those as a trap instead. I sometimes still see the odd mild bloom, depending on what I feed, but I don't keep the main tray very wet, also in an effort to minimise them. I keep an empty tray on top of the main one, with the lid on that, and my adult worms move into that tray, because condensation forms there, they create castings, and then mate there. It's actually turned into an ideal system for me, and in part, this is now due to adopting your idea of the seeding tray below the feeding one. Because previously, they were doing this in the sump, which if there was ever to be a moisture issue in the tower, was not going to be ideal at all!
Sometimes I think the mites get carried over from the worms and that is how they colonize our bins. I'm so glad the inoculating tray on the bottom helps keep your sump dry as well!! I was really glad to see that with mine after someone suggested in the comments a while ago! Your idea of putting an empty tray then the lid on top sounds like a good idea!!
The banana peel trick is a good one and melon works well to bait the mites out as well. Thanks so much for letting us know about your mite issues and how you keep on top of them!! And of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Are they white, red or brown mites? The red ones are parasitic to worms and bite humans too.
The look mostly brown to me. They do not appear to be parasitic and don't appear to be attacking the worms...just trying to share the tiny space & food in this bin!! Thanks so much for stopping by to watch Whytedavy!!🪱🪱🪱
I liked the idea of bathing worms to get rid of mites. How long can worms stay in water without getting uncomfortable or drowning?
Great question!! I don't know for sure, but my father once tossed one of my worms in my fish tank...I took it out a week later as they were very small fish that could not eat it...and it was fully alive and still squirming about so I put it back in my bin. Now, the tank had an air bubbler, and the water was very oxygenated...so long story short, I wouldn't keep them in the water any longer than it takes to do a few rinses and pour outs, but taking your time won't harm them....they're probably more harmed by the light you need to see what you are doing than the water!! Hope that helps!! Thanks so much for watching the video and asking a great question!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompostthank you, this was a very useful video.
My pleasure!!
The mites in my bin love banana peel. I just take the peel and rinse it in water and reuse as mite trap.
That is a fantastic idea to get rid of mites! Plus you can just keep reusing the same banana peel. Thanks for stopping by to watch & leave your tip!!🪱🪱🪱
WOW, I'm totally gob smacked, I can't wait for harvest time
Little worm ball, you gotta be kidding, that is humongous...😂🤣🐮🐮🐮
🤣😂🤣 The mites were distracting me, I usually get a little more excited than that when I see a tight worm ball like that!! I love that they were hiding in the toilet paper roll!! It should be fun (and a little bit tedious) to count these worms when I harvest the castings!! Thanks so much for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost paper towel rolls are the way to go.😜
I've just had a thought..🤔 toilet roll stuffed with horse poop and sawdust 🤔
Get it...,🐮🐮🐮
Absolutely!!!!
Can you use DE for grit so the worms can digest and as a pest killer/ preventer?
I have some DE for my pool filter and I have seen people use it to deter and kill insects so it should work for the mites. I will give it a try if I get another mite bloom when I restart the bin. As for grit, that is a good question...it should work as grit since they are essentially little mineralized fossils, right??!? Thanks for the suggestion and of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Hellooooo wormie friend!! 🪱🪱🪱 ohhhh no! Oh gosh there’s SO MANY MITES!! Yikes they’re really going for it 😬 I’m so sorry your having to deal with this Patrick…. ☹️ oh competition for food can be so hard in any situation, let alone a worm bin. Interesting that they’re so close to harvesting too. Will that impact the harvesting at all? And how long do you leave the mite bread traps for before you remove it ?
Ohhhh check out all those worms in the toilet roll 😂 awesome!!!
Now that is some good worm chow! I think they’ll enjoy that, and I sure hope it all goes well for the wormies my friend!! 🪱🌻🙌🏼💓💐
Hellooooo Anita, my awesome flower farm friend!! Those pesky mites always get the best of me in this bin towards the end when it gets a bit too moist. I also overfed it some sugary food & pasta at the wrong time😜 I typically leave the bread in for about 3 hours, then throw it away and replace it. Sometimes I go longer as the mite population decreases and they take longer to find it. When I harvest the worms, I'm gonna give them a nice bath to try to rinse as many mites off of them as possible. This should help out on the next round of this bin! I think my new worm chow is a hit!! Hopefully the mites don't like it as much as the worms!! Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to watch and leave fun, wonderful comments!! Have a great end of your weekend!! I can't wait to see what your flower farm does as you all roll into spring!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost 💐💖🙏🌱 yaaaaaay!!!
Looking forward to the harvest! Will the mites be gone by then? 👍
A lot of the mites will be gone as I bait them out this week, but I will also separate the worms out individually from the castings as I like to count them in this bin. I will also rinse the worms in water to try to get any mites trying to hitch a ride off. This is the only bin I get big mite blooms in it...mostly due to how small it is and how moist it tends to get in the later stages of the bin. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
How do you go about rinsing the worms in water?@@Vermicompost
@@usnamom78 Here is a video where I show you how I bathe the worms ruclips.net/video/iv3bsxiatYk/видео.html it is towards the end, near the 12 minute mark I believe. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
Me again, different video. Have you ever tried to introduce other critters to the worm bin? As I'm at home in the hobby of terrarium pet keeping, I'm immediately thinking of springtails (Collembola group) and isopods of some kind, for example the tiny Cuban variety Trichorhina tomentosa. Springtails love eating things like mold and other stuff you don't want in your bin, while isopods are detrivores just like the worms, yet more interested in woody things. Both don't produce castings of course, but might have beneficial synergies as well as being a competition for mites.
As Isopods are "shrimp" that use basically gills to breathe, most species require quite a bit of moisture. Springtails need even more moisture, colonies are usually started with water and big charcoal pieces as bedding.
Both don't go after living organisms and will survive with minimal protein intake, so extra food isn't needed. They rely on calcium and a less acidic environment, but worms do the same. They're also steadily and cheaply available in stores for terrariums, palidariums and the like. Usually as a helper for a bioactive setup that will get rid of waste products by itself. I'm gonna try it with my new bin, probably next week.
Little interesting fact: All the known T. tomentosa are female. They reproduce by parthenogenesis and are exact copies of their mothers. Males likely checked out after they found out that they're marrying their in-laws.
Great question! I have had springtails in decent amounts in my VenriHut worm tower, but the populations died back to a dull roar. I will see them occasionally. I'm very surprised I don't have isopods in my OutDoor Worm Bin. I occasionally add a few hand fulls of regular compost to increase and diversify the microbial life and I thought for sure I'd get some that way. When I was a kid growing up we used to find them and "play" with them watching them roll up...we called them Rolley Polley's...not sure if you all call them that as well. They are a great addition to a worm bin and as I understand it help shred up the food for the worms.
That is hilarious...The males checked out after they found out they were marrying their in-laws!!😂 Thanks so much for watching and sharing all your knowledge!! It is absolutely fascinating what these tiny creatures do on this end of the food chain for us!!🪱🪱🪱
Show those mites who's boss. 👏
🤣😂🤣 So I should show the mites The Executive Producer! She's the boss in these parts!! I need some clean mite free bins like yours!! Thanks for stopping by AJ!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost you do many more food experiments. Thank you for helping me keep my bins mite free. I have my worms on a basic food diet. Have a great weekend. 😎
My experiments definitely got he best of this bin this round🤣 have a great weekend AJ!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost you too.
Hello, I'm having issues with too moisture. Worms are lethargic and some have "string of pearl". I had mould, tons of white mites and pot worms. I took out all the food. Aired out the bin by removing lid temporarily, added more bedding. Used bread and physically removed a ton of mites. My ph is around 7. My moisture looks better. Not that its been a few weeks my worms are still lethargic and and some dying.. any suggestions?!
I'm so sorry your worm bin ran into some problems! As you have indicated the most likely issue was too much love in the form of overfeeding. I had a bin crash just like what you are experiencing. Unfortunately once you see string of pearls in a worm, it will eventually die, so any worms you see like that just take out of you bin and give them back to the earth outside. As you have probably read, this is from food fermenting within their bodies so you did a good job of taking all the food out of the bin. The other thing that can happen with over feeding, besides fermenting, is ammonification. You'll know if this is happening in your bin if you put your nose close up and smell a putred ammonia smell. This will cause the worms to flee if they don't die before that. if this is the case then my suggestion is you do an "emergency" bath 😀 Just pour some room temperature water in a bowl and put any remaining worms in it to rinse of debris and chemicals on them. They don't have to be clean, just a quick soaking and mixing around. Then put them in a new bin (the same one is fine just completely cleaned and rinsed out) with damp betting (I find shredded cardboard to be the best) and one strawberry top and/or one small piece of lettuce. Check back in 5 days to see if they ate anything. Check this video out to see how to restart a worm bin and what it should look like 5-6 days later: ruclips.net/video/1IRP-Nu6_90/видео.html I think your worms will recover just feed them less than you think and add damp bedding with each feeding...which should be no sooner than every 7-10 days. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost wow thank you for your detailed response, it can be quite disheartening to see this happen. I really appreciate your advice!! Fingers crossed I can get them going on the right track again!
Fingers crossed!!
Really interesting mite growth. Will you be counting each worm when you harvest this time? BTW, I restarted my Vermihut. Just 104 red wiggler only worms to start but will add more. Taking it slow. I have enough in my other tiny bins to transfer, I should not need to purchase more, I think. That will make my mail service happy to not have any escaping worms crawling in the mail room 😂.
Yes I will be counting...each...and every worm I find!! It is tedious work but I'm always happy when I know exactly how many are in this tiny worm bin!! That is so great you restarted the VermiHut!! Are you leaving the lid off for a couple days with a light on to keep the worms down in the bedding? Yes, I think you have enough other red wigglers to add as you get comfortable with how things are going!! So happy for you!! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost Yes, I kept lid off and they seem very settled. Red wigglers seem to settle in easily compared to the blue worms. So far all my tiny bins seem very settled. Looking forward to your worm count video! My guess is you might have a thousand!
Awesome that they settled down!! If I have a thousand in this tiny bin I may do a cartwheel on the video🤣😂🤣
lay a banana peel in there, come back after a few hours and remove it placing it into a bag, and place a new peel down. repeat until you find almost no mites on the newest peel after 6+ hours.
That sounds like a great technique!! I'll give it a try, thanks for passing it on!! And of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost I discovered it purly on accident while having mite issues 🤣 but it works like a charm anytime they get out of control in my bin
😂All my best ideas happen by accident!
UPDATE: Gotta give you a huge thank you for this idea!! Been using it in my Urban Worm Bag for the last couple of months and it works so well & it's so convenient & easy. I just chuck the peels in my regular compost barrel!! Thanks again!!🪱🪱🪱
Won’t diatomaceous earth rid of the mites & be grit for the worms?
Great question! I have heard that DE can be used to help get rid of mites...and I have some that is used in my pool filter, but I have heard conflicting information on whether the DE has to be food grade or not. As for being grit, I would think it could be since it is mineralized fossilized organisms! I'm just trying things that I can do without having to purchase anything. Since this video, I have harvested the worms, counted them, bathed them to get rid of the mites and restarted the bin!! Here is the video: ruclips.net/video/iv3bsxiatYk/видео.html Thanks so much for watching and for the great question!!🪱🪱🪱
I'm thinking about my shoebox size tower worm bin that I keep in my kitchen next to my cutting board and I'm wondering how that would work out if you bought another bin just like your tiny bin, and maybe even another one, and put them together like a tower by making holes in the bottom of a couple of them and then keeping the bottom one solid. I think that might be an answer for the fact that the little bin is a little harder to control in the moisture area. What size has that bin? I'm thinking 10 by 12, or 12 by 14? When I thought of that, while I was watching this video, I just smiled because it would be so cute! As always, I appreciate your videos and I love watching them. I've gotten a little bored with some other people who don't seem to have your imagination. But I still watch them........ some of the time. ; l
😀That is a great idea for moisture control to make this type of bin into a little worm tower...in fact this is my only bin that does not drain. I got this bin (13' by 9' three gallons) from taking a vermicomposting workshop at my county extension office where they had us make the bin, set up the bedding and they gave us about 50-100 red wiggler worms. Sooooo I'm just keeping this as an experimental, non draining bin so I can see the trials and tribulations of having a bin that doesn't drain!! I prefer draining bins for sure!! Thanks for the suggestion and for the kind words about my vidoes!!!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost
I can certainly see that you would like to experiment with a non-draining bin. I did actually go back to also having a bus box for a bin. It's the bigger one though. It is a different type of thing. Easier in a way, and not in another way. My bus bin has no top, so I put those white mailing envelopes with the blue printing on them on top... and that keeps it very nicely. Would you believe I started with one bus bin 7 months ago, and now I still have a bus bin.... Plus two green Towers and a shoebox size Tower bin in my kitchen! I think that's called going whole hog!? It's how I roll though. Lol!
@@cookie761 🤣😂🤣You gotta watch out Worm Farming is addictive!!
Hopefully, the bread trick works with my hungry bin since emptying it out isn't really an option and the mites have really taken over the bin.
After 4-5 hours you should see the little piece of bread covered in mites if they over populated in your bin! If you don't see that much on the bread wait a little bit longer...if it still doesn't have much then your mite population may not be as bad as you thought! Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
What do you think the reason is for the increased population growth of mites?
I think I let the bin get too moist and then I over fed it some really sugary food...some mac n cheese, and some dates. It is just this tiny bin that tends to get mite blooms. My 20 gallon outdoor bin and VermiHut worm tower have very small almost unnoticeable populations in them. It's just a little harder to maintain the right parameters in such a small bin. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch!! I love your videos!!🪱🪱🪱
Have you tried colloidal silver spray it works for my bee mites :)
No I haven't...but if worm bin mites carried a virus that killed worms I'd give it a try!! It's crazy how the population of bees reduced so dramatically in the last decade! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch another video!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost yea it's true buddy I resorted to something I used to use in a nebuliser to get rid of covid when I was teaching there and it worked. So I tried it on 2 hives that had verora and it worked and my bees liked it too. It was like they knew it was ok for them and was licking it
@@chrisleigh777 Nature is amazing!!
Ok I guess you addressed the red mites after all.
👍🪱🪱🪱
My worm bin is fairly new and there is literally CARPETS of them. But they're white.
Oh wow! Yep, mites come in lots of shades from white to brown to red. Usually we'll see a population spike when we over love our worms (also known as overfeeding!). If you want to reduce them long term, feed less, add more bedding and use the trick I showed in this video to help reduce the population in the short run. Thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱
I definitely overfed them... just a few days ago I had to remove a bunch of food and bedding to keep the bin from turning into a hot compost pile! To make matters worse, I live somewhere really dry so to keep them from getting crispy I give them some ice cubes every day... I may be overdoing it with the water as well, having watched some more of your videos. Great information and experience to be imparted to us newbies! Thanks!
Sounds like you're taking great corrective measures! I'm so glad our videos have helped!! I have to use frozen water bottles on top of my Urban Worm Bag sometimes to keep it cool. I just keep refreezing and reusing them so I don't over water the bins...but I also use ice cubes sometimes as well if I need to add some slow release moisture in addition to the cooling effect.🪱🪱🪱
I was going to start a worm bin til i saw mites....i can handle worms but not mites that i dont know if they are spreading in my plants inside my house...pass
Mites can seem kinda scary at first, but there are thousands upon thousands of different kinds of mites....These are not the kind that affect growing plants. Just like compost worms, they don't "attack" anything living. They just eat dead and decaying material, so if you spread vermicompost with mites in it on your garden or plants, they would go under ground and try to find some dead plant material to eat. In fact these kind of mites are so sensitive to moisture that they would probably die within a few minutes of being placed on a leaf! Of course I totally understand not wanting to even think about mites on your house plants...there is a certain insect that rhymes with "coach" and I know some people have "hissing" ones of these as pets...I think I'd rather die🤣😂🤣 Thanks for stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱
New record, it took 7 hours after upload for me to watch, I got a good reason;)
Hey, this is the only bin you get mites in.
You know my next question...
I wonder if you put a perferated "false floor" would that keep it dryer?
4:38 - right side of bin. Those guys are strong 🤣
Looking forward to the harvest !! Let's go!!
Well check out Bar-chuckin, thanks !!
Cheers Guys !!
Jason and Colleen 🌱🪱🌱
You had a great reason! Oh my goodness, those kids were adorable with all their worm questions!! I just told the Executive Producer to remind me to do a feature about it in our next video!! This tiny bin tends to slide back and forth from one extreme to the next because it is so tiny and unforgiving compared to my big 20 gallon outdoor bin and the VermiHut worm tower. A false floor or even a bin within a bin quasi tower would be ideal for this tiny bin but then it would take away the challenge...and I'm determined to try another round it get it right this time without the excess moisture and mites😂🤣😂 These worms in here are fierce!! I'm hopeful they have busted through 800-1000 number!! Thanks for all your support!!🪱🪱🪱
@@Vermicompost oh awesome brother !! We think it would be super cool to more kids involved. Vermicompost has the perfect combination of mystery, terror, grossed, amazement and holds their attention cause so many things are going on in a small space, perfect for kids!!
I'm definitely doing an "Inception Bin", instead of a dream within a dream, it'll be a worm bin inside a worm bin 🤣🤣🤣
That's a crazy population in such a small bin, should've known you welcome the challenge!!
Let's frickin go !!🪱🪱🪱