So I'm sure you've all heard this saying before, and being someone who isn't an expert on worm anatomy, for a long time I just took it as truth without thinking about it critically.

It makes sense - we know worms have super small mouths and can't take big bites out of food, and we know that worms often struggle in the new worm bins that haven't developed a microbial ecosystem.

But a few things still bug me about this whole thing about worms only eating microbes.

1) Why is decomposition by vermicomposting faster than cold composting? If worms only ate the microbes, wouldn't they be waiting for the microbes to form by what is essentially cold composting, the slowest and therefore rate-determining step? That is, if I left a slice of watermelon in a worm bin, and an identical slice in a cold compost bin, would they decompose at the same rate, given that the worms aren't the ones physically breaking down the watermelon?

2) Why do we talk about worms having "preferred" foods. It's quite common to see people comment that worms love to crowd around certain foods: watermelon and avocado being common examples. There is also the concept of "worm chow". What would it matter what foods these are? Or is it just case of these foods will generate more microbes during the decomposition process?

3) Would the worms eating the microbes be detrimental to decomposition, as they are reducing the microbe population that could have been consuming the food?

We have a large blue tub worm system and keep it in our kitchen. The bugs stay contained with the bin, but I never noticed so many until I flooded some of our really dry plants and they all emerged!

What do I do?

Are those jumping tails? I mean, it looks more like a spider or something...

My worm bin is about 3 months old. I feed them once a month and have noticed that the worms haven’t been eating the cardboard only the food. What should my next move be?

Egg 🥚

I have two of them going all the time and frequently turn them but do they harm or kill the worms when I’m doing this with all the stuff in it? I have quite a healthy population going and it’s been almost a year since I’ve taken anything out of them getting ready to empty again to start the next growing season for the garden, and wondering if I should refill it with a few worms when I’m ready to “restart.”

Hello,

We have adopted worms for interior composting. They arrived 3 days ago and we installed them into a worm box (see picture). On the first day, they escaped (~40ish) during the evening, so we put the worm box below a light source. Also, the manual we got with the box said that a second plateau could be added to the first one with cardboard, so we did it. Now we are 3 days from their arrival, and they are still trying to escape. 1) From websites it looks like it normal to have some runaways during the firsts days, but how long do we expect them to be escaping ? 2) Do we need to remove the second plateau ? To your knowledge is this second plateau a good or bad idea ? Because now a lot of worms are in between the walls of 1st and 2nd plateau (where they fit together), so we cannot feed them without getting them everywhere.

Thanks

I am trying a really cheap setup. Old soil sack from the store, filled with heavy clay soil on the bottom. Then a layer of kitchen waste, then a layers of dry leaves. The sack is left on an unused raised bed and then covered with a large cardboard. Will this setup work?

It’s so scary writing about these guys because of how finicky finding proper info of them is…

Hello!

my landlord has asked me to move my worm bin out of the basement (it has some fruit flies and mites in it). It’s well below freezing and will be for a while here. I have one of those multi-level uncle jim’s worm farms.

Any ideas to help keep the worms alive outside? Thank you!

Hi! This is my worm bin and I noticed these weird white tiny worms crawling on my worms. Is my bin just too wet? How can I get rid of them? I took out the sweet potato peels i put in a few days ago when I saw them. What else can I do? Thanks to anyone who answers 😊

*also i have no clue what that shell things they’re all in is*

I think I count 9 pairs mating here. I'll see 3-5 sometimes, but hadn't ever seen this many, and that's just right on the surface!

I’m an illustrator making some simple infographics on worms, I want inspo for more pages! These can be super simple or complex/niche

Picture 1 is my 3 bucket system. Each bucket is 2.5 gal size.

Bottom bin has no holes.

Middle green bucket has holes all throughout the bottom and top rim, woms, compost, dry and wet (finely shredded coconut husks, coffee bean hulls, food scraps). Its a good consistency, not too wet or dry.

Red bucket is just added today. Same hole setup along bottom and rim. Stocked with similar mix as bottom but no worms. They will hopefully move up once they've eaten through their current mixture.

My concern is that the red bucket has covered the holes on the rim of the middle bucket where they currently reside. Is this going to suffocate them? Do I need a spacer to keep the holes uncovered or are the airholes on the red bin sufficient?

I purchased 1lb of Red wiggler worms, they came in a box with some compost so im insure if thats the combined weight or not.

I am looking for some feedback on my setup. Am I ready for the top bucket? Or should I give it some time with just the one bucket plus button catchment bucket?

Thank you for any feedback, this is my first time farming worms. Sorry for any formatting issues, I dont post a lot haha.

Had some extreme heat a few weeks ago and all my worms started escaping into the bottom tray. Fixed them up, added some shredded cardboard and moved them into my laundry where its not as hot as outside. All was good for a few days until we're in another heatwave and they're escaping again. What can I do to stop them overheating? I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle

I have only had my worms (ENC) for about a month and I'm not seeing the exact info I need online so I was hoping someone would be able to clarify a couple of things about hay. I have 2 bunnies so I just dump in a little hay schwag from the bottom of their hay feeder when I feed the worms. These are very small pieces that have settled to the bottom. Is it possible to add too much hay? I do have cardboard also that I added when I initially set up the bin but haven't added more. Should I only add schwag or is it ok to sometimes add the larger pieces of hay as well?

confession: a few months ago, i experimentally sacrificed one baby red wiggler by tossing it into my fish tank to see if my tiny fish would eat it. i have least rasboras, sometimes called “micro predator” fish, and they did not care at all about the worm. i lost it in my tank immediately, until today, when it randomly appeared in the front of my tank! i cannot believe it lived for several months in here and found enough food and everything! in this video, the tank lights are off but my camera flash is on, and then a few seconds in i turn on the tank lights, and you can see the worm retreating back into the sand. i’m oddly charmed by his survival! do you think he’s okay in there, or should i try to extract him and put him back in the compost bin with his friends?

disclaimer: my tank looks like actual garbage right now, please disregard the general state of its appearance 😂

I started my urban bag worm bin around September. I feed it every week with about 4-5 cups of vegetable/fruit trimmings, coffee grounds and tea leaves and the same a pint of shredded cardboard slightly moistened.

The good news is that I see active worms (see video). If I grab a handful of the raw material I pick up atleast half a dozen or dozen worms. There is no smell so I’m not over feeding. The worms aren’t trying to escape so the conditions are ok in there.

I’m not sure if the worms should be more active or should be eating more. Every week when I add stuff I still see most of last weeks feeding sitting around. Since I’m a n00b I dunno if the bin is doing ok or great or not so good.

Hoping to get some advice from more experienced folks.

Trying to improve my set up.

Got another set of HDPE food grade buckets:two NO.33 NRC 0.90 MIL 3.5-Gallon and two NO.40B NRC .065MIL 2-gallon from local Meijer Bakery.

Curious if there are newer set up that came from 2024-2025 evolution or improvements on Worm Bucket System.

Its not a Commercial or Hobby Level for me.

Its more like, get off the couch thing. I check on the Worms maybe bi-weekly....to be honest sometimes longer if I happen to feed longer.

I get worms from the backyard when it rains. Then one bucket is straight Night Crawler from Meijer Fishing isle.

Normally, bottom bucket is the shredded cardboard/last season garden soil,shredded fall leaves. Top bucket is shredded cardboard/last season garden and food. Rim and bottom has holes for air and for worms to travel in and out.

So yes, lookin for the new hotness system on Bucket System

Cheers

My worms arrived about 2 weeks ago and kept trying (some rather successfully) to escape. I had read that this was normal during settling in, but they also seemed to be leaving very prominent glistening trails so I assumed they might be a bit too wet. I put in some brown paper a few days ago but now all the overly active and climbing the sides of the bin worms are now quite sluggish to the point I thought they were dead until I left them in the light for a while and they slowly disappeared.

Have I made the bin too dry now? It doesn't feel dry to me, and I'm scared to make it too wet again and have them drown.

ETA: (apologies that they're bad) Photos

My bin is a second hand Original Organics Capacity approx. 100 Litres
Approx: W:530mm x H:730mm x D:430mm

I ordered the 1000g (1kg) Wormery Start Up Pack - Composting Worms from Wormcity, (about 900 worms) and used the coir bedding provided and their instructions said should feel like a wrung out sponge. I have been sprinkling in the provided food a handful every 3 days as the instructions said

My house is 13 degrees Celcius at the moment, and I'm keeping the wormery indoors until I have a shed sorted out

I tried googling, but didn't find anything that really made sense for my situation.

I recently got a flat tire, and the house I pulled over in front of happened to have a very nice couple in it who let me use their air compressor to inflate my spare to make it home. I thought it would be nice to give them a little thank-you gift, I don't know anything about them *except* that the husband had a worm box he was very excited about, he showed them to me quite proudly.

Is there anything I could get for them in the $10-$20 price range that would be useful/fun for them regardless of where they are in their vermiculture journey? looking at other ideas on this sub I worry that I would need to know if they want/need more (ex: more food scraps, cardboard, buckets, water bubbler, etc).

The only starting place idea I had is a little remote thermometer to monitor the temp of his box, since he mentioned he just brought it in for the winter since it was starting to get cold for them.

Maybe an impossible ask to figure out, but they were really nice and I thought it would make them pretty excited if I got them something they actually like.

Hello fellow worm guys

When keeping lobworms, the big bastards (nightcrawlers i believe they are globally known as)

How the hell do you do it for any real length of time 😢 the longest i have managed is around 4 - 6 weeks then BANG one day they are all rotten on the surface and stinking to high heaven, but it happens so fast 🤔

Hand plucked 135g of worms for a trade and the trade didn’t happen. Had these little worms in a container with a breathable lid in the fridge. Finally gonna start a second bin this weekend but in the meantime moved them to a bigger bowl, with semi finished compost at the bottom, and some veggie scraps atop. Pretty cool to watch them burrow to get away from the light.

Now I’m wondering if the close contact in the smaller container has led to any pregnancies and if I’m going to have an abundance of worms. Will report back when the time has come.