I just started my first 2 worm bins, 3 weeks ago. One has 2000 red wigglers in it from Uncle Jim’s worm farm and the other has 500 Alabama jumpers from a local guy. I put some wet shredded newspaper down and then added come bagged compost I had laying around and covered them with a wet, folded newspaper. I have no moisture dripping out of the bins but there is some light condensation on the underside of the one with a lid. The kid has 8 1-inch holes in it with screen covering them. I have not fed them much but I did give them a little over-ripe banana, coffee grounds and Brussel sprout leaves along with a cup of ground malted barley. The 2000 worm bin has received maybe 3-4lbs of those inputs since I got them. I figured the compost would keep them busy but wanted to give them a choice. I’ve been keeping the bins in the house, in separate rooms and these bugs have only appeared in the bin with the red wigglers from Jim’s. So, I’m thinking they came in with those worms Today I was shocked to see these fast moving little spider looking things EVERYWHERE! Thank God they’re in a separate part of the building from my grow! Can’t anyone identify what they are? Sorry the picture quality isn’t great - they’re very hard to photograph! Here’s a 10-second video of them:
Don't panic, they are friendly (probably). Compost mites of some sort, maybe Stratiolaelaps Scimitus but can't be sure. They are good decomposers and eat soil pests and their eggs.
I’m usually not that lucky. My kinda luck would be to get the Black Death when everyone else gets predatory mites. Lol! I thought mites move slowly? These things can cover an inch in just a few seconds and they’re so small that they’re barely visible. And there are THOUSANDS of them. They actually look (and act) more like tiny tiny spiders but I’m no expert. I’m not freaking out but I don’t want to transfer any to my grow until I know what they are for certain. Just a few minutes handling the lid and they’re on me - every once in a while, as I’m typing this, I’ll see one running on my hand. I don’t have any current bug issues in the grow so THATS what I’m freaking out about. Gonna try to get some better imagery with my crappy WiFi microscope.
If they came in with Jim's worms it's 99.99% they are decomposers and okey dokey. More than likely you overfed the worms and caused a population bloom. Ease off the food and they'll soon die off. Wet
@Sc00byD00bie @wetdog Thanks again - you set my mind at ease. Some, anyway. Lol! Question in bold text below is directed at y'all as well! OK. Will-do! That would make sense.Hopefully the wife doesn't see them because worms inside was a hard enough sell - creep crawly things will result in my eviction, no matter the explanation! LOL! So, like I posted initially, I only fed 3-4lbs of food over a 3 week period but they did have about 3 gallons I put in on top of some wetted newspaper. I was worried about overfeeding and I thought that was maybe too little because I read that they eat about their weight in food every day. So, I figured 2000 worms = 2lbs of worms = 2lbs of food per day X 21 days = 42lbs eaten. So, 3-4lbs of food inputs seemed really light; but maybe the compost is also "food?" Should I have calculated the compost as food? Trying to figure out how to know WHEN they are hungry or how to calculate when they OUGHT to be hungry/need some food added to the bin? Here are some more little video clips I strung together. Not sure they're any easier to see. Those little buggers are FAST and hard to catch on video in that dang microscope! HAHA!
I don't know why that link won't work here in GC. My Vimeo is broken so I can't upload another video right now. sorry! If you just add the "www." to the address below and paste it into your browser, you should find the video, if you want to look. I don't know how else to direct your to it. youtube.com/watch?v=W3MbCVNFW_k&feature=youtu.be
First off, forget that whole "they eat their weight in food everyday" BS. It could happen but is far from likely. Here's why: Worms don't "eat" anything, no jaws, no teeth. What they do do is slurp up the bacterial slime from decomposing organic matter. So, until that 'food' turns into a puddle of bacterial goo/slime the worms can't utilize it. Other decomposers can and that's what you're seeing in your bin. But those other decomposers help break it down to what the worms can handle, each one making it smaller and smaller with the worms at the end of the line. It all depends on how fast whatever food source breaks down. Chicken laying crumbles is one of the fastest, usually being gone the next day or 2. Coffee grounds take a month or so and the fresh frozen comfrey about a week and a half. With cooler winter temps all this slows down a good bit. I only really know my bedding, but when the worms have consumed all or nearly all their food the surface of the bedding almost looks manicured, like a really well tended putting green. That's when I add more food, but it's generally between 2 weeks to a month. It really depends on your particular environment so there are no hard and fast schedules here. You'll have to set yours to your situation with observation. HTH Wet
Thanks Wet! Explains a lot and I appreciate you taking the time to explain. So, that’s why adding ground malted barley helps - ONE, it’s smaller and has more surface area so it breaks down quickly and...TWO, the barley feeds the microbial life, making for a faster and more efficient system to break down the material into the slime the worms eat. Would I be better off running inputs through a blender/juicer before adding it to the bin, instead of as larger solids? I just planted 25 Bocking 14 comfrey roots with about 15 of them having crowns. About a month ago. It doesn’t get super cold here very much and all the ones with crowns have a few 6-8” leaves on them; but I t’s going to be a while before I am able to harvest any comfrey. It’s part of my plan, though! I am feeding some neem and Karanja meal as well but going a little light until I figure out how much works. FWIW - the bins are inside for the winter (such as that is around here) so they’re experiencing a constant 72°F, or thereabouts.