What am I doing wrong?

I have one of those 4 tray systems and my worms are happy and healthy but they are not moving up when they finish one tray. They seem to like it where they are and now I have worms in all four trays. They are also congragating in the collection tray on the bottom. There are castings down there that are very soggy but the worms seem to love it. I drain off about 2 cups of pee a day but it still stays soggy. I have not added any water as the kitchen scraps are always moist and the coir bedding is damp.

My thoughts are that the worms prefer the wetter medium of the bottom trays and perhaps if I added water to the top trays the worms would move up but since the water will only drain down that does not make sense.

Guess I should just dump the bottom trays, worms and all into the garden but I hate losing all those worms. There are way too many to pick out. Am I nuts?

Interesting...I've been thinking about getting one of those tray systems, but not sure about that now. Any problems besides the one you've described here? Have you been able to resolve it since your post?

No change and no other problems, the worms are multiplying like crazy and I get plenty of worm pee each day which the plants just love.

I wouldn't worry about it. I think people really exaggerate the worm's overall upward migration. They will definitely move up as things finish below but you are always going to have worms in all the trays. I have a three tier bin and it usually seems to me like the bigger worms hang out in the lower trays but I'm not sure on that. But it's not like you will be able to grab the bottom tray and it will just be 100% worm poo without any worms. Even if a tray looks finished there is plenty of stuff there for a worm to munch on probably.

I don't really harvest from my trays very often until things start getting too full. It's kind of a pain to get the worms out of the compost. You can just dump them if you want the one's in the bin will get their numbers back up but I imagine it will slow them down since they will be taking hits to their numbers. Your garden will probably like all the worms in the soil though. The best approach I've found to harvest compost with as few worms as possible is to take a small plastic tupperware thing and cut a bunch of holes in the bottom. Then scoop a bunch of worm poo (worms and all) into that and set it on top of the top level of the bin uncovered. The worms will tend to head down through the holes and into the main bin. I kind of mess with the harvested compost and generally try to bother them so they'll migrate down. But if you try to harvest with absolutely no worms you will drive yourself crazy.

Thanks, sounds right to me.

Yes, I too agree with that idea for harvesting worms from their castings. Worms do not like bright lights, so allowing them to escape into a bottom tray away from the sunshine is a very practical technique that does not take a long time. It will save you from a lot of frustration by trying to find them all - you will never find all of them.

Thanks folks, I did take the bottom tray and put it on top,left the lid off and stirred frequently and sure enough most of those little guys migrated down into the darkness where they are happiest.

Ardesia Are you nuts probly but im retired. I would take the bottom tray out dump it wait rake off the castings pick out the worms slowly! when you get to the bottom you will find a ball of worms. Start a new tray. Take all the castings and put them into a suitable container doint worry about air leave the top off and keep moist wait about 45 days. Then harvest the little babys into a new bin and the castings for you.

Ardesia:
I hope they are redworms/tigerworms in your compost. Here's how the worm thinks: I smell microbes (decaying organic waste) and I'm going up to the surface where they are to eat them. I am not leaving until there is no more food left, or until I can't breathe, or until I'm dried out and need moisture, or until I'm soaked, or until someone puts bad stuff into my food bin and it chases me away, or it gets really hot or cold. Ideally, they like 68-77 degrees. They can survive in 10-112 degrees in soil. I've done it. Usually they can effect the temperature 20 degrees warmer or cooler as needed in 12" of soil. Moisture can be in 43-90% range, but ideal is 70-80%. The pH of 5.5-7.0 is ideal. (Who checks this?) They don't like citrus and acidy foods, or meat and bone scraps. Enough.

They are red wigglers. This was my first year with this bin system and it took a while but I (and the worms) finally have the hang of it. :-)

Ardesia, hope you are still here? I have been using the 3-tier system for 2 yrs now and very happy with it. The main trick I find is to have them just in one tray. Once you know they have rotated (I drew black lines on tray and created 4 quarters, put nrs on them otherwise you'll forget where to put the food) , put another tray on top with fresh bedding and food. Leave it for few days (3 or 4) and most of the worms will have moved up. Especially when you have not fed them for just a little in first tray so they'll be hungry. I have the same soggy problem you have only if I leave the bottom tray on too long. Indeed, the bigger older worms are living there. So after the new tray is on top of first one. for few days I'll check and decide to take the bottom tray out. I have a plastic bin just big enough for the trays to sit on top of, the top one (with food) goes back on base. I then just turn the full bin over in plastic bin and sift carefully through. I find it doesn't take that long to find the worms especially when you have a reading light, they really immediately move to the bottom! So that's where you'll find them. The yellow I have hanging there in case there is too much moisture built up in lower base, I just open the valve and have worm tea! I add a little water and just use on some plants.
Good Luck!
Tulip

ardesia, probably not much help to you here since I am a 40+ year veteran of the tub mehtod. These new trays appear far too complicated to me. I have gone from completely saturating to absolute dryness with my culture and they have still sudrvived my abuse. The point I would like to make is why worry about worm eggs or worms in your germination mixes, potting mixes, or garden for that matter. I have all three and no problems that I can see. In fact there are no indiginous worms in my garden as yet, therefore I rely an anual plantings of red wigglers from my bins to accomplish the important task of aeration in the garden. I dig fairly large holes for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, and pumpkins. To each of these holes I add a heaping handful of red wigglers from one of my four indoor bind. This also accomplishes thinning the populations of worms which encourages them to breed more actively. I think that is based on a food to organism ratio, however the thinning process seems to stimulate activity in the somewhat dormat bins from overwintering in my attached but unheated garage (40F to 50F ambient air temp.).

The method I use to collect a heaping handful of worms to place in a planting hole is to concentrate the feed in one location of the worm bin. Give it about three days and there will be a massive collection of worms in this one area. Although there is some uneaten food in this massive handful of worms it is of no importance. The worms last all season long and some even manage to survive our harsh winters, but very few.

One key to keeping these worms active and productive in the garden is to regularly cultivate the surface of the holes where the worms have been transplanted, especially after a rainfall when the ground has crusted over. Most people don't realize how important aeration is to garden plants and cultivating in itself is of extreme importance. By adding worms to the process this makes it even more successful in getting air to the plant roots. So my advice is not to worry about worms in your casting removal process.

Each time I feed my worms I just toss my removed media (about 1/2-inch of dried surface media) into a 5-gallon pail w/ lid. I stock pile as much as 60 gallons of this material in the winter and when it is time to use this material there are still a few worms as well as unhatched eggs in it, evidenced by the number of worms in my transplants.

morgan

Morgan, good input. Sharon.

I bought 60 red wigglers, but it was already November. Now it is snowing and what happens to worms in winter. I have one of those home made bins from a 50 gall. trash cans with holes around and layerd compost. I roll the can weekly . Do I have to keep adding worms in Spring or they will live trough the cold????

kiseta,
I'd guess Augusta is in Zone 8 - my redworms survive the winter about 20 mils N. of Raleigh, NC (Zone 7) so I doubt that you need to do much. It may be that the adults die if the ground gets too cold and the babies (eggs) survive but mine are starting their 3rd year - they perk up as soon as I start adding coffee grounds and kitchen scraps in the Spring. BTW, you can buy new redworms at fishing bait shops. I paid $2.25 for about 25 worms and that got me started. Since you started with 60, I guess that's what you did also but I like to keep reminding people that they don't have to buy 2000 redworms by mail order.

Snow in Nov. in Augusta! - I can remember only one snow all the time I lived in Augusta 1937-1950. I also remember one very small earthquake.

This message was edited Jan 20, 2011 4:25 AM