Help - worms trying to escape!!!

I have been vermicomposting for about 5 years without any problems. However, last week I started a new worm bin. I started it the same way as previously - plastic bin, newspaper for bedding and wrapping the food in newspaper before burying it (seems to help keep odors away for me previously). The next day, I found ALL of my worms at the top of the bin trying to escape. My bedding was drier than I thought it should be so I added more water and put the worms back in the bin. Today (about 4 days later) I checked the bin again. I only had 4 worms at the top. I found all of the rest of the worms under the food I had buried but it does not appear that they have touched the food at all. Does anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong? I am at a total loss, especially since my other bin never gave me any problems and has been doing really well. Thank you for your help!

One idea that comes to mind is to steal half the media from your existing bin to start your new bin(s).

Several learned posts throughout DG suggest that the worms aren't eating the veggies but rather eat the by- products of the microbes which digest the veggies. (I think that was the process described, comments solicited.) At any rate, it seemed to take a week or two for the veggies to turn into worm food. Also, the people more thorough than I use their blender to mush up the veggies so the microbes would go to work quicker. Finally, mraider3's suggestion to steal half the media from the old bin sounds like a good idea (and fits in with my comment about the microbes) as you are putting in a good starter culture of microbes along with the veggies.

OK learned friends - did my failing memory screw this up or was it about right?

Paul

Paul, I too have read that worms feed on mold vs. the actual veggie so I tried something I called 'worm kashi' which was simply taking the pre-blended veggies and placing them in a five gallon bucket with lid to ferment. The bucket required frequent stirring to incorporate the floating surface layer which would develop into a moldy mass in a couple of days if untouched. Frankly I think the process was actually better than simply blending the food and adding it directly to the bins. However, I had to keep the bucket outdoors because of the aroma so I discontinued the process for the winter. I may go back to the practice shortly as the weather warms here. The method I used during the winter was to toss the scraps into a baby dipper bucket I picked up at our version of the Good Will Store. Scraps left in there for a few days began to mold and I selected the moldier material to blend first. This material seems to blend much easier and disappears quickly vs. the 'fresher' scraps which tend to be a bit chunkier regardless of how it's blended. There generally are some scraps of food left over at the next feeding which is about every third day this time of year but these do get consumed by the second feeding so not a problem.

As I have stated before I don't try to get analytical about my methods since no two bins are alike for me regardless of the fact that my media is the same. Therefore it makes no sense to suggest to others who use different media and different approaches to feeding what ratios of food, water, etc., should be followed. I have been doing this for so long it's just a matter of feel for what I do during the feeding process. All I would suggest for others is several techniques for over feeding or adding too much moisture as such. But once you get the feel for your system it's generally easy to stay on track.

The more I read "herein", the more I become convinced that it is fairly hard to screw it up. Overdoing it may be the only major error. If you feed only a small amount of veggies, you will only have a small amount of worms. If you use a blender, and wait for mold, (or worse?) you will have many more happy worms and, more importantly for active vermiculturists, you will have much more (many more?) worm castings to improve your garden. I guess I just like to feed my worms. BTW, when Winter comes, I do nothing. The redworms may just perish, leaving behind their eggs for next Spring. It only gets down to 15 degrees here for a few nights every Winter. Sure enough though, there are redworms when I rake back the pile to add some coffee grounds or veggie scraps to the pile.

I've never been motivated to go to Goodwill and get an old blender - when I'm really motivated, I just use an old fish cleaning knife which I keep sharp to cut fresh broccoli or asparagus or other veggies up into as small chunks as I feel like at the moment. Sometimes I just bury a couple of handfuls of scraps directly from the kitchen with no further ado. In the warm months (93 today!), I water the worm bin a little as it's close to my blackberries which I am also watering. The chunks of veggie scraps will be gone in about a week. (Hmmm, wonder where they went?)

I doubt that the real experts like mraider3 will disagree with what I just said but I certainly invite it and will defer to their experience.

Paul

mraider3,
I forgot to ask, what's a baby dipper bucket? When my kids were very small, we had no requirement to dip them. I wonder if my GoodWill would have any.

Paul

Paul, any kind of bucket with a lid will work. Keeps the flies out! I purchased two of these buckets from the Good Samaritan not knowing what they were. Took an old fashion mommy to tell me!!! They are simply a white plastic bucket with a lid which loosely fits on top of the bucket, but completely seals the surface from odors escaping. It was half-price day and I bought both buckets for 50 cents. Beats the loggoed buckets from the hardware stores for $5.00, lid not included. But they will work just as well. I found a commercial painter who gave me 33 five gallon buckets which are constantly in use. Never seem to have enough buckets.

I scrounge up all sorts of things for gardening purposes. Sometimes I look at a tool or item and think that it might be useful but have no idea what for. But sooner or later I find its intended purpose. Don't ask me what that type of thought process is, I couldn't explain it if I wanted too.

Hi all,
If you go to local restaurants and ask, they have all kinds of food that comes in the white buckets; and they are food safe so you don't have to worry about harsh chemicals. i collected about 2 dozen from a Mongolian Grill, they have pickle and other smells; the worms don't care. just look at where the trash bins are located behind the store.
I did get some buckets at a store that sold chemicals, with screw lids for $5.00 each. Great to keep my worm food while it ferments.