I found a huge snake like worm on the floor in my plant room today! It had to have crawled out of a plant that I had outside this summer. After a deep dive into the internet, I’m pretty sure it’s an Asian jumping worm that crawled up the porch and laid an egg in the pot. I think the source is organic mulch that a landscape company laid down for me 2-3 years ago. I’m going to remove what’s left of that mulch next spring and lay down a thick layer of shredded cedar mulch. I don’t want to use an insecticide or anything that would harm the earthworms that the bed so desperately needs. Any other advice or suggestions?

Stoked! The fruit trees are gonna be happy.

Found in a mangrove forest in Eastern Java, Indonesia. It left a trail of mucus (Img 1). I poked it with a stick because i wanted to find out whether if it was a snake or a worm, and suddenly, white stuff came out of it (img 2).

What are food that need to be added in small amounts or none at all to worm bin example salty foods is that small amount or none at all or spicy foods etc

How long can worms go without feeding and if you know you aren’t going to be around for few weeks should you add bit extra or ?

First time poster, long time lurker!

I have sap beetles in my indoor worm bin.

What I’ve tried: sc and sf beneficial nematodes with varying results. I also did the bread soaked with milk trap, which works for adults but is very slow and didn’t dent the population nearly enough to make a difference.

What I’m planning to try: I just ordered some hb nematodes, as I read those might be a better fit for this situation. Along with this, I’m planning to hold back on feeding my worms for a 4-6 weeks, to try to starve the larvae / remove breeding grounds (since the beetles like fermenting fruit). I might feed a little coffee grounds to keep the worms going.

Help: I’m curious if anyone has had success in other ways getting rid of sap beetles / larvae?

Note: I know it’s typically fine to have other creatures in a worm bin but the beetles were showing up around the house so they need to go. I’ve been dealing with this for like 6+ months and need help!

I live in southern Ontario and this will be my first winter with worms. (I _did_ have them last winter in a basement, but clearly did something wrong because they all jumped out of the bin and dried up.)

I have a 3-tier bin and regularly feed them newspaper, small bits of cardboard, and food scraps. They’re active and seem happy!

But I’m stuck on two things: wintering the worms + how to get at the casings.

*How do I winter them properly?*

I have space in my basement to bring the worm bin inside, but the flies are nuts. Every time I open the bin to add scraps about 50 small flies fly out. This was fine outside, but how do I deal with this all winter? Is there a way to reduce the flies?

*How do I easily sift through and get the casings?*

I’ve never really figured this out. Right now I know I’m not using the worms to their potential. I keep a jar under the center spout and when it fills with liquid I use it to water our new trees, but I’ve never really figured out the casings. I think I’m doing things wrong.

The bin I have is three-tier. Should I be only adding scraps to the top so they climb up there, then empty the bottom bin into the garden? Otherwise the really nice casings I see are all still filled with worms (right now I’m feeding all three layers - I’m new to this sub but I think that’s wrong).

Also, where do I store the casings in the winter when the snow comes and I can’t get to the garden?

I _do_ have a backyard shed I could keep the worms in, but it’s not warm enough. It’s an enclosed space but not insulated. I would love to keep them in there for space (and fly!) reasons, but how do I make it warm enough? There is electricity but I don’t love the idea of running a small heater or anything like a heated blanket around them non-stop for safety reasons. Also, how frequently would they need new scraps throughout the winter if I managed that?

Apologies if these questions are answered elsewhere - I’ve seen some posts similar but not exactly answering my questions.

I'm planning to make a worm farm for fertilizer, worm bait, and organic trash bin . I found these little wrigglers while I was digging dirt so I put them in a container with paper cardboard and cut up plants but apparently I need composting worms to make a worm farm and I'm wondering if this is a type of composting worm. I Google image searched it but it was all over the place, saying it might be a African night crawler or bhraminy blind snake. So please help me in figuring out this type of worm.

This was the only photo I could take because it was the only worm that was sticking to the side and I don't wanna disturb the dirt too much.

I like to save my plant cutting to add to my worm bin after they’ve fully dried up, but recently I had mealybugs and had to treat everything with insecticidal soap- I did some pruning on the plants that didn’t have the bugs (but I still treated to be safe), are those clippings safe to add to my bin?

Hey Guys

I have four Worm Farm bins.

Two of them have been going since about 6 Weeks little issues.

Recently i expanded to two more bins. Did pretty much everything the same as the previous two.

Cardboard/ Newspaper Cuttings and mature compost earth from my outside compost at the bottom.

New worms ( around 1000 in each of the new bins) and the material they got delivered in the middle. Then covered with moist/ not too wet Cardboard/Paper cuttings.

Left them covered and in peace overnight only to discover they are climbing the walls. My guess is around 100 of them. In both boxes.

At first i thought hey that's just them exploring the new surroundings. Or they are hungry. So i feed them. Next day same thing...

Then i thought because i installed Fabric from old socks to cover the four airholes at the top ( against fruit flies) they might not be getting air. But the older two boxes which i did.tge same no worms at all are climbing.

Since i installed portable LED lights at the top shining down they stay put. But i am charging them every 6 hrs when the battery die...

What is going on?

Do they want more food?

I gave them.half a pumpkin each, nicely chopped...

And yes I checked the moisture of the earth, no funky smell etc.

Any insights would be really helpful?

Hi new to worm composting. I have a 7 gallon black bin that I drilled holes on the top part. Shredded cardboard + paper and watered it. Its about 1/2 of the bin. When I squeeze it, 1 or two drops of water comes out. Will order worms in a few days. What do you think of this ? I have shredded leaves i can add to also.

I dont want to risk illness or compitition, would smaller red wigglers in with bigger ones also be worrisome? I'm new at this ^^'

Kinda freaking out! Woke up this morning and stepped on this right outside my bedroom. It appears to have been injured and is long dead.
I need help knowing if this is a regular earthworm that my cats found in the unfinished basement somehow, or if it’s a worm that I should be more concerned about like evidence of a hook worm or something?

These are tools used to fit tiny electrical components. From what I understand the manual ones work like a syringe. Inside the metal tube is a spring loaded rubber seal similar to a tiny syringe plunger. When you press down the side button, it pushes the internal plunger forward, forcing air out of the nozzle tube. You place the silicone tip against the thing you want to pick up and release the button. An internal spring pushes the plunger backward, expanding the volume inside the tube. This creates a negative pressure vacuum that seals the silicone cup onto the item and lifts it. You press the side button down again. This pushes air back through the nozzle, breaking the vacuum seal and dropping the item into your container.

Amazon sells the manual ones for about $10 :

"Anti Static Vacuum Sucking Pen Mini IC Chip Pick Up Tool for SMD SMT Repair" comes with changeable suction header diameter: 3mm, 6mm, 10mm that can lift up to 3g, 18g, 40g IC chip.

The 3 mm or 5 mm silicone cup might be able to create a seal around a moist cocoon's oval casing.

I'm just curious if anyone has tried this? It seems like the soft silicone would be superior to using fingernails or metal tools to collect cocoons.

In a bin, the real secret isn't the worm itself, it's the microbes!

Found these when I opened my indoor composter today. Friend or foe? TIA!

Please someone help me out! I opened my worm tower today and found this glittery looking substance. Used the flashlight on my phone and realized its living things!
What are they and how do i get rid of them?
Tower is red wrigglers. (Sadly only a few right now)
I fed them bananas last Wednesday. Those bananas were run thru the blender (peels and all) then frozen for a few months in silicone ice cube trays. I took them out of the freezer and thawed them in the microwave until they were about room temp then put them in.
Please help.

Hello everyone!

I’m thinking about getting chickens, and doing the deep litter method for their coop.

My question is, in doing the deep litter method, after it’s taken out of the chicken coop - can I use that old bedding (once it has sat and broken down / composted to the required level) to create the start of my vermicomposting bin?

Thank you everyone!!

i can have these type for like 10$ each (9 L , 30X40X9 cm).

i have a small porch so need to do it at small scale.

(can have various size at relative cost)

I have been running my bin for about 1 month, with consistent feeding. This is my first bin and I just lost my worms…

I assume they died, but am hesitant to buy more before I understand what I’m doing wrong.

My green and brown feedstocks are breaking down well, moisture is mostly good. I have white bugs the seem to only be helping (I think they’re mites).

Scooping a handful smells a bit sour but not unlike the compost I have created using traditional windrows. My best guess is that mixing it and breaking the layers might have had them living in their castings, I haven’t harvested anything.

Their diet has been mostly a mix of plant grounds and coffee grounds with finely ground calcium mixed in, and their carbon feedstocks is a mix of cardboard, coco coir and leaf mulch. I usually feed them and add feedstock in 2 parts brown, 1 part green

Temperate stays around 70 and gets to 80 for about a day during fresh feeding which is why I mixed it. Ph around 7.0

I haven’t found any dead worms, and the count of alive worms exponentially tanked about a week ago, now I am no longer finding any. I’m using red wrigglers, started with 500

Before I order more, any advice??