Worm Bin Troubleshooting

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Worm Bin Troubleshooting

Symptom:
Smells like rotten eggs or garbage

Cause:
Too wet
Meat, fish, dairy or pet waste in bin
Food scraps not covered

Solution:
Mix in shredding computer paper, dry leaves, peat moss or sawdust. Keep food scraps and pet waste out. Cover food with bedding when added.

Symptom:
Bedding is dry, few worms

Cause:
Not enough water

Solution:
Mix and moisten bedding, cover with plastic or moistened cardboard. Move bin out of sun.

Symptom:
Food scraps building up

Cause:
Too much food
Bin too cold or too hot

Solution:
Limit food scraps. Add more worms. Build another bin. Move bin to cool basement or garage. Keep bin filled with bedding.

Symptom:
Maggots in bin

Cause:
Meat, dairy or other animal products

Solution:
Keep animal products out of the bin. Cover bedding with cardboard or plastic.

Symptom:
Fruit flies swarm out when bin opened

Cause:
Exposed food scraps

Solution:
Always cover food scraps with bedding. If you still have fruit flies, add an inch of sawdust or peat moss to top of the bedding, or cover bedding with cardboard or plastic.

Symptom:
Worms crawling up sides of bin

Cause:
Too much food, bedding too wet or fully decomposed

Solution:
Limit food scraps or build another bin. Add dry bedding.

 

 
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Last modified: 11/09/09