I am new to vermicomposting, just got my can o' worms system going about three months ago. All was well until 3 weeks ago when my bin got too wet and was totally overrun by mites.

Perfect storm of too many coffee filters and accidentally closing the tap on the leachate drain. Ugh! So the poor worms were getting baked from above and below.

I did everything --left the bin alone, stopped feeding, eventually put it in the sun for two afternoons to get rid of brown mites, changed out the bedding etc. I finally realized this week that I needed to clean out the bottom of the can o' worms' "main floor". The wet muck had dried and hardened in all the ventilation holes. gross!

The good news is balance appears to be restored. Bin is now dried out, the stuff in the bin looks and smells good, and the mite population is down to a reasonable level. The bad news is most of my worms died during this long process.

Is it ok for me to add a new population of worms at this

point?

thanks for any guidance! I learned a lot from this forum while dealing with the mite situation.

Sarah