"violated every cardinal rule for setting up a new bin" Haven't we all :-)

It can be saved but it will take time to built up your worm population. Until then you will need to add no food. Then very slowly begin to add only a little food. Add bedding each time.

For emergency help today: I would flip the bin over into another container. Add six inches of DRY shredded corrigated cardboard, egg carton, coffee tray type material to the bottom of the bin. Put the original material back on top of that. I would cover it over with a few more inches of dry shredded material. In a month things might be improved but the population will not be increased. At least worms will of stopped dying and the population stabalized.

Hey Haruko,

Thanks for your post, and fear not - it can be remedied. I would echo everything that equinoxequinox said, including this being something that almost all worm farmers go through.

I discovered just today, in fact, that one of my bins had a soggy, smelly bottom on one side. I dug out all the goop until I could see the bottom of the bin. Then I added several inches of dry bedding to the bottom, and then layered dry bedding with the goop as I added it back in. Several times I actually hand-mixed the bedding with the goop if it was particularly goopy or prone to make big clumps. I'm going to give it at least a week for the bedding to absorb the excess moisture and balance the whole thing out. Then I'll start adding small amounts of food mixed half-and-half with barely damp bedding. Even though I was worried some of my worms had died (though I really have no evidence of that), there were tons of cocoons in the goop, so I know the bin will recover.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

If you want to try an easy fix first, try sticking corrugated cardboard down the sides of your bin. This wicks up the moisture and creates new microbe homes/ worm food. If it doesn't work, then flip. If it does, you've saved some hassle.

What the other posters have said will work perfectly. Another idea would to mix in some dry bedding as you are doing it. By mixing the goop with the dry bedding you will add lots of air and that will help with the process of restoring the bin.

I don't think you can add to much dry bedding right now. Fill that bin with dry bedding to the max. Let it sit for at least a month... without food.

Add no more food than a couple of yoghurt containers worth after all the bedding is wet. Always add some dry bedding when feeding will help absorb extra moisture.

Moni

You might want to add some rolled up corrugated cardboard strips here and there, like a chimney, sort of. Once these rolls are damp, you can replace them w. fresh ones and rip the soggy ones to add to the bin.

When I did this: I dumped the nasty old worms and bedding atop some newspapers and picked out the survivors. I had some store-bought manure on hand. I put the store-bought manure in a clean container, added dry bedding, added some manure, moistened everything until damp, put the lid on it and left the poor things alone for a few weeks. They loved it and thrived. Then, when I went back to tending to them I did everything with "just a touch" giving them a few days to see how they react. Now, I have bunches of worms.

When all else fails just make the bedding as normal, add some manure and moisture and let them be.

Note: I'm referring to red wigglers worms, only.