My brand new worms...they've disappeared, disintegrated and

13 years ago

I have no idea why! I noticed that some of worms are dead, they look like they're disintegrating, and I have no idea why. Everything seems normal, not too wet, not too dry. I put brand new worms in my brand spanking new composter over a month ago. I'd been monitoring things, when it was too wet, I made sure to correct it. Not too dry either, and I had added a new level to the composter with leaves, old tea bags, etc.

Temperature isn't a problem, as they're in my kitchen.

There are very few worms around now, I had noticed that a lot of them seemed to go down to the lowest level where the liquid collects and a bunch of them are dead. I have noticed a HUGE amount of white pot worms and tons of little spider mite things all in the bin. There are some worms, but not many at all, as I bought 1500 of 'em!

The disintegrating worm almost look like they have 'segments' on their little bodies, same with the dead ones. They aren't happy worms, they're dead worms! Any idea what happened? I put no toxic stuff in there, no chlornated water, no pesticides. I feel terrible about the poor little worms, I always treated outside worms with respect. I feel like a killer!

There are some in the upper tray, but not very many at all. Did they commit mass suicide?

Did I not put enough newspaper at the bottom of the first starting tray? They seemed to like to go there, which I thought would point to not enough water, but there was actually water in the collection tray several times which I drained (and poor water logged worms came out too). But, the bedding is not sopping wet.

Any help is appreciated, as I guess I'm going to have to order more. I'd rather not become a serial worm killer.

Featured Answer

plumiebear

13 years ago

Condolences. Don't order more worms until you figure out what went wrong. Besides, marauder & steamyb are correct. There are almost definitely cocoons that will hatch and repopulate your bin.

It sounds like you have a stackable worm bin (Worm Factory, Gusanito, etc.). Can you tell us how you set it up, what you fed, how often and how much? It usually takes something like 3 months before you add another tray on such systems. It sounds like you may have been feeding too much.

Andrew

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Comments (8)

marauder01
13 years ago
Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your losses. I once killed about 2 pounds on a hot day. Not pretty.

I've seen the main cause of death for a new worm setup seems to be overfeeding. You may not be doing this, but for 1000-1550 in the first month I would have fed maybe once and only about a cup full of kitchen scraps, maybe 2 tops.

One other thing I read somewhere "The Burrow" I think, was that worms don't really enjoy the dramatic change in habitat when moved from one system (type of bedding, feed etc.) to another. When I started, I saw similar kind of thing as you. When the first generation seemed to be expiring, the new ones started to thrive. And as for the bottom liquid area, I had the same thing happen so I packed it full of dry shredded newspaper and voila, they were all happy down the bottom too. I would shovel this mixture once a month back onto the top, and put in new newspaper.

Been using bread crusts? I have found that pot wroms seem to appear when I use too many bread crusts. They seem to love the sugary bread, so now I put the crusts in my compost bin, and only occaisionally into the worm factory or totes.

Stick with the first batch for a few months, and see what happens. You might get a nice surprise in about 8 weeks (ie cocoons start to hatch).

Remember, underfeed, not over feed. It's critical.

I started with 3 lbs about 2.5 years ago (paid almost $100), and now estimate I have 35 lbs in 10 totes and one worm factory, which I give away free to people who are interested.

Good luck
steamyb
13 years ago
Search 'string of pearls' and 'Protein poisoning'- pictures should look like your dead and dying worms.
Cause- possible build up of gas in the worms gut from over feeding or from feeding the wrong stuff (anything that can ferment). Sorry for your loss, but there is a learning curve that most books don't cover. Don't give up, because there are probably cocoons in the habitat that will hatch out and the babies will be OK.
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maryld_gardener
13 years ago
I sell my extra worms and I think that the most common mistake made is not getting enough worms for the amount of food scraps they produce. Check out Ph, temperature, moisture levels,of the bins and make sure there's some grit. I use a handful of ground limestone every few weeks.
I also think it's best to buy worms that have been raised in bins of moist shredded paper and fed food scraps. Those worms don't have to adjust because those are the conditions they are acclimated to. Once you figure out what happened try to find some worms locally.
Good luck
randomz
13 years ago
Hi Mersiepoo, what you have described is classic overfeeding causing the bin to be a bit acidic.

As Maryld mentioned, add some lime and and then water it through.

Good luck!
Norma Miller
8 years ago
I just started a worm bed and put some in the bin yesterday but today I couldn't find any of them don't think they could have gotten out had a lid on the container and it has holes in it what am I doing wrong? I have top soil (sandy) some potting soil and paper Please I need help
Venkataramanan Nagarajan
2 years ago
Do you have ventilation in the bin. 1000 worms need plenty of air.
hummersteve
2 years ago
Yes , the #1 mistake by newbie worm composters is having too much food in the bin for the amount of worms contained therein , the bin becomes anaerobic and creates a death sentence for the bin. First the bin should be a nice mix of peat or coco coir, plus some shredded newsprint or shredded corrugated cardboard. The feeding process is another complex story. I save food scraps from the kitchen,, fruit peelings, plus other scraps, but no meat or oily food should be added. I save these foods in zip lock bags until needed. Then after thawing I run thru a food processor. My weapon of choice for this is the hamilton beach big mouth juicer which is 800 watts strong . If you are running chopped up banana peels thru that power is needed. Been using for yrs still going strong. Although on occasion you may need to stop the machine clear material in cover of machine. Always keep in mind the smaller the food material is the quicker the bacteria goes to work on the food so worms can use it. When I collect the food pulp if it is too dry I will add juice back into the mix, then I put into large coffee cans with lids for storage till needed. The mix will be sort of a bokashi mix.