Mite Questions

14 years ago

I have noticed my first mites, which started out when I couldn't figure out why my worms left small patches of my blended oatmeal/cornmeal mix on the top of my bedding. Well upon closer inspection, I saw they were those slow moving white mites that I have read about that don't cause much harm. But they deceived me and I thought that my worms had too much oatmeal fed to them. Now I am thinking that even the other white moldy stuff I am seeing on top is mite eggs or whatnot, I have read they look like mold and on top of your bedding.

How can I identify what this substance is? My worms destroy all the oatmeal I put on top and I am starting to think that the moldy stuff is not moldy oatmeal but those mite eggs that I read about. My worms love the oatmeal mix so much; they leave no time for mold to develop. How can I identify this moldy substance? Do I need a microscope, or is there another way?

Thanks

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Comments (6)

steamyb
14 years ago
Mites = Not Much Moisture.
Save yourself a lot of headache and just bury the food, whatever it is. The worms will find it and the other critters won't. KISS method works.
bower4311
Original Author
14 years ago
Thats odd, everything I have ever read said Mites are commonly associated with too much moisture. And I have never heard of anyone saying to bury grains, I've heard not to becuase it will heat up the bedding and kill your worms. One of the papers I have that I use for my worms from North Carolina State says too much water is a reason for a mite problem.
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steamyb
14 years ago
As you wish.
rom.calgary.ab
14 years ago
Pretty sure mites occur in a moist environment.

I'm with steamyb on burying. Depending on how large a surface area your bin has I think that burying in a corner would allow your worms to escape from any excess heat.

Do you only feed this oatmeal mix? I don't blend food because of the extra water you need to add in order to blend it up but a lot of people do. Maybe try blending it up dry and sprinkling it on top if your bin is too wet.
bower4311
Original Author
14 years ago
I do blend it up dry and sprinkle it on top, it does absorb some water into it as the worms eat it.
rom.calgary.ab
14 years ago
My understanding is that you can never get rid of those white mites completely. Keeping your bin from getting overly wet or burying the food can keep the population from exploding.

In the end they are part of the decomposition process. In my bin they tend to get to the fruit and vegetable scraps that I put on the surface before the worms do but they get the decomp process going and my worms finish it off. They also appear first on the dry shredded cardboard I put on top of everything as it starts to absorb moisture. After the mites start to go to work on the wet parts the worms start to move in. I think I've read that the mite's feces also add to the microbes working on compost as well.

Not scientific analysis, just my observation of what I believe to be happening. As steamyb says, keep it simple. Figure out what are good conditions, what are bad conditions and try to keep within that range but remember there is a wide margin for error. These critters all do well left alone in nature.