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seamommy

Are they Blind?

seamommy
15 years ago

Why are my worms going down through the flo-thru bins instead of up? The good smelling rotten food is in the upper tray, yet they seem to like the lower, darker, worm-poopier bin that is supposed to be the catch-tray for excess moisture, most of all. Anybody have any thoughts? Is it a problem? I've just been gathering them up and putting them into the upper bin. Is my rotten food not rotten enough? Is there something rottener I need to add? Cheryl

Comments (6)

  • rj_hythloday
    15 years ago

    Mine did the same thing, My home made flow through had 3 levels, the bottom one being screened w/ another bin beneath it w/ no holes. I put some worms in each level and found them all in the bottom one, a few had gotten past the screen so I added some paper so they wouldn't drown down there. I now have just 2 bins, the catcher, and the bottom. I buried the rest of the bedding/food waste in a garden trench and covered, since it was really stinking.

    BTW mine are reds.

    Here is a link that might be useful: My Blog

  • squeeze
    15 years ago

    yes in fact, they are blind, no eyes - except for some photoreceptors that help them avoid light, which can be deadly for them .... they may be avoiding light by going down, or they may be after a moister environment, as the oxygen in water is what lets them breath thru their skins, and if your ambient humidity is very low this time of year it may be drying the top layers too much

    also, the "poopier" parts actually supply them with lots of food, as what they eat is the decomposer bacteria, which may not be present in quantity in fresher food waste, especially if it's a mass that has gone anaerobic - which is what "rotten" food will do, what you want is aerobicly decomposing material, which shouldn't actually smell .... and they don't have noses either, just some chemoreceptors to detect certain chemicals :)

    Bill

  • seamommy
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks Bill, I was really being kind of facetious about them being blind. I should have called them directionaly challenged. Still, I was hoping that they would migrate from the lower tray where they had finished off the bedding and the food, to the tray where there was fresh moist bedding and more food. I guess they didn't read the instructions that came with the bins. I do refresh the bedding in the upper bin with mist and I keep it well covered to prevent light from scaring them away. I have designed a black fabric 'shroud' to cover the top tray since the plastic lid has warped slightly and allows light in around the edges.

    The great thing about the flow-through bins is that with nice fluffy bedding and good vermicompost near the bottom that when I mist or water the top tray, excess moisture comes out the spigot at the bottom and the tea is wonderful for the house plants. My orchids, Christmas cacti and Boston ferns are going crazy. Cheryl

  • robmurphy
    15 years ago

    Maybe you don't have enough material in the lower tray to raise them up high enough to access the upper tray? Just a thought.

    rob

  • evoluke
    15 years ago

    cheryl i've had a similar problem, although my issue is that most of the worms seem comfortable in the first tray. they feed off the second and then go back to the first. the collector tray certainly has alot of worms and castings in it and for a while i was moving them all but now i figure if they are happy leave them. i have now managed to start to get the worms to migrate to my second level and all i did was add a heap of shredded newspaper. i have no idea why the worms have now decided this is what they wanted but at least they are moving.

  • rockydoc
    14 years ago

    The stacked tray worm bins described in this thread are NOT flow through worm bins. With a flow through you feed it at the top and harvest at the bottom, a continuous flow. See a flow through at the following:

    http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum/topics/my-new-flow-through-bin-with?id=2094123%3ATopic%3A26358&page=3#comments

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