I have had the same problem recently, so I too dove into some forums for help. I have been assured that there is nothing harmful about the mites (I had red and white), just a small nuisance within my little controlled ecosystem. I think my bin got a bit wet from some food I added which sped the reproductive cycle of the little beasties.

I took a slice of plain old white bread and placed it under the cardboard at the top of my bin. Within a couple of days the mites gathered to the bread. I scooped the slice of bread and tossed it in my outdoor compost bin.

After doing this in a couple of cycles, the number of mites went way down. I still see a few, but the worm-bin coup has been squashed for now. Hope this helps

I dont have white bread. I have wheat bread. will that work as well??

Thanks
Tammy

Tammy,

If you are looking to go hunting for mites I have heard that melon rind is a great bait. You can use the same piece for a few days cause it can be rinsed off.

I should admit that I do not usually advise people go "mite hunting". Most established worm bins have some red or white mites in them. If you are adding something they like IE bread or melon then you are just going to encourage the continued growth of the population. Even if you can "catch" and remove 20-30% of the total population there is still ample opportunity for breeding and the problem will continue.

I know it feels better to be removing the problem but if you figure out what caused the mite population to grow out of control and remove that you will have better long term results.

How long have you had the bin and how many worms do you have? You do not need to find very much in the beginning and any extra food put in the bin ends up a feast for the mites (and others). If the bin has an abundance of organic matter then you can try to remove the parts the worms have not started on (probably where the mites are working away) and then add lots of cardboard or paper bedding. The worms can survive on the bedding for weeks but the mites will not approve. If your bin is on the wet side you can fluff it up and add the paper dry. If your bin is damp like a wet sponge then you might want to presoak the bedding in water for 12-24 hours as I find it helps the paper hold water better and breaks down faster.

I like to keep a 3lbs folgers tub next to my bin with my presoaked bedding. Whenever I add food I just pull off a ball and squeeze as much water out as I can back into the tub and then fluff the paper up and spread it over the feeding location.

I wish you luck and please let us know how it goes.

I had that problem too! And back then, I didn't know what those little brownish-red dots were.

My bin is a tote so I just rinsed the cover in the yard and that seemed to have disseminated the mite population. That was almost a year ago. Oh, and I left the cover off for the rest of the day.

Hope they don't come back because I talked about them!

Mites come and go. Unless they are getting out of your bin, which is unlikely, forget about them. You can kind of use them as an indicator of how moist your bin is, but it ends up being something to worry and fuss over.