You might be adding too much "food" for them. I found when I started with worms, they tended to eat less than the seller said they would. In those words, less is more. Lots of brown stuff, paper, dried leaves, cardboard, so on. Less of the green stuff, fruits and veggies with lots of moisture.

Is there a funky smell? How many trays are you using in the 360?

Too much food is too much food. You need to decide how to process the excess food. There are several options: start another worm bin, use bokashi/traditional composting, etc.

For me, too wet means too much food and not enough bedding. More bedding especially. A thick layer of bedding on top will also help deal with fruit fly issues. Best solution is to add a second bin if you have space.
As for coffee grounds, my own view is that even a pound a week (assuming no filters) could just be sprinkled in any yard. Composting is nice but coffee grounds if spread out won't cause any issues and they'll compost fine on the ground anyway, and won't really smell or cause other issues. From my own experience espresso coffee grounds are not even noticeable after a short while, certainly after the first rain - they just become part of the soil. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Depends on why you're doing composting: if you're doing it to reduce waste, prioritize composting the waste that is bulky, smelly and causes an issue. Some people look for coffee grounds to feed the worms or for even more compost or whatever. If you have too much food for them, do the opposite - there are lots of ways to dispose of part of the food, some might just dig a hole or trench and bury any excess, or compost outside, or one of many other options.

This post was edited by armoured on Sun, Sep 8, 13 at 6:47

There's no doubt, worms LOVE melon, especially watermelon. However watermelon drenches my bins if I feed it back-to-back, which I started to do this summer but stopped once I noticed the same problem you're encountering.

Just back off the watermelon and feed something less moist until the moisture level returns to normal.

Adding another bin would be a good idea. However, I don't know if you're willing to buy another 360. Maybe use this opportunity to start a new, cheaper, homemade, different kind of bin and start experimenting with different bedding, feedings, etc.

I read (and I don't know how much truth it holds) that worms will eat their weight daily. So, 1 pound of worms = 1 pound of waste per day. It's WAY easier than you think to get 1 pound of watermelon rinds!

That being said, the worms reproduce over time, 1 pound turns into more, etc. and I'm not sure what the reproduction rate is to factor that in. I'm having some pretty substantial worm bin issues myself right now so I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination! Good luck!

It is said that worms eat their own weight per day under "ideal" conditions. I believe that they may eat half their weight daily in an established and well managed home bin. They seem to eat really slow the first month or so in a new bin.

I would suggest starting another bin. Maybe try a simple DIY plastic tote bin. Also, add a layer of bedding over the food after each feeding. I prefer cardboard, and so do my worms!

Good luck, Pete

If you give a worm a watermellon...

I find it hard to believe the 360 worm bin is the most well engineered bin around if the instructions that come with it appear to be written by somebody who has never even seen a worm, never mind ever vermicomposted. At least it appears that way.

I do not have one nor do I understand how they work. However let us not let that stop me from providing the instructions this product should have included with every $ale. If it were not for other posters letting 360 worm bin owners know how to use the product there would surely be so many negative writeups about the product all over the web nobody would purchase them.

This websites readers and answerers eyes nodoubt glaze over when yet another worm bin 360 owner writes a nearly identical wet drainage post.

The bottom tier and possibly the bottom of the bin should contain dry bedding. This will serve many purposes. First it will collect and make good use of any drainage. Second it will prewet and preinnoculate the bedding with weebeaties. Third it will stop worms from the help I am drowning and can't get up situation. I do not think that actually is what happens but it seems that way. 4th it gives damp material for worms to hang out in for the worms that like that sort of thing. 5th as the bedding gets wet put it into your working bin. 6th the new empty bottom tier and lower area are now free for addition of new bedding. This process encourages vermicomposters to add bedding and not skip this step thus encouraging bad things to happen.

The trays can be set a bit off from each other to get some air into the bin. How does air get into the bin? The cover can be left off and the drain left open.

For some reason owners of worm bin 360s instructuions seem to not provide the information that bedding is not just a one time thing. Or just a tiny bit thing. Bedding should be the framework upon which the work of vermicompost happens. It is the surface area the bacteria which feed the worms live on. It provides structure which in turn provides tunnels for air to get into the center of the working surfaces.

The guy who invented the worm bin 360 should get a tattoo that says as much.

This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Sat, Sep 14, 13 at 19:21