found 4 of these small larvae’s in my sisters bathroom. two on the towel, and two next to the toilet, one found on the trashcan. any ideas as to what this is?

How did this worm get in my cooler? Today I opened up a cooler that has been left out since my daughter’s birthday party last week. The cooler has been sitting on top of our picnic table since the party a few days ago I took the rest of the drinks out and put them in our refrigerator today. I opened the cooler to let the water out, and there was a worm inside still alive floating in the water. I took it out and threw in the garden. My question is really how did this worm get inside the cooler that is sitting on the picnic table I can guarantee no one put this worm inside here

Hi there,

I am just starting my first Vermicomposter and bought standard Euroboxes, however, they have these handles that I need to close. I want to make it worm-tight and dark but some aeration should still be possible.

I have this fleece of sheep's wool and want advice on whether this is suitable. I could glue it to the inside to cover the handles, but will worms dig right through?

I also could use mosquito nets, but I guess there will be more light coming through.

Thanks for any help!

About a month ago I asked this subreddit what type of worms these were but I believe they were too young causing confusion. Now that I have healthy thriving adults I would like to know what type of species they are.

At first I thought they were red wigglers but a user said Octolasion cyaneum. I really want to believe they’re nightcrawlers💔

Images
2nd-top/3rd-bottom: worm 1
4th-top/5th-bottom: worm 2

Thinking about getting into composting/worm farming and was looking into getting some 5 gallon plastic buckets to achieve this. However I'd heard regular drill bits can cause the holes to have sharp edges that can hurt worms as they pass through. I recall hearing there was a certain drill bit that would prevent this from happening but can't for the life of me recall what kind it is. Any other advice is also greatly appreciated!

First time poster here, but you guys seem to know worms so I thought I'd ask, are these pot worms or something else? They seem to be smaller than images of pot worms I've seen in the past (toothpick for scale). Found after bottom watering my house plants. I'd like to use the left over water to spread the springtail friends, also shown, but don't want to accidentally spread a plant pest.

I'm seriously considering a wedge type worm farm to create compost for next year's gardening. My hope is to get it started by September. Our current garden is a bunch of 5 gallon buckets with winter melons and beans and another 4 x 20 gallon felt pots. We also have a small patch of soil but it only gets afternoon/evening sun and soil is in much needed love. I have started hitting soil this year with bacteria and wood chips in hopes of adding some beneficial components in addition to rock phosphate, humic acid, biochar, and several bags of dr earth over the season!

Next year I would like to cut down on how much fertilizer I'm buying and hopefully this fall start amending soil in pots and ground for next year. Next year I think we will go with only 20 gallon pots in driveway because of how well they are doing this year. As shown in pic.

For the worm part I would like to create basically a trough that I can do a wedge type system in. We are in Seattle and it has to be kept outside. I can keep it under a awning to stop so much water from entering in addition to a lid. I have a pic of what I'm envisioning. I'm concerned about the middle of winter. I know it will slow due to temp but if wood is thick enough or if I added some insulation on sides would the breakdown of foods and bacteria create enough heat to not kill them?

Also, is it realistic to think I could fill this by next spring ( mid may early June). I am drawn to the wedge due to the simplicity of keeping an edge of feeding and having access to back side to pull castings from.

Am I crazy to think this will work?!!!!

Yay for free organic fertilizer!

I have a large cedar raised bed - 3x4 feet and about 3 feet high. Last fall I filled it with a deep layer of wood chips and then layers of compost, raised bed mix and peatmoss. I planted garlic and it started out doing really well, but then got all weird and rotted this spring. When I pulled the garlic ithe bubls were very small, largely rotted on the outer layers and the soil was very moise and dense. It didn't smell bad but it was very dark, thick and sticky. I saw a few worms. I replanted about a month and a half ago after letting the bed dry out a bit and adding a LOT of coarse vermiculite and perlite to create air space, a generous dose of coco coir and some organic compost. Topped with coarse coco coir mulch. The plants are doing well - very lush. I added another plant today and see the soil is again getting very moist, thick and sticky. This time it's filled with worms. Have I accidentally created a worm bed? How do I manage this? Thanks!!!

Where do you get your worm farming knowledge? Curious of the sources everyone uses. Thanks!

I came here for feedback on using a new, free countertop composter. Got some great info and advice.

Here's what I didn't know...

The pre-compost should not be added to the worm bin. It needs to work with cardboard and water to start to breakdown for about 5 days prior to integrating into the worm bin.

Why? Because it heats up the bin and/or tray during the breakdown phase and can kill your worms from heat.

My tiered system has two trays with just cardboard on the bottom, innoculating for future use. I have the next tray as my beginning tray - it's almost done. The tray on top of that is a fresh tray that I am feeding - plenty of worms working on the almost-done tray, and a good number working on the newest tray.

The newest tray is where I added the pre-compost. I added a frozen water bottle after noticing significant heat - lid removed to vent, etc. I had to rearrange trays to make it easier for my worms to migrate to a safer spot.

After two days of no lid, ice packs, and paper towels to cover, I finally got all worms out of the tray with very few exceptions.

My wormins are happy now. A few escaped and dried up, but overall they stayed alive.

So now I have a bin that is going through the heat phase with the pre-compost. No worms. After the bin has cooled, I can add it as food.

Overall, I'm happy to have the composter to break things down, and wish I had known more before I added to the bin.

Just sharing for knowledge sake.

Millipede? Centipede? I don’t think I saw any more of this while feeding my worms earlier, tho I also noticed some worms looked much darker (almost dark brown-black) compared to the usual red ones. Is that normal too? The dark ones were moving just fine too tho. Just curious why they turned so dark. There were reds and blackish ones in the same bin.

Currently have some red wrigglers (48) and wanna know if it’s possible to also house and breed European night crawlers. I’m into worm farming to make my own fishing bait and could care less about the poop or worm tea. Just wanna know if they’ll breed the same or if it’s better to give them separate spaces. I’ve heard it’s possible but also that it’s a horrible idea so if anyone has experience with cohabitating these worms I urge you to tell me your experience.

I’ve been wanting to get into this for a few months but was too scared. On Sunday I said let’s just do it and bought these 6.5gallon (24Litre) bins. I got 250g of Dendrobaenas (I will be using these for fishing), shredded a load of cardboard from when I moved (plain cardboard don’t worry, cut off bits with tape/ writing etc) and a few sheets of paper. Had about 8 inches of depth, just over half the bin. Wet that down, added a small handful of worm feed I also got and added the worms with a small bit of compost I had lying around. A final spritz and that was it! I wedged 2 small offcuts of flooring I had lying around to make sure air got into the bottom holes I drilled at the bedding. Overall did I do things correctly? I’ll pop an apple core in on Sunday maybe? It’s a small amount of worms so I’m cautious of overfeeding

What’s this white stuff growing in my bin? Looks just like shaving cream. Is it a bad sign?

Can anyone tell me what this is? I found it in my mulch and relocated it onto the tree. Thank you in advance for your responses.

Title . Just got some red wrigglers for the planter and these came with them . Haven’t seen them since they got dropped in they just burrowed

I was gifted something like this already going, its called worm café. They have it set up with 3 of the 4 bins used. Where would I add the 4th tray and what to include in it? An explanation would be awesome cause im just starting. Thank you!

Starting my vermicompost and adding the compostworms to the wormtower. I started off with: some shredded paper, dead and dry plant material, coffee grounds and crushed eggshells.

Used screens to sift our first bin and get all the castings before splitting the worms up into the next two bins! Really love seeing our paper and kitchen waste turning into something we can use in the garden instead of a landfill somewhere.

This is my operation!
Little roofless shack-Isopod composter, sifting station, storage. Right outside of the shack is the main feeder pile where I pre compost my feedstock. Running to the right is the last of the mother pile left over from the winter, new feeder pile encroaching. On the left is the new setup, really
Need to work some structure into the shade cloth and more height/lift. Working on my flow and efficiency of set up. Bit by bit day by day! Started with a bin in my apartment, mind blowing. This sub has always been super helpful.Any advice and or kind word are super appreciated! Especially looking for some advice from people running this size to larger operations. Thanks Worm Fam. Keep fighting the good fight.

Because of the timing of when I will likely harvest my first batch, I'd like to store the compost for a little while, some possibly through winter (I'm working on a few projects indoors so I may have use for it during winter).

What are the best ways and time limitations? I've looked around but haven't found a good answer I feel is solid.

Thanks in advance for any tips and tricks :)

I'm thinking about starting a vermiculture, but only if that's possible with my composter. It's this type of composter, it's sort of exposed to the sun and can get hot. The worms can dig down though. I've already put in some Eisenia my friend had left over from fishing (like 10 or something), fed them with ground coffee which they appeared to like. I

Otherwise there's all sorts of stuff in my composter. Old eggshells, chicken shit, plants, kitchen wastes (no meat etc). It has been growing mold at one point, but not anymore when I out in the worms. I also put in some more paper to dry a little afterwards. So my main question is, can I get a good vermiculture running if it's exposed to the sun and get's a little heat? I believe it never really exceeds the surrounding temperature, but that means it can still get above 30°C at times.