Wet Bin Delimma

I recently had a fellow wormer write me asking how to take care of a wet bin problem.

I have an excellent series of two videos that shows how I handle rejuvenating a bin that had a soggy tray and sludge in the bottom collection tray. You can watch it on my YouTube channel here.

This wormer had added food waste to the bin that was frozen, likely overdoing things. If you are using frozen food waste I wouldn't put the food waste into the bin frozen unless you have a heat problem. Otherwise, let the food waste thaw and drain before adding to the bin.

Otherwise, here is my answer to her questions:

• First make sure you solve the reason why you're bin is too wet...
  


• Do you have adequate drainage in the bottom of the bin?
  


• Is your bin elevated so it does not sit in the moisture and air can circulate to the drainage holes in the bottom of the bin?
  


• Are you over feeding/over watering?
  


• Have you had a die off of worm population?
  

Make sure you answer each of these questions adequately.

If you have adequate drainage in the bottom of the bin and you have identified why you have a moisture problem I would proceed to remove excess moisture by placing DRY newspaper strips in the bottom of the bin, stir the bottom portion (where it is the wettest to incorporate air into the bedding and add a well moisten layer of fresh bedding to the top of the bin if needed for the worms to move up into.

How does things smell? If it stinks you might want to consider getting the worms out and getting rid of the toxic mess at the bottom of the bin. The bad bacteria will kill your worms if you don't get things back into balance.

Always follow your nose and the condition of the worms when trying to decide if you have a problem in your worm bin.

Happy worming :)

Christy
VermiCulture Northwest