My Worms are drowning!

by Alec
(Australia, NSW)

bunch of worms

bunch of worms

So basically last summer I had worms that were dying, they survived and now that its the winter they've had heaps of babies.
They were dying because they were drowning. They would try to bury down deep because of the heat (my worm farm is three layers, the bottom layer is for worm pee) and go down into the worm pee and drown, I had also fed them too much and realized they were trying to get away from the white worms.

It got really chaotic and for about a month and a half, after having to pull so many dead ones out of the water, I gave up.
There was enough food to last them, and when I came back after a month and a bit, there was heaps of worms and they were really Happy!

Please help me with stopping them going into the worm pee tray during the summer!

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Mar 06, 2019
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starstarstarstarstar 		"Drowning" worms
by: Tom

I have two three tier wormfarms.

I have always left the drain taps permanently open so that most of the moisture drains away into a container.

So worms never drown except the odd one that ventures out through the tap (even then, they can survive a day or so and get poured out with the liquid to be scooped up and put back into the worm farm.

I have found, however, that they will thrive in soil that is constantly damp (even in plant pots!) so no real need to rescue them!

I did use open buckets but, after a praying mantis drowned in one - and I also have lizards I don't want to drown. I changed to a milk bottle with a funnel made from a plastic drinks bottle.

I can monitor the rate of "worm wee" by this method and regularly use the liquid on the garden.

The liquid can also be poured back into the worm farm to maintain moisture levels etc.

Very occasionally, the "worm wee" will stink! No worries, pour it back into the worm farm for them to recycle it again.

Worms are so good at getting rid of pathegens etc.

Nov 05, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		Re: my worms are drowning
by: Anonymous

Good to hear and I hope your worm composting project will run smoothly now!


Kind regards and God bless.

Stephan Kloppert
editor of www.worm-composting-help.com
Nov 01, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		Hey It's me Alec
by: Anonymous

Thanks for the feedback!

I've got plenty now and I placed a flyscreen material at the bottom!

Cheers.
Jul 18, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		Re: My worms are drowning
by: Stephan

Hi,

Great suggestions Margo :-) If it gets really hot on some summer days it is important that the worms have enough bedding or pH neutral mulch as you suggested that they can use to hide in to get away from the heated up food and bedding. Worm bedding works like an insulation material and helps the worms to survive very hot or very cold weather. You should definitely look as well into the overfeeding issue because it can quite often become an issue for the worms and might add to the bedding turning sour

Another option to keep your worms protected against extreme temperatures are easily build polystyrene boxes that you can place your worm bin into.

Have a look at the following articles for some more ideas to protect your worms against cold as well as hot weather conditions. The links are

https://www.worm-composting-help.com/Protecting-worms-in-summer.html

and

https://www.worm-composting-help.com/worm-farm-preparation-for-winter.html


I wish you both lots of success and happy worming :-)

kind regards

Stephan Kloppert

Author of "How to start a profitable worm business on a shoestring budget"

Editor of www.worm-composting-help.com
Jul 17, 2017
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starstarstarstarstar 		Re: My worms are drowning
by: margo

In response to your worms drowning I would suggest that you place your worm farm I'm the shade or build a roof over it and cover this with a thick layer of mulch to keep the worms cool. You can keep the mulch wet on really hot days which helps to the worms to stay cool.
You could also leave the tap in your bottom box open with a bucket underneath, so the worm juice doesn't build up too much for your worms to drown.
Happy farming 😀

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