hmm....if you buried the potato mash then its possible your bin heated up and they ran for cooler parts...the dead worms may be the ones who didnt run fast enough

If it's too wet, stir it up and add some dry newpaper and/or cardboard strips to dry it out. If it got too hot, the same thing could help. Other than the environment, the diet may be to blame. Overfeeding? Do you always process the food? (Excess liquid).

If it's a complete mass suicidal exit, you can extricate the living vermi and start a new bin. Don't forget the cocoons.

The remaining recourses, albeit drastic last resorts (these are for the worms, not you>: psychological intervention, exorcism, or euthanasia.

A possibility that might work for you, and give the remaining worms an honorable exit....a fishing trip.

Try the environmental fixes first.

Chuckiebtoo

Matt:

After my first post here a few minutes ago, I re-read you post on "food for worms". I think, based on your comment there that "processing the lettuce would make, like the potatoes, too wet", your prob may lie in the amount of moisture and food in the bin.

I still believe you need to dry it out and quit feeding them for awhile. Don't feed if food remains from the last feeding.

Chuckiebtoo

Matt, I admit I've not read through all of the posts (where do you folks find the time?!?) so please excuse me if I'm repeating information or lack some insight into your system.

I get the sense that yours is a new bin. If that is correct, than know that it is not at all uncommon for worms to try and leave a newly established system. Though your bin may be beautifully set up, it is an environment radically different from that to which the worms were accustomed, and many will go in search of the familiar. This "settling in trauma" can be ameliorated by including finished compost from your backyard compost pile in the worm bin bedding, as this compost tends to have a mature biological community not generally found in a new bin filled only with "fresh" bedding and feedstock. As your bin is already set up, you can simply spread a one inch layer or so of compost over the bedding surface to help the worms better recognize the bin as home.

As I do not know the size of your bin or the biomass of worms with which you began I am again guessing, but if you have a 16 to 18 gallon bin or larger, then two pureed potatoes and a chopped up apple are nowhere near sufficient mass of feedstock to jumpstart the necessary biological community! The worms in your bin rely on microscopic bacteria and fungi not only to fragment organic materials so they can be ingested, but these microscopic organisms are the main source of nutrient in the worm diet. Bedding materials are generally comprised of organic matter high in carbon, but with little associated nitrogen, and microorganisms need both carbon and nitrogen in order to maximize their populations. The materials we choose as feedstocks are generally high in N relative to the bedding, and the combination of the high C bedding and high N feedstock enables the microbial community that supports the worms to flourish. If insufficient feedstock is being added the necessary microbial community will be stunted, making for hungry worms.

While I realize one reads on the internet a lot of caution against overfeeding a worm bin, that caution is too often overstated or poorly balanced with cautions against under-feeding, which is equally problematic, especially in newly established systems. I'd lay odds that were you to get some feedstock into that bin you'd quickly find that your worms settle down and get to business.

Consider this; go to yoru coffee maker and pull out that filter full of used grounds that's been sitting there since you made your last cup, and go to the crisper in your refrigerator and find that old bag of lettuce, that last stalk of limp celery and that wrinkled old bell pepper that never got used and ended up hidden way in the back. Open up one or two of the plastic storage containers that got pushed behind the milk jug and have developed a bit of mold, mix all of these spoiled foods together and chop them up a bit; do not puree them in your blender or food processor, just chop them coursely. If they seem a bit wet, mix them with a bit of dry bedding or, better yet, some compost from your backyard pile, just to absorb any excess moisture. Now bury this mixture of material just below the surface of the bedding in your bin.

Keep an eye on this layer of feedstock. As soon as worms become active in it, bury another pocket of feedstock comprised, preferably, of materials that are already a bit moldy, wrinkled or mushy. These feedstocks have already begun to rot, thus they carry a biological community greater than that of "fresher" material and are, thus, more readily available and nutritious from the worm point of view. Keep a daily eye on this new feedstock addition, and when worms become active in it, add another. Do not wait until the worms have completely finished off each of these feedstock additions, but add another as soon as worms become active in them. This ensures an ongoing flow of energy into the system that maintains a rich microbial community sufficient to maximize worm activity.

Keep in mind, too, that even if the bin has available feedstock, for the first few weeks after a bin is newly established a few worms will continue to flee the bin and end up dried on the floor. This is normal, not indicative of a problem, and generally stops after just a few weeks.

Does this make sense?

KellyS

I think I LOVE Kelly S. Great read!

I checked in the bin just right now and I saw that all the worms are close to the surface. I dug down a little and there was a lot of slug looking stuff. It was really wet! but most of the top of the bin was completly dry. I removed it and I forgot that worms breath through thier skin, so the potatoes that i added were really really wet. It was like soup. Theres also a lot more escaped worms that i found dead. I,ve had my bin for a month now and I havent had a problem until now.

If the moisture level in your bin is "soupy" then you have a significant moisture problem, as Chuckie earlier suggested! Consider mixing some bulky, dry material (a mixture of chopped straw, brown leaves and shredded paper is excellent in this application) into those wet areas until the moisture level feels damp, but not wringing wet.

It is likely the low oxygen level resulting from saturated bin conditions that is causing your loss of worms. You need to add dry, structure-forming materials to absorb that water and increase airflow into the system.

KellyS

Matt - what is the situation now - are things improving?
If things are still looking bad, you might consider fresh bedding material and a rescue?

There all gone... :(
I think it went wrong when i started processing the food. It made it the food way to soupy and I guess it Killed the worms.

Matt - I'm sorry to hear that. Processing some foods can make them very soupy and adding too much of it could take the moisture level in the bedding too high. I usually mix such foods with corn meal, dried bread crumbs, alfalfa pellets, ground cereal, etc. to turn the slurry into a gruel like mix.

Were there any drain holes in the bin?

Was this your only bin? If so, will you try again?

Yeah it was my only bin and i had a lot of drain holes in to bottom. It was a rubbermaid bin. I will try again and i probably will just end up chopping food up by hand if its too big. I only had my bin for about 5 weeks. Well i guess you can't expect to get it right the first try so I'll buy more worms. Is worm woman the best place to buy them? and should i completly start my bin over. like dump the bedding and add new bedding?

Matt man...I would not dump your bin. You may have lost a good deal of your adult worms, but there are lots of other parts of the microherd still at work in your bin and probably cocoons and baby worms. Just start from where you are and dry things up by adding new dry bedding. Get the bin set up and then add your new worms. Your new bin will start up much faster than starting from scratch. I am sure we all have our stories from mild disasters to major vermicide. Just keep on observing, zig and zag and let the worms lead the way.