I failed miserably with my worms, why?

17 years ago

I got one pound of worms shipped to me on Wednesday. I tore newspaper into strips, moistened it and sprinkled with with fresh coffee grounds. I put it inside an old cooler in layer about 8 inches thick. I carefully put the worms inside, then put a piece of newspaper over top of the shredded newspaper, and left the cooler open a crack to let air in. I left it on my back porch overnight since it was dark. The low temp was 57F.

The next morning the worms were spread all over my porch in various stages of death. I found a few piles huddled under some shoes.

I picked up the piles and transferred them to a rubbermaid bin. I put the same mixture into the bin and drilled multiple small holes in the top and on the sides. I made sure the top was securely fastened. The next AM, I found pretty much the remainder of the worms all over my porch again, mostly dead.

What did I do wrong?

Why did they all crawl out?

I dont know how to convince DH that they can go into the basement when it gets cold after having them commit hari kari all over our porch.

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Comments (5)

onefatgerman
17 years ago
I was extremely lucky with my first bin. I've you have some food in the bin for a couple days before adding worms so it can break down a bit. I've alse read that when you first add the worms, put a light over the bin for the first few nights to keep them in their new home and to get used to it. I did neither but like I said extremely likely. Hope those tips help for the next venture. BTW I use a 'Worm Factory' don't know if that helped with my success or not, but it is not an inexpensive worm bin.
takadi
17 years ago
Have you ever heard of the LED light trick? You attach an LED light to the top of the lid and light it up at night. It prevents the worms from crawling out of the bin
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computergardener
17 years ago
I would agree with the first poster, I think you need to add food for a few days before hand so they have something ready to eat. Also, although worms crawl how fill was your bin? Maybe just filling it half full will help.

Please try again, I kill my first batch over a six month period but my second batch is doing great.

Live and learn...
veracan
17 years ago
Losing a few is normal. They do need food. I have never tried to use anything but a worm farm. I also do not bring it inside. Success will come with time. Plenty of food for the worms should help. I have never tried the light trick. Check out the link below for more info on worm farming.

Here is a link that might be useful: worm composting
lkittle
17 years ago
Hi suwannee75; You did nothing wrong!

The reason the worms started the crawling is all the changes to them in preping to ship, shipping and fianally being released into a new environment. This is a normal response for the worms to do. Worms don't like vibrations and being taken out of the old bins with its environment as it was from birth. No they don't have much of a brain but they do have an environmental sensitivity quark that gets them to crawling when big changes happen. So get the bin ready in a place you can live with put a few (1/2 cup) of veggie scraps in the bin. I'd use the rubbermaid one. Don't clean it put any live worms left in it and order more. By the time the new order gets to you the bin will have a working microb population and the worms will start feeding. leave a small light over the bin for 2-3 days and the worms will aclimate into your bin. the worms will crawl up the sides and on the inside of the top if there is condensation on them. They like the air in that water. but when they get hungary they will go back down to eat.