The best composting worms are the red wigglers.

Thanks Sam! Guessing that they are red? If so, haven't seem them or is there some way to add them? Is there such a thing as a bad little worm? I definitely don't want to be raising flies though!

Could you take a pic? There are all sort of crawly things in compost. What do you have in there that might attract flies? Is your vegetable matter under soil or leaves? There are different worms depending on where you live..... all sorts of things digest rotting vegetable/leaf matter, but I'm curious what you have there! : )

Need photos!! As noted above, all manner of creatures can live in compost, most good some not so desired. Worms are pretty distinctive - segmented bodies and no legs and usually a pinkish, brown color and will be in the upper layer of the compost only. Solider fly larvae is also very common in compost but they do look like maggots.

Thanks all, will try to figure out my new camera tonight!

Basically, I have a big bucket of old alfalfa cubes. The last time I had some, I put them in an empty flower bed. They got dusty and moldy but then I started soaking it every few days and turning it over. Then it turned into a bed of long worms and compost. Now I have tons of buds on the new roses planted there right now so assuming that all is well.

But since this is a big plastic bucket in the garage, I was curious about what worms would magically appear and assumed that all would be good. Until DH burst my bubble, LOL!

I don't see any flies around the bucket in particular but the flies are definitely out and about since it's been so warm.

I saw uncle Jim's worm farm on the internet. You can buy red wigglers for 20 bucks from Pennsylvania.

If you just have mostly food scraps then

I think you should mix some shredded leaves or straw or shredded cardboard or paper in with your compost and mix in some all ready made compost soil to get all the good critters bacteria and Fungi in there to eat up those. They will go away in a day. The leaves and straw are the fungal food. The fungi will actually get rid of it icky ones in the anerobic mess. Do you turn it good like Khalid does? In my compost pile the toads birds and Chipmunks come and eat all the little things.

It is just alfalfa and egg shells. I'm trying to turn it at least every week. Something is happening there, just not sure that it's the right thing! Wonder if putting the worms they use for fishing in there will help? My garden worms used to be "borrowed" for that!

Yes red wigglers are garden worms. Put them in the bucket with some shredded paper and kitchen scraps. That will be the best compost West of the Mississippi. I got the East coast trophy

I think there's going to be some sharing of that trophy her in the Mid-West, but I'm trying!

Interesting topic, lavenderlace. In my compost, earth worms and red wigglers commonly found in my garden soil do the best. Since I always gave a thin layer of soil after every few inches of waste matter, so worms would always come to the compost through the soil and I didn't have to do anything extra.

Then, I started adding a layer of chicken manure in addition to soil and this brought a large variety of worms and also maggots to the compost. Since they made the things quicker and made the compost richer, I placed the pots in a distant corner and didn't bother much whether they were worms or maggots. It used to stink a lot too.

In the pics below you can see a small but wide shaped worms. These were produced in abundance with chicken manure. They flourished and then died in the same compost. They are certainly worms and not maggots. They added a huge amount of protein to my compost I guess.

OK, tried to get a photo but couldn't find the white worms that were there last night. Now see what looks like little gnats but DH says that they are baby spiders.

Also, it has turned into a bubbling cauldron which stinks if you try to turn it. Literally bubbles coming up. DH says methane gas!

Maybe I flooded the worms with too much water with nowhere to get away in a plastic container for oxygen? I can't turn it on the bottom because it's too heavy and wet (and smelly).

In any case, I have some sort of nuclear situation going on and am this close to throwing the whole stinky disgusting bucket away! It worked great outside though but frankly didn't check it this closely.

I think if you add some sticks and a few leaves and turn it however much you can with will be fine. It's just gone anoxic. You are keeping it uncovered, aren't you? Does the pot have drainage? Your description is hilarious, btw!

I would also suggest moving it outside because it will be smelly. I don't turnover my compost too often. May be once in three weeks. Too frequent turning over disturbs the worms but in a plastic pot one might have to do it more often. I always use terracotta pots for making compost.

best regards

Khalid, I just saw your posts and thanks for your great pictures! I wonder if my worms died or just dug in deeper? Mine were smaller and not as wide. DH says that they are gone because they hatched! I'm not doing a good job of turning over the bottom at all because it's so heavy.

Sam, sounds like those red wigglers would be a huge help! Will check into them.

VV, yes, it's uncovered and I can certainly add some leaves and sticks. Pot doesn't have drainage (thank goodness for my garage). Though I do seem to splash it everywhere!

So does everybody think it's possible for the worms to appear naturally or that I have to buy worms to do this in a pot? Is there any advantage to composting in a pot versus throwing this out in a pile outside? Preferably far away, LOL!

When I did this in my flower bed, it was right by the house, and it wasn't so stinky. But maybe it did better because of natural drainage and the earthworms immediately came up out of the ground?

Thanks everybody!

I think your pot is stinking because it's soaking wet vegetation that's gone anoxic like a swamp thing! There's no drainage to help dry it out and no debris to help aerate. I'd probably just put the pot outside somewhere out of the way or put it in a pile outside to let it dry.

This is similar to people throwing their vegetables in a closed bin for indoor composting.... it reeks! I keep my veggie peelings under the sink, but in an open container without any problem or smell and put them in the outdoor heap when it fills. Keep us posted.

A swamp thing indeed!

Actually, the stink is WAY worse if I try to dig in it looking for worms but the bubbling is quite creepy. I will try to get it dried out if for nothing more than a science experiment!

So people do indoor composting? Do worms appear?

No worms that I've ever seen, except of course, with vermicomposting, but i can't even think about my personal experience with that. Only I could end up with somehting out of The Snake Pit. With composting, it's all about air flow. You must have a VERY wet mix to see bubbling! I wouldn't be surprised if it attracts things. I was shocked and thrilled last year when salamanders started appearing in my water jugs last summer.

Oh wow, can't wait to tell DH about your salamanders! He's been giving me a lot of grief about waiting for my worms to spontaneously appear.

I think I added too much water. Though I will still maintain that there are plenty of gross squirmy things moving in there!

Sometimes I don't see Khalids post for two days after he posted it. Huh

I think maybe there is too much (greens) nitrogen.

It should be also 50% browns which is cellose fibers.

I don't know if your Alfalfa is greens or straw hay browns.

LL have you seen my favorite Mike McGrath video? It's how I learned to compost from Mike McGrath. Here's it again I like it. I use the shredded leaves and eggshells and coffee grounds.

https://youtu.be/n9OhxKlrWwc

Thanks Sam, will check it out! The alfalfa is all green, will add some browns.

The photos posted by Khalid show black soldier fly pupae, not earthworms (annelids). https://www.whatsthatbug.com/2011/08/24/black-soldier-fly-pupa-2/

There is a Vermicomposting forum here on Gardenweb if you'd like to come over and seek any advice from the worm nerds...

Thanks, theparsley, will do!

Sam, Mike McGrath is very entertaining as well as informative, thank you!

I think I have mosquito larvae in here now as I see little tadpole looking things in the watery parts and I've already seen mosquitoes this year. Mixing with brown and trying to dry it out today.

This thing is going outside though, thanks so much to everybody for their help!

Looking forward to seeing that we have beautiful roses this year because of it. Thanks again LL for a good post.

One of the best compost tea makers are Bob Cannard in Sonoma.

I think the best compost and compost tea maker is in Punjab India. His name is Jaspal Singh Chatta . He is J&P Organic Farm. He is a biodynamic Farmer.

Here's another great video LL

http://www.pbs.org/food/features/food-forward-season-1-sos-save-our-soil/

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365301480/

Thanks so much Sam, can't wait to check them out! I'm going to try out these great tips, only outside this time!

Thanks for sharing, Sam! When I'm finally back home I hope to try the tea this year if any of my leaves have turned to compost. Glad you started this post, LL.

That's a great input, Sam

https://youtu.be/9lSzuGHn0XU

Here is an organic farmer in NJ named Mark. He shows how he uses his 5 gallon buckets together to make a worm bin with a strainer made of hardware cloth quarter inch holes.

Thanks so much Sam! Can't wait to check it out!

Sam, that was a fascinating video! Hope every gets a chance to see it.

In a roundabout way, this is what I was trying to accomplish with my stinky bucket, LOL! At least I was trying to create castings. That's something that I've spent a ton on for my pots, as they've responded so well to them.

Another hail storm tonight with really strong winds so my pots will be the only things unscathed. But not the old back that has to taxi them everywhere!

Worms have to be fed stuff once a week to keep in the Cali Kim video on YouTube. I haven't got a worm bin yet. I have lots of them in my compost pile. I saw a worm tower which is a way to feed the worms directly in the garden beds.

Great setup you have there Sam! Thanks so much for sharing all of your great ideas!