Here are some of the more frequently asked questions I receive. I’m featuring them for the benefit of all.
Hey wormdude,
I have been doing research on starting a worm farm for my home/garden. I am concerned however about the Texas heat and that the worm bins will become too hot and kill them off.
My other concern is if I bring them inside will it smell?
-Jennifer S.
Hi Jennifer,
Two very common questions. Both easily avoidable.
WORM BINS AND HIGH TEMPS:
Worms can tolerate pretty high AMBIENT temperatures. This is because their bedding
stays much cooler than the ambient temperatures, PROVIDING the outside of the
worm bin does not get warm to the touch. If it does, you have a “Frying Pan” situation, and your worms will cook.
I’ve had worms in my bins with 108 degree temps. The worms were fine. I haven’t tested the max ambient temperatures that worms can take, but 108 is pretty warm. The bottom line, keep the worms in total shade. Avoid exposing them to high DIRECT temps.
WORM BINS AND SMELL:
Worm bins do not smell if set up correctly. A couple of things will cause a worm bin to smell.
1. Bedding is not fluffed up, just soaked and thrown in the bin. If oxygen
cannot penetrate through the bedding, you will have anaerobic bacteria
growing. That is why a gym bag stinks…no air flow.
2. Overwatering of bedding, creating mud. Again, oxygen cannot penetrate
mud, creating an anaerobic environment. This is easy to prevent by not
overwatering your worms, and when you do need to water, only using a mist
bottle.
3. Overfeeding of your worms creating a sewer. The amount of scraps that
your worms can process is directly related to the worm mass that you have in
your bin. If you start with a pound of worms, that is about
the maximum amount of scraps you want to begin with. Excess scraps can be
dealt with in various ways, but you do not want to use your worm bin as a
holding area for excess scraps.
Every stink problem can be traced back to overfeeding and/or overwatering of
your worms. If your bin is set up correctly, this is a non issue.
