Big worms / small worms

[Jeral Poskey]

I have two bins. (I'll explain this strategy below.) In both of them, I used to have big, fat, long red wigglers. Over time I've seen less and less of the big ones, and more and more of the tiny white ones, which I assumed were babies. Now, though, I only have the "babies." No big ones left in either bin. Anyone have ideas? I'm wondering if another species has taken over. (No, Lauren, I don't think these are tiny larvae, but I guess I don't know for sure.)

Two bin strategy: I started with one bin. When it got full, I just left it alone and started a 2nd bin. In the original bin, the worms just gradually finish off all the composting. They don't "die" so much as just decrease from generation to generation. Eventually there are hardly any worms left, and the compost is perfect. This is about the time that the 2nd bin is full for me, so then the process starts over.

[Lauren Angelo]

Hi Jeral,

The two-bin strategy is really interesting -- makes sense to me.

You know... I have exactly the same situation in my bins right now.
All of my big worms are gone, and I only have the tiny white worms,
which I had been hoping were babies but knew in my heart of hearts
were not... I did notice that the bottom of my worm bin (the Can o'
Worms) was a sludgy, non-draining disaster, and I fear that my fat
healthy red wrigglers fled the heat and met with an unfortunate end
down there. This is the first time in years, though, that I haven't
had red wrigglers. Thankfully my neighbor Chuck (also in this group)
gave me a handful of his healthy guys, and hopefully they'll do just
fine.

So what ARE those small white worms?

And what happened to your BSF strategy?

Lauren

[Jeral Poskey]

Ok, these are useful worms, just not red wigglers. Here's some info: 

http://gardeningwormcomposting.com/pot-worms-little-white-worms-in-the-worm-composting-bin/ 

Key line: " Baby red wigglers are reddish even when they are tiny.  "

They are doing the job, so I'm not missing anything, but I'll probably try to get some red wigglers from somebody sometime and see if the two kinds of worms together can eat things even faster.

No, no BSFs this year. I have a few random larvae, but nothing that is chomping through tons of non-vegetable food.

[Lauren Angelo]

Ah, thanks for this. Very helpful. And I do love Mary Appelhof's
"Worms Eat My Garbage" (referenced in the link you sent). It's the
only book on vermicomposting I have, and the only one I think I need.
I should have looked up those worms.

I'll be happy to give you some of my red wrigglers once mine take off.

I haven't seen BSFs in my bin for a while now.



On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 11:35 AM, Jeral Poskey

[Dan]

Jeral, you can come get worms from my bin any time you want. There are a ton in there. Didn't they come from your bin in the first place? Now the circle is complete!

--Dan