Tiny white bugs all over the lid of my worm bin, are the worms in danger Worm Bin
Opened the bin this morning and the underside of the lid is covered in tiny white specks that jump when I get close. There are also small white things crawling in the bedding near the top. The worms look fine and are still working through the food. Bin is about four months old, plastic, and I've been adding a lot of fruit scraps lately. Do I need to do something about this?
@compost_carl · 3mo ago · 3 replies
The jumping ones are springtails and the crawling ones are almost certainly mites. Both are normal bin fauna and neither hurts worms. They're decomposers doing the same job as your worms on smaller material.
That said, an explosion in numbers is a signal. Springtails and mites both boom when the bin is too wet and too acidic, and "a lot of fruit scraps" is exactly how that happens. Fruit is wet, sugary and acidic.
What I'd do:
Populations settle back within a couple of weeks once it dries out.
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@wormbin_walt · 3mo ago
Two weeks of cardboard and no fruit and the lid is basically clear. Should have connected the melon rinds to the population boom.
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@root_rot_rhea · 3mo ago
Melon and pineapple are the two worst offenders in my bin. Enormous volume of water and it goes acidic within days.
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