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@wormbin_walt ·

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?

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  • @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:

    • add a good handful of dry shredded cardboard or coir and mix it into the top few centimetres
    • lay off fruit for two weeks, feed veg trimmings and coffee grounds instead
    • a sprinkle of crushed eggshell or garden lime raises the pH a bit, which the worms prefer anyway

    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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  • @drainfield_dave · 3mo ago · 2 replies

    Check the drainage while you're in there. A lot of plastic bins come with drilled holes that block with fine castings after a few months, and then the bottom third turns into a swamp without you noticing. Tilt the bin and see if liquid moves.

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    • @wormbin_walt · 3mo ago

      Bottom was wetter than I expected. Poked the holes clear and got a surprising amount out.

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  • @root_rot_rhea · 3mo ago

    Trick for pulling numbers down fast: put a slice of watermelon or a damp piece of bread on the surface overnight. In the morning it'll be covered in mites, and you lift it out and bin it. Repeat a few nights. Doesn't fix the cause but it buys you visible progress while the moisture comes down.

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  • @clay_soil_life · 3mo ago · 2 replies

    Quick way to tell mites apart if you're worried: brown or reddish mites clustered in a dense mass directly on food are worth acting on, because at high enough density they compete for the same food and stress the worms. Scattered white ones are just part of the ecosystem.

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    • @wormbin_walt · 3mo ago

      All white and scattered, so it sounds like I've been panicking about the wrong thing.

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