Worm Farms - FAQs and Troubleshooting

Sometimes all the good intentions don't quite go as intended! If you're experiencing problems with your worm farm, hopefully this post will help. Or if you know of other or have come up with your own solution to a worm farm problem, please let us know so we can spread the word. 

Smells

If kept properly, a worm farm won't smell. If it is smelly, anaerobic bacteria have probably built up in uneaten food wastes. Stop feeding and stir in some garden lim into the layer of food. This aerates the organic material and allows worms to access it more easily. Repeat this until the smell disappears, then start feeding again.

Vinegar flies

You may be overfeeding your worms and causing bacteria that attract these small flies (which are harmless). Limit the food supply to what the worms can eat on a daily basis and add a little garden lime.

Ants

The worm farm is probably too dry or acidic. Add a little water to raise the moisture level and add some garden lime to where the ants are gathering. To prevent reinfestation, either smear Vaseline around the legs of the worm farm (if it has them) or stand the legs in a container of water. If the container does not have legs, pour a ring of talcum powder around the base. Make sure you keep a lid on your farm or cover it with hessian.

Fruit fly

There's a few things you can do to keep their numbers way down. First, don't bring them in. Fruit flies come into the home as cocoons in the peels of fruit we buy. Their tiny eggs are planted into the skins. One way to kill the eggs, if you want to go to this length, is to drop the skins and peels into hot water, microwave a couple of minutes or steam them. The eggs aren't buried deeply, so you shouldn't have any problem reaching them.In the worm bin, always bury your food waste several inches deep in the bedding. In addition, you can place a couple layers of damp newspaper flat over the surface of the bedding. Each of these helps to keep adult fruit flies from accessing the buried food, where they'd love to lay their eggs.

Maggots

These icky critters appear due to decomposing meat being present in the worm farm. Avoid meat in your worm farm. To remove maggots place bread soaked in milk on the surface. The maggots will be attracted to it and you can remove them after a couple of days.I know, yuk, but I bet you'll never put meat in your worm farm again!
Cockroaches

If cockroaches invade your worm farm keep a lid on the farm or cover it with hessian.

Excessive Acidity

Acidic conditions can be caused by too much sugary food, such as fruits, and grains. Sprinkling some dolomite, wood ash or lime on the farm can help solve this problem.

My worms don't seem to be breeding!

If your worms will not breed you may need to keep the farm in a shadier or cooler (around 18-25ºC) location or keep it more moist (although not too wet).

Why aren't the worms moving from the lower levels to the top working tray?
You may have added new food before the worms have eaten the previous food. This leaves uneaten food through the system and causes a reluctance by the worms to migrate upwards whilst they can still access food in the lower layers. Before adding new trays stop feeding the worms for at least a week to ensure all existing food has been eaten. Also, the level of castings in the working tray needs to be high enough for the worms to pass easily up to the next tray.
Can I put worm farm worms in the garden?
Worm farm worms require moist conditions all year round, and do not tunnel deep to find moisture. They can only be useful in the garden if you have a thick layer of mulch.
How can I help the worms to eat more?

Mash, blend, or food process scraps. Maintain temperature to around 24ºC. Avoid acidic foods.

My worm farms turned into a swamp! 

Ok, so you've got a couple of inches of water on the bottom of the worm bin. "Now what?", you ask. Well, the answer's simple:start bailing!

First, remove any waterlogged castings from the bottom of the bin. Place these in some kind of porous container (a box with holes in the bottom works) to let the castings dry out before using them.Then, ask yourself how the excess water got into the bin: Did you recently added a lot of very wet waste, like watermelon rinds? (If this is the case, problem solved.. remove some of those rinds and vow not to do this again.) Is the humidity in your area high enough that very little evaporation happens through the bin's air holes? You can correct the problem by adding a lot more aeration holes or by placing the bin where there's more air circulation.Does your bin just seem to collect moisture? Many bins, particularly pastic ones, do. To improve its aeration, add some 6mm holes on the bottom and sides of your bin. Adding a dozen per square foot should help a lot. If it's a stacking tray bin, look and see where it is designed to allow air to enter. You're going to have to improve the aeration on teh bin somehow. Leaving the lid off will help, and so will keeping the spigot open (with a bucket below to catch excess liquid.)

Sources: The Good Compost Guide, Welcome to the Worm Factory, All things Organic, City of Ryde