It is not unusual that worms fall or travel down into the collector tray at times. The Worm Café is designed with a refuge island in the base tray to assist with the worms finding their way back up to the working tray.
We suggest that you keep the tray open at all times to properly drain the unit and avoid any possible drowning.
Worms are known as 'explorers', therefore if they are not hungry they may simply be having a look around the collector tray. It is a possibility that the worms will travel down into the collector tray to simply look around their environment. If they are not readily finding their way back up to the working tray, you could place either a brick or an upside down empty ice cream tub in the middle of the collector tray to enable them to travel back up.
Alternatively, if there is a piece of non preferred food that has found its way into the unit, the worms may be travelling away from this or any other organisms this may have attracted.
During the cooler weather the worms will lose their appetite, therefore it may be that you are feeding them more than they can digest. This can be fixed by not adding any scraps to your worm farm for 1-2 weeks and monitoring whether the worms make their way up to the working tray in their search for food. read more
It is not unusual that worms fall or travel down into the collector tray at times. The Worm Café is designed with a refuge island in the base tray to assist with the worms finding their way back up to the working tray.
We suggest that you keep the tray open at all times to properly drain the unit and avoid any possible drowning.
Worms are known as 'explorers', therefore if they are not hungry they may simply be having a look around the collector tray. It is a possibility that the worms will travel down into the collector tray to simply look around their environment. If they are not readily finding their way back up to the working tray, you could place either a brick or an upside down empty ice cream tub in the middle of the collector tray to enable them to travel back up.
Alternatively, if there is a piece of non preferred food that has found its way into the unit, the worms may be travelling away from this or any other organisms this may have attracted.
During the cooler weather the worms will lose their appetite, therefore it may be that you are feeding them more than they can digest. This can be fixed by not adding any scraps to your worm farm for 1-2 weeks and monitoring whether the worms make their way up to the working tray in their search for food.
HELP! my worms seem to "committing suicide" by working their way to the juice reservoir and drowning.
We recently had a question from Garry who had to move is worm farm and now has flies and ants, and it smells bad. Garry has plenty of worm action and lots of micro bugs etc. Can he rejuvenate his worm farm to its former glory? read more
We recently had a question from Garry who had to move is worm farm and now has flies and ants, and it smells bad. Garry has plenty of worm action and lots of micro bugs etc. Can he rejuvenate his worm farm to its former glory?
Flies, ants and a bad smell indicate that your worms are overfed. The excess food has become anaerobic, which means there is not enough oxygen.
The good news is you can easily rejuvenate your worm farm to its ‘former glory’!
The ‘flies’ you mentioned are most likely ‘vinegar flies’. These small flies are attracted to gases given off by anaerobic microbes. To get rid of them, I suggest you:
- Use a small hand fork to dig and ‘fluff’ up – or aerate – the top feeding tray
- Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner on top of the food scraps
- Add a few handfuls of good soil on top of the food scraps every time you feed your worms
- Ensure you have a worm blanket on the surface of the feeding tray at all times
- Pour several litres of water through your worm farm every week – but before you do, install a bucket under the tap on the bottom tray. Open the tap and keep it open all the time to collect any worm ‘tea’ that drips out.
To encourage the ants to leave your worm farm, simply disturb the area they are in by digging it up, then sprinkle on some extra Worm Farm & Compost Conditioner
Worm Regards
Pete Rutherford
HELP My Worm Farm has ants an smells bad
Comments
When I open & look in the resevoir, there's literally 25 worms or more each time I check. What could be causing this, and more importantly, what can I do about it? Any tips?