Should You "Fluff" and Aerate Your Worm Farm?  

It IS difficult to resist the FLUFFING!! 🤣🤣 I so appreciate all of your advice and pointers in your videos and recently downloaded the ROADMAP! Thanks for that! I am subscribed and enjoy all videos! Keep up the great work!

When I think things are too clumpy and moist, my worms seem to disagree, because they are in the middle of the glob.

Can't help myself, I have to snoop a little but I don't fluff things up. Glad to know I am not the only one who can't resist.

I fluff to make sure my food scraps are breaking down. I also get a void in the middle after I harvest my Urban Worm Bag, and need to fill the void.

Thanks. Good information. I do not want to disturb the worms unnecessarily.

I only fluff once or twice a year - but I have to resist the fluffing urge far more often than that! Thanks for the tip about wood chips - I'll definitely be adding some of those to my bag/bin. 🙂

I'm addicted...Can't stop, won't stop!! Great tips as always Steve!!🪱🪱🪱

Hey Steve, it's a year now that I started vermicomposting outside here in Staten Island with your Wormbag and it was certainly a success! A bit of a die-off in February, then again with this summer's heatwave, but the bag is completely full of black gold and my friends are thriving. Thank you and keep up the interesting vids.

Need. More. Bedding. I actually knew that but wasn't exactly thinking about it right now. Thanks for the reminder!

Never thought about more wood chips. Great idea!

Loving my bin. Hoping I’m doing a good job keeping them fed and cool in hot and humid Houston.

Yup Steve nailed it... i get in there ever 3-4 days to "check it out" in part to see how much food is left. I don't put big chunks of food in like many people on youtube. I chop it all up with a knife after i finished our dinner prep.... so it can go quickly.

I have to admit, I do a little fluffing. Mostly just to say hello. 😊

What a great idea to add wood chips!!

I did as I was told and left them alone over the summer. I had someone come over to look at the system last week. When we opened it, there was a huge hole in the middle where the worms had done their job, but unfortunately, my chickens had also figured out how to "dispense" the worms out of the bottom without me knowing. If I had checked regularly and "fluffed" a little, I would have caught on to this. Needless to say, I just bought some more worms, and fixed the "worm dispenser" issue with my chickens. I probably won't fluff, but I'll definitely inspect a lot more often. 😂

Even though i don't think by worm bins are compacted the suggestion of adding wood chips is one i'll use. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks for the reminder, Steve. You can never underestimate the importance of a fluffer on deck to make sure there is proper airation for the system...

Guilty as charged!!!!!! My family thinks I am “sick” because I like to see the Worm family at work! I so enjoy and appreciate every one of your videos. I have learned so much from you for which I contribute my small success in this fascinating hobby!

I just can't resist a little bit of hand fluffing just bc it usually smells like fall leaves, my favorite smell, and after most of my day is sitting at a computer desk it just feels nice to touch something a little messy.

Hi Steve - Just want to give a shout out to you/your supplier. I ordered a pound of pure red wigglers that arrived a few days ago. I couldn't be happier. We had a prolonged stretch of 90+ degree days so the order was held for a few weeks, but in the end, that was a great call on your behalf. I previously ordered 'compost worms' from that other place, at the time not knowing the whole "Pure" versus RW/Indian Blue scenario. Though the other batch is doing ok, it pales in comparison to your shipment. The Pures appear much healthier, are much more active and just a better overall product/value for the money. Keep up the great work.

Each week I feed my worms partially decomposed compost from a compost tumbler,, which has a ratio of 2:1 cardboard and food waste. But there isn't enough room to add the food on top as the level doesn't drop... compaction. My solution is to get a broom handle and push it down, as there is plenty of space below. However, it does not make happy worms 😪. Thank you so much for your suggestion of adding wood chips, I'm going to do it ASAP. By the way, I love your videos, very informative and funny.

Good info Steve. I too get curious as to what’s happening in my bin. I’ve added dried leaves to my bins as a medium rather than shredded cardboard. But I pull back couple inches and see how the food is being broken down.

I fight the fluffing urge every day.😊

I do fluff. Not to necessarily break up compaction but just to make sure my bins are not going anerobic. Need to make sure to catch this sooner rather than later.

Oh wow. I wouldnt have thought to add wood chips. Im going add some tomorrow. Thank you! 😊

Thanks for the advice to add wood chips!

Thanks Steve. Great info. Just got my UWB last week. Will need another soon! Dumped my existing farm tote into it and its doing great. I am a serial fluffer so I will try to tone it down lol.

Thanks for all the info you offer Steve!

This was a great video. I know my bins are a bit compacted, so I will work to remedy that with your suggestions. BTW, I am not a fluffer, but it is tempting.

I'm a newbie. THANK YOU SO MUCH

Love your videos man, cant wait to see you atbthe convention in January! Excited about yoir giveaway as well!

Thanks for the valuable info. I am just starting out and I have found your videos very helpful!

I like your point of investigating why the bin is getting compacted. That makes more sense in how to learn to adjust what ratios you are adding to prevent compaction. Thanks.

Great advice Steve!

Great info as always Steve.

Steve, Thanks for affirming my right to have a connection with my beautiful worms!! I can't resist running my fingers through the top every couple of weeks, to make sure all is well! Great informative videos, well done.

I just reset my worm farms with geotextile on the bottom with a spacer lifting it above the drain holes to create some clearance. It definitely drains well, so I'll be observing how well my worms like it and how dense/moist it stays... :)

Our neighbor's spruce tree dumps lots of lovely biomass in our driveway in the form of small pollen cones. (I didn't know what they were until just now looking it up; aren't rabbit holes wonderful? I'm testing my theory that the worms will love this as nutritious, munchable bedding. And yes, I love to fluff the bins.

Enjoyed the advice!

OH! Never thought of adding wood chips! We'll do that today. Thanks! 😁👍

I fluff as well. I like to show my culinary students what work the worms are doing!!!

This is something I was wondering about and have only done a couple of times. I'm not sure it really need it because it wasn't really compacted as I keep mine on the dryer side. I only have 2 bins trying to get started with worm castings.

My cft bin is 2x2x4, its a year old and and working great except lately it's been self harvesting and voids develope that lead to the surface. I'm also getting worms out the bottom. I feed my worms pre compost and running it on the dryer side.

Thanks for this channel and sharing your knowledge. I can’t wait to start my own vermicompost!

Interesting.

I do it once in a while.

I like to mix in my food scraps beneath the bedding. it seems to reduce the gnats.

Great video 🇳🇿❤️

I am definitely adding wood chips to my bin. Are there any particular types of wood chips I should stay away from? Like cedar or pine?

My people wanna know why I moved a bucket of worms across the US (CA to MA) BECAUSE i will always garden!! Lol - happily they have re-established just fine

Thanks Steve. Do you have a recommendation for wood chips? Is cedar okay?

Fluff away... just the advice I was hoping to get 👍🏻

i am not adding wood chips. i would rather just fluff once a month. also make sure that all the castings are pretty evenly gone through. i have to remove worms from my bins just to keep numbers in optimal range for castings although they seem to love breeding as well. fluff away, lol

I have a bin made from a plastic storage bin about 24" x16". How deep should that be?

Hey Steve, I’m looking for the link and it’s not in the video to click

Let's say you feed once a week and decide to fluff your system. Even if you happen to interrupt any breeding worms they then have 6 days and 23 hours to find another partner and breed again. People overplay the fear of "disturbing" the worms. If you're in there for a few minutes once or twice a week they'll be fine.