Why We DON'T Use Rotting Worms To Make Compost (Anaerobic Composting) 

Oh Vee, so sorry this happened. It's so important for all of us to learn from this. I had a die off after feeding vacuum dust 😢😕 ~ Sandra

The comment on drying worm casting was really helpful I have been watching my giant tub of casting dry out over the past 2 week and was worrying… I ain’t so worried anymore

I'm new to worm farming, about 6 weeks in "training". I bought a worm farm intact on starting ( the seller said they would clean everything and seperate the worms but I asked for it as is to keep the bacteria and fungi in the bin ). They obliged! They said there was over 1000 worms but there were only about 20 on inspection. It was really, really wet, I dried it out till now and it's still moist without adding any liquids or wet foods! Cocoons have hatched by the hundreds ( ya ) [stocked with that ] ! Yesterday I went through it and seperated half. The half I put into new bedding ( old bedding actually without castings ) , the worms were not happy! I put there new home on top of some more old bedding in a larger seperate container, like stacking them. My thinking was if they escaped, they would find the old bedding and not go further. Next day I looked and a lot of worms were still in their new home but also a lot had escaped and found their way into the bottom all encompassing bin. I was happy they didn't go further. Now I'm thinking it's probably good to have all the bins on top of an escape bin of old bedding so they don't escape and die from drying up, particularly after upsetting them. I'm careful not to feed them too much at a time but worried I don't feed them enough, but I think they are like fish, ie can eat when it's there but when it's not there they are ok too for a while. I watch you and Anne and another worm guy and get so much info from you all so thank you for all your efforts in educating us new and not so new worm farmers!

Major bummer. R.I.P. wormies

Im about 5 years into wormfarming, the worst that happened to me was my bins becoming too dry, and then rodents eating my worms, can' t recall that my bins ever went anarobic

So sorry you lost a whole bin of worms, OUCH, I felt bad this winter when I found a few worms that had dried out on the basement floor. My opinion on storing worm castings. Drying out will not affect the nutrients for sure, but it does dramatically impact the biology. When rehydrated, the dried out castings do jump back to life, mostly bacteria and some protozoa, nematodes, microarthropods and fungi can take quite a while to bounce back and rebuild their population. I try to keep my stored castings moist in garbage cans with holes along the outside with bubble wrap for a lid, I use a 15 gal grow bag at the base to keep any worms that hatch out from escaping. Stay Well!!!

I grew up with a swimming pool in back yard in Minnesota, I know the smell. Believe me. A dead Squirrel in the skimmer basket.

It always hurt me to see dead worms smh and I’ve lost my fair share of many types of worms. At this point it’s like a right of passage smh because that’s how I improve and keep improving so I have a lot to share in the future.

Thank you for sharing even what it is not working. I work with secure spots and leave the feeding zone uncover, until the worms take over.

hello! Is it a euro? they love the fresh air very much. if you loosen (mix) the litter at least once a week, then you can very successfully avoid such problems. but it is also very important to feed only a day after they have eaten everything. this is especially true when you feed dry food. By the way, your sweet water helps a lot in the speed of eating. I checked it out and I really liked it! Thanks for the advice! Euros sit in the corner of the drawer when they get sick. if they are in a corner, do not feed them, just stir for fresh air and wait 2-3 days. do not moisten the litter too much, the euros do not like it very much. only if there is a lot of fresh air, you can increase the humidity.

So sorry for the lady's, rip, made me go and check on my girls.... all good👍

Thanks for this video. Hate to see it. The smell is the best indicator that the issue was overfeeding/ not enough bedding. The worms don't absorb much of the nutrients on each pass so overfeeding can sneak up on you. Especially if you aren't using finished material as a base bedding.

Hello Vee. The anaerobic environment produces acidic pH and toxic gases. The toxic gases might be the first one to affect the worms first. So that super sticky smell you felt, well those worms (with less mass than you) face it right at the source. So to vent out the toxic gases, one have to serious aerate the bin. This means that you have to remove both layers of coverings that you put on the worm bin, and I think that plastic cover particularly blocks a lot of air flowing in/out. Removing both covers would be helpful for future anaerobic challenges. As well, with both covers remove, much more oxygen would flow through, which seriously slows down the anaerobic process producing the toxic gases. I like that you added new material to dilute the anaerobic materials and create more space for air to potentially go in/out. Also, can you tell me about your sweet water video speeding up feeding, if you have one?

Dang hopefully my new nightcrawlers compost bin worms doesn't die off like that. I been composting yardwaste composter pile with worms to help break down material for flower and veggies garden beds but want to start harvesting wormcasting to amenities to potting soil or have ready for not easily attained or pricy in my area. Just a better way to do brown n green kitchen waste instead of losing all worms outside except alot in the garden beds and they make good Aerators. Besides saving them from little container and fisherman & ladies 😂

Could it be that the peat substrate with low PH caused it?

just saying, I bought those buss boy tubs from work, they went anaerobic. with those you have to be jonnie on the spot.

h beautiful hands.

Adding clean bedding when you have a bacteria problem is not the right idea . Basically giving the backteria more space to colinate into You should of used old earthworm scraps with lots of paper

I’m never giving worm food again

Sad worms died, u can restart again, try again

Looks like to much food and water and not enough fresh air