Wormcity Forum

Hi, all. I'm a newbie in the wormery world and am concerned that I have ants in my wormery. In the book of words that came with the wormery, it says this happens if you let it get too dry. I have followed the suggestions given - dampened the compost (now I have liquid in the sump), forked the compost regularly, smeared Vaseline on the base (they seem to just climb over it) and moved the wormery for three days and swept away any ants that appeared in the original location before replacing it. There are still ants in there. I'm worried about forking the worms around too much in case I damage them, so far they have not eaten anything that I have put in, some of which is now growing mould, or any of the damp newspaper and I don't want to dampen the wormery too much in case I drown them! The wormery will celebrate it's first month in existence on Thursday, so I realise it's early days. Any advice out there, experienced people?? Thanks!

Hi ants will not harm your worms but they are not an addition that most of us want in our bin.
When ants move in it is a clear indication of a dry bin wetting the bin and moving the bedding around are the best ways to deal with the problem, it may take a while but the ants will move on. You can use the liquid from the sump to wet the bin again if needed. This putting the liquid back means you will not lose any goodness from your castings.
Try not to use metal tools to fluff up your bin, I got a cheap plastic fork and trowel from a well known supermarket I think it was about £1:25 I also got a kids plastic beach spade. If all else fails use your hands (don’t forget to wash them after)

Good luck
Willy

Thank you, Willy.

The ants seem to have moved on - hoorah - but i am worried that the worms still don't seem to be eating much. I have put some small handfuls of chopped up kitchen waste (veg) in the corners, but none of them have been eaten so far. I know there are worms in there, as I have seen them rapidly retreat when I open the lid. Is it just a question of time? Should I be 'stirring' the bedding anyway - the papaer i put in on top of the bedding at the beginning is still in there and hasn't been eaten...

Hi Xan, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. It’s difficult to understand because we all talk about worms eating the food we provide BUT worms eat very little of what we put in the worm bin, it is in fact eaten by the microbes and bacteria and the worms happily gulp these microscopic workers down. When they gulp at the microbes they will take in some of the pulpy food that is close by.
If the food is slowly it would indicate that you microbe population in not high enough. This is quickly solved! Find some aged manure or some mature compost, even some well broken down leaves from under a tree. A spoonful of any of these will provide your bin with millions if not trillions of microbes. Try adding a spoonful each feed and stand back.

Hope that helps, please keep us updated
Willy