Overwintering your wormery

[WillyWorm]

Hi adding an additional tray filled with dry shredded paper or cardboard will do no harm, in fact one on top and one on the bottom will help provide some extra insulation for your herd it it gets cold, if it is dry they won’t move up into it, if it gets wet your worms will move up into the top insulation tray then it will do no harm but may delay the harvesting of castings.
The nearer to 20 degrees you can keep your worm bin, with insulation, shuting doors etc, then the more productive (making babies and converting food waste to castings) your worms will be. The most important thing is to keep your worm bin above freezing point.

Willy

[Lilwriggler]

Thank you, I will do that next week, concerned that if they can’t get out the back door and under the bins they will just dry up in the corner of the garage somewhere, I had some early losses that way! Should I dampen that shredded paper/cardboard too? At least that will help keep them out of the sump. These guys and gals appear pretty adept climbers and will get back into the coi layer. My first night I had a mass escape out of the bin bag, it was tied at the top, but they were coming out the top like a worm fountain when I walked in the garage, at least a couple of hundred had escaped, but most were recovered, light went on night 2....

[WillyWorm]

I would not dampen the paper/card, the insulation properties are much better when dry.
If you are still having problems with escapees provide them with a “safe refuge” dampen a piece of corrugated cardboard and put it on the floor close to your worm bin. Because of the dryness of the garage floor the worms will all head for your refuge from where you can gather them up and return them to your bin.
It can take a while for worms to settle and remain where you want them, after a move from one location to another. You don’t get the problem with second generation worms. Maybe when worms are moved they have some sort of homing insinct and are trying to return to where they came from. There is some research going on, in Canada I think, which suggests worms never fully settle nor are they as productive until the second generation in their new environment.

Willy

[Lilwriggler]

Another quick question, which I think I know the answer but will ask anyway! My worms don’t need any assistance mixing the shredded paper and the coi material do they? With an insulation tray above and below their tray is a little bit more compressed, although they seem happy on top of it when I open up, just wondering how long it takes for the paper to break down!

[WillyWorm]

Hi, your worms will not need any help to make their bed from the materials you have provided. Re the bedding getting compacted by the “insulation trays top and bottom” this should not be a problem dry shredded paper is very light and the tray should just settle on the top of the worm tray.
The time that paper takes to break down depends on a number of things such as, the number of worm in the bin, how active they are which in turn depends on temperature etc. Worms tend not to worry about time things get broken down in time lol like many worm questions the answer is “it depends”

Things seem to be going well. Well done.
Willy