Wormcity Forum

I have had Slitherin House for 15 months and my worms have been thriving and got through the winter really well. However in the last 2 weeks I've noticed huge numbers of thin white worms which I think are pot worms. I know that some pot worms are normal in a wormery, but I think I've got far too many and -worse still - I think they may be attacking my lovely red wrigglers.

I've already tried two remedies. I added lots of shredded newspaper in case it's too wet in there. I also added a teaspoonful of garden lime to correct over-acidity, but I didn't want to put in too much in case it went too far the other way. But I've still got loads and loads of pot worms. Any ideas on what to try next?

I took out some vermicompost from the lower tray, ready to use in my greenhouse, but noticed that it has pot worms in it too. Can I safely use this compost, or will it destroy my plants?
Thanks in anticipation ...

Hi Upcountrygirl, congratulations on successfully getting your worms through the winter. You are right, what you have are pot worms. Pot worms are part of a complicated web of life which work in the composting process. Some people say pot worms are a sign of bin being on the acidic side, our normal red compost worms prefer a ph of around 6.5 to 7, pot worms prefer it down at about 5.5 to 6. That said our compost worms will function perfectly well outside of these ph levels.
Be carful using garden lime, the area of a worm bin is very small and even a small amount of garden lime could swing it too
far. The best way to add lime to a bin is to add crushed eggshells, add a desert spoonful not more than once every two weeks.
Pot worms will not harm your red worms nor will they harm the plants in the green house in anyway. As I said they are part of the composting process so will only help speed up the production of castings.
Pot worms are not a problem in themselves so if the fear is that the ph in your bin is to low for your red worms, then I suggest you get a ph test kit and run a test. If you need to adjust your ph do so with care.
I have had worm bins for a few years now and have never been without pot worms for long. At first I tried to get rid of them then I tried to control them they beat me every time now I accept them as what they are, part of the composting process, and I’m greatful for the castings they produce.
Please keep us updated
Willy

Thanks Willy. Omelette for tea tonight, and eggshells for the worms tomorrow.

Put the eggshells in the oven and cook them
you can then use a rolling pin or similar on them to grind into a powder

This is perfect for the wormery as not only does it gently change the PH as Willy says but it also gives the worms grit in their gizzard. This will help them grind the food better

Ronnie

Even if you don’t have any issues, is it worth sprinkling a bit of ground eggshells from time to time, if so, how often?

I've only had my wormery 7 months but it all seems to be going very well, and I've been adding a couple of small sprinkles of ground eggshells to every feed as a matter of course. I always chop up the food I give them so it mixes in nicely and I'd read up about the eggshell being good for their digestion elsewhere on here I'm sure. So I dry them in the oven for a few minutes, makes them easy to powderize and also to get rid of any risk of salmonella, then crush to the consistency of fine sand with a pestle and mortar, and keep in a pot ready for use each time (almost like a seasoning!) That's just my experience but it seems to have helped keep the herd happy so far, so hopefully has been the right thing to do!

That's exactly the way to do it @Smallthings!
Ground eggshells are perfect and great for digestion