Wet and claggy

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Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Thu May 07, 2020 10:36 pm

Thanks, i will look at that too tomorrow, but the claginess may be contributing to that and blocking some of the perforations

WillyWorm
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by WillyWorm » Fri May 08, 2020 7:19 am

If the perforations are clear you should not have the “clogginess”

Willy

Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Wed May 13, 2020 12:15 am

I’m thinking of harvesting that bottom tray, there is still 2 or 3 worms perishing every other day, in both wormeries. I will start with the original one first but i have a slight worry that in harvesting the bottom tray, the one above and the feeding tray won’t have sufficient volume of material for the population. That could be more of an issue with the newer wormery. I can add more cardboard to the feed tray to bulk that up a bit. Any other ideas? Could tear up some newspaper?

WillyWorm
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by WillyWorm » Wed May 13, 2020 7:01 am

The number of worms a bin can accommodate is based on the surfaces area of the top tray and not the depth or number of the trays. It works out at approximately 1,000 worms per square foot (30cm squared) the area of a Wormcity bin is 1.5foot x 1.5 foot = 2.25 square foot = will therefore accommodate between 2000/2500 worms regardless of the number of trays you use however the trays should be kept to within a inch/3cm of the top with bedding.
I don’t thing you need fear removing a tray.

Willy

Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Sat May 16, 2020 6:17 pm

Operation dry it out was carried out today....

In both wormeries. I didn’t fully harvest the trays in the end, but i did remove All the cotton bedding material from both as best i could. I could easily squeeze water out of it showing it was still very wet. I had introduced some egg box material in the bottom tray last week to help with drying, but i think it had encouraged a lot of worms to move back into that tray....Which made i5 a bit trickier and hence why i didn’t fully harvest the tray. Anyway in hope that will do the trick. I will be keeping a close eye.

WillyWorm
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by WillyWorm » Sun May 17, 2020 7:44 am

Thanks for the update. Fingers crossed all will now be well.
Please keep us informed of progress
Willy

Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Wed May 20, 2020 8:23 pm

Hopefully i’ve attached two photos of what happens to some of the worms which drop in the sump. It’s still happening, you can see the white spots, but probably not the brown little mites that run around. The worms become bloated in part and thin in others, it looks a rather horrible death for them. Maybe it is a function of the wetness weakening them to parasitic attack or something else. Regularly there have been 3 or 4 worms in the sump that look like they are almost dissolving... ☹️ Seen anything like this before?
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Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Wed May 20, 2020 8:34 pm

They are probably being opportunistic on the dying worms

WillyWorm
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by WillyWorm » Thu May 21, 2020 9:03 am

Hi what a sorry sight. I’ve not seen this before but have heard of something like it.
George Pilkington in his book “Composting with Worms” pp81 refers to “having come a crossed individual worms that look like they have been pinched or cut in several places” a description which seem to fit what is in your photos.
Pilkington goes on to say there are a number of reasons this may happen but none of which have been completely proven.
One possibly is that the worms have consumed something that can’t be passed through them to their “alimentary canal” (intestine) which results in a swelling in the blocked crop. Another is that the food is too high in protein (then called protein peal) or be too high in salt. What came to mind regarding a possible blockage was the hamster bedding.
Pilkington recommends removing any possible “contaminated material” and add a lot of fresh carbon bedding. If it was the hamster bedding then there could be lots of particles through out the bin.
I think the tiny mites and other bug will be feasting on the dead and dying worms and are not something we need to get hung-up on.

I will contact Ronnie, the owner of Wormcity and ask her for an opinion, I think she’s come across this before. If all else fails maybe it’s time to harvest what worms you can and start again.
We will be back to your later.

Willy

Lilwriggler
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Re: Wet and claggy

Post by Lilwriggler » Thu May 21, 2020 11:56 am

Thank you, that makes sense, the upper trays look pretty healthy now, they contain no bedding and haven’t for at least 2 months. I was using the hamster bedding pretty much from the start, but wasn’t seeing this then. I’m trying to rack my brains on what i have changed....

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