Vermicomposting Battle Number 2: Worm & Man Verses The Elements
So you are thinking of starting your own worm bin, are ya? You’ve read all the books, chatted up Bentley, fondled your neighbors compost and eyed their tomatoes enviously? Well…let me tell you something. They are a lot of work. Just when we semi-eradicated the fruit fly population we got hit with a massive heat wave here in NY. Now I was under the misguided impression that worms like it hot. I guess I bought me some artic worms because they totally freaked out. The morning after the first day I found about ten dried up worms on the bathroom floor. I opened the lid to find the rest of them in a pile under the lid, stepping on each other’s heads/asses to get out. Being the genius that I am…I didn’t put the 100 degree day together with the mass exodus. After spreading them out and giving them a firm talking to,( I may or may not have mentioned the robins), I popped the lid back on and assumed that would be the end of such behavior. Next day ol’ Needle pops in for her 30 seconds of alone time. More carnage. Now the light bulb flickered. Just maybe, just maybe it has to do with the 100+ heat days? Opened the lid and there were my little guys once again disobeying orders and trying to flee. Now I did the reg. check for odd smells, molds, weird bugs etc. to see if something else was driving them away. They all looked healthy…stampeding, but healthy. Time for some thinking. Run the air conditioner 24/7? Not good. Hire 1000 individual worm fanners? No room. Ahhhhhh. I could dig little tunnels in between the soil and rotting veggies to give them some place to go to cool off . Although it is clearly the lamest of the three options, it worked. Sure enough…the next day no dead worms. I opened the lid and they were all grooving in their new hallways. (I guess we will need a wormbin hall monitor for the summer.) Was it a fluke? Perhaps. The heat wave ended the next day so I had no longterm trial..but since I am an egomaniac I will assume I am their hero for saving all of their lives. If I listen reeeeeaally hard at night I swear I can hear them chanting my name.
Good for you! Worm farming is hard. Really hard. I massacred two different batches of worms and gave up. I couldn’t live with the guilt any more. I’m glad to hear you’ve managed to save yours.
Haha! I love that worm superhero thingy.
My worms died in the heat wave a few days back. Got some replacement onces via freecycle so all is right in my world again.
I believe the max temp for worms is 80.
I just had a thought…one could be a really effective weather reporter with worms. They predict the rain (as evidenced by stampedes) and the heat (also with stampedes). So when there is a stampede you know its either going to rain or roast you.
Drying clothes indoor cools down the place alot. If you do cloth diapering for your youngest you have an instant cooling mechanism. I’m sure your worms will be grateful.
[...] major complaints…. 1. Keeping the balance of moisture, temperature, destinking, demolding, and daily worm massages are a pain in the rump and seriously time [...]