Anyone else suffering from SWL (severe worm loss)?

Hi All

I've just dug out my compost bin (I use a tall, square shaped plastic bin) because my compost was looking suspiciously sticky and the level wasn't going down. Sure enough, decomposition wasn't very good and I found very few worms.

When I last dug it out in the autumn, I made sure to put a healthy number of brandling worms back into the new composting material. I can only presume the cold winter has killed off my worms and perhaps the new generation of worms hasn't been born yet.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I'm now going to refill my bin, mixing in some additional brown material (dead leaves and unprinted cardboard) to reduce the stickiness. Next winter, I'll consider providing some extra insulation for my bin if it looks like the cold did the damage.

 

Our frosts were pretty severe and long lasting Freddy and both our worm bins froze on top but we've had no loss of worms. Could be due to the fact that both daleks were just about full so the worms managed to snuggle down in the middle. When I started using worms in the daleks I used to wrap the bins with bubble wrap, but haven't done that for the last few years as I reckon that if there is enough material in the bins the worms will cope with low temperature. Mind you it could be that Scottish worms are extra tough!!:D

Yesterday I dug out a bucket of compost from the base of one bin and it was seething with worms so I added it to the big main compost heap to help speed up decomposition.

 

Dave

Thanks for the reply. Yes, your Scottish worms must be tough because down here, our winter was cold but not nearly as bad as yours.

I checked carefully when refilling my bin and my worm population has definitely been seriously depleted. Not too far from me there's an anglers' shop and I understand they sell live worms so I might be able buy a top up supply if my few survivors don't multiply soon.

 

I dont think it was the cold that killed off the worms. You say the compost was sticky. I think it had too much greens and that meant there wasn't enough Oxygen so the worms would have left. I have never had to add worms. Get the mix right, not too wet or too dry with the right proportion of browns and greens and the worms, and other things seem to come in.

 

I noticed a lack too...so I've mixed in some well rotted,and worm filled,cow muck into all four bins and two open heaps. Also the addition of the new seasons grass clippings have warmed them all nicely and the levels have dropped again...so fingers crossed

 

I just put 100 worms in :-) I'm excited and my wife is not sure if I mean it when I say she will have to help me "milk" them lol, too funny.

 

I moved house about 7 months ago and transfered my composters to my new house, when I was transferring them they were riddled with worms and as I've never turned the compost I took the opportunity to mix both the composters material together and evenly distribute it between the 2 daleks. I had a look in the daleks the other day and couldn't see a single worm and it looks very dry in ther aswell, oh and full of ants too. I compost everything organic from my kitchen ( I don't do egg shells anymore though) aswell as grass cuttings.

 

Just out of curiosity, is it a good sign if there are slugs in your compost bin?
Everytime i fill my bin/open the lid, there seems to be a load of slugs on the lid along with other tiny beasts.

 

And just another 'out of curiosity' question. I've been told my compost heap 'looks a bit dry' and that it 'could do with a water'. It's a home-made 'behive' bin, (total capacity about 2 cu metres) and 90% full with what I thought was a pretty good mix of green and brown - would a 2 gallon canful be sufficient?

 

It's neither a good sign nor a bad sign. It just shows that you've got some tasty things in your compost bin and a healthy slug population.

But at least they're all in one place so you can kill 'em. If you don't do this, they'll get bigger and fatter and breed and then go looking for the living plants....

 

If you're getting good decomposition, I wouldn't worry about what others say. If you want to experiment to see if it can be even better, you could trickle a little water down the inner sides of your bin because the edges usually dry out more than the centre. I wouldn't use more than a few litres to begin with because you can always add more later if you want to.

 

Don't worry. Some slugs eat fresh veg, others like the ones in your bin feed on decaying matter. All the fauna in the enclosed bin is either feeding on what you put into it, or on each other, and the end result is compost.:thumb:

 

Thanks for all your responses.